Lo! the dwindled woods and meadows;
What a vast abyss is there!

Lo! the clouds, the solemn shadows,
And the glistenings - heavenly fair!

And a record of commotion
Which a thousand ridges yield;
Ridge, and gulf, and distant ocean
Gleaming like a silver shield!

inherit

Maiden! now take flight;
Alps or Andes- they are thine!
With the morning's roseate Spirit,
Sweep their length of snowy line;

Or survey their bright dominions
In the gorgeous colours drest,
Flung from off the purple pinions,
Evening spreads throughout the west!

For the power of hills is on thee,
As was witnessed through thine eye
Then, when old Helvellyn won thee
To confess their majesty !

AT FURNESS ABBEY

HERE, where, of havoc tired and rash undoing,
Man left this Structure to become Time's prey
A soothing spirit follows in the way

That Nature takes, her counter-work pursuing,
See how her Ivy clasps the sacred Ruin
Fall to prevent or beautify decay;

And, on the mouldered walls, how bright, how gay,
The flowers in pearly dews their bloom renewing!
Thanks to the place, blessings upon the hour;
Even as I speak the rising Sun's first smile
Gleams on the grass-crowned top of yon tall Tower
Whose cawing occupants with joy proclaim

Prescriptive title to the shattered pile

Where, Cavendish, thine seems nothing but a name !

AIREY-FORCE VALLEY1

NOT a breath of air

Ruffles the bosom of this leafy glen,

From the brook's margin, wide around, the trees
Are stedfast as the rocks; the brook itself,

1 Airey Force and Gowbarrow Fell, an area of 750 acres, were purchased in 1906 by the National Trust for preserving places of historic interest, and are now thrown open to the public.

Old as the hills that feed it from afar,
Doth rather deepen than disturb the calm
Where all things else are still and motionless.
And yet, even now, a little breeze, perchance
Escaped from boisterous winds that rage without,
Has entered, by the sturdy oaks unfelt,
But to its gentle touch how sensitive

Is the light ash! that, pendent from the brow
Of yon dim cave, in seeming silence makes
A soft eye-music of slow-waving boughs,
Powerful almost as vocal harmony

To stay the wanderer's steps and soothe his thoughts.

"FORTH FROM A JUTTING RIDGE"

1

FORTH from a jutting ridge, around whose base
Winds our deep Vale, two heath-clad Rocks 1 ascend
In fellowship, the loftiest of the pair

Rising to no ambitious height; yet both,

O'er lake and stream, mountain and flowery mead,
Unfolding prospects fair as human eyes

Ever beheld. Up-led with mutual help,

To one or other brow of those twin Peaks

Were two adventurous Sisters wont to climb,

And took no note of the hour while thence they gazed, The blooming heath their couch, gazed, side by side, In speechless admiration. I, a witness

And frequent sharer of their calm delight

1 To be found on the right of the coach road, not far from the "firgrove," surrounded by thick shrubbery, but still heath-clad.

With thankful heart, to either Eminence
Gave the baptismal name each Sister bore.
Now are they parted, far as Death's cold hand
Hath power to part the Spirits of those who love
As they did love. Ye kindred Pinnacles-
That, while the generations of mankind
Follow each other to their hiding place

In time's abyss, are privileged to endure
Beautiful in yourselves, and richly graced
With like command of beauty-grant your aid
For MARY'S humble, SARAH's silent claim,1
That their pure joy in nature may survive
From age to age in blended memory.

INSCRIPTION

FOR A MONUMENT 2 IN CROSTHWAITE CHURCH, IN THE
VALE OF KESWICK 1843-1845

YE vales and hills whose beauty hither drew
The poet's steps, and fixed him here, on you

His

eyes have closed! And ye, loved books, no more Shall Southey feed upon your precious lore,

To works that ne'er shall forfeit their renown,

Adding immortal labours of his own
Whether he traced historic truth, with zeal

For the State's guidance, or the Church's weal,
Or Fancy, disciplined by studious art,

1 Mary Wordsworth and Sarah Hutchinson.

2 Southey's monument stands on the east end of the altar tomb in the Church of St. Kentigern.