Page:Lives of Poets-Laureate.djvu/415

Rh the reflection of the illuminated wood and path, shaded with a soft blue tint. The picture was still farther diversified by the number of sails which stole lazily by us as we paused in the wood above them. And after all this we had the moon. It was impossible not to contrast that repose, that complacency of spirit produced by those lovely scenes, with the sensations I had experienced two or three days before in passing the Alps. At the Lake of Como, my mind ran through a thousand dreams of happiness which might be enjoyed upon its banks, if heightened by conversation and the exercise of social affections. Among the more awful scenes of the Alps, I had not a thought of man or a single created being; my whole soul was turned to Him who produced the terrible majesty before me."

After this tour, he published "Descriptive Sketches." These are very unlike his later poems, and more resemble the sounding heroics of his school prize-poem. They had, however, sufficient originality in them to attract the attention of Coleridge, at that time unknown to Wordsworth. He speaks of them thus: "During the last year of my residence at Cambridge, I became acquainted with Mr. Wordsworth's 'Descriptive Sketches' and seldom, if ever, was the emergence of an original poetic genius above the literary horizon, more evidently announced."

After taking his degree, he spent the next four months in London, and then made a pedestrian tour of North Wales with a friend of the name of Jones. They visited all the most sublime and beautiful scenes. In the last Book of "The Prelude," Wordsworth gives an account of the ascent of Snowdon. It is not very suitable to the plan of this biography to make long extracts from his writings. Those who wish to see how they illustrate his life, must refer to the two long volumes of Dr. Wordsworth. We must, for the most part, content ourselves with recording in our own language, the story of his life.