From a clear Fountain flowing, he looks round

And seeks for good; and finds the good he seeks:
Until abhorrence and contempt are things

He only knows by name; and, if he hear,
From other mouths, the language which they speak,
He is compassionate; and has no thought,
No feeling, which can overcome his love.

"And further; by contemplating these Forms
In the relations which they bear to Man,
He shall discern, how, through the various means,
Which silently they yield, are multiplied
The spiritual Presences of absent Things.

Trust me, that for the Instructed, time will come
When they shall meet no object but may teach
Some acceptable lesson to their minds

Of human suffering, or of human joy.

So shall they learn, while all things speak of Man
Their duties from all forms; and general laws,
And local accidents, shall tend alike

To rouse, to urge; and, with the will, confer
The ability to spread the blessing wide
Of true philanthropy. The light of love
Not failing, perseverance from their steps
Departing not, for them shall be confirmed
The glorious habit by which Sense is made
Subservient still to moral purposes,
Auxiliar to divine. That change shall clothe
The naked Spirit, ceasing to deplore
The burthen of existence. Science then
Shall be a precious Visitant: and then,

And only tnen, be worthy of her name.

For then her Heart shall kindle; her dull Eye,
Dull and inanimate, no more shall ang
Chained to its object in brute slavery;

But taught with patient interest to watch
The processes of things, and serve the cause
Of order and distinctness, not for this
Shall it forget that its most noble use,
Its most illustrious province, must be found
In furnishing clear guidance, a support
Not treacherous to the Mind's excursive Power.
So build we up the Being that we are;
Thus deeply drinking-in the Soul of Things,
We shall be wise perforce; and while inspired
By choice, and conscious that the Will is free,
Unswerving shall we move, as if impelled
By strict necessity, along the path

Of order and of good. Whate'er we see,
Whate'er we feel, by agency direct

Or indirect, shall tend to feed and nurse
Our faculties, shall fix in calmer seats
Of moral strength, and raise to loftier heights
Of love divine, our intellectual soul."

Here closed the Sage that eloquent harangue,
Poured forth with fervor in continuous stream;
Such as, remote, 'mid savage wilderness,
An Indian Chief discharges from his breast
Into the hearing of assembled Tribes,
In open circle seated round, and hushed
As the unbreathing air, when not a leaf
Stirs in the mighty woods. So did he speak :
The words he uttered shall not pass away;
For they sank into me - the bounteous gift
Of One whom time and nature had made wise,
Gracing his language with authority
Which hostile spirits silently allow;
Of One accustomed to desires that feed

On fruitage gathered from the Tree of Life;

To hopes on knowledge and experience built;
Of one in whom persuasion and belief
Had ripened into faith, and faith become
A passionate intuition; whence the Soul,
Though bound to Earth by ties of pity and love,
From all injurious servitude was free.

The Sun, before his place of rest were reached,
Had yet to travel far, but unto us,

To us who stood low in that hollow Dell,
He had become invisible, a pomp
Leaving behind of yellow radiance spread
Upon the mountain sides, in contrast bold
With ample shadows, seemingly, no less
Than those resplendent lights, his rich bequest,
A dispensation of his evening power.

- Adown the path that from the Glen had led
The funeral Train, the Shepherd and his Mate
Were seen descending; - forth to greet them ran
Our little Page; the rustic Pair approach;
And in the Matron's aspect may be read

A plain assurance that the words which told
How that neglected Pensioner was sent
Before his time into a quiet grave,
Had done to her humanity no wrong:

But we are kindly welcomed - promptly served
With ostentatious zeal.— Along the floor

Of the small Cottage, in the lonely Dell,

A grateful Couch was spread for our repose;
Where, in the guise of Mountaineers, we slept,
Stretched upon fragrant heath, and lulled by sound
Of far-off torrents charming the still night,
And to tired limbs and over-busy thoughts
Inviting sleep and soft forgetfulness.

THE EXCURSION.

BOOK

THE FIFTH.

THE PASTOR.

ARGUMENT.

The

Farewell to the Valley — Reflections Sight of a large and populous Vale Solitary consents to go forward Vale described Pastor's dwelling, and some account of him -The Churchyard Church and Monuments -- The Solitary musing, and where Roused - In the Churchyard the Solitary communicates the thoughts which had recently passed through his mind Lofty tone of the Wanderer's discourse of yesterday adverted to Rite of Baptism, and the profession accompanying it, contrasted with the real state of human life Inconsistency of the best men Acknowledgment that practice falls far below the injuntions of duty as existing in the mindGeneral complaint of a falling-off in the value of life after the time of youth Outward appearances of content and happiness in degree illusive Pastor approaches Appeal made to him- His answer --Wanderer in sympathy with him Suggestion that the least ambitious Inquirers may be most free from error - The Pastor is desired to give some Portraits of the living or dead from his own observations of life among these Mountains and for what purpose - Pastor consents Mountain Cottage Excellent qualities of its Inhabitants Solitary expresses his pleasure; bnt denies the praise of virtue to worth of this kind Feelings of the Priest before he enters upon his account of Persons interred in the Churchyard - Graves of anbaptized Infants What sensations they excite - Funeral and sepulchral Observances, whence Ecclesiastical Establishments, whence derived - Profession of Belief in the doctrine of Immortality. B

FAREWELL, deep Valley, with thy one rude House, And its small lot of life-supporting fields,

And guardian rocks! - Farewell, attractive Seat!
To the still influx of the morning light

Open, and day's pure cheerfulness, but veiled
From human observation, as if yet

Primeval Forests wrapped thee round with dark
Impenetrable shade; once more farewell,
Majestic Circuit, beautiful Abyss,

By Nature destined from the birth of things
For quietness profound!

Upon the side

Of that brown Slope, the outlet of the Vale,
Lingering behind my Comrades, thus I breathed,
A parting tribute to a spot that seemed
Like the fixed centre of a troubled World,
And now, pursuing leisurely my way,

How vain, thought I, it is by change of place
To seek that comfort which the mind denies;
Yet trial and temptation oft are shunned
Wisely; and by such tenure do we hold
Frail Life's possessions, that even they whose fate
Yields no peculiar reason of complaint

Might, by the promise that is here, be won

To steal from active duties, and embrace

Obscurity, and calm forgetfulness.

--- Knowledge, methinks, in these disordered times Should be allowed a privilege to have

Her Anchorites, like Piety of old;

Men, who, from faction sacred, and unstained
By war, might, if so minded, turn aside
Uncensured, and subsist, a scattered few
Living to God and Nature, and content.
With that communion. Consecrated be