Part 15

"A piteous lot it were to flee from Man-- 575 Yet not rejoice in Nature. He, whose hours Are by domestic pleasures uncaressed And unenlivened; who exists whole years Apart from benefits received or done 'Mid the transactions of the bustling crowd; 580 Who neither hears, nor feels a wish to hear, Of the world's interests--such a one hath need Of a quick fancy and an active heart, That, for the day's consumption, books may yield Food not unwholesome; earth and air correct 585 His morbid humour, with delight supplied Or solace, varying as the seasons change.[352] --Truth has her pleasure-grounds, her haunts of ease And easy contemplation; gay parterres, And labyrinthine walks, her sunny glades 590 And shady groves in studied contrast--each, For recreation, leading into each:[353] These may he range, if willing to partake Their soft indulgences, and in due time May issue thence, recruited for the tasks 595 And course of service Truth requires from those Who tend her altars, wait upon her throne, And guard her fortresses. Who thinks, and feels, And recognises ever and anon The breeze of nature stirring in his soul, 600 Why need such man go desperately astray, And nurse 'the dreadful appetite of death?' If tired with systems, each in its degree Substantial, and all crumbling in their turn, Let him build systems of his own, and smile 605 At the fond work, demolished with a touch; If unreligious, let him be at once, Among ten thousand innocents, enrolled A pupil in the many-chambered school, Where superstition weaves her airy dreams. 610

"Life's autumn past, I stand on winter's verge; And daily lose what I desire to keep: Yet rather would I instantly decline To the traditionary sympathies Of a most rustic ignorance, and take 615 A fearful apprehension from the owl Or death-watch: and as readily rejoice, If two auspicious magpies crossed my way;-- To this would rather bend[354] than see and hear The repetitions wearisome of sense, 620 Where soul is dead, and feeling hath no place; Where knowledge, ill begun in cold remark On outward things, with formal inference ends; Or, if the mind turn inward, she recoils At once--or, not recoiling, is perplexed-- 625 Lost in a gloom of uninspired research;[355] Meanwhile, the heart within the heart, the seat Where peace and happy consciousness should dwell, On its own axis restlessly revolving, Seeks, yet can nowhere find, the light of truth.[356][EQ] 630

"Upon the breast of new-created earth Man walked; and when and wheresoe'er he moved, Alone or mated, solitude was not. He heard, borne on the wind,[357] the articulate voice Of God;[ER] and Angels to his sight appeared 635 Crowning the glorious hills of paradise; Or through the groves gliding like morning mist Enkindled by the sun. He sate--and talked With winged Messengers;[ES] who daily brought To his small island in the ethereal deep 640 Tidings of joy and love.--From those pure heights[358] (Whether of actual vision, sensible To sight and feeling, or that in this sort Have condescendingly been shadowed forth Communications spiritually maintained, 645 And intuitions moral and divine) Fell Human-kind--to banishment condemned[ET] That flowing years repealed not: and distress And grief spread wide;[EU] but Man escaped the doom Of destitution;--solitude was not. 650 --Jehovah[EV]--shapeless Power above all Powers, Single and one, the omnipresent God, By vocal utterance, or blaze of light, Or cloud of darkness, localised in heaven;[EW] On earth, enshrined within the wandering ark;[EX] 655 Or, out of Sion, thundering from his throne Between the Cherubim[EY]--on the chosen Race Showered miracles,[EZ] and ceased not to dispense Judgments, that filled the land from age to age With hope, and love, and gratitude, and fear;[FA] 660 And with amazement smote;--thereby to assert His scorned, or unacknowledged, sovereignty. And when the One, ineffable of name, Of[359] nature indivisible, withdrew From mortal adoration or regard, 665 Not then was Deity engulfed; nor Man, The rational creature, left, to feel the weight Of his own reason, without sense or thought Of higher reason and a purer will, To benefit and bless, through mightier power:-- 670 Whether the Persian--zealous to reject Altar and image, and the inclusive walls And roofs of temples built by human hands--[FB] To[360] loftiest heights ascending, from their tops, With myrtle-wreathed tiara on his brow,[361] 675 Presented sacrifice to moon and stars, And to the winds and mother elements, And the whole circle of the heavens, for him A sensitive existence, and a God,[FC] With lifted hands invoked, and songs of praise: 680 Or, less reluctantly to bonds of sense Yielding his soul, the Babylonian framed For influence undefined a personal shape; And, from the plain, with toil immense, upreared Tower eight times planted on the top of tower, 685 That Belus, nightly to his splendid couch Descending, there might rest;[FD] upon that height Pure and serene, diffused--to overlook[362] Winding Euphrates, and the city vast Of his devoted worshippers, far-stretched, 690 With grove and field and garden interspersed; Their town, and foodful region for support Against the pressure of beleaguering war.

