THE EXCURSION.

BOOK V.

THE PASTOR.

ARGUMENT.

Farewell to the Valley - Reflections

lous Vale - Solitary consents to go forward — Vale described · The Pastor's Dwelling, and some account of him—The Churchyard- Church and Monuments The Solitary musing, and where - Roused-In the Church-yard the Solitary communicates the thoughts which had recently passed through his mind Lofty tone of the Wanderer's discourse of yesterday adverted to-Rite of Baptism, and the professions accompanying it, contrasted with the real state of human life- Inconsistency of the best men Acknowledgment that practice falls far below the injunctions of duty as existing in the mind — General complaint of a falling-off in the value of life after the time of youth— Outward appearances of content and happiness in degree illusive - Pastor approaches - Appeal made to him— His answer — Wanderer in sympathy with him Suggestion that the least ambitious Inquirers may be most free from error The Pastor is desired to give some Portraits of the living or dead from his own observation of life among these Mountains- and for what purpose Mountain cottage qualities of its Inhabitants - Solitary expresses his pleasure; but denies the praise of virtue to worth of this kind - Feelings of the Priest before he enters upon his account of Persons interred in the Church-yard-Graves of unbaptized Infants What sensations they excite Funeral and sepulchral Observances, whence - Ecclesiastical Establishments, whence derived-Profession of Belief in the doctrine of Immortality.

Pastor consents

Excellent

189

BOOK THE FIFTH.

THE PASTOR.

FAREWELL, deep Valley, with thy one rude House, And its small lot of life-supporting fields,

And guardian rocks! - Farewell, attractive Seat!
To the still influx of the morning light

Open, and day's pure cheerfulness, but veiled
From human observation, as if yet

Primeval Forests wrapped thee round with dark
Impenetrable shade; once more farewell,

Majestic Circuit, beautiful Abyss,

By Nature destined from the birth of things
For quietness profound!

Upon the side

Of that brown Slope, the outlet of the Vale,

Lingering behind my Comrades, thus I breathed

A parting tribute to a spot that seemed
Like the fixed centre of a troubled World.
And now, pursuing leisurely my way,

How vain, thought I, it is by change of place
To seek that comfort which the mind denies ;
Yet trial and temptation oft are shunned
Wisely; and by such tenure do we hold
Frail Life's possessions, that even they whose fate
Yields no peculiar reason of complaint
Might, by the promise that is here, be won
To steal from active duties, and embrace
Obscurity, and calm forgetfulness.

- Knowledge, methinks in these disordered times, Should be allowed a privilege to have

Her Anchorites, like Piety of old;

Men, who, from faction sacred, and unstained
By war, might, if so minded, turn aside
Uncensured, and subsist, a scattered few

Living to God and Nature, and content
With that communion.

Consecrated be

The Spots where such abide! But happier still

The Man, whom, furthermore, a hope attends

That meditation and research may guide
His privacy to principles and powers

Discovered or invented; or set forth,