ARGUMENT.

Wanderer asserts that an active principle pervades the Universe
Its noblest seat the human soul— How lively this principle is in
-Hence the delight in Old Age of looking back upon

Childhood
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 — Vicious inclinations are best kept under by giving good ones an opportunity to shew themselves The condition of multitudes deplored from want of due respect to this truth on the part of their superiors in society - Former conversation recurred to, and the Wanderer's opinions set in a clearer light Genuine principles of equality — Truth placed within reach of the humblest. - Happy 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 - Wanderer breaks off- Walk to the Lake— embark Description of scenery and amuseGrand spectacle from the side of a hill- Address of 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

ments

Priest to the Supreme Being

Under what circumstances.

359

BOOK THE NINTH.

DISCOURSE OF THE WANDERER, AND AN EVENING VISIT TO THE LAKE.

"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
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
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.

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
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,
And so we live, or else we have no life.
To-morrow-nay perchance this very hour,
(For every moment hath its own to-morrow!)

Those blooming Boys, whose hearts are almost sick With present triumph, will be sure to find

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, —
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

Reverberations; and a choral song,

Commingling with the incense that ascends
Undaunted, tow'rd the imperishable heavens,
From her own lonely altar?

Do not think

That Good and Wise will ever be allowed,

Though strength decay, to breathe in such estate
As shall divide them wholly from the stir
Of hopeful nature. Rightly is it said

That Man descends into the VALE of years;
Yet have I thought that we might also speak,
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-

A Throne, that 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.

Faint, and diminished to the gazing eye,

Forest and field, and hill and dale appear,

With all the shapes upon their surface spread:
But, while the gross and visible frame of things
Relinquishes its hold upon the sense,

Yea almost on the mind herself, and seems

Of waters, with invigorated peal

From the full River in the vale below,

Ascending! For on that superior height
Who sits, is disencumbered from the press
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 not his ear;

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.

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
Fresh power to commune with the invisible world,
And hear the mighty stream of tendency
Uttering, for elevation of our thought,

A clear sonorous voice, inaudible