The Author describes his travels with the Wanderer, whose character is further illustrated-Morning scene, and view of a Village Wake-Wanderer's account of a Friend whom he purposes to visit-View, from an eminence, of the Valley which his Friend had chosen for his retreat-Sound of singing from below-a funeral procession-Descent into the Valley-Observations drawn from the Wanderer at sight of a book accidentally discovered in a recess in the Valley-Meeting with the Wanderer's friend, the Solitary-Wanderer's description of the mode of burial in this mountainous district -Solitary contrasts with this, that of the individual carried a few minutes before from the cottage-The cottage entered-Description of the Solitary's apartment -Repast there-View, from the window, of two mountain summits; and the Solitary's description of the companionship they afford him-Account of the departed inmate of the cottage-Description of a grand spectacle upon the mountains, with its effect upon the Solitary's mind-Leave the house.
In days of yore how fortunately fared The Minstrel! wandering on from hall to hall, Baronial court or royal; cheered with gifts Munificent, and love, and ladies' praise; Now meeting on his road an armed knight, Now resting with a pilgrim by the side Of a clear brook ;-beneath an abbey's roof One evening sumptuously lodged; the next, Humbly in a religious hospital;
Or with some merry outlaws of the wood; Or haply shrouded in a hermit's cell. Him, sleeping or awake, the robber spared; He walked-protected from the sword of war By virtue of that sacred instrument His harp, suspended at the traveller's side; His dear companion wheresoe'er he went Opening from land to land an easy way By melody, and by the charm of verse. Yet not the noblest of that honoured Race Drew happier, loftier, more empassioned, thoughts From his long journeyings and eventful life, Than this obscure Itinerant had skill
To gather, ranging through the tamer ground Of these our unimaginative days;
Both while he trod the earth in humblest guise Accoutred with his burthen and his staff; And now, when free to move with lighter pace. What wonder, then, if I, whose favourite school Hath been the fields, the roads, and rural lanes,
Looked on this guide with reverential love! Each with the other pleased, we now pursued Our journey, under favourable skies. Turn wheresoe'er we would, he was a light Unfailing: not a hamlet could we pass, Rarely a house, that did not yield to him Remembrances; or from his tongue call forth Some way-beguiling tale. Nor less regard Accompanied those strains of apt discourse, Which nature's various objects might inspire; And in the silence of his face I read His overflowing spirit. Birds and beasts, And the mute fish that glances in the stream, And harmless reptile coiling in the sun, And gorgeous insect hovering in the air, The fowl domestic, and the household dog- In his capacious mind, he loved them all : Their rights acknowledging he felt for all. Oft was occasion given me to perceive How the calm pleasures of the pasturing herd To happy contemplation soothed his walk; How the poor brute's condition, forced to run Its course of suffering in the public road, Sad contrast! all too often smote his heart With unavailing pity. Rich in love And sweet humanity, he was, himself, To the degree that he desired, beloved. Smiles of good-will from faces that he knew Greeted us all day long; we took our seats By many a cottage-hearth, where he received The welcome of an Inmate from afar, And I at once forgot, I was a Stranger. -Nor was he loth to enter ragged huts, Huts where his charity was blest; his voice Heard as the voice of an experienced friend. And, sometimes where the poor man held dispute With his own mind, unable to subdue Impatience through inaptness to perceive General distress in his particular lot; Or cherishing resentment, or in vain Struggling against it; with a soul perplexed, And finding in herself no steady power To draw the line of comfort that divides Calamity, the chastisement of Heaven, From the injustice of our brother men- To him appeal was made as to a judge; Who, with an understanding heart, allayed The perturbation; listened to the plea; Resolved the dubious point; and sentence gave
So grounded, so applied, that it was heard With softened spirit, even when it condemned.
Such intercourse I witnessed, while we roved, Now as his choice directed, now as mine; Or both, with equal readiness of will, Our course submitting to the changeful breeze Of accident. But when the rising sun Had three times called us to renew our walk, My Fellow-traveller, with earnest voice, As if the thought were but a moment old, Claimed absolute dominion for the day. We started-and he led me toward the hills, Up through an ample vale, with higher hills Before us, mountains stern and desolate; But, in the majesty of distance, now Set off, and to our ken appearing fair Of aspect, with aërial softness clad, And beautified with morning's purple beams.
The wealthy, the luxurious, by the stress Of business roused, or pleasure, ere their time, May roll in chariots, or provoke the hoofs Of the fleet coursers they bestride, to raise From earth the dust of morning, slow to rise; And they, if blest with health and hearts at ease, Shall lack not their enjoyment:-but how faint Compared with ours! who, pacing side by side, Could, with an eye of leisure, look on all That we beheld; and lend the listening sense To every grateful sound of earth and air; Pausing at will-our spirits braced, our thoughts Pleasant as roses in the thickets blown, And pure as dew bathing their crimson leaves.
