BOOK EIGHTH. REEROSPECT.-LOVE OF NATURE LEADING TO LOVE OF MAN. WHAT Sounds are those, Helvellyn, that are heard Ascending, as if distance had the power To make the sounds more audible? What crowd Covers, or sprinkles o'er, yon village green? Shepherds and tillers of the ground-betimes They hold a rustic fair—a festival, Such as, on this side now, and now on that, Sees annually, if clouds towards either ocean Blown from their favorite resting-place, or mists Dissolved, have left him an unshrouded head. In this secluded glen, and eagerly They give it welcome. Long ere heat of noon, Are penned in cotes; the chaffering is begun. The heifer lows, uneasy at the voice Of a new master; bleat the flocks aloud. From far, with basket, slung upon her arm, Of hawker's wares-books, pictures, combs, and pins- And with the ruddy produce, she walks round The children now are rich, for the old to-day And all the scenes of childhood reappear, Faint, but more tranquil, like the changing sun Spreading from young to old, from old to young, As tender infants are: and yet how great! For all things serve them them the morning light Loves, as it glistens on the silent rocks ; And them the silent rocks, which now from high |