Page:The Excursion, Wordsworth, 1814.djvu/124

98 Stood near, of smaller size, and not unlike

To monumental pillars: and, from these

Some little space disjoined, a pair were seen,

That, with united shoulders bore aloft

A Fragment, like an Altar, flat and smooth.

Barren the tablet, yet thereon appeared,

Conspicuously stationed, one fair Plant,

A tall and shining Holly, which had found

A hospitable chink, and stood upright,

As if inserted by some human hand,

In mockery, to wither in the sun,

Or lay its beauty flat before a breeze,

The first that entered. But no breeze did now

Find entrance;—high, or low, appeared no trace

Of motion, save the Water that descended,

Diffused adown that Barrier of steep rock,

And softly creeping, like a breath of air,

Such as is sometimes seen, and hardly seen,

To brush the still breast of a chrystal Lake.

"Behold a Cabinet for Sages built,

Which Kings might envy!"—Praise to this effect

Broke from the happy Old Man's reverend lip;