Part 31

[Footnote KC: The foundation of Thebes was ascribed to the mythical Manes. The ground on which it stood was large enough to contain a city equal in extent with ancient Rome, or modern Paris; ... an immense area was covered with Temples, and their avenues of Sphinxes. (Cf. Diodorus, i. 40, 50. Strabo, xvii. pp. 805, 815 fol., and Smith's _Dictionary of Ancient Geography_.) _Tyre_, in Phœnicia, was built partly on an island and partly on the mainland. The island city "must have arisen in the period between Nebuchadnezzar and Alexander the Great."... "The western side of the island is now submerged, to the extent of more than a mile; and that this was once occupied by the city is shewn by the bases of columns which may still be discerned. Benjamin of Tudela mentions that, in the end of the twelfth century, towns, markets, streets, and halls might be observed at the bottom of the sea." (Smith's _Dict. of Ancient Geography._) Palmyra, or Tadmor,--the city of palms,--was enlarged, if not built, by Solomon in the tenth century B.C. It is situated in a well-watered oasis, in the great Syrian desert. It was an independent city under the first Roman Emperors, and is called a _colonia_ on the coins of Caracalla. In 273 A.D. it had dwindled into an insignificant town. The ruins are inferior to those of Baalbec, but have a grandeur of their own. They are chiefly of the Corinthian order; although the most magnificent of them--_the Temple of the Sun_--is Ionic.--ED.]

[Footnote KD: I am indebted to the Rev. H. G. Woods, President of Trinity College, Oxford, for the following note on the tomb of Archimedes:--

"The tomb now shown at Syracuse as that of Archimedes corresponds pretty well in point of situation with Cicero's description ('Tusculan Disputations,' v. 23). It is a little distance to the west of the wall of Achradina, on the left of the road which mounts the slope of Epipolæ. I unfortunately cannot remember whether there were any traces of the sphere and cylinder inscribed on it, which Cicero mentions as there when he excavated it; but my impression at the time was, that its identity rested simply on a Ciceronic tradition, and that it was hardly more genuine than Virgil's tomb at Naples. The tomb itself resembled a number of other tombs near--among them, the reputed tomb of Timoleon, which is close by (Cicero speaks of the number of tombs in that spot). But, whatever the value of the identifying tradition, there can be no doubt that Wordsworth, in these lines, has thoroughly reproduced the local colour of the surroundings. As one mounts the road I mentioned, past the tomb of Archimedes, and gets the view over Achradina--once so populous, and now a waste area covered with grey rocks and grass, save where, here and there, it is converted by irrigation into fertile gardens and fields--one has strongly brought before him how completely Syracuse has 'vanished.' The modern city is entirely confined within the limits of Ortygia, and the general impression that one gets of Achradina is that it is the graveyard of the old city. I remember that this feeling came over me very strongly at the time, but it was certainly not suggested by Wordsworth's lines, which I did not remember."--ED.]

[Footnote KE: The heights between Buxton and Macclesfield, at the top of the Valley of the Gite, near the Cat-and-Fiddle Inn.--ED.]

[Footnote KF: "The alphabet was called the Christ-cross-row, some say because a cross was prefixed to the alphabet in the old primers; but as probably from a superstitious custom of writing the alphabet in the form of a cross, by way of charm." (Archdeacon Nares's _Glossary_, Art. "Christ-cross-row.")

"The A B C horn-book, containing the alphabet and nine digits. The most ancient of these infant-school books had the letters arranged in the form of a Latin cross, with A at the top and Z at the bottom, but afterwards the letters were arranged in lines, and a + was placed at the beginning to remind the learner that 'The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.'

Mortals ne'er shall know More than contain'd of old the Christ-cross Row.

Tickell, _The Horn-Book_.

(See Brewer's _Dictionary of Phrase and Fable_.)

At the beginning of a poem by the Rev. J. S. Hawker, called _A Christ-cross-Rhyme_, we find

Christ, his cross, shall be my speed, Teach me, father John, to read.

"The true use of the cross in drawing is to define or mark a point, especially a point to start or measure from.... But it was impossible that it could be used long without reference being supposed to be made to the cross of Christ, and it must soon have been regarded as invoking Christ's blessing upon the commencement of any writing."--W. W. Skeat in _Notes and Queries_, 3rd Series, XI. May 4, 1867.

And from the cross-row plucks the letter G.

