Page:The Excursion, Wordsworth, 1814.djvu/126

100 In which the everlasting Stars abide;

And whose soft gloom, and boundless depth, might tempt

The curious eye to look for them by day.

—Hail Contemplation! from the stately towers.

Reared by the industrious hand of human Art

To lift thee high above the misty air,

And turbulence, of murmuring cities vast;

From academic groves, that have for thee

Been planted, hither come and find a Lodge

To which thou mayest resort for holier peace,—

From whose calm centre Thou, through height or depth,

Mayest penetrate, wherever Truth shall lead;

Measuring through all degrees, until the scale

Of time and conscious Nature disappear,

Lost in unsearchable Eternity!"

A pause ensued; and with minuter care

We scanned the various features of the scene:

And soon the Tenant of that lonely Vale

With courteous voice thus spake—

"I should have grieved

Hereafter, should perhaps have blamed myself,

If from my poor Retirement ye had gone