construct a literary work that might live, it was a reasonable thing that he should take a review of his own mind, and examine how far Nature and Education had qualified him for such employment. As subsidiary to this preparation, he undertook to record, in verse, the origin and progress of his own powers, as far as he was acquainted with them. That Work, addressed to a dear Friend, most distinguished for his knowledge and genius, and to whom the Author's Intellect is deeply indebted, has been long finished; and the result of the investigation which gave rise to it was a determination to compose a philosophical poem, containing views of Man, Nature, and Society; and to be entitled the Recluse; as having for its principal subject the sensations and opinions of a poet living in retirement. The preparatory poem is biographical, and conducts the history of the Author's mind to the point when he was emboldened to hope that his faculties were sufficiently matured for entering upon the arduous labor which he had proposed to himself; and the two Works have the same kind of relation to each other, if he may so express himself, as the ante-chapel has to the body of a gothic church. Continuing this allusion, he may be permitted to add, that his minor Pieces, which have been long before the Public, when they shall be properly arranged, will be found by the attentive Reader to have such connection with the main Work as may give them claim to be likened to the little cells, oratories, and sepulchral recesses, ordinarily included in those edifices. The Author would not have deemed himself justified in saying, upon this occasion, so much of performances either unfinished, or unpublished, if he had not thought that the labor bestowed by him upon what he has heretofore and now laid before the Public, entitled him to candid attention for such a statement as he thinks necessary to throw light upon his endeavors to please, and, he would hope, to benefit his countrymen. Nothing further need be added, than that the first and third parts of The Recluse will consist chiefly of meditations in the Author's own person; and that in the intermediate part (The Excursion) the intervention of characters speaking is employed, and something of a dramatic form adopted. It is not the Author's intention formally to announce a system: it was more animating to him to proceed in a different course; and if he shall succeed in conveying to the mind clear thoughts, lively images, and strong feelings, the Reader will have no difficulty in extracting the system for himself. And in the meantime the following passage, taken from the conclusion of the first book of The Recluse, may be acceptable as a kind of Prospectus of the design and scope of the whole Poem. 'On man, on Nature, and on Human Life, Musing in solitude, I oft perceive Fair trains of imagery before me rise, Accompanied by feelings of delight Pure, or with no unpleasing sadness mixed; And I am conscious of affecting thoughts And dear remembrances, whose presence soothes Or elevates the Mind, intent to weigh The good and evil of our mortal state. Or from the Soul-an impulse to herself I would give utterance in numerous verse. Of Truth, of Grandeur, Beauty, Love, and Hope, And melancholy Fear subdued by Faith; Of moral strength, and intellectual Power; Of the individual Mind that keeps her own To Conscience only, and the law supreme Of that Intelligence which governs all I sing: fit audience let me find though few!' In holiest mood. Urania, I shall need Thy guidance, or a greater Muse, if such I pass them unalarmed. Not Chaos, not The darkest pit of lowest Erebus, Nor aught of blinder vacancy, scooped out By help of dreams--can breed such fear and awe As fall upon us often when we look Into our Minds, into the Mind of Man My haunt, and the main region of my song. -Beauty-a living Presence of the earth, Surpassing the most fair ideal Forms From earth's materials-waits upon my steps; An hourly neighbor. Paradise, and groves Or a mere fiction of what never was In love and holy passion, shall find these Can it be called) which they with blended might Such grateful haunts foregoing, if I oft Must turn elsewhere-to travel near the tribes Of madding passions mutually inflamed; Of sorrow, barricadoed evermore Hearing, I be not downcast or forlorn!- The human Soul of universal earth, 1 1 Sen Notes at end of the volume. Dreaming on things to come; and dost possese A metropolitan temple in the hearts Of mighty Poets: upon me bestow A gift of genuine insight; that my Song Of those mutations that extend their sway This Vision; when and where, and how he lived; Be not this labor useless. If such theme May sort with highest objects, then-dread Power Whose gracious favor is the primal source Of all illumination-may my Life Express the image of a better time, More wise desires, and simpler manners;-nurse |