ses may be
here introduced with propriety. They are from the Author's Miscellaneous
Poems.

_To--_.

ON HER FIRST ASCENT TO THE SUMMIT OF HELVELLYN.

Inmate of a Mountain Dwelling,
Thou hast clomb aloft, and gazed,
From the watch-towers of Helvellyn;
Awed, delighted, and amazed!

Potent was the spell that bound thee
Not unwilling to obey;
For blue Ether's arms, flung round thee,
Stilled the pantings of dismay.

Lo! the dwindled woods and meadows!
What a vast abyss is there!
Lo! the clouds, the solemn shadows,
And the glistenings--heavenly fair!

And a record of commotion
Which a thousand ridges yield;
Ridge, and gulf, and distant ocean
Gleaming like a silver shield!

--Take thy flight;--possess, inherit
Alps or Andes--they are thine!
With the morning's roseate Spirit,
Sweep their length of snowy line;

Or survey the bright dominions
In the gorgeous colours drest
Flung from off the purple pinions,
Evening spreads throughout the west!

Thine are all the coral fountains
Warbling in each sparry vault
Of the untrodden lunar mountains;
Listen to their songs!--or halt,

To Niphate's top invited,
Whither spiteful Satan steered;
Or descend where the ark alighted,
When the green earth re-appeared:

For the power of hills is on thee,
As was witnessed through thine eye
Then, when old Helvellyn won thee
To confess their majesty!

Having said so much of _points of view_ to which few are likely to
ascend, I am induced to subjoin an account of a short excursion through
more accessible parts of the country, made at a _time_ when it is seldom
seen but by the inhabitants. As the journal was written for one
acquainted with the general features of the country, only those effects
and appearances are dwelt upon, which are produced by the changeableness
of the atmosphere, or belong to the season when the excursion was made.

A.D. 1805.--On the 7th of November, on a damp and gloomy morning, we
left Grasmere Vale, intending to pass a few days on the banks of
Ullswater. A mild and dry autumn had been unusually favourable to the
preservation and beauty of foliage; and, far advanced as the season was,
the trees on the larger Island of Rydal-mere retained a splendour which
did not need the heightening of sunshine. We noticed, as we passed, that
the line of the grey rocky shore