Under this he carried a bundle, and had an apron on and a night-cap. His face was interesting. He had dark eyes and a long nose. John, who afterwards met him at Wytheburn, took him for a Jew. He was of Scotch parents, but had been born in the army.

Ile had had a wife, and she was a good woman, and it pleased God to bless us with ten children.' All ihese were dead but one, of whom he had not heard for many years, a sailor. His trade was to gather leeches, but now leeches were scarce, and lie had not strength for it. He lived oy beggiug, and was making his way to Carlisle, where he should buy a few godly books to sell. He said leeches were very scarce, partiy owing to this dry season, but many years they have been scarce. He supposed it owing to their being much sought after, that they did not breed fast, and were of slow growth. Leeches were formerly 25. Od. per 100; they are now 305. He had been hurt in driving a cart, his leg broken, his body driven over, his skull fractured. He felt no pain till he recovered from his first inseusibility: . . It was then late in the evening, when the light was just going away. (Dorothy Wordsworth's Journal, October 3, 1800.)

Set the sign-board in a blaze,
When the rising sun he painted,
Took the fancy from a glance
At thy glittering countenance.
Soon as gentle breezes bring
News of winter's vanishing,
And the children build their bowers,
Sticking 'kerchief-plots of mould
All about with full-blown flowers,
Thick as sheep in shepherd's fold!
With the proudest thou art there,
Mantling in the tiny square.
Often have I sighed to measure
By myself a lonely pleasure,
Sighed to think I read a book
Only reail, perhaps, by me ;
Yet I long could overlook
Thy bright coronet and Thee,
And thy arch and wily ways,
And thy store of other praise.
Blithe of heart, from week to week
Thou dost play at hide-and-seek ;.
While the patient primrose sits
Like a beggar in the cold,
Thou, a flower of wiser wits,
Slipp'st into thy sheltering hold ;
Liveliest of the rernal train
When ye all are out again.
Drawn by what peculiar spell,
By what charm of sight or smell,
Does the dim-eyed curious Bee,
Laboring for her waxen cells,
Fondiy settle upon Thee
Prized above all buds and bells
Opening daily at thy side,
By the season multiplied ?

THERE was a roaring in the wind all

night; The rain came heavily and fell in floods ; But now the sun is rising calm and

bright; The birds are singing in the distant

woods ; Over his own sweet voice the Stock-dove

broods; The Jay makes answer as the Magpie

chatters ; And all the air is filled with pleasant

noise of waters.

All things that love the sun are out of

doors; The sky rejoices in the morning's birth ; The grass is bright with rain-drops ;-on

the moor's The hare is running races in hier mirth ; And with her feet she from the plashy

earth Raises a mist, that, glittering in the sun, Runs with her all the way, wherever she

doth run.

Thou are not beyond the moon,
But a thing “ beneath our shoon:"
Let the bold Discoverer thrid
In his bark the polar sea ;
Rear who will a pyramid ;
Praise it is enough for me,
If there be but three or four
Who will love my little Flower.

1302. 1807.

RESOLUTION AND INDEPENDENCE

I was a Traveller then upon the moor,
I saw the hare that raced about with

joy ; I heard the woods and distant waters

roar; Or heard them not, as happy as a boy : The pleasant season did my heart em

ploy : My old remembrances went from me

wholly ; And all the ways of men, so vain and

melancholy.

This poem was originally known as The Leech Gatherer, and is still often called by that title. Compare the account of its origin, in Dorothy Worilsworth's Journal :

When William and I returned, we met an old man almost double. He had ou a coat, thrown over his shoulders, above his waistcoat and coat,

But, as it sometimes chanceth, from the

might of joy in minds that can no further go, As high as we have mounted in delight In our dejection do we sink as low; To me that morning did it happen so; And fears and fancies thick upon me

came; Dim sadness--and blind thoughts, I

knew not, nor could name.

As a huge stone is sometimes seen to lio
Couched on the bald top of an eminence;
Wonder to all who do the same espy,
By what means it could thither como,

and whence ; So that it seems a thing endued with Like a sea-beast crawled forth, that on a

shelf Of rock or sand reposeth, there to sun

itself ;

sense:

I heard the skylark warbling in the sky; And I bethought me of the playful hare: Even such a happy Child of earth am I; Even as these blissful creatures do I fare; Far from the world I walk, and from all

care ; But there may come another day to meSolitude, pain of heart, distress, and

poverty.

My whole life I have lived in pleasant

thought, As if life's business were a summer

mood; As if all needful things would come un•

sought To genial faith, still rich in genial good; But how can he expect that others

should Build for him, sow for him, and at his

call Love him, who for himself will take no

heed at all?

