The central feeling of all happiness, Not as a refuge from distress or pain, A breathing-time, vacation, or a truce, But for its absolute self; a life of peace, Stability without regret or fear;
That hath been, is, and shall be evermore Such the reward he sought; and wore out life There, where on few external things his heart Was set, and those his own; or, if not his, Subsisting under Nature's steadfast law.
"What other yearning was the master tie Of the monastic Brotherhood, upon Rock Aerial, or in green secluded Vale, One after one, collected from afar, An undissolving Fellowship?
The universal instinct of repose,
The longing for confirmed tranquillity, Inward and outward; humble, yet sublime. The life where hope and memory are as one, Earth quiet and unchanged; the human Soul Consistent in self-rule; and heaven revealed To meditation in that quietness!
Such was their scheme :- thrice happy he who gained The end proposed! And, though the same were
By multitudes, perhaps obtained by none,
They, for the attempt, and for the pains employed,
Do, in my present censure, stand redeemed
From the unqualified disdain that once
Would have been cast upon them, by my Voice Delivering her decisions from the seat
Of forward Youth - that scruples not to solve Doubts, and determine questions, by the rules Of inexperienced judgment, ever prone
To overweening faith; and is inflamed, By courage, to demand from real life The test of act and suffering-to provoke Hostility, how dreadful when it comes, Whether affliction be the foe, or guilt!
"A Child of earth, I rested, in that stage Of my past course to which these thoughts advert, Upon earth's native energies; forgetting That mine was a condition which required Nor energy, nor fortitude a calm Without vicissitude; which, if the like Had been presented to my view elsewhere, I might have even been tempted to despise. But that which was serene was also bright; Enlivened happiness with joy o'erflowing, With joy, and oh! that memory should survive To speak the word with rapture! Nature's boon, Life's genuine inspiration, happiness
Above what rules can teach, or fancy feign;
Abused, as all possessions are abused
That are not prized according to their worth.
And yet, what worth? what good is given to Men More solid than the gilded clouds of heaven? What joy more lasting than a vernal flower? None! 'tis the general plaint of human kind
In solitude, and mutually addressed From each to all, for wisdom's sake this truth The Priest announces from his holy seat;
And, crowned with garlands in the summer grove, The Poet fits it to his pensive lyre.
Yet, ere that final resting place be gained, Sharp contradictions may arise by doom Of this same life, compelling us to grieve That the prosperities of love and joy
Should be permitted oft-times, to endure So long, and be at once cast down for ever. Oh! tremble, Ye, to whom hath been assigned A course of days composing happy months, And they as happy years; the present still So like the past, and both so firm a pledge Of a congenial future, that the wheels Of pleasure move without the aid of hope: For Mutability is Nature's bane;
And slighted Hope will be avenged; and, when Ye need her favors, Ye shall find her not; But in her stead fear - doubt and agony!"
This was the bitter language of the heart: But, while he spake, look, gesture, tone of voice, Though discomposed and vehement, were such As skill and graceful Nature might suggest To a Proficient of the tragic scene,
Standing before the multitude, beset With dark events. Desirous to divert
O stem the current of the Speaker's thoughts, We signified a wish to leave that Place Of stillness and close privacy, a nook That seemed for self-examination made, Or, for confession, in the sinner's need, Hidden from all Men's view. To our attempt He yielded not; but pointing to a slope Of mossy turf defended from the sun, And, on that couch inviting us to rest, Full on that tender-hearted Man he turned A serious eye, and thus his speech renewed:
"You never saw, your eyes did never look On the bright Form of Her whom once I loved Her silver voice was heard upon the earth,
A sound unknown to you; else, honored Friend! Your heart had borne a pitiable share
Of what I suffered, when I wept that loss, And suffer now, not seldom, from the thought That I remember, and can weep no more Stripped as I am of all the golden fruit Of self-esteem; and by the cutting blasts Of self-reproach familiarly assailed;
I would not yet be of such wintry barrenness But that some leaf of your regard should hang Upon my naked branches: - lively thoughts Give birth, full often, to unguarded words; I grieve that, in your presence, from my tongue Too much of frailty hath already dropped; But that too much demands still more.
"You know,
and to you, kind Sir,
(Not to be deemed a Stranger, as you come Following the guidance of these welcome feet To our secluded Vale,) it may be told,
That my demerits did not sue in vain
To One on whose mild radiance many gazed With hope, and all with pleasure. This fair Bride In the devotedness of youthful Love, Preferring me to Parents, and the choir Of gay companions, to the natal roof, And all known places and familiar sights, (Resigned, with sadness gently weighing down Her trembling expectations, but no more Than did to her due honor, and to me Yielded, that day, a confidence sublime In what I had to build upon) - this Bride, Young, modest, meek, and beautiful, I led To a low Cottage in a sunny Bay, Where the salt sea innocuously breaks,
And the sea breeze as innocently breathes On Devon's leafy shores a sheltered Hold, In a soft clime encouraging the soil
To a luxuriant bounty! As our steps Approach the embowered Abode
See, rooted in the earth, her kindly bed, The unendangered Myrtle, decked with flowers, Before the threshold stands to welcome us! While, in the flowering Myrtle's neighborhood, Not overlooked but courting no regard, Those native plants, the Holly and the Yew, Gave modest intimation to the mind How willingly their aid they would unite With the green Myrtle, to endear the hours Of winter, and protect that pleasant place.
- Wild were the Walks upon those lonely Downs, Track leading into Track, how marked, how worn Into bright verdure, between fern and gorse Winding away its never-ending line
On their smooth surface, evidence was none:
But, there, lay open to our daily haunt,
A range of unappropriated earth,
Where youth's ambitious feet might move at large;
Whence, unmolested Wanderer's, we beheld
The shining Giver of the Day diffuse
His brightness o'er a tract of sea and land
Gay as our spirits, free as our desires,
As our enjoyments, boundless. From those Heights We dropped, at pleasure, into sylvan Combs ; Where arbors of impenetrable shade,
And mossy seats, detained us side by side,
With hearts at ease, and knowledge in our hearts That all the grove and all the day was ours.'
"But Nature called my Partner to resign
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