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XXXIII.

It is no Spirit who from Heaven hath flown,
And is descending on his embassy;

Nor Traveller gone from Earth the Heavens to espy! 'Tis Hesperus-there he stands with glittering crown, First admonition that the sun is down,

For yet it is broad daylight! clouds pass by;
A few are near him still-and now the sky,

He hath it to himself-'tis all his own.

O most ambitious Star! thy Presence brought
A startling recollection to my mind

Of the distinguished few among mankind,

Who dare to step beyond their natural race,

As thou seem'st now to do: — nor was a thought
Denied that even I might one day trace

Some ground not mine; and, strong her strength above,
My Soul, an Apparition in the place,

Tread there, with steps that no one shall reprove?

XXXIV.

FRENCH REVOLUTION,

AS IT APPEARED TO ENTHUSIASTS AT ITS COMMENCEMENT. REPRINTED FROM "THE FRIEND."

OH! pleasant exercise of hope and joy!
For mighty were the Auxiliars, which then stood
Upon our side, we who were strong in love!
Bliss was it in that dawn to be alive,

But to be young was very heaven! -Oh! times,
In which the meagre, stale, forbidding ways

Of custom, law, and statute, took at once

The attraction of a country in Romance!

When Reason seemed the most to assert hér rights, When most intent on making of herself

* This, and the Extract, Vol. I. page 44. and the first Piece of this Class, are from the unpublished Poem of which some account is given in the Preface to the EXCURSION..

A prime Enchantress

to assist the work,

Which then was going forward in her name !
Not favoured spots alone, but the whole earth,

The beauty wore of promise that which sets

Their ministers,

(To take an image which was felt no doubt
Among the bowers of paradise itself)
The budding rose above the rose full blown.
What Temper at the prospect did not wake
To happiness unthought of? The inert
Were roused, and lively Natures rapt away!
They who had fed their childhood upon dreams,
The playfellows of fancy, who had made
All powers of swiftness, subtilty and strength
who in lordly wise had stirred
Among the grandest objects of the sense,
And dealt with whatsoever they found there
As if they had within some lurking right
To wield it; they, too, who of gentle mood
Had watched all gentle motions, and to these
Had fitted their own thoughts, schemers more mild,
And in the region of their peaceful selves; -
Now was it that both found, the Meek and Lofty
Did both find helpers to their heart's desire,
And stuff at hand, plastic as they could wish,

-

Were called upon to exercise their skill,

Not in Utopia, subterraneous Fields,

Or some secreted Island, Heaven knows where ! But in the very world, which is the world

Of all of us,

the place where in the end

We find our happiness, or not at all!

XXXV.

O D E.

"THE PASS OF KIRKSTONE.

1.

WITHIN the mind strong fancies work,
A deep delight the bosom thrills,
Oft as I pass along the fork

Of these fraternal hills:

Where, save the rugged road, we find
No appanage of human kind;

Nor hint of man, if stone or rock
Seem not his handy-work to mock
By something cognizably shaped ;
Mockery - or model roughly hewn,
And left as if by earthquake strewn,
Or from the Flood escaped:

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Altars for Druid service fit;
(But where no fire was ever lit,
Unless the glow-worm to the skies
Thence offer nightly sacrifice ;)
Wrinkled Egyptian monument;
Green moss-grown tower; or hoary tent;
Tents of a camp that never shall be raised;
On which four thousand years have gazed!

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