Part 19

"How gay the habitations that bedeck[455] This fertile valley! Not a house but seems To give assurance of content within;[GN] Embosomed happiness, and placid love; As if the sunshine of the day were met 415 With answering brightness in the hearts of all Who walk this favoured ground. But chance-regards, And notice forced upon incurious ears; These, if these only, acting in despite Of the encomiums by my Friend pronounced 420 On humble life, forbid the judging mind To trust the smiling aspect of this fair And noiseless commonwealth. The simple race Of mountaineers (by nature's self removed From foul temptations, and by constant care 425 Of a good shepherd tended as themselves Do tend their flocks) partake man's general lot[456] With little mitigation. They escape, Perchance, the heavier woes of guilt; feel not[457] The tedium of fantastic idleness: 430 Yet life, as with the multitude, with them Is fashioned like an ill-constructed tale; That on the outset wastes its gay desires, Its fair adventures, its enlivening hopes, And pleasant interests--for the sequel leaving 435 Old things repeated with diminished grace; And all the laboured novelties at best Imperfect substitutes, whose use and power Evince the want and weakness whence they spring."

While in this serious mood we held discourse, 440 The reverend Pastor toward[458] the church-yard gate Approached; and, with a mild respectful air Of native cordiality, our Friend Advanced to greet him. With a gracious mien Was he received, and mutual joy prevailed. 445 Awhile they stood in conference, and I guess That he, who now upon the mossy wall Sate by my side, had vanished, if a wish Could have transferred him to the flying clouds, Or the least penetrable hiding-place 450 In his own valley's rocky guardianship.[459] --For me, I looked upon the pair, well pleased: Nature had framed them both, and both were marked By circumstance, with intermixture fine Of contrast and resemblance. To an oak 455 Hardy and grand, a weather-beaten oak, Fresh in the strength and majesty of age, One might be likened: flourishing appeared, Though somewhat past the fulness of his prime, The other--like a stately sycamore,[GO] 460 That spreads, in gentle[460] pomp, its honied shade.

A general greeting was exchanged; and soon The Pastor learned that his approach had given A welcome interruption to discourse Grave, and in truth too[461] often sad.--"Is Man 465 A child of hope? Do generations press On generations, without progress made? Halts the individual, ere his hairs be grey, Perforce? Are we a creature in whom good Preponderates, or evil? Doth the will 470 Acknowledge reason's law? A living power Is virtue, or no better than a name, Fleeting as health or beauty, and unsound? So that the only substance which remains, (For thus the tenor of complaint hath run) 475 Among so many shadows, are the pains And penalties of miserable life, Doomed to decay, and then expire in dust! --Our cogitations this way have been drawn, 479 These are the points," the Wanderer said, "on which Our inquest turns.--Accord, good Sir! the light Of your experience to dispel this gloom: By your persuasive wisdom shall the heart That frets, or languishes, be stilled and cheered.

"Our nature," said the Priest, in mild reply, 485 "Angels may weigh and fathom: they perceive, With undistempered and unclouded spirit, The object as it is; but, for ourselves, That speculative height _we_ may not reach. The good and evil are our own; and we 490 Are that which we would contemplate from far. Knowledge, for us, is difficult to gain-- Is difficult to gain, and hard to keep-- As virtue's self; like virtue is beset With snares; tried, tempted, subject to decay. 495 Love, admiration, fear, desire, and hate, Blind were we without these; through these alone Are capable to notice or discern Or to record; we judge, but cannot be Indifferent judges. 'Spite of proudest boast, 500 Reason, best reason, is to imperfect man An effort only, and a noble aim; A crown, an attribute of sovereign power, Still to be courted--never to be won. --Look forth, or each man dive into himself; 505 What sees he but a creature too perturbed; That is transported to excess; that yearns, Regrets, or trembles, wrongly, or too much; Hopes rashly, in disgust as rash recoils; Battens on spleen, or moulders in despair? 510 Thus comprehension fails, and truth is missed; Thus darkness[462] and delusion round our path Spread, from disease, whose subtle injury lurks Within the very faculty of sight.

