Nor wanted, when their fortitude had held
Its even tenour and the foe was quelled,
A corresponding virtue to beguile
The hostile purpose of wide-wasting Time ;
That not in vain they laboured to secure,
For their great deeds, perpetual memory,
And fame as largely spread as land and sea,
By works of spirit high and passion pure !

XXXIX.

It is no Spirit who from Heaven hath flown
And is descending on his embassy ;
Nor Traveller gone

from Earth the Heavens to espy! 'Tis 'Hesperus — there he stands with glittering

crown, First admonition that the sun is down, For yet it is broad day-light ! - clouds pass by; A few are near him still — and now the sky, He hath it to himself- 'tis all his own. O most ambitious Star! thy Presence brought A startling recollection to my mind Of the distinguished few among mankind, Who dare to step beyond their natural race, As thou seem'st now to do: - nor was a thought Denied - that even I might one day trace Some ground not mine; and, strong her strength

above, My Soul, an Apparition in the place, Tread there, with steps that no one shall reprove !

XL.

O D E.

THE PASS OF KIRKSTONE.

I.

Within the mind strong fancies work,
A deep delight the bosom thrills,
Oft as I pass along the fork
Of these fraternal hills :
Where, save the rugged road, we find
No appanage of human kind;
Nor hint of man, if stone or rock
Seem not his handy-work to mock
By something cognizably shaped ;
Mockery — or model — roughly hewn,
And left as if by earthquake strewn,
Or from the Flood escaped :-
Altars for Druid service fit;
(But where no fire was ever lit
Unless the glow-worm to the skies
Thence offer nightly sacrifice ;)
Wrinkled Egyptian monument;
Green moss-grown tower; or hoary tent;
Tents of a camp that never shall be raised ;
On which four thousand years have gazed !

Ye plough-shares sparkling on the slopes ! Ye snow-white lambs that trip Imprisoned 'mid the formal props Of restless ownership ! Ye trees, that may to-morrow fall To feed the insatiate Prodigal ! Lawns, houses, chattels, groves, and fields, All that the fertile valley shields ; Wages of folly - baits of crime, Of life's uneasy game the stake, Playthings that keep the eyes awake Of drowsy, dotard Time;O care! O guilt! -O vales and plains, Here, 'mid his own unvexed domains, A Genius dwells, that can subdue At once all memory of You, – Most potent when mists veil the sky, Mists that distort and magnify; While the coarse rushes, to the sweeping breeze, Sigh forth their ancient melodies !

III.

List to those shriller notes ! that march
Perchance was on the blast,
When, through this Height's inverted arch,
Rome's earliest legion passed !
- They saw, adventurously impelled,
And older