But Thou art true, incarnate Lord,
Who didst vouchsafe for man to die;
Thy smile is sure, thy plighted word
No change can falsify!

I bent before thy gracious throne,
And asked for peace on suppliant knee;
And peace was given, -nor peace alone,
But faith sublimed to ecstasy!

COMPOSED UPON AN EVENING
OF EXTRAORDINARY SPLEN-
DOUR AND BEAUTY

it

The hollow vale from steep to steep,
And penetrates the glades.
Far-distant images draw nigh,
Called forth by wondrous potency
Of beamy radiance, that imbues,
Whate'er it strikes, with gem-like hues!
In vision exquisitely clear,

Herds range along the mountain side;
And glistening antlers are descried;
And gilded flocks appear.

Thine is the tranquil hour, purpureal
Eve!

But long as god-like wish, or hope divine,
Informs my spirit, ne'er can I believe
That this magnificence is wholly thine!
-From worlds not quickened by the sun
A portion of the gift is won;

An intermingling of Heaven's pomp is
spread

Felt and in a great measure composed upon the little mount in front of our abode at Rydal. In concluding my notices of this class of poems may be as well to observe that among the "Miscellaneous Sonnets" are a few alluding to morning On ground which British shepherds tread! impressions which might be read with mutual benefit in connection with these "Evening Voluntaries." See, for example, that one on Westminster Bridge, that composed on a May morning, the one on the song of the Thrush, and that beginning "While beams of orient light shoot wide and high."

I

HAD this effulgence disappeared
With flying haste, I might have sent,
Among the speechless clouds, a look
Of blank astonishment;

But 'tis endued with power to stay,
And sanctify one closing day,
That frail Mortality may see-
What is?-ah no, but what can be!
Time was when field and watery cove
With modulated echoes rang,
While choirs of fervent Angels sang
Their vespers in the grove;

Or, crowning, star-like, each some sovereign
height,

Warbled, for heaven above and earth below,
Strains suitable to both. -Such holy rite,
Methinks, if audibly repeated now
From hill or valley, could not move
Sublimer transport, purer love,
Than doth this silent spectacle-the gleam-
The shadow-and the peace supreme!

II

No sound is uttered, but a deep
And solemn harmony pervades

III

And, if there be whom broken ties
Afflict, or injuries assail,
Yon hazy ridges to their eyes
Present a glorious scale,
Climbing suffused with sunny air,
To stop-no record hath told where !
And tempting Fancy to ascend,
And with immortal Spirits blend !1
-Wings at my shoulders seem to play;
But, rooted here, I stand and gaze
On those bright steps that heavenward
raise

Their practicable way.

Come forth, ye drooping old men, look

abroad,

And see to what fair countries ye are bound'
And if some traveller, weary of his road,
Hath slept since noon-tide on the grassy
ground,

Ye Genii! to his covert speed;

And wake him with such gentle heed
As may attune his soul to meet the dower
Bestowed on this transcendent hour!

IV

Such hues from their celestial Urn
Were wont to stream before mine eye,
Where'er it wandered in the morn
Of blissful infancy.

1 See Note.