CHR. Is there in this place any relief for Pilgrims that are weary and faint in the way? SHEP. The Lord of these mountains hath given us a charge "not to be forgetful to entertain strangers"; therefore the good of the place is before you. I saw also in my dream, that when the Shepherds perceived they were wayfaring men, they also put questions to them (to which they made answer as in other places), as, Whence came you? and how got you into the way? and by what means have you so persevered therein? for but few of them that begin to come hither do show their face on these mountains. But when the Shepherds heard their answers, being pleased therewith, they looked very lovingly upon them, and said, "Welcome to the Delectable Mountains !" The Shepherds, I say, whose names were Knowledge, Experience, Watchful, and Sincere, took them by the hand, and had them to their tents, and made them partake of what was ready at present. They said, moreover, "We would that you should stay here a while to 20 be acquainted with us, and yet more to solace yourselves with the good of these Delectable Mountains." Then they told them that they were content to stay; so they went to rest that night, because it was very late. Then I saw in my dream that, in the morning, the Shepherds called up Christian and Hopeful to walk with them upon the mountains; so they went forth with them, and walked a while, having a pleasant prospect on every side. Then said the Shepherds, one to anoth-30 er, "Shall we show these Pilgrims some wonders?" So when they had concluded to do it, they had them first to the top of a hill called Error, which was very steep on the farthest side, and bid them look down to the 25 10 15 5 bottom. So Christian and Hopeful looked down, and saw at the bottom several men dashed all to pieces by a fall that they had from the top. Then said Christian, "What meaneth this?" The Shepherds answered, "Have you not heard of them that were made to err · by hearkening to Hymeneus and Philetus?" They answered, "Yes." Then said the Shepherds, "Those that you see dashed to pieces at the bottom of this mountain are they; and they have continued to this day unburied (as you see), for an example to others to take heed how 10 they clamber too high, or how they come too near the brink of this mountain." 15 Then I saw that they had them to the top of another mountain, and the name of that is Caution, and bid them look afar off; which when they did they perceived, as they thought, several men walking up and down among the tombs that were there; and they perceived that the men were blind, because they stumbled sometimes upon the tombs, and because they could not get out from among them. Then said Christian, "What 20 means this?" The Shepherds then answered, "Did you not see, a little below these mountains, a stile that led into a meadow, on the left hand of this way?" They answered, "Yes." Then, said the Shepherds: "From that stile 25 there goes a path that leads directly to Doubting Castle, which is kept by Giant Despair; and these men (pointing to them among the tombs) came once on a pilgrimage, as you do now, even until they came to that same stile. And, because the right way was rough in that 30 place, they chose to go out of it into that meadow, and there were taken by Giant Despair and cast into Doubting Castle; where, after they had a while been kept in the dungeon, he at last put out their eyes, and led them among those tombs, where he has left them to wander to this very day, that the saying of the wise man might be fulfilled, 'He that wandereth out by the way of understanding shall remain in the congregation of the dead!" Then Christian and Hopeful looked one upon 5 another with tears gushing out, but yet said nothing to the Shepherds. . . . By this time the Pilgrims had a desire to go forward, and the Shepherds a desire that they should; so they walked together towards the end of the mountains. 10 Then said the Shepherds, one to another, "Let us here show the Pilgrims the Gates of the Celestial City, if they have skill to look through our perspective-glass." The Pilgrims then lovingly accepted the motion; so they had them to the top of a high hill, called Clear, and 15 gave them the glass to look. Then they tried to look, but the remembrance of that last thing that the Shepherds had shown them made their hands shake; by means of which impediment they could not look steadily through the glass; yet they? thought they saw something like the Gate, and also some of the glory of the place. Thus they went away and sang this song: "Thus, by the Shepherds, secrets are revealed, When they were about to depart, one of the Shepherds gave them a note of the way. Another of them bid beware of the Flatterer. The third bid them take 30 heed that they slept not upon the Enchanted Ground; and the fourth bid them godspeed. So I awoke from my dream. 25 20 XXXVIII. TO A SKYLARK, BY PERCY BYSSHE SHELLEY." HAIL to thee, blithe spirit! Pourest thy full heart In profuse strains of unpremeditated art. Higher still, and higher, From the earth thou springest Like a cloud of fire; The blue deep thou wingest, And singing still dost soar, and soaring ever singest. In the golden lightning Of the sunken sun," O'er which clouds are bright'ning, Thou dost float and run, Like an unbodied joy whose race is just begun. The pale purple even Melts around thy flight; Like a star of heaven, In the broad daylight Thou art unseen, but yet I hear thy shrill delight. 5 10 15 20 Keen are the arrows Until we hardly see we feel that it is there. All the earth and air The moon rains out her beams, and heaven is over-10 flowed. What thou art we know not; What is most like thee? From rainbow clouds there flow not Drops so bright to see, As from thy presence showers a rain of melody. Like a poet hidden In the light of thought, Singing hymns unbidden, To sympathy with hopes and fears it heeded not; Like a high-born maiden In a palace tower, Soothing her love-laden Soul in secret hour With music sweet as love, which overflows her bow er; Like a glowworm golden In a dell of dew, 20 25 15 5 |