XXII.

GORDALE.

Ar early dawn, or rather when the air
Glimmers with fading light, and shadowy Eve
Is busiest to confer and to bereave,

Then, pensive Votary! let thy feet repair
To Gordale-chasm, terrific as the lair

Where the young lions couch;-for so, by leave
Of the propitious hour, thou may'st perceive
The local Deity, with oozy hair

And mineral crown, beside his jagged urn
Recumbent: Him thou may'st behold, who hides
His lineaments by day, yet there presides,
Teaching the docile waters how to turn;
Or, if need be, impediment to spurn,

And force their passage to the salt-sea tides!

XXIII.

THE MONUMENT COMMONLY CALLED LONG MEG AND HER

DAUGHTERS, NEAR THE RIVER EDEN.

A WEIGHT of awe not easy to be borne
Fell suddenly upon my Spirit - cast

From the dread bosom of the unknown past,

When first I saw that Sisterhood forlorn;

And Her, whose massy strength and stature scorn

The power of years

Apart

pre-eminent, and placed

to overlook the circle vast.

Speak, Giant-mother! tell it to the Morn

While she dispels the cumbrous shades of night;
Let the Moon hear, emerging from a cloud,
At whose behest uprose on British ground
Thy Progeny; in hieroglyphic round

Forth-shadowing, some have deemed, the infinite,
The inviolable God, that tames the proud!

XXIV.

COMPOSED AFTER A JOURNEY

ACROSS THE HAMILTON HILLS,

YORKSHIRE.

DARK and more dark the shades of evening fell;

The wished-for point was reached, but late the hour; And little could be gained from all that dower

Of prospect, whereof many thousands tell.

Yet did the glowing west in all its power

Salute us;

there stood Indian Citadel,

Temple of Greece, and Minster with its tower
Substantially expressed a place for Bell

Or Clock to toll from. Many a tempting Isle,
With Groves that never were imagined, lay
Mid Seas how steadfast! objects all for the eye
Of silent rapture; but we felt the while

We should forget them; they are of the sky,
And from our earthly memory fade away.

XXV.

"they are of the sky,

And from our earthly memory fade away."

THESE words were uttered as in pensive mood
We turned, departing from that solemn sight:
A contrast and reproach to gross delight,
And life's unspiritual pleasures daily wooed!
But now upon this thought I cannot brood;
It is unstable as a dream of night;
Nor will I praise a Cloud, however bright,
Disparaging Man's gifts, and proper food.
Grove, Isle, with every shape of sky-built dome,

Though clad in colours beautiful and

pure,

Find in the heart of man no natural home:
The immortal Mind craves objects that endure:
These cleave to it; from these it cannot roam,
Nor they from it: their fellowship is secure.

XXVI.

COMPOSED UPON WESTMINSTER BRIDGE, SEPT. 3, 1803.

EARTH has not any thing to show more fair:
Dull would he be of soul who could pass by
A sight so touching in its majesty:

This City now doth like a garment wear
The beauty of the morning; silent, bare,
Ships, towers, domes, theatres, and temples lie
Open unto the fields, and to the sky;

All bright and glittering in the smokeless air.
Never did sun more beautifully steep

In his first splendour valley, rock, or hill;
Ne'er saw I, never felt, a calm so deep!
The river glideth at his own sweet will:
Dear God! the very houses seem asleep;
And all that mighty heart is lying still!