Page:The Excursion, Wordsworth, 1814.djvu/336

310 By some accomplished Master; while he sate

Amid the quiet of the green recess,

And there did inexhaustibly dispense

An interchange of soft or solemn tunes

Tender or blithe; now, as the varying mood

Of his own spirit urged,—now, as a voice

From Youth or Maiden, or some honoured Chief

Of his compatriot villagers (that hung

Around him, drinking in the empassioned notes

Of the time-hallowed minstrelsy) required

For their heart's ease or pleasure. Strains of power

Were they, to seize and occupy the sense;

But to a higher mark than song can reach

Rose this pure eloquence. And, when the stream

Which overflowed the soul was passed away,

A consciousness remained that it had left,

Deposited upon the silent shore

Of memory, images and precious thoughts;

That shall not die, and cannot be destroyed.

"These grassy heaps lie amicably close,"

Said I, "like surges heaving in the wind

Upon the surface of a mountain pool;