Duty, like a strict preceptor,

Sometimes frowns, or seems to frown;
Choose her thistle for thy sceptre,
While thy brow youth's roses crown.

Grasp it, if thou shrink and tremble,
Fairest damsel of the green,

Thou wilt lack the only symbol
That proclaims a genuine queen ;

And ensures those palms of honour
Which selected Spirits wear,
Bending low before the Donor,
Lord of heaven's unchanging year!

1817.

JUVENILE PIECES.

Of the Poems in this class, "THE EVENING WALK" and "DESCRIPTIVE SKETCHES "were first published in 1793. They are reprinted with some alterations that were chiefly made very soon after their publication. It would have been easy to amend them, in many passages, both as to sentiment and expression, and I have not been altogether able to resist the temptation; as will be obvious to the attentive reader, in some instances these are few, for I am aware that attempts of this kind are made at the risk of injuring those characteristic features, which, after all, will be regarded as the principal recommendation of juvenile poems.

The above, which was written some time ago, scarcely applies to the Poem, "Descriptive Sketches," as it now stands. The corrections, though numerous, are not, however, such as to prevent its retaining with propriety a place in the class of Juvenile Pieces.

1836.

I.

EXTRACT

FROM THE CONCLUSION OF A POEM, COMPOSED IN ANTICIPATION OF LEAVING SCHOOL.

DEAR native regions, I foretell,
From what I feel at this farewell,
That, wheresoe'er my steps may tend,
And whensoe'er my course shall end,
If in that hour a single tie
Survive of local sympathy,

My soul will cast the backward view,
The longing look alone on you.

Thus, from the precincts of the west,
The Sun, while sinking down to rest,
Though his departing radiance fail
To illuminate the hollow vale,

A lingering lustre fondly throws

On the dear mountain-tops where first he rose.

II.

AN EVENING WALK,

ADDRESSED TO A YOUNG LADY.

General Sketch of the Lakes-Author's regret of his youth which was
passed amongst them-Short description of Noon-Cascade-Noon-tide
Retreat-Precipice and sloping Lights-Face of Nature as the Sun de-
clines-Mountain-farm, and the Cock-Slate-quarry-Sunset-Supersti-
tion of the Country connected with that moment-Swans-Female
Beggar- Twilight-sounds-Western Lights-Spirits -Night-Moon-
light-Hope-Night-sounds-Conclusion.

FAR from my dearest Friend, 'tis mine to rove
Through bare grey dell, high wood, and pastoral cove;
Where Derwent rests, and listens to the roar
That stuns the tremulous cliffs of high Lodore;
Where peace to Grasmere's lonely island leads,
To willowy hedge-rows, and to emerald meads;
Leads to her bridge, rude church, and cottaged grounds,
Her rocky sheepwalks, and her woodland bounds;
Where, undisturbed by winds, Winander sleeps"
'Mid clustering isles, and holly-sprinkled steeps;
Where twilight glens endear my Esthwaite's shore,
And memory of departed pleasures, more.

*These lines are only applicable to the middle part of that lake.