mours; Fed by the stream with soft perpetual even; And, if the breath of some to no caress Than a soft record that whatever fruit Of ignorance thou mightst witness here tofore, Thy function was to heal and to restore, To soothe and cleanse, not madden and pollute! zone IX. THE STEPPING-STONES. Into a brook of loud and stately march, THE struggling rill insensibly is grown And, for like use, lo! what might seem a Crossed ever and anon by plank and arch; Chosen for ornament: stone matched with In studied symmetry, with interspace [stone For the clear waters to pursue their race Without restraint.-How swiftly have they flown, [child Succeeding still succeeding! Here the Puts, when the high-swoln flood runs fierce and wild, His budding courage to the proof;-and [here Declining manhood learns to note the sly And sure encroachments of infirmity, Thinking how fast time runs, life's end how near ! X. THE SAME SUBJECT. NOT so that pair whose youthful spirits A sweet confusion checks the shepherd-lass; She sues for help with piteous utterance ! No fiction was it of the antique age; Dancing with all their brilliant equipage Of some sweet babe, flower stolen, and For the distracted mother to assuage Is traceable a vestige of the notes floats O'er twilight fields the autumnal gossamer? XII. HINTS FOR THE FANCY. ON, loitering muse-the swift stream Albeit his deep-worn channel doth immure And the solidities of mortal pride, Shall find such toys of fancy thickly set must; FROM this deep chasm-where quivering Upon its loftiest crags-mine eyes behold A concave free from shrubs and mosses And, if thou canst, leave them without regret ! Of slow endeavour! or abruptly cast XVI. AMERICAN TRADITION. SUCH fruitless questions may not long beguile [shows Or plague the fancy, 'mid the sculptured Conspicuous yet where Oroonoko flows; There would the Indian answer with a smile Aimed at the white man's ignorance, the while Of the Great Waters telling how they rose, Covered the plains, and, wandering where they chose, Mounted through every intricate defile, Triumphant.-Inundation wide and deep, O'er which his fathers urged, to ridge and steep Else unapproachable, their buoyant way; And carved, on mural cliff's undreaded side, Sun, moon, and stars, and beast of chase or prey; Whate'er they sought, shunned, loved, or deified!* XVIII. SEATHWAITE CHAPEL. SACRED religion, "mother of form and fear," Dread arbitress of mutable respect. Or cease to please the fickle worshipper; Gifted to purge the vapoury atmosphere Such priest as Chaucer sang in fervent lays; Such as the Heaven-taught skill of Herbert drew; [less praise! And tender Goldsmith crowned with death XIX. TRIBUTARY STREAM. My frame hath often trembled with delight musical Announces to the thirsty fields a boon Dewy and fresh, till showers again shall fall. XX. THE PLAIN OF DONNERDALE. THE old inventive poets, had they seen, The still repose, the liquid lapse serene, † See Note to Sonnet xvii. |