"Yet for the general purposes of faith 515 In Providence, for solace and support, We may not doubt that who can best subject The will to reason's law, can[463] strictliest live And act in that obedience, he shall gain The clearest apprehension of those truths, 520 Which unassisted reason's utmost power Is too infirm to reach. But, waiving this, And our regards confining within bounds Of less exalted consciousness, through which The very multitude are free to range, 525 We safely may affirm that human life Is either fair and[464] tempting, a soft scene Grateful to sight, refreshing to the soul, Or a forbidden[465] tract of cheerless view; Even as the same is looked at, or approached. 530 Thus, when in changeful April fields are white With new-fallen snow, if from the sullen north Your walk conduct you hither, ere the sun Hath gained his noontide height, this churchyard, filled With mounds[466] transversely lying side by side 535 From east to west, before you will appear An unillumined, blank, and dreary, plain,[467] With more than wintry cheerlessness and gloom Saddening the heart. Go forward, and look back; Look,[468] from the quarter whence the lord of light, 540 Of life, of love, and gladness doth dispense His beams; which, unexcluded in their fall, Upon the southern side of every grave Have gently exercised a melting power; _Then_ will a vernal prospect greet your eye, 545 All fresh and beautiful, and green and bright, Hopeful and cheerful:--vanished is the pall That overspread and chilled the sacred turf, Vanished or hidden;[469] and the whole domain, To some, too lightly minded, might appear 550 A meadow carpet for the dancing hours.[GP] --This contrast, not unsuitable to life, Is to that other state more apposite, Death and its two-fold aspect! wintry--one, Cold, sullen, blank, from hope and joy shut out; 555 The other, which the ray divine hath touched, Replete with vivid promise, bright as spring."

"We see, then, as we feel," the Wanderer thus With a complacent animation spake, "And in your judgment, Sir! the mind's repose 560 On evidence is not to be ensured By act of naked reason. Moral truth Is no mechanic structure, built by rule; And which, once built, retains a stedfast shape And undisturbed proportions; but a thing 565 Subject, you deem, to vital accidents; And, like the water-lily, lives and thrives, Whose root is fixed in stable earth, whose head Floats on the tossing waves. With joy sincere I re-salute these sentiments confirmed 570 By your authority. But how acquire The inward principle that gives effect To outward argument; the passive will Meek to admit; the active energy, Strong and unbounded to embrace, and firm 575 To keep and cherish? how shall man unite With[470] self-forgetting tenderness of heart An[471] earth-despising dignity of soul? Wise in that union, and without it blind!"

"The way," said I, "to court, if not obtain 580 The ingenuous mind, apt to be set aright; This, in the lonely dell discoursing, you Declared at large; and by what exercise From visible nature, or the inner self Power may be trained, and renovation brought 585 To those who need the gift. But, after all, Is aught so certain as that man is doomed To breathe beneath a vault of ignorance? The natural roof of that dark house in which His soul is pent! How little can be known-- 590 This is the wise man's sigh; how far we err-- This is the good man's not unfrequent pang! And they perhaps err least, the lowly class Whom a benign necessity compels To follow reason's least ambitious course; 595 Such do I mean who, unperplexed by doubt, And unincited by a wish to look Into high objects farther than they may, Pace to and fro, from morn till even-tide, The narrow avenue of daily toil 600 For daily bread." "Yes," buoyantly exclaimed The pale Recluse--"praise to the sturdy plough, And patient spade; praise to the simple crook,[472] And ponderous loom--resounding while it holds Body and mind in one captivity; 605 And let the light mechanic tool be hailed With honour; which, encasing by the power Of long companionship, the artist's hand, Cuts off that hand, with all its world of nerves, From a too busy commerce with the heart! 610 --Inglorious implements of craft and toil, Both ye that shape and build, and ye that force, By slow solicitation, earth to yield Her annual bounty, sparingly dealt forth With wise reluctance; you would I extol, 615 Not for gross good alone which ye produce, But for the impertinent and ceaseless strife Of proofs and reasons ye preclude--in those Who to your dull society are born, And with their humble birthright rest content. 620 --Would I had ne'er renounced it!" A slight flush Of moral anger previously had tinged The old Man's cheek; but, at this closing turn Of self-reproach, it passed away. Said he, "That which we feel we utter; as we think 625 So have we argued; reaping for our pains No visible recompense. For our relief You," to the Pastor turning thus he spake, "Have kindly interposed. May I entreat Your further help? The mine of real life 630 Dig for us; and present us, in the shape Of virgin ore, that gold which we, by pains Fruitless as those of aëry alchemists, Seek from the torturing crucible. There lies Around us a domain where you have long 635 Watched both the outward course and inner heart:[473] Give us, for our abstractions, solid facts; For our disputes, plain pictures. Say what man He is who cultivates yon hanging field; What qualities of mind she bears, who comes, 640 For morn and evening service, with her pail, To that green pasture;[GQ] place before our sight The family who dwell within yon house Fenced round with glittering laurel;[GR] or in that Below, from which the curling smoke ascends. 645 Or rather, as we stand on holy earth, And have the dead around us,[GS] take from them Your instances; for they are both best known, And by frail man most equitably judged. Epitomise the life; pronounce, you can, 650 Authentic epitaphs on some of these Who, from their lowly mansions hither brought, Beneath this turf lie mouldering at our feet: So, by your records, may our doubts be solved; And so, not searching higher, we may learn 655 _To prize the breath we share with human kind; And look upon the dust of man with awe._"[474]

