Page:The Excursion, Wordsworth, 1814.djvu/409

383 Here in cool shelter, while the scorching heat

Oppressed the fields, we sate, and entertained

The mid-day hours with desultory talk;

From trivial themes to general argument

Passing, as accident or fancy led,

Or courtesy prescribed. While question rose

And answer flowed, the fetters of reserve

Dropped from our minds; and even the shy Recluse

Resumed the manners of his happier days.

He in the various conversation bore

A willing, and, at times, a forward part;

Yet with the grace of one who in the world

Had learned the art of pleasing, and had now

Occasion given him to display his skill

Upon the stedfast 'vantage ground of truth.

He gazed with admiration unsuppressed

Upon the landscape of the sun-bright vale,

Seen, from the shady room in which we sate,

In softened perspective; and more than once

Praised the consummate harmony serene

Of gravity and elegance—diffused

Around the Mansion and its whole domain;

Not, doubtless, without help of female taste