ON THE DEATH OF HIS MAJESTY (GEORGE THE THIRD) 573 This Rill trickles down the hill-side into Windermere, near Lowwood. My sister and I, on our first visit together to this part of the country, walked from Kendal, and we rested to refresh ourselves by the side of the lake where the streamlet falls into it. This sonnet was written some years after in recollection of that happy ramble, that most happy day and hour. THERE is a little unpretending Rill Of limpid water, humbler far than aught That ever among Men or Naiads sought Notice or name! It quivers down the hill, Furrowing its shallow way with dubious will; COMPOSED ON THE BANKS OF A ROCKY STREAM 1820. 1820 DOGMATIC Teachers, of the snow-white fur! Ye wrangling Schoolmen, of the scarlet hood! Who, with a keenness not to be withstood, Press the point home, or falter and demur, Checked in your course by many a teasing burr; These natural council-seats your acrid blood Might cool; and, as the Genius of the flood Stoops willingly to animate and spur Each lighter function slumbering in the brain, Yon eddying balls of foam, these arrowy gleams That o'er the pavement of the surging streams Welter and flash, a synod might detain ON THE DEATH OF HIS MAJESTY (GEORGE THE THIRD) 1820. 1820 WARD of the LAW!-dread Shadow of a King! Whose realm had dwindled to one stately room; Gently hast sunk into the quiet tomb, Why should we bend in grief, to sorrow cling, When thankfulness were best? - Freshflowing tears, Or, where tears flow not, sigh succeeding sigh, Yield to such after-thought the sole reply Which justly it can claim. The Nation hears In this deep knell, silent for threescore years, An unexampled voice of awful memory! 574 "THE STARS ARE MANSIONS BUILT BY NATURE'S HAND" "THE STARS ARE MANSIONS BUILT BY NATURE'S HAND" 1820. 1820 THE stars are mansions built by Nature's hand, And, haply, there the spirits of the blest Dwell, clothed in radiance, their immortal vest; Huge Ocean shows, within his yellow strand, Glad thought for every season! but the Gave it while cares were weighing on my heart, 'Mid song of birds, and insects murmur ON THE DETRACTION WHICH FOLLOWED THE PUBLICATION OF A CERTAIN POEM 1820. 1820 See Milton's Sonnet, beginning, "A Book was writ of late called 'Tetrachordon." A Book came forth of late, called Peter BELL; Not negligent the style; - the matter?good As aught that song records of Robin Hood; Or Roy, renowned through many a Scottish dell; But some (who brook those hackneyed themes full well, Nor heat, at Tam o' Shanter's name, their blood) Waxed wroth, and with foul claws, a harpy brood, On Bard and Hero clamorously fell. Heed not, wild Rover once through heath and glen, Who mad'st at length the better life thy choice, Heed not such onset! nay, if praise of men To thee appear not an unmeaning voice, Lift up that grey-haired forehead, and rejoice In the just tribute of thy Poet's pen! OXFORD, MAY 30, 1820 YE sacred Nurseries of blooming Youth! Expand, enjoying through their vernal hours The air of liberty, the light of truth; Much have ye suffered from Time's gnawing tooth: Yet, O ye spires of Oxford! domes and towers! Gardens and groves! your presence overpowers The soberness of reason; till, in sooth, Transformed, and rushing on a bold exchange, I slight my own beloved Cam, to range street An eager Novice robed in fluttering gown! JUNE 1820 1820. 1820 FAME tells of groves-from England far away Groves that inspire the Nightingale to trill Such bold report I venture to gainsay: Chanting, with indefatigable bill, Strains that recalled to mind a distant day; When, haply under shade of that same And scarcely conscious of the dashing oars Listening, and listening long, in rapturous Ye heavenly Birds! to your Progenitors. MEMORIALS OF A TOUR ON THE CONTINENT 1820. 1822 I set out in company with my Wife and Sister, and Mr. and Mrs. Monkhouse, then just married, and Miss Horrocks. These two ladies, sisters, we left at Berne, while Mr. Monkhouse took the opportunity of making an excursion with us among the Alps as far as Milan. Mr. H. C. Robinson joined us at Lucerne, and when this ramble was completed we rejoined at Geneva the two ladies we had left at Berne and proceeded to Paris, where Mr. Monkhouse and H. C. R. left us, and where we spent five weeks, of which there is not a record in these poems. DEAR Fellow-travellers! think not that the Muse, RYDAL MOUNT, Nov. 1821. BETWEEN NAMUR AND LIEGE 1820. 1822 The scenery on the Meuse pleases me more, upon the whole, than that of the Rhine, though the river itself is much inferior in grandeur. The rocks both in form and colour, especially between Namur and Liege, surpass any upon the Rhine, though they are in several places disfigured by quarries, whence stones were taken for the new fortifications. This is much to be regretted, for they are useless, and the scars will remain perhaps for thousands of years. A like injury to a still greater degree has been inflicted, in my memory, upon the beautiful rocks of Clifton on the banks of the Avon. There is probably in existence a very long letter of mine to Sir Uvedale Price, in which was given a description of the landscapes on the Meuse as compared with those on the Rhine. Details in the spirit of these sonnets are given both in Mrs. Wordsworth's Journals and my Sister's, and the re-perusal of them has |