The Priest replied--"An office you impose For which peculiar requisites are mine; Yet much, I feel, is wanting--else the task 660 Would be most grateful. True indeed it is That they whom death has hidden from our sight Are worthiest of the mind's regard; with these The future cannot contradict the past: Mortality's last exercise and proof 665 Is undergone; the transit made that shows The very Soul, revealed as she[475] departs. Yet, on your first suggestion, will I give, Ere we descend into these silent vaults, One picture from the living. "You behold, 670 High on the breast of yon dark mountain, dark With stony barrenness,[GT] a shining speck Bright as a sunbeam sleeping till a shower Brush it away, or cloud pass over it; 674 And such it might be deemed--a sleeping sunbeam; But 'tis a plot of cultivated ground, Cut off, an island in the dusky waste; And that attractive brightness is its own. The lofty site, by nature framed to tempt Amid a wilderness of rocks and stones 680 The tiller's hand, a hermit might have chosen, For opportunity presented, thence Far forth to send his wandering eye o'er land And ocean, and look down upon the works, The habitations, and the ways of men, 685 Himself unseen! But no tradition tells That ever hermit dipped his maple dish In the sweet spring that lurks 'mid yon green fields; And no such visionary views belong To those who occupy and till the ground, 690 High on that mountain where they long have dwelt[476] A wedded pair in childless solitude. A house of stones collected on the spot, By rude hands built, with rocky knolls in front, Backed also by a ledge of rock, whose crest 695 Of birch-trees waves over the chimney top; A rough abode--in colour, shape, and size,[477] Such as in unsafe times of border-war Might have been wished for and contrived, to elude The eye of roving plunderer--for their need 700 Suffices; and unshaken bears the assault Of their most dreaded foe, the strong South-west In anger blowing from the distant sea. --Alone within her solitary hut; There, or within the compass of her fields, 705 At any moment may the Dame be found, True as the stock-dove to her shallow nest And to the grove that holds it. She beguiles By intermingled work of house and field The summer's day, and winter's; with success 710 Not equal, but sufficient to maintain, Even at the worst, a smooth stream of content, Until the expected hour at which her Mate From the far-distant quarry's vault returns; And by his converse crowns a silent day 715 With evening cheerfulness. In powers of mind, In scale of culture, few among my flock[478] Hold lower rank than this sequestered pair: But true humility descends from heaven;[479] And that best gift of heaven hath fallen on them; 720 Abundant recompense for every want. --Stoop from your height, ye proud, and copy these! Who, in their noiseless dwelling-place, can hear The voice of wisdom whispering scripture texts For the mind's government, or temper's peace; 725 And recommending for their mutual need, Forgiveness, patience, hope, and charity!"

