But he is weak; both Man and Boy, -Come hither in thy hour of strength; MATTHEW In the School of- - is a tablet, on which are inscribed in gilt letters, the Names of the several persons who have been Schoolmasters there since the foundation of the School, with the time at which they entered upon and quitted their office. Opposite to one of those names the Author wrote the following lines. Such a Tablet as is here spoken of continued to be preserved in Hawkshead School, though the inscriptions were not brought down to our time. This and other poems connected with Matthew would not gain by a literal detail of facts. Like the Wanderer in "The Excursion," this Schoolmaster was made up of several both of his class and men of other occupations. I do not ask pardon for what there is of untruth in such verses, considered strictly as matters of fact. It is enough if, being true and consistent in spirit, they move and teach in a manner not unworthy of a Poet's calling. (Wordsworth.) IF Nature, for a favorite child, Read o'er these lines; and then review Its history of two hundred years. -When through this little wreck of fame, Cipher and syllable! thine eye Has travelled down to Matthew's name. And, if a sleeping tear should wake, Poor Matthew, all his frolics o'er, The sighs which Matthew heaved were sighs Of one tired out with fun and madness; A second time did Matthew stop; Upon the eastern mountain-top, "Yon cloud with that long purple cleft Brings fresh into my mind A day like this which I have left "And just above yon slope of corn "With rod and line I sued the sport And, to the church-yard come, stopped short Beside my daughter's grave. We talked with open heart, and tongue Affectionate and true. A pair of friends, though I was young, We lay beneath a spreading oak, And from the turf a fountain broke, "Now, Matthew!" said I, "let us match This water's pleasant tune With some old border-song, or catch "Or of the church-clock and the chimes Sing here beneath the shade, Written at Goslar in Germany. It was founded on a circumstance told me by my Sister, of a little girl who, not far from Halifax in Yorkshire, was bewildered in a snow-storm. Her footsteps were traced by her parents to the middle of the lock of a canal, and no other vestige of her, The backward or forward, could be traced. body however was found in the canal. The way in which the incident was treated and the spiritualizing of the character might furnish hints for contrasting the imaginative influences which I have endeavored to throw over common life with Crabbe's matter of fact style of treating subjects of the same kind. This is not spoken to his disparagement, far from it, but to direct the attention of thoughtful readers, into whose hands these notes may fall, to a comparison that may both enlarge the circle of their sensibilities, and tend to produce in them a catholic judg ment. (Wordsworth.) See also Henry Crabb Robinson's Diary, Sept. 11, 1816. OFT I had heard of Lucy Gray: No mate, no comrade Lucy knew; You yet may spy the fawn at play, "To-night will be a stormy night- At this the Father raised his hook, And snapped a fagot band; He plied his work ;-and Lucy took The lantern in her hand. Not blither is the mountain roe: Her feet disperse the powdery snow, The storm came on before its time: The wretched parents all that night At daybreak on the hill they stood And thence they saw the bridge of wood, They wept-and, turning homeward, cried, "In heaven we all shall meet ;" -When in the snow the mother spied The print of Lucy's feet. Then downwards from the steep hill's edge They tracked the footmarks small; And through the broken hawthorn hedge. And by the long stone-wall; And then an open field they crossed: They followed from the snowy bank -Yet some maintain that to this day She is a living child; That you may see sweet Lucy Gray Upon the lonesome wild. O'er rough and smooth she trips along, 1799. 1800. MICHAEL A PASTORAL POEM Written at Town-end, Grasmere, about the same time as "The Brothers." The Sheepfold, on which so much of the poem turns, remains, or rather the ruins of it. The character and circumstances of Luke were taken from a family to whom had belonged, many years before, the house we lived in at Town end, along with some fields and woodlands on the eastern shore of Grasmere. The name of the Evening Star was not in fact given to this house, but to another on the same side of the valley, more to the north. (Wordsworth.) IF from the public way you turn your steps Up the tumultuous brook of Greenhead Ghyll, You will suppose that with an upright path Your feet must struggle; in such bold ascent The pastoral mountains front you, face to face. But, courage! for around that boisterous brook The mountains have all opened out themselves, And made a hidden valley of their own. No habitation can be seen; but they Who journey thither find themselves Of Nature, by the gentle agency (At random and imperfectly indeed) Therefore, although it be a history Homely and rude, I will relate the same For the delight of a few natural hearts; And, with yet fonder feeling, for the sake Of youthful Poets, who among these hills Will be my second self when I am gone. UPON the forest-side in Grasmere Vale There dwelt a Shepherd, Michael was his He had so often climbed; which had impressed So many incidents upon his mind Of hardship, skill or courage, joy or fear; Which, like a book, preserved the memory Of the dumb animals, whom he had saved, Had fed or sheltered, linking to such acts The certainty of honorable gain; Those fields, those hills-what could they less? had laid Strong hold on his affections, were to him A pleasurable feeling of blind love, gleness. His Helpmate was a comely matron, old Though younger than himself full twenty |