Part 12

"What followed cannot be reviewed in thought; 680 Much less, retraced in words. If she, of life Blameless, so intimate with love and joy And all the tender motions of the soul, Had been supplanted, could I hope to stand-- Infirm, dependent, and now destitute? 685 I called on dreams and visions, to disclose That which is veiled from waking thought; conjured Eternity, as men constrain a ghost To appear and answer; to the grave I spake Imploringly;--looked up, and asked the Heavens 690 If Angels traversed their cerulean floors, If fixed or wandering star could tidings yield Of the departed spirit--what abode It occupies--what consciousness retains Of former loves and interests. Then my soul 695 Turned inward,--to examine of what stuff Time's fetters are composed; and life was put To inquisition, long and profitless! By pain of heart--now checked--and now impelled-- The intellectual power, through words and things, 700 Went sounding on, a dim and perilous way![DL] And from those transports, and these toils abstruse, Some trace am I enabled to retain Of time, else lost;--existing unto me Only by records in myself not found. 705

"From that abstraction I was roused,--and how? Even as a thoughtful shepherd by a flash Of lightning startled in a gloomy cave Of these wild hills. For, lo! the dread Bastile,[DM] With all the chambers in its horrid towers, 710 Fell to the ground:--by violence overthrown Of indignation; and with shouts that drowned The crash it made in falling! From the wreck A golden palace rose, or seemed to rise, The appointed seat of equitable law 715 And mild paternal sway. The potent shock I felt: the transformation I perceived, As marvellously seized as in that moment When, from the blind mist issuing, I beheld Glory--beyond all glory ever seen, 720 Confusion infinite of heaven and earth, Dazzling the soul. Meanwhile, prophetic harps In every grove were ringing, 'War shall cease; Did ye not hear that conquest is abjured? Bring garlands, bring forth choicest flowers, to deck 725 The tree of Liberty.'[DN]--My heart rebounded; My melancholy voice the chorus joined; --'Be joyful all ye nations; in all lands, Ye that are capable of joy be glad! Henceforth, whate'er is wanting to yourselves 730 In others ye shall promptly find;--and all, Enriched by mutual and reflected wealth, Shall with one heart honour their common kind.'[265]

"Thus was I reconverted to the world; Society became my glittering bride, 735 And airy hopes my children.--From the depths Of natural passion, seemingly escaped, My soul diffused herself[266] in wide embrace Of institutions, and the forms of things, As they exist, in mutable array, 740 Upon life's surface. What, though in my veins There flowed no Gallic blood, nor had I breathed The air of France, not less than Gallic zeal Kindled and burnt among the sapless twigs Of my exhausted heart. If busy men 745 In sober conclave met, to weave a web Of amity, whose living threads should stretch Beyond the seas, and to the farthest pole, There did I sit, assisting. If, with noise And acclamation, crowds in open air 750 Expressed the tumult of their minds, my voice There mingled, heard or not. The powers of song I left not uninvoked; and, in still groves, Where mild enthusiasts tuned a pensive lay Of thanks and expectation, in accord 755 With their belief, I sang Saturnian rule Returned,--a progeny of golden years Permitted to descend, and bless mankind. --With promises the Hebrew Scriptures teem: I felt their[267] invitation; and resumed 760 A long-suspended office in the House Of public worship, where, the glowing phrase Of ancient inspiration serving me, I promised also,--with undaunted trust Foretold, and added prayer to prophecy; 765 The admiration winning of the crowd; The help desiring of the pure devout.

"Scorn and contempt forbid me to proceed! But History, time's slavish scribe, will tell How rapidly the zealots of the cause 770 Disbanded--or in hostile ranks appeared; Some, tired of honest service; these, outdone, Disgusted therefore, or appalled, by aims Of fiercer zealots--so confusion reigned, And the more faithful were compelled to exclaim, 775 As Brutus did to Virtue, 'Liberty, I worshipped thee, and find thee but a Shade!'[DO]