"Much was I pleased," the grey-haired Wanderer said, "When to those shining fields our notice first You turned; and yet more pleased have from your lips Gathered this fair report of them[480] who dwell 731 In that retirement; whither, by such course Of evil hap and good as oft awaits A tired way-faring man, once _I_ was brought While traversing alone yon mountain pass. 735 Dark on my road the autumnal evening fell,[481] And night succeeded with unusual gloom,[482] So hazardous that feet and hands became[483] Guides better than mine eyes--until a light High in the gloom appeared, too high, methought, 740 For human habitation; but I longed To reach it, destitute of other hope. I looked with steadiness as sailors look On the north star, or watch-tower's distant lamp, And saw the light--now fixed--and shifting now--[GU] 745 Not like a dancing meteor, but in line Of never-varying motion, to and fro. It is no night-fire of the naked hills, Thought I[484]--some friendly covert must be near. With this persuasion thitherward my steps 750 I turn, and reach at last the guiding light; Joy to myself! but to the heart of her Who there was standing on the open hill, (The same kind Matron whom your tongue hath praised) Alarm and disappointment! The alarm 755 Ceased, when she learned through what mishap I came, And by what help had gained those distant fields. Drawn from her cottage, on that aëry[485] height, Bearing a lantern in her hand she stood, Or paced the ground--to guide her Husband home, 760 By that unwearied signal, kenned afar;[GV] An anxious duty! which the lofty site, Traversed but by a few irregular paths,[486] Imposes, whensoe'er untoward chance Detains him after his accustomed hour 765 Till night lies black upon the ground. 'But come, Come,' said the Matron, 'to our poor abode; Those dark rocks hide it!'[487] Entering, I beheld A blazing fire--beside a cleanly hearth Sate down; and to her office, with leave asked, 770 The Dame returned. "Or ere[488] that glowing pile Of mountain turf required the builder's hand Its wasted splendour to repair, the door Opened, and she re-entered with glad looks, Her Helpmate following. Hospitable fare, 775 Frank conversation, made the evening's treat: Need a bewildered traveller wish for more? But more was given; I studied as we sate By the bright fire, the good Man's form, and face Not less than beautiful;[489] an open brow 780 Of undisturbed humanity; a cheek Suffused with something of a feminine hue;[GW] Eyes beaming courtesy and mild regard; But, in the quicker turns of the discourse, Expression slowly varying, that evinced 785 A tardy apprehension. From a fount Lost, thought I, in the obscurities of time, But honoured once, those[490] features and that mien May have descended, though I see them here. In such a man, so gentle and subdued, 790 Withal so graceful in his gentleness, A race illustrious for heroic deeds, Humbled, but not degraded, may expire. This pleasing fancy (cherished and upheld By sundry recollections of such fall 795 From high to low, ascent from low to high, As books record, and even the careless mind Cannot but notice among men and things) Went with me to the place of my repose.[491]

"Roused by the crowing cock at dawn of day, 800 I yet had risen too late to interchange A morning salutation with my Host, Gone forth already to the far-off seat Of his day's work. 'Three dark mid-winter months 'Pass,' said the Matron, 'and I never see, 805 'Save when the sabbath brings its kind release, 'My helpmate's face by light of day. He quits 'His door in darkness, nor till dusk returns. 'And, through Heaven's[492] blessing, thus we gain the bread 'For which we pray; and for the wants provide 810 'Of sickness, accident, and helpless age. 'Companions have I many; many friends, 'Dependants, comforters--my wheel, my fire, 'All day the house-clock ticking in mine ear, 'The cackling hen, the tender chicken brood, 815 'And the wild birds that gather round my porch. 'This honest sheep-dog's countenance I read; 'With him can talk; nor blush to[493] waste a word 'On creatures less intelligent and shrewd. 'And if the blustering wind that drives the clouds 820 'Care not for me, he lingers round my door, 'And makes me pastime when our tempers suit;-- 'But, above all, my thoughts are my support, 'My comfort:--would that they were oftener fixed 'On what, for guidance in the way that leads 825 'To heaven, I know, by my Redeemer taught.' The Matron ended[494]--nor could I forbear To exclaim--'O happy! yielding to the law Of these privations, richer in the main!-- While thankless thousands are opprest and clogged 830 By ease and leisure; by the very wealth And pride of opportunity made poor; While tens of thousands falter in their path, And sink, through utter want of cheering light; For you the hours of labour do not flag; 835 For you each evening hath its shining star, And every sabbath-day its golden sun.'"