Yet still, the sport of some malignant power, [hour. He knows but from its shade the present

But why, ungrateful, dwell on idle pain?

To show what pleasures yet to me remain, Say, will my friend with unreluctant ear, The history of a poet's evening hear?

were seen,

When, in the south, the wan noon, brooding still, [hill, Breathed a pale steam around the glaring And shades of deep-embattled clouds [between; Spotting the northern cliffs, with lights When, at the barren wall's unsheltered end, Where long rails far into the lake extend, Crowded the shorten'd herds, and beat the tides [speckled sides; With their quick tails, and lashed their When school-boys stretched their length upon the green; Ling scene! And round the humming elm, a glimmerIn the brown park, in herds, the troubled [ear; Shook the still-twinkling tail and glancing When horses in the sunburnt intake*stood, And vainly eyed below the tempting flood, Or tracked the passenger, in mute distress, With forward neck the closing gate to press--[rill

deer

Then while I wandered where the huddling Brightens with water-breaks the sombrous

ghyll,t

feet.

As by enchantment, an obscure retreat Opened at once, and stayed my devious [close, While thick above the rill the branches In rocky basin its wild waves repose, Inverted shrubs, and moss of gloomy green, [weeds between; Cling from the rocks, with pale wood

Save that aloft the subtle sunbeams shine

On withered briars that o'er the crags recline,

Sole light admitted here, a small cascade, Illumes with sparkling foam the impervious shade;

Beyond, along the vista of the brook, Where antique roots its bustling course o'erlook,

The word intake is local and signifies a mountain inclosure.

† Ghyll is also, I believe, a term confined to this country, ghyll and dingle have the same ineaning.

With towers and woods a "prospect all on The coves and secret hollows, through a ray

tween;

Of fainter gold, a purple gleam betray; The gilded turf invests with richer green Each speck of lawn the broken rocks be[illume, Deep yellow beams the scattered stems Far in the level forest's central gloom; Waving his hat, the shepherd, from the vale,

Directs his winding dog the cliffs to scale, That, barking busy, mid the glittering rocks, [flocks. Hunts, where he points, the intercepted Where oaks o'erhang the road the radiance [roots; On tawny earth, wild weeds, and twisted The Druid stones their lighted fane unfold, And all the babbling brooks are liquid gold;

shoots

Sunk to a curve, the day-star lessens still, Gives one bright glance, and drops behind

the hill.*

Thence issuing often with unwieldy stalk, With broad black feet ye crush your flowery walk; [morn Or, from the neighbouring water, hear at The hound, the horse's tread, and mellow horn; [rings, Involve your serpent necks in changeful Rolled wantonly between your slippery wings,

Or, starting up with noise and rude delight, Force half upon the wave your cumbrous flight.

caressed,

Fair swan! by all a mother's joys [thee blessed; Haply some wretch has eyed, and called The whilst upon some sultry summer's day She dragged her babes along this weary

way; [road Or taught their limbs along the burning A few short steps to totter with their load.

I see her now, denied to lay her head, On cold blue nights, in hut or straw-built shed.

Turn to a silent smile their sleepy cry,
By pointing to a shooting star on high:
I hear, while in the forest depth, he sees
'The moon's fixed gaze between the opening

trees,

In broken sounds her elder child demand, And skyward lift, like one that prays, his hand,

If, in that country, where he dwells afar,
His father views that good, that kindly star;
-Ah me! all light is mute amid the gloom,
The interlunar cavern, of the tomb.
-When low-hung clouds each star of
summer hide,

road,

And fireless are the valleys far and wide, Where the brook brawls along the painful [broad, Dark with bat-haunted ashes stretching Oft has she taught them on her lap to play Delighted, with the glow-worm's harmless ray [the ground Tossed light from hand to hand; while on Small circles of green radiance gleam around.

Oh! when the sleety showers her path assail,

And roars between the hills the torrent gale; No more her breath can thaw their fingers cold, [fold; Their frozen arms her neck no more can Weak roof a cowering form two babes to shield,

And faint the fire a dying heart can yield!

Now with religious awe, the farewell light [night; Blends with the solemn colouring of the 'Mid groves of clouds that crest the mountain's brow, [shadows throw, And round the west's proud lodge their Like Una shining on her gloomy way, The half-seen form of Twilight roams astray; [small, Shedding, through paly loopholes mild and Gleams that upon the lake's still bosom fall; [pale, Soft o'er the surface creep those lustres Tracking the fitful motions of the gale. With restless interchange at once the bright Wins on the shade, the shade upon the light.

No favoured eye was e'er allowed to gaze
On lovelier spectacle in faery days;
When gentle spirits urged a sportive

chase,

Brushing with lucid wands the water's face;
While music, stealing round the glimmer-
ing deeps,
[steeps.
Charmed the tall circle of the enchanted
-The lights are vanished from the watery
plains:

No wreck of all the pageantry remains.
Unheeded night has overcome the vales:
On the dark earth the baffled vision fails;
The latest lingerer of the forest train,
The lone black fir, forsakes the faded plain;
Last evening sight, the cottage smoke, no
more,
[hoar;
Lost in the thickened darkness, glimmers
And, towering from the sullen dark-brown
[appear.
Like a black wall, the mountain steeps

mere,

A sympathetic twilight slowly steal,
And ever, as we fondly muse, we find
The soft gloom deepening on the tranquil
mind.

Stay! pensive, sadly-pleasing visions, stay!
Ah no! as fades the vale, they fade away:
Yet still the tender, vacant gloom remains;
Still the cold cheek its shuddering tear

retains.

The bird, who ceased, with fading light, to thread

Silent the hedge or streaming rivulet's bed, From his gray re-appearing tower shall

soon

Salute with boding note the rising moon, Frosting with hoary light the pearly ground, And pouring deeper blue to ether's bound; And pleased her solemn pomp of clouds to fold

In robes of azure, fleecy-white, and gold.

See, o'er the eastern hill, where darkness broods [woods; O'er all its vanished dells, and lawns, and Where but a mass of shade the sight can trace,

She lifts in silence up her lovely face; Above the gloomy valley flings her light, Far to the western slopes with hamlets white; [upland strew, And gives, where woods the chequered To the green corn of summer autumn's hue.

Thus Hope, first pouring from her

blessed horn

{own morn; Her dawn, far lovelier than the moon's Till higher mounted, strives in vain to cheer The weary hills, impervious, blackening

near;

[while

But now the clear-bright moon her zenith gains,

And rimy without speck extend the plains; The deepest dell the mountain's front displays, [rays; Scarce hides a shadow from her searching From the dark-blue faint silvery threads divide

The hills, while gleams below the azure tide; The scene is wakened, yet its peace unbroke, By silvered wreaths of quiet charcoal smoke, That, o'er the ruins of the fallen wood, Steal down the hill, and spread along the flood.

The song of mountain streams, unheard by day, [way. Now hardly heard, beguiles my homeward All air is, as the sleeping water, still, Listening the aërial music of the hill, Broke only by the slow clock tolling deep, Or shout that wakes the ferryman from : sleep,

1

EVENING.

How richly glows the water's breast
Before us, tinged with evening hues,
While, facing thus the crimson west,
The boat her silent course pursues !
And see how dark the backward stream!

A little moment past so smiling!
And still, perhaps, with faithless gleam,
Some other loiterers beguiling.

Such views the youthful bard allure;
But, heedless of the following gloom,
He deems their colours shall endure
Till peace go with him to the tomb