"Chaldean Shepherds, ranging trackless fields, Beneath the concave of unclouded skies 695 Spread like a sea, in boundless solitude, Looked on the polar star, as on a guide And guardian of their course, that never closed His stedfast eye. The planetary Five[FE] With a submissive reverence they beheld; 700 Watched, from the centre of their sleeping flocks, Those radiant Mercuries,[FF] that seemed to move Carrying through ether, in perpetual round, Decrees and resolutions of the Gods; And, by their aspects, signifying works 705 Of dim futurity, to Man revealed. --The imaginative faculty was lord Of observations natural; and, thus Led on, those shepherds made report of stars In set rotation passing to and fro, 710 Between the orbs of our apparent sphere And its invisible counterpart, adorned With answering constellations, under earth, Removed from all approach of living sight But present to the dead; who, so they deemed, 715 Like those celestial messengers beheld All accidents, and judges were of all.

"The lively Grecian, in a land of hills, Rivers and fertile plains, and sounding shores,--[FG] Under a cope of sky more variable,[363] 720 Could find commodious place for every God, Promptly received, as prodigally brought, From the surrounding countries, at the choice Of all adventurers. With unrivalled skill, As nicest observation furnished hints 725 For studious fancy, his quick hand bestowed[364] On fluent operations a fixed shape; Metal or stone, idolatrously served. And yet--triumphant o'er this pompous show Of art, this palpable array of sense, 730 On every side encountered; in despite Of the gross fictions chanted in the streets By wandering Rhapsodists;[FH] and in contempt Of doubt and bold denial[365] hourly urged Amid the wrangling schools--a SPIRIT hung, 735 Beautiful region! o'er thy towns and farms, Statues and temples, and memorial tombs; And emanations were perceived; and acts Of immortality, in Nature's course, Exemplified by mysteries, that were felt 740 As bonds, on grave philosopher imposed And armed warrior; and in every grove A gay or pensive tenderness prevailed, When piety more awful had relaxed. 744 --'Take, running river, take these locks of mine'-- Thus would the Votary say--'this severed hair, 'My vow fulfilling, do I here present, 'Thankful for my beloved child's return. 'Thy banks, Cephisus, he again hath trod,[FI] 749 'Thy murmurs heard; and drunk the crystal lymph 'With which thou dost refresh the thirsty lip, 'And, all day long, moisten[366] these flowery fields!' And, doubtless, sometimes, when the hair was shed Upon the flowing stream, a thought arose Of Life continuous, Being unimpaired; 755 That hath been, is, and where it was and is There shall endure,--existence unexposed[367] To the blind walk of mortal accident; From diminution safe and weakening age; While man grows old, and dwindles, and decays; 760 And countless generations of mankind Depart; and leave no vestige where they trod.

"We live by Admiration, Hope, and Love; And, even as these are well and wisely fixed, In dignity of being we ascend. 765 But what is error?"--"Answer he who can!" The Sceptic somewhat haughtily exclaimed: "Love, Hope, and Admiration--are they not Mad Fancy's favourite vassals? Does not life Use them, full oft, as pioneers to ruin, 770 Guides to destruction? Is it well to trust Imagination's light when reason's fails, The unguarded taper where the guarded faints? --Stoop from those heights, and soberly declare What error is; and, of our errors, which 775 Doth most debase the mind; the genuine seats Of power, where are they? Who shall regulate, With truth, the scale of intellectual rank?"

