Page:The Excursion, Wordsworth, 1814.djvu/77

 BOOK THE SECOND.

THE SOLITARY.

days of yore how fortunately fared

The Minstrel! wandering on from Hall to Hall,

Baronial Court or Royal; cheered with gifts

Munificent, and love, and Ladies' praise;

Now meeting on his road an armed Knight,

Now resting with a Pilgrim by the side

Of a clear brook;—beneath an Abbey's roof

One evening sumptuously lodged; the next

Humbly, in a religious Hospital;

Or with some merry Outlaws of the wood;

Or haply shrouded in a Hermit's cell.