Mount slowly, sun! that we may journey long, By this dark hill protected from thy beams! Such is the summer pilgrim's frequent wish; But quickly from among our morning thoughts 'Twas chased away: for, toward the western side Of the broad vale, casting a casual glance, We saw a throng of people; wherefore met? Blithe notes of music, suddenly let loose On the thrilled ear, and flags uprising, yield Prompt answer; they proclaim the annual Wake, Which the bright season favours.-Tabor and pipe | In purpose join to hasten or reprove
The laggard Rustic; and repay with boons Of merriment a party-coloured knot, Already formed upon the village-green. -Beyond the limits of the shadow cast By the broad hill, glistened upon our sight That gay assemblage. Round them and above, Glitter, with dark recesses interposed,
Casement, and cottage-roof, and stems of trees Half-veiled in vapoury cloud, the silver steam Of dews fast melting on their leafy boughs By the strong sunbeams smitten. Like a mast Of gold, the Maypole shines; as if the rays Of morning, aided by exhaling dew, With gladsome influence could re-animate The faded garlands dangling from its sides.
Said I, "The music and the sprightly scene Invite us; shall we quit our road, and join These festive matins?"-He replied, "Not loth To linger I would here with you partake, Not one hour merely, but till evening's close, The simple pastimes of the day and place. By the fleet Racers, ere the sun be set, The turf of yon large pasture will be skimmed ; There, too, the lusty Wrestlers shall contend: But know we not that he, who intermits The appointed task and duties of the day, Untunes full oft the pleasures of the day; Checking the finer spirits that refuse
To flow, when purposes are lightly changed? A length of journey yet remains untraced : Let us proceed." Then, pointing with his staff Raised toward those craggy summits, his intent He thus imparted :—
"In a spot that lies Among yon mountain fastnesses concealed, You will receive, before the hour of noon, Good recompense, I hope, for this day's toil, From sight of One who lives secluded there, Lonesome and lost: of whom, and whose past life, (Not to forestall such knowledge as may be More faithfully collected from himself) This brief communication shall suffice.
Though now sojourning there, he, like myself, Sprang from a stock of lowly parentage Among the wilds of Scotland, in a tract Where many a sheltered and well-tended plant, Bears, on the humblest ground of social life, Blossoms of piety and innocence. Such grateful promises his youth displayed: And, having shown in study forward zeal, He to the Ministry was duly called; And straight, incited by a curious mind Filled with vague hopes, he undertook the charge Of Chaplain to a military troop
Cheered by the Highland bagpipe, as they marched In plaided vest, his fellow-countrymen. This office filling, yet by native power And force of native inclination made An intellectual ruler in the haunts
Of social vanity, he walked the world, Gay, and affecting graceful gaiety;
Lax, buoyant-less a pastor with his flock Than a soldier among soldiers-lived and roamed Where Fortune led:-and Fortune, who oft proves The careless wanderer's friend, to him made known A blooming Lady-a conspicuous flower, Admired for beauty, for her sweetness praised; Whom he had sensibility to love, Ambition to attempt, and skill to win.
For this fair Bride, most rich in gifts of mind, Nor sparingly endowed with worldly wealth, His office he relinquished; and retired From the world's notice to a rural home. Youth's season yet with him was scarcely past, And she was in youth's prime. How free their love, How full their joy! "Till, pitiable doom! In the short course of one undreaded year, Death blasted all. Death suddenly o'erthrew Two lovely Children-all that they possessed! The Mother followed :-miserably bare The one Survivor stood; he wept, he prayed For his dismissal, day and night, compelled To hold communion with the grave, and face With pain the regions of eternity. An uncomplaining apathy displaced This anguish; and, indifferent to delight, To aim and purpose, he consumed his days, To private interest dead, and public care. So lived he; so he might have died.
To the wide world's astonishment, appeared A glorious opening, the unlooked-for dawn, That promised everlasting joy to France! Her voice of social transport reached even him! He broke from his contracted bounds, repaired To the great City, an emporium then Of golden expectations, and receiving Freights every day from a new world of hope. Thither his popular talents he transferred; And, from the pulpit, zealously maintained The cause of Christ and civil liberty, As one, and moving to one glorious end. Intoxicating service! I might say A happy service; for he was sincere
As vanity and fondness for applause,
And new and shapeless wishes, would allow.
