How the poor brute's condition, forced to run Its course of suffering in the public road, Sad contrast! all too often smote his heart With unavailing pity. Rich in love And sweet humanity, he was, himself, To the degree that he desired, beloved. Greetings and smiles we met with all day long From faces that he knew; we took our seats By many a cottage hearth, where he received The welcome of an inmate come from far. Nor was he loth to enter ragged huts, Huts where his charity was blest; his voice Heard as the voice of an experienced friend.
And, sometimes, where the poor man held dispute With his own mind, unable to subdue Impatience through inaptness to perceive General distress in his particular lot; Or cherishing resentment, or in vain Struggling against it, with a soul perplexed, And finding in herself no steady power To draw the line of comfort that divides Calamity, the chastisement of Heaven, From the injustice of our brother men ; To him appeal was made as to a judge; Who, with an understanding heart, allayed The perturbation; listen'd to the plea; Resolved the dubious point; and sentence gave So grounded, so applied, that it was heard With soften'd spirit-even when it condemned.
Such intercourse I witnessed, while we roved, Now as his choice directed, now as mine; Or both, with equal readiness of will, Of course submitting to the changeful breeze Of accident. But when the rising sun Had three times called us to renew our walk, My fellow-traveller claimed with earnest voice, As if the thought were but a moment old, An absolute dominion for the day. We started-and he led towards the hills; Up through an ample vale, with higher hills Before us, mountains stern and desolate ; But, in the majesty of distance, now Set off, and to our ken appearing fair Of aspect, with aërial softness clad,
And beautified with morning's purple beams.
The wealthy, the luxurious, by the stress Of business roused, or pleasure, ere their time, May roll in chariots, or provoke the hoofs Of the fleet coursers they bestride, to raise From earth the dust of morning, slow to rise; And they, if blest with health and hearts at ease, Shall lack not their enjoyment :-but how faint Compared with ours! who, pacing side by side, Could, with an eye of leisure, look on all That we beheld; and lend the listening sense To every grateful sound of earth and air;
Pausing at will-our spirits braced, our thoughts Pleasant as roses in the thickets blown, And pure as dew bathing their crimson leaves.
Mount slowly, sun! that we may journey long, By this dark hill protected from thy beams! Such is the summer pilgrim's frequent wish; But quickly from among our morning thoughts 'Twas chased away: for, toward the western side Of the broad vale, casting a casual glance, We saw a throng of people :-wherefore met? Blithe notes of music, suddenly let loose On the thrilled ear, and flags uprising, yield Prompt answer. they proclaim the annual wake, Which the bright season favours.-Tabor and pipe In purpose join to hasten and reprove
The laggard rustic and repay with boons Of merriment a party-coloured knot, Already formed upon the village green. Beyond the limits of the shadow cast By the broad hill, glistened upon our sight That gay assemblage. Round them and above, Glitter, with dark recesses interposed, Casement, and cottage-roof, and stems of trees Half-veiled in vapoury cloud, the silver steam Of dews fast melting on their leafy boughs By the strong sunbeams smitten. Like a mast Of gold, the maypole shines; as if the rays Of morning, aided by exhaling dew, With gladsome influence could re-animate The faded garlands hanging from its sides.
Said I, "The music and the sprightly scene Invite us; shall we quit our road, and join These festive matins ?"-He replied, "Not loth Here would I linger, and with you partake, Not one hour merely, but till evening's close, The simple pastimes of the day and place. By the fleet racers, ere the sun be set, The turf of yon large pasture will be skimmed ; There, too, the lusty wrestlers shall contend: But know we not that he who intermits The appointed task and duties of the day, Untunes full oft the pleasures of the day; Checking the finer spirits that refuse
To flow when purposes are lightly changed? We must proceed-a length of journey yet
Remains untraced." Then, pointing with his staff Towards those craggy summits, his intent He thus imparted:
Among yon mountain fastnesses concealed, You will receive, before the hour of noon, Good recompense, I hope, for this day's toil- From sight of one who lives secluded there,
Lonesome and lost of whom, and whose past life, (Not to forestal such knowledge as may be
More faithfully collected from himself,) This brief communication shall suffice.
"Though now sojourning there, he, like myself, Sprang from a stock of lowly parentage Among the wilds of Scotland, in a tract
Where many a sheltered and well-tended plant, Bears, on the humblest ground of social life, Blossoms of piety and innocence.
Such grateful promises his youth displayed:
And, having shown in study forward zeal,
He to the ministry was duly called;
And straight incited by a curious mind
Filled with vague hopes, he undertook the charge Of chaplain to a military troop
Cheered by the Highland bagpipe, as they marched In plaided vest,-his fellow-countrymen, The office filling, yet by native power And force of native inclination, made
An intellectual ruler in the haunts
Of social vanity-he walked the world, Gay, and affecting graceful gaiety;
Lax, buoyant-less a pastor with his flock Than a soldier among soldiers-lived and roamed Where fortune led :-and fortune, who oft proves The careless wanderer's friend, to him made known A blooming lady-a conspicuous flower, Admired for beauty, for her sweetness praised; Whom he had sensibility to love,
Ambition to attempt, and skill to win.
