Of social nature changes evermore Her organs and her members, with decay Restless, and restless generation, powers And functions dying and produced at need,- And by this law the mighty whole subsists: With an ascent and progress in the main; Yet, oh! how disproportion'd to the hopes And expectations of self-flattering minds! The courteous knight, whose bones are here interr'd, Lived in an age conspicuous as our own For strife and ferment in the minds of men ; Whence alteration, in the forms of things, Various and vast. A memorable age! Which did to him assign a pensive lot, To linger 'mid the last of those bright clouds, That, on the steady breeze of honour, sail'd In long procession calm and beautiful. He, who had seen his own bright order fade, And its devotion gradually decline
(While War, relinquishing the lance and shield, Her temper changed, and bow'd to other laws), Had also witness'd, in his morn of life, That violent commotion, which o'erthrew, In town, and city, and sequester'd glen, Altar, and cross, and church of solemn roof, And old religious house-pile after pile; And shook the tenants out into the fields,
Like wild beasts without home! Their hour was come 2 But why no softening thought of gratitude, No just remembrance, scruple, or wise doubt? Benevolence is mild; nor borrows help, Save at worst need, from bold impetuous force, Fitliest allied to anger and revenge. But human-kind rejoices in the might Of mutability, and airy hopes, Dancing around her, hinder and disturb Those meditations of the soul which feed The retrospective virtues. Festive songs Break from the madden'd nations at the sight Of sudden overthrow; and cold neglect
Is the sure consequence of slow decay.
"Even," said the Wanderer, "as that courteous knight, Bound by his vow to labour for redress
Of all who suffer wrong, and to enact By sword and lance the law of gentleness, If I may venture of myself to speak, Trusting that not incongruously I blend Low things with lofty, I too shall be doom'd To outlive the kindly use and fair esteem Of the poor calling which my youth embraced With no unworthy prospect. But enough; Thoughts crowd upon me-and 'twere seemlier now To stop, and yield our gracious teacher thanks
For the pathetic records which his voice Hath here deliver'd: words of heartfelt truth. Tending to patience when affliction strikes ; To hope and love; to confident repose In God; and reverence for the dust of man.'
Pastor's apprehensions that he might have detained his auditors too long-Invitation to his house-Solitary disinclined to comply-Rallies the Wanderer-And somewhat playfully draws a comparison between his itinerant profession and that of the knighterrant-which leads to Wanderer's giving an account of changes in the country from the manufacturing spirit-Favourable effects-The other side of the picture, and chiefly as it has affected the humbler classes-Wanderer asserts the hollowness of all national grandeur if unsupported by moral worth-Gives instances-Physical science unable to support itself-Lamentations over an excess of manufacturing industry among the humbler classes of society-Picture of a child employed in a cotton-mill-Ignorance and degradation of children among the agricultural population reviewed-Conversation broken off by a renewed invitation from the Pastor-Path leading to his house-Its appearance described-His daughter-His wife-His son (a boy) enters with his companion-Their happy appearance-The Wanderer how affected by the sight of them.
THE pensive Sceptic of the lonely vale
To those acknowledgments subscribed his own, With a sedate compliance, which the Priest Fail'd not to notice, inly pleased, and said :— "If ye, by whom invited, I commenced Those narratives of calm and humble life, Be satisfied, 'tis well,-the end is gain'd; And, in return for sympathy bestow'd, And patient listening, thanks accept from me. -Life, death, eternity! momentous themes Are these and might demand a seraph's tongue, Were they not equal to their own support; And therefore no incompetence of mine Could do them wrong. The universal forms Of human nature, in a spot like this,
Present themselves at once to all men's view: Ye wish'd for act and circumstance, that make The individual known and understood; And such as my best judgment could select From what the place afforded, have been given; Though apprehensions cross'd me, in the course Of this self-pleasing exercise, that ye My zeal to his would liken, who, possess'd Of some rare gems, or pictures finely wrought, Unlocks his cabinet, and draws them forth One after one-soliciting regard
To this, and this, as worthier than the last, Till the spectator, who awhile was pleased More than th' exhibitor himself, becomes
Weary and faint, and longs to be released. -But let us hence! my dwelling is in sight, And there-"
At this the Solitary shrunk
With backward will; but, wanting not address That inward motion to disguise, he said To his compatriot, smiling as he spake,- "The peaceable remains of this good knight Would be disturb'd, I fear, with wrathful scorn, If consciousness could reach him where he lies That one, albeit of these degenerate times, Deploring changes past, or dreading change Foreseen, had dared to couple, even in thought, The fine vocation of the sword and lance With the gross aims and body-bending toil Of a poor brotherhood who walk the earth Pitied, and, where they are not known, despised. Yet, by the good knight's leave, the two estates Are graced with some resemblance. Errant those
Exiles and wanderers; and the like are these, Who, with their burthen, traverse hill and dale, Carrying relief for nature's simple wants. What though no higher recompense they seek Than honest maintenance, by irksome toil Full oft procured, yet such may claim respect, Among the intelligent, for what this course Enables them to be and to perform, Their tardy steps give leisure to observe, While solitude permits the mind to feel; And doth instruct her to supply defects By the division of her inward self,
For grateful converse: and to these poor men, As I have heard you boast with honest pride, Nature is bountiful; where'er they go,
Kind nature's various wealth is all their own. Versed in the characters of men; and bound, By tie of daily interest, to maintain Conciliatory manners and smooth speech; Such have been, and still are, in their degree, Examples efficacious to refine
Rude intercourse; apt instruments to excite, By importation of unlook'd-for arts, Barbarian torpor, and blind prejudice; Raising, through just gradation, savage life To rustic, and the rustic to urbane. Within their moving magazines is lodged Power that comes forth to quicken and exalt Th' affections seated in the mother's breast, And in the lover's fancy; and to feed The sober sympathies of long-tried friends. By these itinerants, as experienced men, Counsel is given; contention they appease With healing words; and in remotest wilds.