From regions opposite as heaven and hell. One courage seemed to animate them all: And, from the dazzling conquests daily gained By their united efforts, there arose A proud and most presumptuous confidence In the transcendent wisdom of the age, And her discernment; not alone in rights, And in the origin and bounds of power Social and temporal; but in laws divine, Deduced by reason, or to faith revealed. An overweening trust was raised; and fear Cast out, alike of person and of thing. Plague from this union spread, whose subtle bane The strongest did not easily escape;
And He, what wonder! took a mortal taint. How shall I trace the change, how bear to tell That he broke faith with them whom he had laid In earth's dark chambers, with a Christian's hope! An infidel contempt of holy writ
Stole by degrees upon his mind; and hence Life, like that Roman Janus, double-faced; Vilest hypocrisy-the laughing, gay Hypocrisy, not leagued with fear, but pride. Smooth words he had to wheedle simple souls; But, for disciples of the inner school, Old freedom was old servitude, and they The wisest whose opinions stooped the least To known restraints; and who most boldly drew Hopeful prognostications from a creed, That, in the light of false philosophy, Spread like a halo round a misty moon, Widening its circle as the storms advance.
His sacred function was at length renounced; And every day and every place enjoyed The unshackled layman's natural liberty; Speech, manners, morals, all without disguise. I do not wish to wrong him; though the course Of private life licentiously displayed Unhallowed actions-planted like a crown Upon the insolent aspiring brow
Of spurious notions-worn as open signs Of prejudice subdued-still he retained, 'Mid much abasement, what he had received From nature, an intense and glowing mind. Wherefore, when humbled Liberty grew weak, And mortal sickness on her face appeared, He coloured objects to his own desire As with a lover's passion. Yet his moods
That righteous cause (such power hath freedom) Of pain were keen as those of better men,
For one hostility, in friendly league,
Ethereal natures and the worst of slaves;
Was served by rival advocates that came
Nay keener, as his fortitude was less: And he continued, when worse days were come, To deal about his sparkling eloquence, Struggling against the strange reverse with zeal
That shewed like happiness. But, in despite Of all this outside bravery, within, He neither felt encouragement nor hope: For moral dignity, and strength of mind, Were wanting; and simplicity of life; And reverence for himself; and, last and best, Confiding thoughts, through love and fear of Him Before whose sight the troubles of this world Are vain, as billows in a tossing sea.
The glory of the times fading awayThe splendor, which had given a festal air To self-importance, hallowed it, and veiled From his own sight-this gone, he forfeited All joy in human nature; was consumed, And vexed, and chafed, by levity and scorn, And fruitless indignation; galled by pride; Made desperate by contempt of men who throve Before his sight in power or fame, and won, Without desert, what he desired; weak men, Too weak even for his envy or his hate! Tormented thus, after a wandering course Of discontent, and inwardly opprest With malady-in part, I fear, provoked By weariness of life-he fixed his home, Or, rather say, sate down by very chance, Among these rugged hills; where now he dwells, And wastes the sad remainder of his hours, Steeped in a self-indulging spleen, that wants not Its own voluptuousness;-on this resolved, With this content, that he will live and die Forgotten, at safe distance from a world Not moving to his mind.""
Closed the preparatory notices
That served my Fellow-traveller to beguile The way, while we advanced up that wide vale. Diverging now (as if his quest had been Some secret of the mountains, cavern, fall Of water, or some lofty eminence, Renowned for splendid prospect far and wide) We scaled, without a track to ease our steps, A steep ascent; and reached a dreary plain, With a tumultuous waste of huge hill tops Before us; savage region! which I paced Dispirited when, all at once, behold! Beneath our feet, a little lowly vale, A lowly vale, and yet uplifted high Among the mountains; even as if the spot Had been from eldest time by wish of theirs So placed, to be shut out from all the world! Urn-like it was in shape, deep as an urn; With rocks encompassed, save that to the south Was one small opening, where a heath-clad ridge
Supplied a boundary less abrupt and close; A quiet treeless nook, with two green fields, A liquid pool that glittered in the sun, And one bare dwelling; one abode, no more! It seemed the home of poverty and toil, Though not of want: the little fields, made green By husbandry of many thrifty years,
Paid cheerful tribute to the moorland house. -There crows the cock, single in his domain : The small birds find in spring no thicket there To shroud them; only from the neighbouring vales The cuckoo, straggling up to the hill tops, Shouteth faint tidings of some gladder place.
Ah! what a sweet Recess, thought I, is here! Instantly throwing down my limbs at ease Upon a bed of heath ;-full many a spot Of hidden beauty have I chanced to espy Among the mountains; never one like this; So lonesome, and so perfectly secure ; Not melancholy-no, for it is green, And bright, and fertile, furnished in itself With the few needful things that life requires. -In rugged arms how softly does it lie, How tenderly protected! Far and near We have an image of the pristine earth, The planet in its nakedness: were this Man's only dwelling, sole appointed seat, First, last, and single, in the breathing world, It could not be more quiet: peace is here Or nowhere; days unruffled by the gale Of public news or private; years that pass Forgetfully; uncalled upon to pay The common penalties of mortal life, Sickness, or accident, or grief, or pain.