Shakespeare, _Richard III_. act 1. scene i. l. 55. ED. ]

[Footnote KG: The "hedge of hollies dark and tall," and the "pure cerulean gravel" on the walk between the "pastor's mansion" and the "house of prayer," are all due to the imagination of the poet. There is nothing now--either at Hackett or at the parsonage in Grasmere--at all corresponding to the details given in _The Excursion_; and it is not likely that the surroundings of either house in Wordsworth's time resembled the description given in the poem.--ED.]

[Footnote KH: See the note on the preceding page.]

[Footnote KI: A reminiscence of St. Bees, or of days spent on the Cumbrian coast. Compare the two sonnets (1806), _With Ships the sea was sprinkled far and nigh_, and _Where lies the Land to which yon Ship must go?_ (vol. iv. pp. 40, 41).--ED.]

Book Ninth

DISCOURSE OF THE WANDERER, AND AN EVENING VISIT TO THE LAKE[KJ]

ARGUMENT

_Wanderer asserts that an active principle pervades the Universe, its noblest seat the human soul--How lively this principle is in Childhood--Hence the delight in old Age of looking back upon Childhood--The dignity, powers, and privileges of Age asserted--These not to be looked for generally but under a just government--Right of a human Creature to be exempt from being considered as a mere Instrument[813]--The condition of multitudes deplored[814]--Former conversation recurred to, and the Wanderer's opinions set in a clearer light[815]--Truth placed within reach of the humblest --Equality--Happy[816] state of the two Boys again adverted to--Earnest wish expressed for a System of National Education established universally by Government--Glorious effects of this foretold--Walk to the Lake[817]--Grand spectacle from the side of a hill--Address of Priest to the Supreme Being--in the course of which he contrasts with ancient Barbarism the present appearance of the scene before him--The change ascribed to Christianity--Apostrophe to his flock, living and dead--Gratitude to the Almighty--Return over the Lake--Parting with the Solitary--Under what circumstances._

"To every Form of being is assigned," Thus calmly spake the venerable Sage, "An _active_ Principle:--howe'er removed From sense and observation, it subsists In all things, in all natures; in the stars 5 Of azure heaven, the unenduring clouds, In flower and tree, in every pebbly stone That paves the brooks, the stationary rocks, The moving waters, and the invisible air. Whate'er exists hath properties that spread 10 Beyond itself, communicating good, A simple blessing, or with evil mixed; Spirit that knows no insulated spot, No chasm, no solitude; from link to link It circulates, the Soul of all the worlds.[KK] 15 This is the freedom of the universe; Unfolded still the more, more visible, The more we know; and yet is reverenced least, And least respected in the human Mind, Its most apparent home. The food of hope 20 Is meditated action; robbed of this Her sole support, she languishes and dies. We perish also; for we live by hope And by desire; we see by the glad light And breathe the sweet air of futurity; 25 And so we live, or else we have no life. To-morrow--nay perchance this very hour (For every moment hath[818] its own to-morrow!) Those blooming Boys, whose hearts are almost sick With present triumph, will be sure to find 30 A field before them freshened with the dew Of other expectations;--in which course Their happy year spins round. The youth obeys A like glad impulse; and so moves the man 'Mid all his apprehensions, cares, and fears,-- 35 Or so he ought to move. Ah! why in age Do we revert so fondly to the walks Of childhood--but that there the Soul discerns The dear memorial footsteps unimpaired Of her own native vigour; thence can hear[819] 40 Reverberations; and a choral song, Commingling with the incense that ascends, Undaunted, toward[820] the imperishable heavens, From her own lonely altar? "Do not think That good and wise ever will be allowed,[821] 45 Though strength decay, to breathe in such estate As shall divide them wholly from the stir Of hopeful nature. Rightly it is[822] said That Man descends into the Vale of years; Yet have I thought that we might also speak, 50 And not presumptuously, I trust, of Age, As of a final Eminence; though bare In aspect and forbidding, yet a point On which 'tis not impossible to sit In awful sovereignty; a place of power, 55 A throne, that[823] may be likened unto his, Who, in some placid day of summer, looks Down from a mountain-top,--say one of those High peaks, that bound the vale where now we are.[KL] Faint, and diminished to the gazing eye, 60 Forest and field, and hill and dale appear, With all the shapes over[824] their surface spread: But, while the gross and visible frame of things Relinquishes its hold upon the sense, Yea almost on the Mind herself,[825] and seems 65 All unsubstantialized,--how loud the voice Of waters, with invigorated peal From the full river[KM] in the vale below, Ascending! For on that superior height Who sits, is disencumbered from the press 70 Of near obstructions, and is privileged To breathe in solitude, above the host Of ever-humming insects, 'mid thin air That suits not them. The murmur of the leaves Many and idle, visits[826] not his ear: 75 This he is freed from, and from thousand notes (Not less unceasing, not less vain than these,) By which the finer passages of sense Are occupied; and the Soul, that would incline To listen, is prevented or deterred. 80