Tears wipe away, and pleasant tidings bring ;- Could the proud quest of chivalry do more?"
"Happy," rejoin'd the Wanderer, "they who gain A panegyric from your generous tongue! But, if to these wayfarers once pertain'd Aught of romantic interest, 'tis gone; Their purer service, in this realm at least, Is past for ever. Án inventive age
Has wrought, if not with speed of magic, yet To most strange issues. I have lived to mark A new and unforeseen creation rise
From out the labours of a peaceful land, Wielding her potent enginery to frame And to produce, with appetite as keen As that of war, which rests not night or day, Industrious to destroy! With fruitless pains Might one like me now visit many a tract Which, in his youth, he trod, and trod again, A lone pedestrian with a scanty freight, Wish'd for, or welcome, wheresoe'er he can e- Among the tenantry of thorpe and vill; Or straggling burgh, of ancient charter proud, And dignified by battlements and towers Of some stern castle, mouldering on the brow Of a green hill or bank of rugged stream.
The footpath faintly mark'd, the horse-track wild, And formidable length of plashy lane (Prized avenues ere others had been shaped Or easier links connecting place with place), Have vanish'd-swallow'd up by stately roads, Easy and bold, that penetrate the gloom Of England's farthest glens. The earth has lent Her waters, air her breezes; and the sail Of traffic glides with ceaseless interchange, Glistening along the low and woody dale, Or on the naked mountain's lofty side. Meanwhile, at social industry's command, How quick, how vast an increase! From the germ Of some poor hamlet, rapidly produced
Here a huge town, continuous and compact, Hiding the face of earth for leagues—and there, Where not a habitation stood before,
The abodes of men irregularly mass'd
Like trees in forests,-spread through spacious tracts O'er which the smoke of unremitting fires
Hangs permanent, and plentiful as wreaths Of vapour glittering in the morning sun. And, wheresoe'er the traveller turns his steps, He sees the barren wilderness erased, Or disappearing; triumph that proclaims How much the mild directress of the plough Owes to alliance with these new-born arts! ence is the wide sea peopled,-and the shores
Of Britain are resorted to by ships Freighted from every climate of the world With the world's choicest produce. Of keels that rest within her crowded ports, Or ride at anchor in her sounds and bays; That animating spectacle of sails
Which, through her inland regions, to and fro Pass with the respirations of the tide, Perpetual, multitudinous! Finally,
Hence a dread arm of floating power, a voice Of thunder, daunting those who would approach With hostile purposes the blessèd isle, Truth's consecrated residence, the seat Impregnable of liberty and peace.
"And yet, O happy Pastor of a flock Faithfully watch'd, and, by that loving care And Heaven's good providence, preserved from taint! With you I grieve, when on the darker side Of this great change I look; and there behold, Through strong temptation of those gainful arts, Such outrage done to nature as compels
The indignant power to justify herself;
Yea, to avenge her violated rights,
For England's bane. When soothing darkness spreads O'er hill and vale," the Wanderer thus express'd
His recollections, "and the punctual stars,
While all things else are gathering to their homes, Advance, and in the firmament of heaven Glitter-but undisturbing, undisturb'd, As if their silent company were charged With peaceful admonitions for the heart Of all-beholding man, earth's thoughtful lord, Then in full many a region, once like this The assured domain of calm simplicity And pensive quiet, an unnatural light, Prepared for never-resting labour's eyes, Breaks from a many-window'd fabric huge; And at the appointed hour a bell is heard,- Of harsher import than the curfew-knoll
That spake the Norman conqueror's stern behest, A local summons to unceasing toil!
Disgorged are now the ministers of day; And, as they issue from the illumined pile,
A fresh band meets them at the crowded door,
And in the courts-and where the rumbling stream, That turns the multitude of dizzy wheels,
Glares, like a troubled spirit, in its bed
Among the rocks below. Men, maidens, youths. Mother and little children, boys and girls Enter, and each the wonted task resumes Within this temple, where is offer'd up To gain-the master idol of the realm, Perpetual sacrifice. Even thus of old
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