The poetical works of Wordsworth, with memoir, notes etc

And spreads her arms-as if the general If, when that interference hath relieved him,

air

Alone could satisfy her wide embrace. Melt, principalities. before her melt! Her love ye hailed-her wrath have felt;

He must sink down to languish

In worse than former helplessness-and lie Till the caves roar,—and, imbecility Again engendering anguish,

But she through many a change of form The same weak wish returns, that had

[creature,

hath gone, And stands amidst you now, an armèd Whose panoply is not a thing put on, But the live scales of a portentous nature; That, having wrought its way from birth to birth, [to the earth! Stalks round-abhorred by Heaven, a terror

I marked the breathings of her dragon

crest;

My soul, a sorrowful interpreter,
In many a midnight vision bowed
Before the ominous aspect of her spear;
Whether the mighty beam, in scorn upheld,
Threatened her foes,-or, pompously at

rest,

Seemed to bisect her orbèd shield,

As stretches a blue bar of solid cloud Across the setting sun, and through the fiery west.

So did she daunt the earth, and God defy! And, wheresoe'er she spread her sovereignty, Pollution tainted all that was most pure. Have we not known-and live we not to tell

That Justice seemed to hear her final knell? Faith buried deeper in her own deep breast Herstores, and sighed to find them insecure! And Hope was maddened by the drops [lived rest: From shades, her chosen place of shortShame followed shame-and woe supplan

that fell

ted woe-..

Is this the only change that time can show? How long shall vengeance sleep?

patient heavens, how long? Infirm ejaculation! from the tongue Of nations wanting virtue to be strong Up to the measure of accorded might, And daring not to feel the majesty of right.

Weak spirits are there-who would ask, Upon the pressure of a painful thing, The lion's sinews, or the eagle's wing; Or let their wishes loose, in forest glade, Among the lurking powers

Of herbs and lowly flowers, Or seek, from saints above, miraculous aid; That man may be accomplished for a task Which his own nature hath enjoined-and why?

before deceived him.

By more deserving brows. -Yet so ye prop,
Sons of the brave who fought at Marathon!
Your feeble spirits. Greece her head hath
bowed,

As if the wreath of liberty thereon
Would fix itself as smoothly as a cloud,
Which, at Jove's will, descends on Pelion's
top."

PASSING OF THE BILL FOR

THE

CLOUDS, angering yet, extend in solid bars Through the gray west; and lo! these waters, steeled

By breezeless air to smoothest polish, yield
A vivid repetition of the stars;
Jove-Venus-and the ruddy crest of Mars,
Amid his fellows beauteously revealed
At happy distance from earth's groaning
field,

Where ruthless mortals wage incessant wars.

TO THOMAS CLARKSON, ON THE FINAL Is it a mirror?-or the nether sphere
Opening to view the abyss in which it feeds
ABOLITION OF THE SLAVE TRADE, Its own calm fires ?-But list! a voice is
MARCH, 1807.
CLARKSON! it was an obstinate hill to
climb:

[thee How toilsome, nay, how dire it was, by Is known, by none, perhaps, so feelingiy; But thou, who, starting in thy fervent prime,

Didst first lead forth this pilgrimage sublime,
Hast heard the constant voice its charge
repeat,
[seat,
Which, out of thy young heart's oracular
First roused thee.-Oh, true yoke-fellow of
Time

With unabating effort, see, the palm
Is won, and by all nations shall be worn!
The bloody writing is for ever torn,
And thou henceforth shalt have a good
man's calm,

A great man's happiness; thy zeal shall find Repose at length, firm friend of human kind!

A PROPHECY. FEBRUARY, 1807. HIGH deeds, O Germans, are to come from you!

near;

[the reeds, Great Pan himself low-whispering through Be thankful, thou; for if unholy deeds Ravage the world, tranquillity is here!"

trace

Go back to antique ages, if thine eyes
The genuine mien and character would
Of the rash spirit that still holds her place,
Prompting the world's audacious vanities!
See, at her call, the Tower of Babel rise
The Pyramid extend its monstrous base
For some aspirant of our short-lived rac
Anxious an airy name to immortalize.
There, too, ere wiles and politic dispute
Gave specious colouring to aim and act,
See the first mighty hunter leave the brute
To chase mankind, with men in armies
packed

For his field-pastime, high and absolute, While, to dislodge his game, cities are sacked!

[found, COMPOSED WHILE THE AUTHOR WAS

Thus in your books the record shall be "A watchword was pronounced, a potent sound, [dew ARMINIUS!-all the people quaked like Stirred by the breeze-they rose a nation,

true,

ENGAGED IN WRITING A TRACT OCCASIONED BY THE CONVENTION OF CINTRA, 1808.

enslave

NOT 'mid the world's vain objects! that [vaunted skill The free-born soul,-that world whose In selfish interest perverts the will, Whose factions lead astray the wise and brave; [trance;

True to herself-the mighty Germany, She of the Danube and the Northern sea,

She rose, and off at once the yoke she

threw.