"Methinks," persuasively the Sage replied, "That for this arduous office you possess 780 Some rare advantages. Your early days A grateful recollection must supply Of much exalted good by Heaven vouchsafed To dignify the humblest state.[368]--Your voice Hath, in my hearing, often testified 785 That poor men's children, they, and they alone, By their condition taught, can understand The wisdom of the prayer that daily asks For daily bread. A consciousness is yours How feelingly religion may be learned 790 In smoky cabins, from a mother's tongue-- Heard while the dwelling vibrates to the din Of the contiguous torrent, gathering strength At every moment--and, with strength, increase Of fury; or, while snow is at the door, 795 Assaulting and defending, and the wind, A sightless labourer, whistles at his work-- Fearful; but resignation tempers fear, And piety is sweet to infant minds. 799 --The Shepherd-lad, that[369] in the sunshine carves, On the green turf, a dial[FJ]--to divide The silent hours; and who to that report Can portion out his pleasures, and adapt, Throughout a long and lonely summer's day His round[370] of pastoral duties, is not left 805 With less intelligence for _moral_ things Of gravest import. Early he perceives, Within himself, a measure and a rule, Which to the sun of truth he can apply, That shines for him, and shines for all mankind. 810 Experience daily fixing his regards On nature's wants, he knows how few they are, And where they lie, how answered and appeased. This knowledge ample recompense affords For manifold privations; he refers 815 His notions to this standard; on this rock Rests his desires; and hence, in after life, Soul-strengthening patience, and sublime content. Imagination--not permitted here To waste her powers, as in the worldling's mind, 820 On fickle pleasures, and superfluous cares, And trivial ostentation--is left free And puissant to range the solemn walks Of time and nature, girded by a zone That, while it binds, invigorates and supports. 825 Acknowledge, then, that whether by the side Of his poor hut, or on the mountain top, Or in the cultured field, a Man so bred[371] (Take from him what you will upon the score Of ignorance or illusion) lives and breathes 830 For noble purposes of mind: his heart Beats to the heroic song of ancient days; His eye distinguishes, his soul creates, And those illusions, which excite the scorn Or move the pity of unthinking minds, 835 Are they not mainly outward ministers Of inward conscience? with whose service charged They came and go, appeared and disappear,[372] Diverting evil purposes, remorse Awakening, chastening an intemperate grief, 840 Or pride of heart abating: and, whene'er For less important ends those phantoms move, Who would forbid them, if their presence serve, On thinly-peopled mountains and wild heaths,[373] Filling a space, else vacant, to exalt 845 The forms of Nature, and enlarge her powers?

"Once more to distant ages of the world Let us revert, and place before our thoughts The face which rural solitude might wear To the unenlightened swains of pagan Greece.[374] 850 --In that fair clime, the lonely herdsman, stretched On the soft grass through half a summer's day, With music lulled his indolent repose: And, in some fit of weariness, if he, When his own breath was silent, chanced to hear 855 A distant strain, far sweeter than the sounds Which his poor skill could make, his fancy fetched, Even from the blazing chariot of the sun, A beardless Youth, who touched a golden lute,[FK] And filled the illumined groves with ravishment. 860 The nightly hunter, lifting a bright eye Up towards the crescent moon,[375] with grateful heart Called on the lovely wanderer who bestowed That timely light, to share his joyous sport:[376] And hence, a beaming Goddess with her Nymphs,[FL] 865 Across the lawn and through the darksome grove, Not unaccompanied with tuneful notes By echo multiplied from rock or cave, Swept in the storm of chase; as moon and stars Glance rapidly along the clouded heaven,[377] 870 When winds are blowing strong. The traveller slaked His thirst from rill or gushing fount, and thanked The Naiad.[FM] Sunbeams, upon distant hills Gliding apace, with shadows in their train, Might, with small help from fancy, be transformed 875 Into fleet Oreads[FM] sporting visibly. The Zephyrs[FM] fanning, as they passed, their wings, Lacked not, for love, fair objects whom they wooed With gentle whisper. Withered boughs grotesque, Stripped of their leaves and twigs by hoary age, 880 From depth of shaggy covert peeping forth In the low vale, or on steep mountain side; And, sometimes, intermixed with stirring horns Of the live deer, or goat's depending beard,-- These were the lurking Satyrs,[FM] a wild brood 885 Of gamesome Deities; or Pan himself, The simple shepherd's awe-inspiring God!"

The strain was aptly chosen; and I could mark[378] Its kindly influence, o'er[379] the yielding brow Of our Companion, gradually diffused; 890 While, listening, he had paced the noiseless turf, Like one whose untired ear a murmuring stream Detains; but tempted now to interpose, He with a smile exclaimed:--

"'Tis well you speak At a safe distance from our native land, 895 And from the mansions where our youth was taught. The true descendants of those godly men Who swept from Scotland, in a flame of zeal, Shrine, altar, image, and the massy piles That harboured them,--the souls retaining yet 900 The churlish features of that after-race Who fled to woods, caverns, and jutting rocks,[380] In deadly scorn of superstitious rites, Or what their scruples construed to be such-- How, think you, would they tolerate this scheme 905 Of fine propensities, that tends, if urged Far as it might be urged, to sow afresh The weeds of Romish phantasy, in vain Uprooted; would re-consecrate our wells To good Saint Fillan[FN] and to fair Saint Anne; 910 And from long banishment recal Saint Giles,[FO] To watch again with tutelary love O'er stately Edinborough throned on crags? A blessed restoration,[FP] to behold The patron, on the shoulders of his priests, 915 Once more parading through her crowded streets Now simply guarded by the sober powers Of science, and philosophy, and sense!"

