NTAIN OF
BLACK COMB

Composed 1813.--Published 1815

[The circumstance, alluded to at the conclusion of these verses, was
told me by Dr. Satterthwaite, who was Incumbent of Bootle, a small town
at the foot of Black Comb. He had the particulars from one of the
engineers who was employed in making trigonometrical surveys of that
region.--I. F.]

Included among the "Inscriptions."--ED.

Stay, bold Adventurer; rest awhile thy limbs
On this commodious Seat! for much remains
Of hard ascent before thou reach the top
Of this huge Eminence,--from blackness named,
And, to far-travelled storms of sea and land, 5
A favourite spot of tournament and war!
But thee may no such boisterous visitants
Molest; may gentle breezes fan thy brow;
And neither cloud conceal, nor misty air
Bedim, the grand terraqueous spectacle, 10
From centre to circumference, unveiled!
Know, if thou grudge not to prolong thy rest,
That on the summit whither thou art bound,
A geographic Labourer pitched his tent,
With books supplied and instruments of art, 15
To measure height and distance; lonely task,
Week after week pursued!--To him was given
Full many a glimpse (but sparingly bestowed
On timid man) of Nature's processes
Upon the exalted hills. He made report 20
That once, while there he plied his studious work
Within that canvass Dwelling, colours, lines,
And the whole surface of the out-spread map,[1]
Became invisible: for all around
Had darkness fallen--unthreatened, unproclaimed-- 25
As if the golden day itself had been
Extinguished in a moment; total gloom,
In which he sate alone, with unclosed eyes,
Upon the blinded mountain's silent top!

In the editions of 1815 and 1820, the note to the previous poem, _View
from the top of Black Comb_, was appended to this one. In 1827 it was
transferred to its appropriate and permanent place.--ED.

VARIANTS:

[1] 1837.

Within that canvass Dwelling, suddenly
The many-coloured map before his eyes 1815.

NOVEMBER, 1813

Composed November 1813.--Published 1815

Included among the "Sonnets dedicated to Liberty."--ED.

Now that all hearts are glad, all faces bright,
Our aged Sovereign sits, to the ebb and flow
Of states and kingdoms, to their joy o