Page:The Excursion, Wordsworth, 1814.djvu/391

365 Like trees in forests—spread through spacious tracts,

O'er which the smoke of unremitting fires

Hangs permanent, and plentiful as wreaths

Of vapour glittering in the morning sun.

And, wheresoe'er the Traveller turns his steps,

He sees the barren wilderness erased,

Or disappearing; triumph that proclaims

How much the mild Directress of the plough

Owes to alliance with these new-born Arts!

—Hence is the wide Sea peopled,—and the Shores

Of Britain are resorted to by Ships

Freighted from every climate of the world

With the world's choicest produce. Hence that sum

Of Keels that rest within her crowded ports,

Or ride at anchor in her sounds and bays;

That animating spectacle of Sails

Which through her inland regions, to and fro

Pass with the respirations of the tide,

Perpetual, multitudinous! Finally,

Hence a dread arm of floating Power, a voice

Of Thunder, daunting those who would approach

With hostile purposes the blessed Isle,