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And they a blissful course may

hold

Even now, who, not unwisely bold,
Live in the spirit of this creed;

Yet seek thy firm support, according to their need.*

I, loving freedom, and untried ;
No sport of every random gust,
Yet being to myself a guide,
Too blindly have reposed my trust:
And oft, when in my heart was heard
Thy timely mandate, I deferred

The task, in smoother walks to stray ;

But thee I now would serve more strictly, if I

Through no disturbance of my soul,

Or strong compunction in me wrought,
I supplicate for thy control;
But in the quietness of thought:
Me this unchartered freedom tires;
I feel the weight of chance-desires :
My hopes no more must change their name,
I long for a repose that ever is the same.

Stern Lawgiver! yet thou dost wear
The Godhead's most benignant grace ;
Nor know we any thing so fair
As is the smile upon thy face:

Flowers laugh before thee on their beds
And fragrance in thy footing treads;

* And blest are they who in the main This faith even now do entertain,

Live in the spirit of this creed,

may.

Yet find that other strength according to their need.-Edit. 1815.

Thou dost preserve the stars from wrong;

And the most ancient heavens, through Thee, are fresh

and strong.

To humbler functions, awful Power!
I call thee I myself commend
Unto thy guidance from this hour;

Oh,
let my weakness have an end!
Give unto me, made lowly wise,
The spirit of self-sacrifice;

The confidence of reason give;

And in the light of truth thy Bondman let me live! *

* See some remarks from Mr. Wordsworth himself upon the philosophy of the last stanza, in the biography by Dr. Wordsworth, i. 432.

POEMS ON THE NAMING OF PLACES.

ADVERTISEMENT.

By persons resident in the country and attached to rural objects, many places will be found unnamed or of unknown names, where little Incidents must have occurred, or feelings been experienced, which will have given to such places a private and peculiar interest. From a wish to give some sort of record to such Incidents, and renew the gratification of such feelings, Names have been given to Places by the Author and some of his Friends, and the following Poems written in consequence.

I.

EMMA'S DELL.*

It was an April morning: fresh and clear
The Rivulet, delighting in its strength,

Ran with a young man's speed; and yet the voice
Of waters which the winter had supplied

Was softened down into a vernal tone.

The spirit of enjoyment and desire,

And hopes and wishes, from all living things
Went circling, like a multitude of sounds.
The budding groves seemed eager to urge on
The steps of June; as if their various hues
Were only hindrances that stood between

* Written at Grasmere, 1800. The poem was suggested on the banks of the brook that runs through Easedale.

*

Them and their object: but, meanwhile, prevailed
Such an entire contentment in the air
That every naked ash, and tardy tree
Yet leafless, showed as if the countenance
With which it looked on this delightful day
Were native to the summer.-Up the brook
I roamed in the confusion of my heart,
Alive to all things and forgetting all.
At length I to a sudden turning came
In this continuous glen, where down a rock
The Stream, so ardent in its course before,
Sent forth such sallies of glad sound, that all
Which I till then had heard, appeared the voice
Of common pleasure: beast and bird, the lamb,
The shepherd's dog, the linnet and the thrush
Vied with this waterfall, and made a song,
Which, while I listened, seemed like the wild growth
Or like some natural produce of the air,
That could not cease to be.

Green leaves were here;

But 'twas the foliage of the rocks—the birch,

The yew, the holly, and the bright green thorn,
With hanging islands of resplendent furze :
And, on a summit, distant a short space,
By any who should look beyond the dell,
A single mountain-cottage might be seen.
I gazed and gazed, and to myself I said,
"Our thoughts at least are ours; and this wild nook,
My EMMA, I will dedicate to thee."

-Soon did the spot become my other home,

* The budding groves appeared as if in haste
To spur the steps of June, as if their shades
Of various green were hindrances that stood
Between them and their object: yet, meanwhile,

There was such deep contentment in the air.-Edit. 1815.

My dwelling, and my out-of-doors abode.

And, of the Shepherds who have seen me there,
To whom I sometimes in our idle talk

Have told this fancy, two or three, perhaps,

Years after we are gone and in our graves,

When they have cause to speak of this wild place,
May call it by the name of EMMA'S DELL.

II.

TO JOANNA.*

AMID the smoke of cities did you pass
The time of early youth; and there you learned,
From years of quiet industry, to love

The living Beings by your own fire-side,
With such a strong devotion, that your
Is slow to meet the sympathies of them
Who look upon the hills with tenderness,

heart

And make dear friendships with the streams and groves. Yet we, who are transgressors in this kind,

Dwelling retired in our simplicity

Among the woods and fields, we love you well,

Joanna and I guess, since you have been
So distant from us now for two long years,
That you will gladly listen to discourse,
However trivial, if you thence be taught
That they, with whom you once were happy, talk
Familiarly of you and of old times.

While I was seated, now some ten days past,

* Joanna Hutchinson. This poem was written at Grasmere, 1800.

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