This answer followed.--"You have turned my thoughts Upon our brave Progenitors, who rose 920 Against idolatry with warlike mind, And shrunk from vain observances, to lurk In woods, and dwell under impending rocks Ill-sheltered, and oft wanting fire and food;[381] Why?--for this very reason that they felt, 925 And did acknowledge, wheresoe'er they moved, A spiritual presence, oft-times misconceived, But still a high dependence, a divine Bounty and government, that filled their hearts With joy, and gratitude, and fear, and love; 930 And from their fervent lips drew hymns of praise, That through the desert rang.[382] Though favoured less, Far less, than these, yet such, in their degree, Were those bewildered Pagans of old time. Beyond their own poor natures and above 935 They looked; were humbly thankful for the good Which the warm sun solicited, and earth Bestowed; were gladsome,--and their moral sense They fortified with reverence for the Gods; And they had hopes that overstepped the Grave. 940

"Now, shall our great Discoverers," he exclaimed, Raising his voice triumphantly, "obtain From sense and reason less than these obtained, Though far misled? Shall men for whom our age Unbaffled powers of vision hath prepared, 945 To explore the world without and world within, Be joyless as the blind? Ambitious spirits--[383] Whom earth, at this late season, hath produced To regulate the moving spheres, and weigh The planets in the hollow of their hand; 950 And they who rather dive than soar, whose pains Have solved the elements, or analysed The thinking principle--shall they in fact Prove a degraded Race? and what avails Renown, if their presumption make them such? 955 Oh! there is laughter at their work in heaven! Inquire of ancient Wisdom; go, demand Of mighty Nature, if 'twas ever meant That we should pry far off yet be unraised; That we should pore, and dwindle as we pore, 960 Viewing all objects unremittingly In disconnexion dead and spiritless; And still dividing, and dividing still, Break down all grandeur, still unsatisfied With the perverse attempt, while littleness 965 May yet become more little; waging thus An impious warfare with the very life Of our own souls! "And if indeed there be An all-pervading Spirit, upon whom Our dark foundations rest, could he design 970 That this[384] magnificent effect of power, The earth we tread, the sky that[385] we behold By day, and all the pomp which night reveals; That these--and that superior mystery Our vital frame, so fearfully devised, 975 And the dread soul within it--should exist Only to be examined, pondered, searched, Probed, vexed, and criticised?[FR]--Accuse me not Of arrogance, unknown Wanderer as I am, If, having walked with Nature threescore years, 980 And offered, far as frailty would allow, My heart a daily sacrifice to Truth, I now affirm of Nature and of Truth, Whom I have served, that their DIVINITY Revolts, offended at the ways of men 985 Swayed by such motives, to such ends[386] employed; Philosophers, who, though the human soul Be[387] of a thousand faculties composed, And twice ten thousand interests, do yet prize This soul, and the transcendent universe, 990 No more than as a mirror that reflects To proud Self-love her own intelligence; That one, poor, finite object, in the abyss Of infinite Being, twinkling restlessly!

"Nor higher place can be assigned to him 995 And his compeers--the laughing Sage of France.--[FS] Crowned was he, if my memory do[388] not err, With laurel planted upon hoary hairs, In sign of conquest by his wit achieved And benefits his wisdom had conferred; 1000 His stooping body tottered with wreaths of flowers[FT] Opprest, far less becoming ornaments Than Spring oft twines about a mouldering tree;[389] Yet so it pleased a fond, a vain, old Man, And a most frivolous people. Him I mean 1005 Who penned,[390] to ridicule confiding faith, This sorry Legend; which by chance we found Piled in a nook, through malice, as might seem, Among more innocent rubbish."--Speaking thus, With a brief notice when, and how, and where, 1010 We had espied the book, he drew it forth; And courteously, as if the act removed, At once, all traces from the good Man's heart Of unbenign aversion or contempt, Restored it to its owner. "Gentle Friend," 1015 Herewith he grasped the Solitary's hand, "You have known lights and guides better than these.[391] Ah! let not aught amiss within dispose A noble mind to practise on herself, And tempt opinion to support the wrongs 1020 Of passion: whatsoe'er be[392] felt or feared, From higher judgment-seats make no appeal To lower: can you question that the soul Inherits an allegiance, not by choice To be cast off, upon an oath proposed 1025 By each new upstart notion? In the ports Of levity no refuge can be found, No shelter, for a spirit in distress. He, who by wilful disesteem of life And proud insensibility to hope, 1030 Affronts the eye of Solitude, shall learn That her mild nature can be terrible; That neither she nor Silence lack the power To avenge their own insulted majesty.