Such seemed this Man, not all alive nor

dead, Nor all asleep, in his extreme old age : His body was bent double, feet and head Coming together in life's pilgrimage; As if some dire constraint of pain, or rage Of sickness felt by him in times long

past, A more than human weight upon his

fraine had cast. Himself he propped, limbs, body, and

pale face, Upon a long gray staff of shaven wood: And, still as I drew near with gentle

pace, Upon the margin of that moorish flood Motionless as a cloud the old Man stood, That heareth not the loud winds when

they call And moveth all together, if it move at

all. At length, himself unsettling, he the

pond Stirred with his staff, and fixedly did look Upon the muddy water, which he

conned, As if he had been reading in a book : And now a stranger's privilege I took; And, drawing to his side, to him did say, “ This morning gives us promise of a

glorious day.” A gentle answer did the old Man make. In courteous speech which forth he

slowly drew: And him with further words I thus be.

spake, "What occupation do you there pursue ? This is a lonesome place for one like you.": Ere he replied, a flash of mild surprise Broke from the sable orbs of his yet.

I thought of Chatterton, the marvellous

Boy, The sleepless Soul that perished in his

pride; Of him who walked in glory and in joy Following his plough, along the moun

tain-side: By our own spirits are we deified : We Poets in our youth begin in glad

ness ; But thereof come in the end desponden.

cy and madness, Now, whether it were by peculiar grace, A loading from above, a something

given, Yet it befell, that, in this lonely place, When I with these untoward thoughts

bad striven, Beside a pool bare to the eye of heaven I saw a Man before me unawares : The oldest man he seemed that ever wore

gray hairs.

vivid eyes,

His words came feebly, from a feeble

chest, But each in solemn order followed each,

My former thoughts returned: the fear

that kills; And hope that is unwilling to be fed ; Cold, pain, and labor, and all fleshly ills; And mighty Poets in their misery dead. -Perplexed, and longing to be com

forted, My question eagerly did I renew,

How is it that you live, and what is it

you do?”

He with a smilə did then his words

repeat ; And said, that, gathering leeches, far

and wide He travelled ; stirring thus about his

feet The waters of the pools where they

abide. "Once I could meet with them on every

side ; But they have dwindled long by slow

decay; Yet still i persevere, and find them

where I may."

I GRIEVED for Buonaparté, with a vain And an unthinking grief! The tenderest

mood Of that Man's mind-what can it be?

what food Fed his first hopes ? what knowledge

could he gain ? 'Tis not in battles that from youth we

train The Governor who must be wise and

good, And temper with the sternness of the

brain Thoughts motherly, and meek as woman

hood. Wisdom doth live with children round

her knees : Books, leisure, perfect freedom, and the

talk Man holds with week-day man in the

hourly walk Of the mind's business: these are the

degrees

By which true Sway doth mount; this

is the stalk Trio Power doth grow on; and her rights are these.

1802. 1802.

Thou hangest, stooping, as might seem,

to sink On England's bosom; yet well pleased

to rest, Meanwhile, and be to her a glorious crest Conspicuous to the Nations. Thou, I

think, Should'st be my Country's emblem; and

should'st wink, Bright Star! with laughter on her ban.

ners, drest In thy fresh beauty. There! that dusky

spot Beneath thee, that is England ; there she

lies. Blessings be on you both! one hope, one

lot, One life, one glory!—I, with many a fear For my dear Country, many heartfelt

siglas, Among men who do not love her, linger diere.

1802. 1807.

COMPOSED UPON WESTMINSTER

BRIDGE, SEPTEMBER 3, 1802 "We left London on Saturday morning at half-past five or six, the 30th of July. "We mounted the Dover coach at Charing Cross. It was a beautiful morning. The city, St. Paul's, with the river, and a multitude of little boats, made a most beautiful sight as we crossed Westminster Bridge. The houses were not overhung by their cloud of smoke, and they were spread out endlessly; yet the sun shöne so brightly, with such a fierce light, that there was even something like the purity of one of nature's owi grand spectacles." (Dorothy Wordsworth's Journal, July, 1802.) Earth has not anything to show more

fair : Dull would he be of soul who could pass

by A sight so touching in its majesty : This City now doth, like a garment,

wear The beauty of the morning; silent, hare, Ships, towers, domes, theatres and tem.

ples lie Open unto the fields, and to the sky; All bright and glittering in the smoke

less air. Never did sun more beautifully steep In his first splendor, valley, rock, or

hill; Ne'er saw I, never felt, a calm so deep! The river glideth at his own sweet will: Dear Godthe very houses seem asleep ; And all that mighty heart is lying stiil!

180.2. 1807.

IT IS A BEAUTEOUS EVENING,

CALM AND FREE

This was composed on the beach near Calais, in the autumn of 1802. (Wordsırorth.)