"And may it not be hoped, that, placed by age In like removal, tranquil though severe, We are not so removed for utter loss; But for some favour, suited to our need? What more than that the severing should confer[827] 85 Fresh power to commune with the invisible world, And hear the mighty stream of tendency[KN] Uttering, for elevation of our thought, A clear sonorous voice, inaudible To the vast multitude; whose doom it is 90 To run the giddy round of vain delight, Or fret and labour on the Plain below.

"But, if to such sublime ascent the hopes Of Man may rise, as to a welcome close And termination of his mortal course; 95 Them only can such hope inspire whose minds Have not been starved by absolute neglect; Nor bodies crushed by unremitting toil; To whom kind Nature, therefore, may afford Proof of the sacred love she bears for all; 100 Whose birthright Reason, therefore, may ensure. For me, consulting what I feel within In times when most existence with herself Is satisfied, I cannot but believe, That, far as kindly Nature hath free scope 105 And Reason's sway predominates; even so far, Country, society, and time itself, That saps the individual's bodily frame, And lays the generations low in dust, Do, by the almighty Ruler's grace, partake 110 Of one maternal spirit, bringing forth And cherishing with ever-constant love, That tires not, nor betrays. Our life is turned Out of her course, wherever man is made An offering, or a sacrifice, a tool 115 Or implement, a passive thing employed As a brute mean, without acknowledgment Of common right or interest in the end; Used or abused, as selfishness may prompt. Say, what can follow for a rational soul 120 Perverted thus, but weakness in all good, And strength in evil? Hence an after-call For chastisement, and custody, and bonds, And oft-times Death, avenger of the past, And the sole guardian in whose hands we dare 125 Entrust the future.--Not for these sad issues Was Man created; but to obey the law Of life, and hope, and action. And 'tis known That when we stand upon our native soil, Unelbowed by such objects as oppress 130 Our active powers, those powers themselves become Strong to subvert our noxious qualities: They sweep distemper from the busy day, And make the chalice of the big round year Run o'er with gladness;[828] whence the Being moves 135 In beauty through the world; and all who see Bless him, rejoicing in his neighbourhood."

"Then," said the Solitary, "by what force[829] Of language shall a feeling heart express Her sorrow for that multitude in whom 140 We look for health from seeds that have been sown In sickness, and for increase in a power That works but by extinction? On themselves They cannot lean, nor turn to their own hearts To know what they must do; their wisdom is 145 To look into the eyes of others, thence To be instructed what they must avoid: Or rather, let us say, how least observed, How with most quiet and most silent death, With the least taint and injury to the air 150 The oppressor breathes, their human form divine, And their immortal soul, may waste away."

The Sage rejoined, "I thank you--you have spared My voice the utterance of a keen regret, A wide compassion which with you I share. 155 When, heretofore, I placed before your sight A Little-one,[830] subjected to the arts Of modern ingenuity, and made The senseless member of a vast machine, Serving as doth a spindle or a wheel; 160 Think not, that, pitying him, I could forget The rustic Boy, who walks the fields, untaught; The slave of ignorance, and oft of want, And miserable hunger. Much, too much, Of this unhappy lot, in early youth 165 We both have witnessed, lot which I myself Shared, though in mild and merciful degree: Yet was the[831] mind to hinderances exposed, Through which I[832] struggled, not without distress And sometimes injury, like a lamb[833] enthralled 170 'Mid thorns and brambles; or a bird that breaks Through a strong net, and mounts upon the wind, Though with her plumes impaired. If they, whose souls Should open while they range the richer fields Of merry England, are obstructed less, 175 By indigence, their ignorance is not less, Nor less to be deplored. For who can doubt That tens of thousands at this day exist Such as the boy you painted, lineal heirs Of those who once were vassals of her soil, 180 Following its fortunes like the beasts or trees Which it sustained. But no one takes delight In this oppression; none are proud of it; It bears no sounding name, nor ever bore; A standing grievance, an indigenous vice 185 Of every country under heaven. My thoughts Were turned to evils that are new and chosen, A bondage lurking under shape of good,-- Arts, in themselves beneficent and kind, But all too fondly followed and too far;-- 190 To victims, which the merciful can see Nor think that they are victims--turned to wrongs, By women, who have children of their own, Beheld without compassion, yea with praise! I spake of mischief by the wise diffused[834] 195 With gladness, thinking that the more it spreads The healthier, the securer, we become; Delusion which a moment may destroy! Lastly I mourned for those whom I had seen Corrupted and cast down, on favoured ground, 200 Where circumstance and nature had combined To shelter innocence, and cherish love; Who, but for this intrusion, would have lived, Possessed of health, and strength, and peace of mind; Thus would have lived, or never have been born! 205

