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 doomed
To outlive the kindly use and fair esteem
Of the poor calling which my Youth embraced
With no unworthy prospect.

Thoughts crowd

me upon

But enough;

and 'twere seemlier now

To stop, and yield our gracious Teacher thanks
For the pathetic Records which his voice
Hath here delivered; 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."

END OF THE SEVENTH BOOK.

THE EXCURSION.

BOOK VIII.

THE PARSONAGE,

ARGUMENT.

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 Knight-errant — 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 – Daughter - His Wife His Son (a Boy) enters with his Companion Their happy appearance - The Wanderer how

affected by the sight of them.

-

His

331

BOOK THE EIGHTH.

THE PARSONAGE.

THE pensive Sceptic of the lonely Vale
To those acknowledgments subscribed his own,
With a sedate compliance, which the Priest
Failed not to notice, inly pleased, and said,
"If Ye, by whom invited I commenced
These Narratives of calm and humble life,
Be satisfied, 'tis well, the end is gained;

And, in return for sympathy bestowed

And patient listening, thanks accept from me.
-Life, Death, Eternity! momentous themes

Are they — 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 wished 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 crossed me, in the course
Of this self-pleasing exercise, that Ye
My zeal to his would liken, who unlocks

A Cabinet with gems or pictures stored,
And draws them forth soliciting regard

To this, and this, as worthier than the last,
Till the Spectator, who a while was pleased
More than the 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 disturbed, 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