Page:The Prelude, Wordsworth, 1850.djvu/375

 BOOK FOURTEENTH.

CONCLUSION.

one of those excursions (may they ne'er

Fade from remembrance!) through the Northern tracts

Of Cambria ranging with a youthful friend,

I left Bethgelert's huts at couching-time,

And westward took my way, to see the sun

Rise from the top of Snowdon. To the door

Of a rude cottage at the mountain's base

We came, and roused the shepherd who attends

The adventurous stranger's steps, a trusty guide;

Then, cheered by short refreshment, sallied forth.

It was a close, warm, breezeless summer night,

Wan, dull, and glaring, with a dripping fog

Low-hung and thick that covered all the sky;

But, undiscouraged, we began to climb