That skimmed the surface of the dead calm lake And starting off again with freak as sudden, That was its wings, its chariot, and its horse, -And often, trifling with a privilege On which it grew, or to be left alone To its own beauty. Many such there are, Fair Ferns and Flowers, and chiefly that tall Fern So stately, of the Queen Osmunda named; Plant lovelier in its own retired abode. On Grasmere's beach, than Naiad by the side -So fared we that sweet morning: from the fields, Meanwhile, a noise was heard, the busy mirth Of Reapers, Men and Women, Boys and Girls. And, in the fashion which I have described, Along the indented shore; when suddenly, Did all cry out, that he must be indeed An Idler, he who thus could lose a day Of the mid harvest, when the labourer's hire Too weak to labour in the harvest field, To serious musing and to self-reproach, As e'er by Mariner was given to Bay Or Foreland on a new-discovered coast; And POINT RASH-JUDGMENT is the Name it bears. ས. TO M. H. OUR walk was far among the ancient trees; A track, which brought us to a slip of lawn, And a small bed of water in the woods. All round this pool both flocks and herds might drink On its firm margin, even as from a Well, Or some Stone-bason which the Herdsman's hand Had shaped for their refreshment; nor did sun Or wind from any quarter ever come, VOL. II. T Unknown to them: but it is beautiful; |