POEMS WRITTEN IN YOUTH.

Of the Poems in this class, "TIE EVENING WALK" and "DESCRIPTIVE SKETCHES" were first published in 1793. They are reprinted with some alterations that were chiefly made very soon after their publication.

This notice, which was written some time ago, scarcely applies to the Poem, "Descriptive Sketches,' as it now stands. The corrections, though numerous, are not, however, such as to prevent its retaining with propriety a place in the class of Juvenile Pieces. 1836.

I.

EXTRACT.

FROM THE CONCLUSION OF A POEM, COMPOSED
IN ANTICIPATION OF LEAVING SCHOOL.

DEAR native regions, I foretell,
From what I feel at this farewell,
That, wheresoe'er my steps may tend,
And whensoe'er my course shall end,
If in that hour a single tie

Survive of local sympathy,

My soul will cast the backward view,
The longing look alone on you.

Thus, while the Sun sinks down to rest
Far in the regions of the west,

5

ΙΟ

Though to the vale no parting beam
Be given, not one memorial gleam,
A lingering light he fondly throws
On the dear hills where first he rose.

1786.

II.

WRITTEN IN VERY EARLY YOUTH.

CALM is all nature as a resting wheel.
The kine are couched upon the dewy grass;
The horse alone, seen dimly as I pass,
Is cropping audibly his later meal:

Dark is the ground; a slumber seems to steal 5
O'er vale, and mountain, and the starless sky.
Now, in this blank of things, a harmony,
Home-felt, and home-created, comes to heal
That grief for which the senses still supply
Fresh food; for only then, when memory
Is hushed, am I at rest. My friends! restrain
Those busy cares that would allay my pain;
Oh! leave me to myself, nor let me feel
The officious touch that makes me droop again.

? 1786.

ΙΟ

III.

AN EVENING WALK.

ADDRESSED TO A YOUNG LADY.

General Sketch of the Lakes-Author's regret of his Youth which was passed amongst them-Short description of Noon-Cascade-Noon-tide Retreat -Precipice and sloping Lights-Face of Nature as the Sun declines-Mountain-farm, and the CockSlate-quarry-Sunset-Superstition of the Country

connected with that moment-Swans - Female Beggar - Twilight-sounds Western Lights

Spirits-Night-Moonlight-Hope-Night-sounds

-Conclusion.

FAR from my dearest Friend, 'tis mine to rove Through bare grey dell, high wood, and pastoral

cove;

Where Derwent rests, and listens to the roar That stuns the tremulous cliffs of high Lodore ; Where peace to Grasmere's lonely island leads, 5 To willowy hedge-rows, and to emerald meads; Leads to her bridge, rude church, and cottaged grounds,

Her rocky sheepwalks, and her woodland bounds;

Where, undisturbed by winds, Winander

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Fair scenes, erewhile, I taught, a happy child, The echoes of your rocks my carols wild: The spirit sought not then, in cherished sadness, A cloudy substitute for failing gladness. In youth's keen eye the livelong day was bright, The sun at morning, and the stars at night, Alike, when first the bittern's hollow bill Was heard, or woodcocks 2 roamed the moonlight hill.

20

These lines are only applicable to the middle part of that lake.

2 In the beginning of winter these mountains are frequented by woodcocks, which in dark nights retire into the woods.

In thoughtless gaiety I coursed the plain, And hope itself was all I knew of pain; For then the inexperienced heart would beat At times, while young Content forsook her seat, And wild Impatience, pointing upward, showed,

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Through passes yet unreached, a brighter road.
Alas! the idle tale of man is found
Depicted in the dial's moral round;
Hope with reflection blends her social rays.
To gild the total tablet of his days;
Yet still, the sport of some malignant power,
He knows but from its shade the present hour.

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?

30

35

When, in the south, the wan noon, brooding

still,

Breathed a pale steam around the glaring hill, And shades of deep-embattled clouds were

A fence far stretched into the shallow lake, Lashed the cool water with their restless tails, Or from high points of rock looked out for fanning gales;

When school-boys stretched their length upon

the green;

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And round the broad-spread oak, a glimmering

scene,

In the rough fern-clad park, the herded deer Shook the still-twinkling tail and glancing ear

1

When horses in the sunburnt intake stood, And vainly eyed below the tempting flood, 50 Or tracked the passenger, in mute distress, With forward neck the closing gate to pressThen, while I wandered where the huddling

rill

Brightens with water-breaks the hollow ghyll As by enchantment, an obscure retreat Opened at once, and stayed my devious feet. While thick above the rill the branches close, In rocky basin its wild waves repose,

2

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Inverted shrubs, and moss of gloomy green, Cling from the rocks, with pale wood-weeds

between;

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And its own twilight softens the whole scene,
Save where aloft the subtle sunbeams shine
On withered briars that o'er the crags recline
Save where, with sparkling foam, a small cas-

cade

65

Illumines, from within, the leafy shade;
Beyond, along the vista of the brook,
Where antique roots its bustling course o'erlook,
The eye reposes on a secret bridge,"

Half grey, half shagged with ivy to its ridge; There, bending o'er the stream, the listless swain

Lingers behind his disappearing wain.

70

-Did Sabine grace adorn my living line, Bandusia's praise, wild stream, should yield to thine!

1The word intake is local, and signifies a mountaininclosure.

Ghyll is also, I believe, a term confined to this country ghyll and dingle have the same meaning. 3 The reader, who has made the tour of this country, will recognise, in this description, the features which characterise the lower waterfall in the grounds of Rydal.