Page:The Excursion, Wordsworth, 1814.djvu/406

380 As by a beautiful yet solemn chain,

The Pastor's Mansion with the House of Prayer.

Like Image of solemnity conjoined

With feminine allurement soft and fair

The Mansion's self displayed;—a reverend Pile

With bold projections and recesses deep;

Shadowy, yet gay and lightsome as it stood

Fronting the noon-tide Sun. We paused to admire

The pillared Porch, elaborately embossed;

The low wide windows with their mullions old;

The cornice richly fretted, of grey stone;

And that smooth slope from which the Dwelling rose,

By beds and banks Arcadian of gay flowers

And flowering shrubs, protected and adorned.

Profusion bright! and every flower assuming

A more than natural vividness of hue,

From unaffected contrast with the gloom

Of sober cypress, and the darker foil

Of yew, in which survived some traces, here

Not unbecoming, of grotesque device

And uncouth fancy. From behind the roof