going
to hear Fawcett, who was an able and eloquent man. He published a poem
on War, which had a good deal of merit, and made me think more about him
than I should otherwise have done. But his Christianity was probably
never very deeply rooted; and, like many others in those times of like
shewy talents, he had not strength of character to withstand the effects
of the French Revolution, and of the wild and lax opinions which had
done so much towards producing it, and far more in carrying it forward
in its extremes. Poor Fawcett, I have been told, became pretty much such
a person as I have described, and early disappeared from the stage,
having fallen into habits of intemperance, which I have heard (though I
will not answer for the fact) hastened his death. Of him I need say no
more. There were many like him at that time, which the world will never
be without, but which were more numerous then, for reasons too obvious
to be dwelt upon.

_The Pastor_.--To what is said of the 'Pastor' in the poem, I have
little to add but what may be deemed superfluous. It has ever appeared
to me highly favourable to the beneficial influence of the Church of
England upon all gradations and classes of society, that the patronage
of its benefices is in numerous instances attached to the estates of
noble families of ancient gentry; and accordingly I am gratified by the
opportunity afforded me in 'The Excursion,' to pourtray the character of
a country clergyman of more than ordinary talents, born and bred in the
upper ranks of society so as to partake of their refinements, and at the
same time brought by his pastoral office and his love of rural life into
intimate connection with the peasantry of his native district.

To illustrate the relation which in my mind this 'Pastor' bore to the
'Wanderer,' and the resemblances between them, or rather the points of
community in their nature, I likened one to an oak, and the other to a
sycamore; and having here referred to this comparison, I need only add,
I had no one individual in my mind, wishing rather to embody this idea
than to break in upon the simplicity of it by traits of individual
character, or of any peculiarity of opinion.

And now for a few words upon the scene where these interviews and
conversations are supposed to occur.

The scene of the first book of the poem is, I must own, laid in a tract
of country not sufficiently near to that which soon comes into view in
the second book, to a