"For this fair bride, most rich in gifts of mind, Nor sparingly endowed with worldly wealth, His office he relinquished; and retired From the world's notice to a rural home. Youth's season yet with him was scarcely past, And she was in youth's prime. How full their joy, How free their love! nor did that love decay, Nor joy abate, till, pitiable doom!
In the short course of one undreaded year Death blasted all.-Death suddenly o'erthrew Two lovely children-all that they possessed! The mother followed :-miserably bare The one survivor stood; he wept, he prayed For his dismissal; day and night, compelled By pain to turn his thoughts towards the grave, And face the regions of eternity. An uncomplaining apathy displaced This anguish; and, indifferent to delight, To aim and purpose, he consumed his days, To private interest dead, and public care. So lived he; so he might have died.
To the wide world's astonishment, appeared A glorious opening, the unlooked-for dawn, That promised everlasting joy to France! Her voice of social transport reached even him! He broke from his contracted bounds, repaired
To the great city, an emporium then Of golden expectations, and receiving Freights every day from a new world of Hope. Thither his popular talents he transferred; And, from the pulpit, zealously maintained The cause of Christ and civil liberty,
As one; and moving to one glorious end. Intoxicating service! I might say
A happy service; for he was sincere
As vanity and fondness for applause,
And new and shapeless wishes, would allow.
"That righteous cause (such power hath freedom bound, For one hostility, in friendly league
Ethereal natures and the worst of slaves; Was served by rival advocates that came From regions opposite as heaven and hell. One courage seemed to animate them all : And, from the dazzling conquests daily gained By their united efforts, there arose
A proud and most presumptuous confidence In the transcendent wisdom of the age, And her discernment; not alone in rights, And in the origin and bounds of power, Social and temporal; but in laws divine, Deduced by reason, or to faith revealed.
And overweening trust was raised; and fear Cast out,-alike of person and of thing.
Plague from this union spread, whose subtle bane
The strongest did not easily escape;
And he, what wonder! took a mortal taint.
How shall I trace the change, how bear to tell That he broke faith with them whom he had laid In earth's dark chambers with a Christian's hope! An infidel contempt of Holy Writ
Stole by degrees upon his mind; and hence Life, like that Roman Janus, double-faced; Vilest hypocrisy, the laughing, gay Hypocrisy, not leagued with fear, but pride. Smooth words he had to wheedle simple souls ; But, for disciples of the inner school, Old freedom was old servitude, and they The wisest whose opinions stooped the least
To know restraints and who most boldly drew Hopeful prognostications from a creed, That, in the light of false philosophy, Spread like a halo round a misty moon, Widening its circle as the storms advance.
"His sacred function was at length renounced; And every day and every place enjoyed The unshackled layman's natural liberty; Speech, manners, morals, all without disguise. I do not wish to wrong him ;-though the course Of private life licentiously displayed
Unhallowed actions-planted like a crown Upon the insolent aspiring brow
Of spurious notions-worn as open signs
Of prejudice subdued-he still retained, 'Mid such abasement, what he had received From nature-an intense and glowing mind. Wherefore, when humbled Liberty grew weak, And mortal sickness on her face appeared, He coloured objects to his own desire As with a lover's passion. Yet his moods Of pain were keen as those of better men, Nay, keener-as his fortitude was less.
And he continued, when worse days were come, To deal about his sparkling eloquence, Struggling against the strange reverse with zeal That showed like happiness; but, in despite
Of all this outside bravery, within,
He neither felt encouragement nor hope. For moral dignity, and strength of mind, Were wanting; and simplicity of life;
And reverence for himself; and, last and best, Confiding thoughts, through love and fear of Him Before whose sight the troubles of this world Are vain as billows in a tossing sea.
"The glory of the times fading away, The splendour, which had given a festal air To self-importance, hallowed it, and veiled From his own sight,-this gone, he forfeited All joy in human nature; was consumed, And vexed, and ch-fed, by levity and scorn, And fruitless indignation; galled by pride; Made desperate by contempt of men who throve Before his sight in power or fame, and won, Without desert, what he desired; weak men, Too weak even for his envy or his hate! Tormented thus, after a wandering course Of discontent, and inwardly opprest With malady-in part, I fear, provoked By weariness of life, he fixed his home, Or, rather say, sate down by very chance, Among these rugged hills; where now he dwells, And wastes the sad remainder of his hours In self-indulging spleen, that doth not want Its own voluptuousness; on this resolved, With this content, that he will live and die Forgotten,-at safe distance from a 'world Not moving to his mind.'"'
Closed the preparatory notices
That served my fellow-traveller to beguile The way, while we advanced up that wide vale. Diverging now (as if his quest had been Some secret of the mountains, cavern, fall Of water-or some boastful eminence, Renowned for splendid prospect far and wide) We scaled, without a track to ease our steps, A steep ascent; and reached a dreary plain, With a tumultuous waste of huge hill tops Before us; savage region! which I paced Dispirited when, all at once, behold!
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