Shout round me, let me hear thy shouts, thou happy The Youth, who daily farther from the east Shepherd-boy! Must travel, still is Nature's Priest, Behold the Child among his new-born blisses, A mourning or a funeral; And this hath now his heart, And with new joy and pride The little Actor cons another part; Were endless imitation. VIII. Thou, whose exterior semblance doth belie Thou best Philosopher, who yet dost keep IX. O joy! that in our embers The thought of our past years in me doth breed For that which is most worthy to be blest; Of Childhood, whether busy or at rest, Not for these I raise The song of thanks and praise; Blank misgivings of a Creature Uphold us, cherish, and have power to make Our noisy years seem moments in the being Of the eternal Silence: truths that wake, To perish never; Which neither listlessness, nor mad endeavour, Nor all that is at enmity with joy, Hence in a season of calm weather Our Souls have sight of that immortal sea Can in a moment travel thither, And hear the mighty waters rolling evermore. Then sing, ye Birds, sing, sing a joyous song! As to the tabor's sound! We in thought will join your throng, Ye that pipe and ye that play, Ye that through your hearts to-day Feel the gladness of the May! XI. And O, ye Fountains, Meadows, Hills, and Groves, Yet in my heart of hearts I feel your might; I only have relinquished one delight To live beneath your more habitual sway. I love the Brooks which down their channels fret, What though the radiance which was once so bright The innocent brightness of a new-born Day Though nothing can bring back the hour Of splendour in the grass, of glory in the flower; Which having been must ever be; In the faith that looks through death, Is lovely yet; The Clouds that gather round the setting sun 1803-6. THE EXCURSION. TO THE RIGHT HONOURABLE WILLIAM, EARL OF LONSDALE, K.G. ETC. ETC. OFT, through thy fair domains, illustrious Peer! RYDAL MOUNT, WESTMORELAND, July 29, 1814. Of high respect and gratitude sincere. PREFACE TO THE EDITION OF 1814. THE Title-page announces that this is only a portion of a poem; and the Reader must be here apprised that it belongs to the second part of a long and laborious Work, which is to consist of three parts. The Author will candidly acknowledge that, if the first of these had been completed, and in such a manner as to satisfy his own mind, he should have preferred the natural order of publication, and have given that to the world first; but, as the second division of the Work was designed to refer more to passing events, and to an existing state of things, than the others were meant to do, more continuous exertion was naturally bestowed upon it, and greater progress made here than in the rest of the poem; and as this part does not depend upon the preceding, to a degree which will materially injure its own peculiar interest, the Author, complying with the earnest entreaties of some valued Friends, presents the following pages to the Public. It may be proper to state whence the poem, of which The Excursion is a part, derives its Title of THE RECLUSE.-Several years ago, when the Author retired to his native mountains, with the hope of being enabled to construct a literary Work that might live, it was a reasonable thing that he should take a review of his own mind, and examine how far Nature and Education had qualified him for such employment. As subsidiary to this preparation, he undertook to record, in verse, the origin and progress of his own powers, as far as he was acquainted with them. That Work, addressed to a dear Friend, most distinguished for his knowledge and genius, and to whom the Author's Intellect is deeply indebted, has been long finished; and the result of the investigation which gave rise to it was a determination to compose a philosophical poem, containing views of Man, Nature, and Society; and to be entitled, the Recluse; as having for its principal subject the sensations and opinions of a poet living in retirement. The preparatory poem is biographical, and conducts the history of the Author's mind to the point when he was emboldened to hope that his faculties were sufficiently matured for entering upon the arduous labour which he had i proposed to himself; and the two Works have the same kind of relation to each other, if he may so express himself, as the ante-chapel has to the body of a gothic church. Continuing this allusion, he may be permitted to add, that his minor Pieces, which have been long before the Public, when they shall be properly arranged, will be found by the attentive Reader to have such connection with the main Work as may give them claim to be likened to the little cells, oratories, and sepulchral recesses, ordinarily included in those edifices. The Author would not have deemed himself justified in saying, upon this occasion, so much of performances either unfinished, or unpublished, if he had not thought that the labour bestowed by him upon what he has heretofore and now laid before the Public, entitled him to candid attention for such a statement as he thinks necessary to throw light upon his endeavours to please and, he would hope, to benefit his countrymen.-Nothing further need be added, than that the first and third parts of The Recluse will consist chiefly of meditations in the Author's own person; and that in the intermediate part (The Excursion) the intervention of characters speaking is employed, and something of a dramatic form adopted. So prayed, more gaining than he asked, the Bard- To which the heaven of heavens is but a veil. Nor aught of blinder vacancy, scooped out An hourly neighbour. Paradise, and groves Elysian, Fortunate Fields-like those of old It is not the Author's intention formally to announce a system: it was more animating to him-I, long before the blissful hour arrives, to proceed in a different course; and if he shall succeed in conveying to the mind clear thoughts, lively images, and strong feelings, the Reader will have no difficulty in extracting the system for himself. And in the mean time the following passage, taken from the conclusion of the first book of The Recluse, may be acceptable as a kind of Prospectus of the design and scope of the whole Poem. 'On Man, on Nature, and on Human Life, Musing in solitude, I oft perceive Fair trains of imagery before me rise, Pure, or with no unpleasing sadness mixed; And I am conscious of affecting thoughts And dear remembrances, whose presence soothes -To these emotions, whencesoe'er they come, I would give utterance in numerous verse. Of Truth, of Grandeur, Beauty, Love, and Hope, Of blessed consolations in distress; Of the individual Mind that keeps her own I sing: fit audience let me find though few!' Would chant, in lonely peace, the spousal verse Can it be called) which they with blended might Within the walls of cities-may these sounds Of mighty Poets: upon me bestow |