In him the favage virtue of the race,
Revenge, and all ferocious thoughts, were dead:
Nor did he change; but kept in lofty place
The wisdom which adversity had bred.
Glad were the vales, and every cottage hearth;
The Shepherd-lord was honoured more and more : And, ages after he was laid in earth,
"The Good Lord Clifford" was the name he bore.
WRITTEN WITH A SLATE-PENCIL
On a Stone, on the fide of the Mountain of Black Comb, Cumberland.
TAY, bold adventurer! rest awhile thy limbs
On this commodious feat; for much remains
Of hard afcent before thou reach the top
Of this huge eminence,-from blackness named,
And, to far-travelled ftorms of fea and land,
A favourite spot of tournament and war!
But thee may no fuch boisterous vifitants
Moleft; may gentle breezes fan thy brow;
And neither cloud conceal, nor misty air
Bedim the grand terraqueous fpectacle,
From centre to circumference unveiled!
Know, if thou grudge not to prolong thy rest,
That, on the fummit whither thou art bound,
A geographic labourer pitched his tent,
P
With books fupplied and inftruments of art,
To measure height and distance; lonely task,
Week after week pursued!-To him was given
Full many a glimpse (but sparingly bestowed
On timid man) of Nature's proceffes
Upon the exalted hills. He made report
That once, while there he plied his ftudious work
Within that canvas dwelling, fuddenly
The many-coloured map before his eyes
Became invifible: for all around
Had darkness fallen-unthreatened, unproclaimed-
As if the golden day itself had been
Extinguished in a moment; total gloom,
In which he fate alone, with unclosed eyes,
Upon the blinded mountain's filent top!
VIEW FROM THE TOP OF BLACK COMB.
This height a miniftering angel might select :
For from the fummit of BLACK COMB (dread name
Derived from clouds and ftorms!) the ampleft range
Of unobstructed profpect may be seen
That British ground commands :-low dufky tracts
Where Trent is nursed, far fouthward! Cambrian Hills
To the fouth-weft, a multitudinous fhow;
And, in a line of eye-fight linked with these,
The hoary peaks of Scotland that give birth
To Teviot's stream, to Annan, Tweed, and Clyde ;-
Crowding the quarter whence the fun comes forth,
Gigantic mountains rough with crags; beneath,
Right at the imperial ftation's western base,
Main ocean, breaking audibly, and stretched
Far into filent regions, blue and pale ;
And visibly engirding Mona's Isle
That, as we left the plain, before our fight
Stood like a lofty mount, uplifting flowly
(Above the convex of the watery globe)
Into clear view the cultured fields that ftreak
Its habitable fhores; but now appears
A dwindled object, and submits to lie
At the spectator's feet.-Yon azure ridge,
Is it a perishable cloud—or there
Do we behold the frame of Erin's coaft?
Land fometimes by the roving fhepherd swain
(Like the bright confines of another world)
Not doubtfully perceived.-Look homeward now!
In depth, in height, in circuit, how ferene
The spectacle, how pure !-Of Nature's works,
In earth, and air, and earth-embracing sea,
A revelation infinite it feems;
Display auguft of man's inheritance,
Of Britain's calm felicity and power.
TO THE RIVER DUDDON.
O mountain ftream! the fhepherd and his cot
Are privileged inmates of deep folitude:
Nor would the niceft anchorite exclude
A field or two of brighter green, or plot
Of tillage-ground, that feemeth like a spot
Of ftationary funshine: thou haft viewed
Thefe only, Duddon! with their paths renewed
By fits and starts, yet this contents thee not.
Thee hath fome awful fpirit impelled to leave,
Utterly to defert the haunts of men.
Though fimple thy companions were and few;
And through this wilderness a paffage cleave,
Attended but by thy own voice, fave when
The clouds and fowls of the air thy way pursue.
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