Beside a fire whose genial warmth seemed met Great show of joy the housewife made, and truly "So ends my dolorous tale, and glad I am That it is ended." At these words he turned, And, with blithe air of open fellowship, Brought from the cupboard wine and stouter cheer, Like one who would be merry. Seeing this, May gray-haired Friend said courteously,-"Nay, nay, You have regaled us as a hermit ought; Now let us forth into the sun!" -Our Host Rose, though reluctantly, and forth we went. ARGUMENT. Images in the Valley. - Another Recess in it entered and described. Wanderer's sensations. Solitary's excited by the same objects. Contrast between these. - Despondency of the Solitary gently reproved. Conversation exhibiting the Solitary's past and present opinions and feelings, till he enters upon his own History at length. His domestic felicity. Afflictions. Dejection. - Roused by the French Revolution. -Disappointment and disgust. - Voyage to America. - Disappointment and disgust pursue him. His return. -- His languor and depression of mind, from want of faith in the great truths of Religion, and want of confidence in the virtue of Mankind. DESPONDENCY. A HUMMING BEE, a little tinkling rill, – By each and all of these the pensive ear Was greeted, in the silence that ensued, When through the cottage threshold we had passed, The shade of discontent which on his brow That the brief hours which yet remain may reap And, to remove those doubts, my gray-haired Friend Said, "Shall we take this pathway for our guide? Upward it winds, as if, in summer heats, Of yon black Yew-tree, whose protruded boughs From which she draws her meagre sustenance. Where, haply, crowned with flowerets and green herbs, The mountain infant to the sun comes forth, Like human life from darkness." A quick turn Through a strait passage of encumbered ground And who, All further progress here was barred; |