"Alas! what differs more than man from man! And whence that difference? Whence but from himself? For see the universal Race endowed With the same upright form!--The sun is fixed, And the infinite magnificence of heaven 210 Fixed, within reach[835] of every human eye; The sleepless ocean murmurs for all ears; The vernal field infuses fresh delight Into all hearts. Throughout the world of sense, Even as an object is sublime or fair, 215 That object is laid open to the view Without reserve or veil; and as a power Is salutary, or an influence sweet, Are each and all enabled to perceive That power, that influence, by impartial law. 220 Gifts nobler are vouchsafed alike to all; Reason, and, with that reason, smiles and tears; Imagination, freedom in the will; Conscience to guide and check; and death to be Foretasted, immortality conceived 225 By all,--a blissful immortality, To them whose holiness on earth shall make The Spirit capable of heaven, assured.[836] Strange, then, nor less than monstrous, might be deemed The failure, if the Almighty, to this point 230 Liberal[837] and undistinguishing, should hide The excellence of moral qualities From common understanding; leaving truth And virtue, difficult, abstruse, and dark; Hard to be won, and only by a few; 235 Strange, should He deal herein with nice respects, And frustrate all the rest! Believe it not: The primal duties shine aloft--like stars; The charities that soothe, and heal, and bless, Are scattered at the feet of Man--like flowers. 240 The generous inclination, the just rule, Kind wishes, and good actions, and pure thoughts-- No mystery is here! Here is no boon For high--yet not for low; for proudly graced-- Yet[838] not for meek of heart. The smoke ascends 245 To heaven as lightly from the cottage-hearth As from the haughtiest[839] palace. He, whose soul Ponders this true equality, may walk The fields of earth with gratitude and hope; Yet, in that meditation, will he find 250 Motive to sadder grief, as we have found; Lamenting ancient virtues overthrown, And for the injustice grieving, that hath made So wide a difference between[840] man and man.

"Then let us rather fix our gladdened thoughts[841] 255 Upon the brighter scene. How blest that pair Of blooming Boys (whom we beheld even now) Blest in their several and their common lot! A few short hours of each returning day The thriving prisoners of their village-school: 260 And thence let loose, to seek their pleasant homes Or range the grassy lawn in vacancy; To breathe and to be happy, run and shout Idle,--but no delay, no harm, no loss; For every genial power of heaven and earth, 265 Through all the seasons of the changeful year, Obsequiously doth take upon herself To labour for them; bringing each in turn The tribute of enjoyment, knowledge, health, Beauty, or strength! Such privilege is theirs, 270 Granted alike in the outset of their course To both; and, if that partnership must cease, I grieve not," to the Pastor here he turned, "Much as I glory in that child of yours, Repine not for his cottage-comrade, whom 275 Belike no higher destiny awaits Than the old hereditary wish fulfilled; The wish for liberty to live--content With what Heaven grants, and die--in peace of mind, Within the bosom of his native vale. 280 At least, whatever fate the noon of life Reserves for either, sure it is[842] that both Have been permitted to enjoy the dawn; Whether regarded as a jocund time, That in itself may terminate, or lead 285 In course of nature to a sober eve. Both have been fairly dealt with; looking back They will allow that justice has in them Been shown, alike to body and to mind."

He paused, as if revolving in his soul 290 Some weighty matter; then, with fervent voice And an impassioned majesty, exclaimed--