All power was given her in the dreadful Those new-born kings she withered like a [shame Woe to them all! but heaviest woe and To that Bavarian who did first advance

flame."

His banner in accursed league with France, First open traitor to a sacred name!

Not there! but in dark wood and rocky cave, And hollow vale which foaming torrents fill With omnipresent murmur as they rave Down their steep beds, that never shall be still:

Here, mighty nature! in this school sublime I weigh the hopes and fears of suffering Spain:

For her consult the auguries of time,

And through the human heart explore my | Like echo, when the hunter-train at dawn way, [may, Have roused her from her sleep: and And look and listen-gathering, whence I forest-lawn, [resound Triumph, and thoughts no bondage can Cliffs, woods, and caves her viewless steps restrain. And babble of her pastime !-On, dread power!

OF mortal parents is the hero born
By whom the undaunted Tyrolese are led?
Or is it Tell's great spirit, from the dead
Returned to animate an age forlorn?
He comes like Phœbus through the gates
of morn

When dreary darkness is discomfited:
Yet mark his modest state! upon his head,
That simple crest, a heron's plume is worn.
O liberty they stagger at the shock;
The murderers are aghast; they strive to
flee,
[rock
And half their host is buried:-rock on
Descends :-beneath this godlike warrior,

see!

Hills, torrents, woods, embodied to bemock
The tyrant, and confound his cruelty.

ADVANCE-Come forth from thy Tyrolean
ground,
(tamed,
Dear liberty! stern nymph of soul un-
Sweet nymph, oh, rightly of the mountains
named
[to mound
Through the long chain of Alps from mound
And o'er the eternal snows, like echo,
bound,-

With such invisible motion speed thy flight, Through hanging clouds, from craggy height to height, [herdsman's bower, Through the green vales and through the That all the Alps may gladden in thy might,

Here, there, and in all places at one hour.

Ah, no! though nature's dread protection fails,

HAIL, Zaragoza! If with unwet eye We can approach, thy sorrow to behoid, Yet is the heart not pitiless nor cold; Such spectacle demands not tear or sigh. These desolate remains are trophies high Of more than martial courage in the breast Of peaceful civic virtue. they atttest Thy matchless worth to all posterity. Blood flowed before thy sight without re[heaved Disease consumed thy vitals; war up. The bread which without industry they find. The ground beneath thee with volcanic

There is a bulwark in the soul. This knew
Iberian burghers when the sword they drew
In Zaragoza, naked to the gales
Of fiercely-breathing war. The truth was felt
By Palafox, and man a brave compeer,
Like him of noble birth and noble mind;
By ladies, meek-eyed women without fear;
And wanderers of the street, to whom is
dealt

morse;

force;

Dread trials! yet encountered and sustained
Till not a wreck of help or hope remained,
And law was from necessity received.

SAY, what is honour?-"Tis the finest sense
Of justice which the human mind can
Intent each lurking frailty to disclaim,
frame,
And guard the way of life from all offence
Suffered or done. When lawless violence
A kingdom doth assault, and in the scale
Of perilous war her weightiest armies fail,
Honour is hopeful elevation-whence
Glory, and triumph. Yet with politic skill
Endangered states may yield to terms un-
just,

Stoop their proud heads, but not unto the
dust,-

A foe's most favourite purpose to fulfil :
Happy occasions oft by self-mistrust
Are forfeited; but infamy doth kill.

course,

BRAVE Schill! by death delivered, take thy | Internal darkness and unquiet breath; flight. [rest And, if old judgments keep their sacred From Prussia's timid region. Go, and [cipitate With heroes mid the islands of the blest, Him from that height shall Heaven preOr in the fields of empyrean light. By violent and ignominious death. A meteor wert thou in a darksome night; Yet shall thy name conspicuous and sublime,

Stand in the spacious firmament of time,
Fixed as a star: such glory is thy right.
Alas! it may not be for earthly fame
Is fortune's frail dependent; yet there lives
A judge, who, as man claims by merit,
gives;

To whose all-pondering mind a noble aim,
Faithfully kept, is as a noble deed:
In whose pure sight all virtue doth succeed.

Is there a power that can sustain and cheer

year,

The captive chieftain, by a tyrant's doom,
Forced to descend alive into his tomb,
A dungeon dark! where he must waste the
[dear:
And lie cut off from all his heart holds
What time his injured country is a stage
Whereon deliberate valour and the rage
Of righteous vengeance side by side appear,
Filling from morn to night the heroic

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