Expanse of unappropriated earth,

With mind that sheds a light on what he sees; 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, Failed not to greet the merry Mocking-bird; And, while the melancholy Muccawiss (The sportive Bird's companion in the Grove) Repeated, o'er and o'er, his plaintive cry, I sympathized at leisure with the sound; 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. -Enough is told! Here am I - Ye have heard What evidence I seek, and vainly seek; What from my Fellow-beings I require, And cannot find; what I myself have lost, 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

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,
Within the depths of its capacious breast,
Inverted trees, and rocks, and azure sky;
And, on its glassy surface, specks of foam,
And conglobated bubbles undissolved,
Numerous as stars; that, by their onward lapse,
Betray to sight the motion of the stream,
Else imperceptible; meanwhile, is heard
A softened roar, a murmur; and the sound
Though soothing, and the little floating isles
Though beautiful, are both by Nature charged
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

Must be again encountered. Such a stream

Is human Life; and so the Spirit fares

In the best quiet to its course allowed;

And such is mine,

save only for a hope

That my particular current soon will reach The unfathomable gulf, where all is still!"

END OF THE THIRD BOOK.

THE EXCURSION.

BOOK IV.

DESPONDENCY CORRECTED.

tary

Exhortations

State of feeling produced by the foregoing Narrative A belief in a superintending Providence the only adequate support under affliction - Wanderer's ejaculation account of his own devotional feelings in youth involved — Acknowledges the difficulty of a lively faith - Hence immoderate sorrow doubt or despondence not therefore to be inferred - Consolation to the SoliHow received - Wanderer applies his discourse to that other cause of dejection in the Solitary's mind — disappointment from the French Revolution- States grounds of hope insists on the necessity of patience and fortitude with respect to the course of great revolutions. Knowledge the source of tranquillity Rural Solitude favourable to knowledge of the inferior Creatures - Study of their habits and ways recommended — Exhortation to bodily exertion and Communion with NatureMorbid Solitude pitiable - Superstition better than apathy — Apathy and destitution unknown in the infancy of society — The various modes of Religion prevented it illustrated in the Jewish, Persian, Babylonian, Chaldean, and Grecian modes of belief- Solitary interposes Wanderer points out the influence of religious and imaginative feeling in the humble ranks of society - Illustrated from present and past times — These principles tend to recall exploded superstitions and popery - Wanderer rebuts this charge, and contrasts the dignities of the Imagination with the presumptive littleness of certain modern Philosophers — Recommends other lights and guides- Asserts the power of the Soul to regenerate herself— Solitary asks how — ReplyPersonal appeal — Happy that the imagination and the affections mitigate the evils of that intellectual slavery which the calculating understanding is apt to produce — Exhortation to activity of body renewed - How to commune with Nature - Wanderer concludes with a legitimate union of the imagination, affections, understanding, and reason Effect of his discourse - Even