"Such recantation had for me no charm, Nor would I bend to it; who should have grieved At aught, however fair, that[268] bore the mien 780 Of a conclusion, or catastrophe. Why then conceal, that, when the simply[269] good In timid selfishness withdrew, I sought Other support, not scrupulous whence it came; And, by what compromise it stood, not nice? 785 Enough if notions seemed to be high-pitched, And qualities determined.--Among men So charactered did I maintain a strife[270] Hopeless, and still more hopeless every hour; But, in the process, I began to feel 790 That, if the emancipation of the world Were missed, I should at least secure my own, And be in part compensated. For rights, Widely--inveterately usurped upon, I spake with vehemence; and promptly seized 795 All that[271] Abstraction furnished for my needs Or purposes;[DP] nor scrupled to proclaim, And propagate, by liberty of life, Those new persuasions. Not that I rejoiced, Or even found pleasure, in such vagrant course, 800 For its own sake; but farthest from the walk Which I had trod in happiness and peace, Was most inviting to a troubled mind; That, in a struggling and distempered world, Saw a seductive image of herself.[272] 805 Yet, mark the contradictions of which Man Is still the sport! Here Nature was my guide, The Nature of the dissolute; but thee, O fostering Nature! I rejected--smiled At others' tears in pity; and in scorn 810 At those, which thy soft influence sometimes drew From my unguarded heart.--The tranquil shores Of Britain circumscribed me; else, perhaps I might have been entangled among deeds, Which, now, as infamous, I should abhor-- 815 Despise, as senseless: for my spirit relished Strangely the exasperation of that Land, Which turned an angry beak against the down Of her own breast; confounded into hope Of disencumbering thus her fretful wings.[273] 820

"But all was quieted by iron bonds Of military sway. The shifting aims, The moral interests, the creative might, The varied functions and high attributes Of civil action, yielded to a power 825 Formal, and odious, and contemptible. --In Britain, ruled a panic dread of change; The weak were praised, rewarded, and advanced; And, from the impulse of a just disdain, Once more did I retire into myself. 830 There feeling no contentment, I resolved To fly, for safeguard, to some foreign shore, Remote from Europe; from her blasted hopes; Her fields of carnage, and polluted air. 834

"Fresh blew the wind, when o'er the Atlantic Main The ship went gliding with her thoughtless crew; And who among them but an Exile, freed From discontent, indifferent, pleased to sit Among the busily-employed, not more With obligation charged, with service taxed, 840 Than the loose pendant--to the idle wind Upon the tall mast streaming. But, ye Powers Of soul and sense mysteriously allied, O, never let the Wretched, if a choice Be left him, trust the freight of his distress 845 To a long voyage on the silent deep! For, like a plague, will memory break out; And, in the blank and solitude of things, Upon his spirit, with a fever's strength, Will conscience prey.--Feebly must they have felt 850 Who, in old time, attired with snakes and whips The vengeful Furies. _Beautiful_ regards Were turned on me--the face of her I loved; The Wife and Mother pitifully fixing Tender reproaches, insupportable! 855 Where now that boasted liberty? No welcome From unknown objects I received; and those, Known and familiar, which the vaulted sky Did, in the placid clearness of the night, Disclose, had accusations to prefer 860 Against my peace. Within the cabin stood That volume--as a compass for the soul-- Revered among the nations. I implored Its guidance; but the infallible support Of faith was wanting. Tell me, why refused 865 To One by storms annoyed and adverse winds; Perplexed with currents; of his weakness sick; Of vain endeavours tired; and by his own, And by his nature's, ignorance, dismayed! 869

"Long wished-for sight, the Western World appeared; And, when the ship was moored, I leaped ashore Indignantly--resolved to be a man, Who, having o'er the past no power, would live No longer in subjection to the past, With abject mind--from a tyrannic lord 875 Inviting penance, fruitlessly endured: So, like a fugitive, whose feet have cleared Some boundary, which his followers may not cross In prosecution of their deadly chase, Respiring I looked round.--How bright the sun, 880 The breeze how soft! Can any thing produced[274] In the old World compare, thought I, for power And majesty with this gigantic stream, Sprung from the desert?[DQ] And behold a city 884 Fresh, youthful, and aspiring![DR] What are these To me, or I to them? As much at least As he desires that they should be, whom winds And waves have wafted to this distant shore, In the condition of a damaged seed, Whose fibres cannot, if they would, take root. 890 Here may I roam at large;--my business is, Roaming at large, to observe, and not to feel And, therefore, not to act--convinced that all Which bears the name of action, howsoe'er Beginning, ends in servitude--still painful, 895 And mostly profitless. And, sooth to say, On nearer view, a motley spectacle Appeared, of high pretensions--unreproved But by the obstreperous voice of higher still; Big passions strutting on a petty stage; 900 Which a detached spectator may regard Not unamused.--But ridicule demands Quick change of objects; and, to laugh alone, At a composing distance[275] from the haunts Of strife and folly, though it be a treat 905 As choice as musing Leisure can bestow; Yet, in the very centre of the crowd, To keep the secret of a poignant scorn, Howe'er to airy Demons suitable, Of all unsocial courses, is least fit[276] 910 For the gross spirit of mankind,--the one That soonest fails to please, and quickliest turns Into vexation. "Let us, then, I said, Leave this unknit Republic to the scourge Of her[277] own passions; and to regions haste, 915 Whose shades have never felt the encroaching axe, Or soil endured a transfer in the mart Of dire rapacity. There, Man abides, Primeval Nature's child. A creature weak In combination, (wherefore else driven back 920 So far, and of his old inheritance So easily deprived?) but, for that cause, More dignified, and stronger in himself; Whether to act, judge, suffer, or enjoy. True, the intelligence of social art 925 Hath overpowered his forefathers, and soon Will sweep the remnant of his line away; But contemplations, worthier, nobler far Than her destructive energies, attend His independence, when along the side 930 Of Mississippi, or that northern stream[DS] That[278] spreads into successive seas,[DT] he walks; Pleased to perceive his own unshackled life, And his innate capacities of soul, There imaged: or when, having gained the top 935 Of some commanding eminence, which yet Intruder ne'er beheld, he thence surveys Regions of wood and wide savannah, vast Expanse of unappropriated earth, With mind that sheds a light on what he sees; 940 Free as the sun, and lonely as the sun, Pouring above his head its radiance down Upon a living and rejoicing world!