The last six lines are addressed to Words worth's sister Dorothy: see note to the preced ing Sonnet.

It is a beauteous evening, calm and free,
The holy time is quiet as a Nun
Breathless with adoration; the broad sun
Is sinking down in its tranquillity;
The gentleness of heaven broods o'er the

Sea :
Listen ! the mighty Being is a wake,
And doth with his eternal motion make
A sound like thunder--everlastingly.
Dear Child! dear Girl! that walkest

with me here, If thou appear untouched by solemn

thought, Thy nature is not therefore less divine: Thou liest in Abraham's bosom all the

year ; And worship’st at the Temple's inner

shrine, God being with thee when we know it not.

1862. 1807.

COMPOSED BY THE SEA-SIDE,

NEAR CALAIS, AUGUST, 1802 • We had delightful walks after the heat of the day was passed -seeing far off in the west the coast of England like a cloud crested with Dover Castle, which was but like the summit of the cloud-the evening star and the glory of the sky, the reflections in the water were more beautiful than the sky itself, purple waves brighter than precious stones, for ever melting away upon the sands..... Nothing in romance was ever half so beautiful. Now came in view, as the evening star sunk down, and the colors of the west faded away, the two lights of England." (Doro thy Wordsworth's Journal, August, 1802.) FAIR Star of evening, Splendor of the

west, Star of my Country l-on the horizon's

brink

ON THE EXTINCTION OF THE

VENETIAN REPUBLIC ONCE did She hold the gorgeous east in

fee ; And was the safeguard of the west: the

Of Venice did not fall below her birth,
Venice, the eldest Child of Liberty.
She was a maiden City, bright and free;
No guile seduced, no force could violate;
And when she took unto herself a Mate,
She must espouse the everlasting Sea.
And what if she had seen those glories

fade, Those titles vanish, and that strength

decay ; Yet shall some tribute of regret be paid When her long life hath reached its final

day : Men are we, and must grieve when even

the Shade or that which once was great, is passed away.

1802. 1807,

A span of waters; yet what power is

there ! What mightiness for evil and for gocd ! Even so doth God protect us if we be Virtuous and wise. Winds blow, and

waters roll, Strength to the brave, and Power, and

Deity ; Yet in themselves are nothing! One

decree Spake laws to them, and said that by the

soul Only, the Nations shall be great and free.

1802. 1807.

WRITTEN IN LONDON, SEPTEMBER,

1802

TO TOUSSAINT L'OUVERTURE

TOUSSAINT, the most unhappy man of

men ! Whether the whistling Rustic tend liis

plough Within thy hearing, or thy head be now Pillowed in some deep dungeon's earless

den ;O miserable Chieftain ! where and when Wilt thou find patience? Yet die not;

do thou Wear rather in thy bonds a cheerful

brow: Though fallen thyself, never to rise

again, Live, and take comfort. Thou hast

left behind Powers that will work for thee; air,

earth, and skies; There's not a breathing of the common

wind That will forgit thee; thou hast great

allies : Thy friends are exultations, agonies, And love, wo man's unconquerable mini.

180,-. 1803.

This was written immediately after my return from France to London, when I could not but be struck, as here described, with the vanity and parade of our own country, especially in great towns and cities, as contrasted with the quiet, and I may say the desolation, that the revolution had produced in France. This must be borne in mind, or else the reader may think that in this and the succeeding Sonnets I have exaggerated the mischief engendered and fostered among us by undisturbed wealth. It would not be easy to conceive with what a depth of feel. ing I entered into the struggle carried on by the Spaniards for their deliverance from the usurped power of the French. Many times have I gone from Allan Bank in Grasmere vale, where we were then residing, to the top of the Raise-gap as it is called, so late as two o'clock in the morn. ing, to meet the carrier bringing the newspaper from Keswick. Imperfect traces of the state of mind in which I then was may be found in my Tract on the Convention of Cintra, as well as in these Sonnets. (Wordsworth.) O FRIEND! I know not which way I must

look For comfort, being, as I am, opprest, To think that now our life is only drest For show ; mean handy-work of crafts

man, cook, Or groom!-We must run glittering like

a brook In the open sunshine, or we are unblest : The wealthiest man among us is the

best: No grandeur now in nature or in book Delights us. Rapine, avarice, expense, This is idolatry; and these we adore. Plain living and high thinking are no

niore: The homely beauty of the good old

cause Is gone; our peace, our fearful inno

cence, And pure religion breathing household laws.

180. 1807.

NEAR JOVER, SEPTEMBER, 1802

INLAND, within a irullow vale, I stood ; And saw, while sea was calm and air

was clear, The coast of France--the coast of France

how near ! Drawn almost into frightful neiglıbor

hood. I shrunk; for verily the barrier flood Was like a lake, or river bright and

fair,