On these and kindred thoughts intent I lay In silence musing by my Comrade's side, He also silent; when from out the heart Of that profound abyss a solemn voice, Or several voices in one solemn sound, Was heard ascending; mournful, deep, and slow The cadence, as of psalms-a funeral dirge! We listened, looking down upon the hut, But seeing no one meanwhile from below The strain continued, spiritual as before; And now distinctly could I recognise These words: Shall in the grave thy love be known, In death thy faithfulness?"—" God rest his soul!” Said the old man, abruptly breaking silence,— "He is departed, and finds peace at last!"
This scarcely spoken, and those holy strains Not ceasing, forth appeared in view a band
Of rustic persons, from behind the hut Bearing a coffin in the midst, with which They shaped their course along the sloping side Of that small valley, singing as they moved; A sober company and few, the men Bare-headed, and all decently attired!
Exclaimed the Wanderer, "cannot but be his, And he is gone!" The book, which in my hand Had opened of itself (for it was swoln With searching damp, and seemingly had lain To the injurious elements exposed
From week to week,) I found to be a work
Some steps when they had thus advanced, the In the French tongue, a Novel of Voltaire,
Ended; and, from the stillness that ensued Recovering, to my Friend I said, "You spake, Methought, with apprehension that these rites Are paid to Him upon whose shy retreat This day we purposed to intrude.”—“I did so, But let us hence, that we may learn the truth: Perhaps it is not he but some one else For whom this pious service is performed; Some other tenant of the solitude."
So, to a steep and difficult descent Trusting ourselves, we wound from crag to crag, Where passage could be won; and, as the last Of the mute train, behind the heathy top Of that off-sloping outlet, disappeared, I, more impatient in my downward course, Had landed upon easy ground; and there Stood waiting for my Comrade. When behold An object that enticed my steps aside! A narrow, winding, entry opened out Into a platform-that lay, sheepfold-wise, Enclosed between an upright mass of rock And one old moss-grown wall ;-a cool recess, And fanciful! For where the rock and wall Met in an angle, hung a penthouse, framed By thrusting two rude staves into the wall And overlaying them with mountain sods; To weather-fend a little turf-built seat Whereon a full-grown man might rest, nor dread The burning sunshine, or a transient shower; But the whole plainly wrought by children's hands! Whose skill had thronged the floor with a proud show
Of baby-houses, curiously arranged; Nor wanting ornament of walks between, With mimic trees inserted in the turf, And gardens interposed. Pleased with the sight, I could not choose but beckon to my Guide, Who, entering, round him threw a careless glance, Impatient to pass on, when I exclaimed,
His famous Optimist. "Unhappy Man!" Exclaimed my Friend: "here then has been to him Retreat within retreat, a sheltering-place Within how deep a shelter! He had fits, Even to the last, of genuine tenderness, And loved the haunts of children: here, no doubt, Pleasing and pleased, he shared their simple sports, Or sate companionless; and here the book, Left and forgotten in his careless way, Must by the cottage-children have been found: Heaven bless them, and their inconsiderate work! To what odd purpose have the darlings turned This sad memorial of their hapless friend!”
“Me,” said I, “ most doth it surprise, to find Such book in such a place!"-" A book it is," He answered, "to the Person suited well, Though little suited to surrounding things: "Tis strange, I grant; and stranger still had been To see the Man who owned it, dwelling here, With one poor shepherd, far from all the world!- Now, if our errand hath been thrown away, As from these intimations I forebode, Grieved shall I be less for my sake than yours, And least of all for him who is no more."
By this, the book was in the old Man's hand; And he continued, glancing on the leaves An eye of scorn :-" The lover," said he, " doomed To love when hope hath failed him-whom no depth
Of privacy is deep enough to hide, Hath yet his bracelet or his lock of hair, And that is joy to him. When change of times Hath summoned kings to scaffolds, do but give The faithful servant, who must hide his head Henceforth in whatsoever nook he may,
A kerchief sprinkled with his master's blood, And he too hath his comforter. How poor, Beyond all poverty how destitute,
Must that Man have been left, who, hither driven,
"Lo! what is here?" and, stooping down, drew Flying or seeking, could yet bring with him
A book, that, in the midst of stones and moss And wreck of party-coloured earthen-ware, Aptly disposed, had lent its help to raise
One of those petty structures. "His it must be!"
No dearer relique, and no better stay, Than this dull product of a scoffer's pen, Impure conceits discharging from a heart Hardened by impious pride!—I did not fear To tax you with this journey; "-mildly said
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