"So, westward, tow'rd the unviolated woods I bent my way; and, roaming far and wide, 945 Failed not to greet the merry Mocking-bird;[DU] And, while the melancholy Muccawiss (The sportive bird's companion in the grove) Repeated, o'er and o'er, his plaintive cry,[DV] I sympathised at leisure with the sound; 950 But that pure archetype of human greatness, I found him not. There, in his stead, appeared A creature, squalid, vengeful, and impure; Remorseless, and submissive to no law But superstitious fear, and abject sloth. 955

"Enough is told! Here am I--ye have heard What evidence I seek, and vainly seek; What from my fellow-beings I require, And either they have not to give, or I Lack virtue to receive; what I myself, 960 Too oft by wilful forfeiture, have lost[279] Nor can regain. How languidly I look Upon this visible fabric of the world, May be divined--perhaps it hath been said:-- But spare your pity, if there be in me 965 Aught that deserves respect: for I exist, Within myself, not comfortless.--The tenour Which my life holds, he readily may conceive Whoe'er hath stood to watch a mountain brook In some still passage of its course, and seen, 970 Within the depths of its capacious breast, Inverted trees, rocks, clouds, and azure sky;[280] And, on its glassy surface, specks of foam, And conglobated bubbles undissolved, Numerous as stars; that, by their onward lapse, 975 Betray to sight the motion of the stream, Else imperceptible. Meanwhile, is heard A softened roar, or murmur;[281] and the sound Though soothing, and the little floating isles Though beautiful, are both by Nature charged 980 With the same pensive office; and make known Through what perplexing labyrinths, abrupt Precipitations, and untoward straits, The earth-born wanderer hath passed; and quickly, That respite o'er, like traverses and toils 985 Must he again encounter.[282]--Such a stream Is human Life; and so the Spirit fares In the best quiet to her[283] course allowed; And such is mine,--save only for a hope That my particular current soon will reach 990 The unfathomable gulf, where all is still!"

VARIANTS:

[Footnote 211: 1827.

... the ... 1814. ]

[Footnote 212: 1836.

A place of refuge seeking ... 1814. ]

[Footnote 213: 1827.

... it draws its ... 1814. ]

[Footnote 214: 1814.

... his ... 1832.

1845 returns to 1814. ]

[Footnote 215: 1827.

... At the word We followed where he led:--a sudden turn 1814. ]

[Footnote 216: 1827.

...yet thereon appeared Conspicuously stationed, one fair Plant, 1814. ]

[Footnote 217: 1827.

...which ... 1814. ]

[Footnote 218: 1827.

You have decried, in no unseemly terms Of modesty, that wealth which is your own. 1814. ]

[Footnote 219: 1827.

I cannot but incline to a belief That in these shows ... 1814. ]

[Footnote 220: 1827.

... should perhaps have blamed myself, 1814. ]

[Footnote 221: 1827.

... lurked 1814. ]

[Footnote 222: 1827.

... look around me, 1814. ]

[Footnote 223: 1827.

... deemed, Is He (if such have ever entered here) The wandering Herbalist,-- ... 1814. ]

[Footnote 224: 1827.

... vexing thoughts, Casts on these uncouth Forms ... 1814. ]

[Footnote 225: 1827.

Of every luckless rock or stone that stands Before his sight, by weather-stains disguised, Or crusted o'er with vegetation thin, Nature's first growth, ... 1814. ]

[Footnote 226: 1827.

Doth to the substance give some barbarous name, Then ... 1814. ]

[Footnote 227: 1845.

... if haply interveined 1814. ]

[Footnote 228: 1827.

This earnest Pair may range from hill to hill, And, ... 1814. ]

[Footnote 229: 1845.

... no pain is in their sport." 1814. ]

[Footnote 230: 1827.

Framed ... 1814. ]

[Footnote 231: 1814.

Nor for ... 1827.

The text of 1845 returns to that of 1814.]

[Footnote 232: 1827.

As sound; with that blithe race who wore erewhile Their golden Grasshoppers, in sign that they Had sprung from out the soil whereon they dwelt. 1814. ]

[Footnote 233: 1827.

On serious minds; for doubtless, in one sense, The theme _is_ serious; then, as Hindoos draw 1814. ]

[Footnote 234: 1827.

... its ... 1814. ]

[Footnote 235: 1827.

... or, if such may seem Its tendency, to be engulphed and lost 1814. ]

[Footnote 236: 1827.

... thereby ... 1814. ]

[Footnote 237: 1845.

... be ... 1814. ]

[Footnote 238: 1814.

Embellished by sweet flowers, by springs refreshed. C. ]

[Footnote 239: 1836.

Thus I exclaimed, "no sadness sheds on me, 1814. ]

[Footnote 240: 1827.

Yes," said I, "shall the immunities to which She doth lay claim, the precepts she bestows, 1814. ]

[Footnote 241: 1827.

Did place, in ... 1814. ]

[Footnote 242: 1845.

... memory are as one; Earth quiet and unchanged; the human Soul 1814. ]

[Footnote 243: 1845.

Such was their scheme:--thrice happy he who gained The end proposed! And,--though the same were missed By multitudes, perhaps obtained by none,-- They, for the attempt, and for the pains employed, 1814. ]

[Footnote 244: 1832.

... its ... 1814. ]

[Footnote 245: 1836.

But that which was serene ... 1814. ]

[Footnote 246: Italics were first used in 1836.]

[Footnote 247: 1827.

Sharp contradictions hourly shall arise To cross the way; and we, perchance, by doom Of this same life, shall be compelled to grieve 1814. ]

[Footnote 248: Italics were first used in 1832.]

[Footnote 249: 1827.

With sorrowful events; and we, who heard And saw, were moved. Desirous to divert, 1814.

With trouble, conflict that he seeks and shuns With the same breath, desirous to divert C. ]

[Footnote 250: 1827.

... which seemed A nook for self-examination framed, 1814. ]

[Footnote 251: 1827.

Towards ... 1814. ]

[Footnote 252: 1836.

... thus his speech ... 1814. ]

[Footnote 253: 1836.

I would not yet be ... 1814. ]

[Footnote 254: 1827.

... its ... 1814. ]

[Footnote 255: 1827.

Of willingness with which ... 1814. ]

[Footnote 256: 1845.

But in due season Nature interfered, And called my Partner to resign her share In the pure freedom of that wedded life, 1814.

But Nature called my Partner to resign Her share in the pure freedom of that life, 1827. ]

[Footnote 257: 1845.

Draws imperceptibly its nourishment,-- 1814. ]

[Footnote 258: 1845.

... of sex, By the endearing names of nature bound, And with ... 1814. ]

[Footnote 259: 1836.

... not swerving ... 1814. ]

[Footnote 260: 1827.

... which ... 1814. ]

[Footnote 261: 1814.

... process ... 1850. ]

[Footnote 262: 1845.

... imperceptible, 1814. ]

[Footnote 263: 1845.

From us, to regions inaccessible; 1814. ]

[Footnote 264: 1845.

... on which ... 1814. ]

[Footnote 265: 1832.

"Be rich by mutual and reflected wealth." 1814. ]

[Footnote 266: 1827.

... itself ... 1814. ]

[Footnote 267: 1840.

... the ... 1814. ]

[Footnote 268: 1827.

... which ... 1814. ]

[Footnote 269: 1827.

... simple ... 1814. ]

[Footnote 270: 1827.

And qualities determined.--Ruling such, And with such herding, I maintained a strife 1814.

]

[Footnote 271: 1836.

Whate'er 1814. ]

[Footnote 272: 1827.

Beheld a cherished image of itself. 1814.

Beheld a seductive image of herself. MS. ]

[Footnote 273: 1827.

... for I strangely relished The exasperated spirit of that Land, Which turned an angry beak against the down Of its own breast; as if it hoped, thereby, To disencumber its impatient wings. 1814. ]

[Footnote 274: 1845.

How promising the Breeze! Can aught produced 1814. ]

[Footnote 275: 1827.

... and, to laugh alone, In woods and wilds, or any lonely place, At a composing distance ... 1814. ]

[Footnote 276: 1827.

May suit an airy Demon; but, of all Unsocial courses, 'tis the one least fit 1814. ]

[Footnote 277: 1827.

... its ... 1814. ]

[Footnote 278: 1827.

Which ... 1814. ]

[Footnote 279: 1845.