WILLIAM WORDSWORTH

��V

YV7HEN I have borne in memory what has tamed Great Nations, how ennobling thoughts depart

When men change swords for ledgers, and desert The student's bower for gold, some fears unnamed I had, my Country am I to be blamed ?

Now, when I think of thee, and what thou art,

Verily, in the bottom of my heart, Of those unfilial fears I am ashamed. For dearly must we prize thee ; we who find

In thee a bulwark for the cause of men ;

And I by my affection was beguiled :

What wonder if a Poet now and then, Among the many movements of his mind,

Felt for thee as a lover or a child !

��528. The Solitary Reaper

OEHOLD her, single in the field,

• -* Yon solitary Highland Lass !

Reaping and singing by herself;

Stop here, or gently pass ! Alone she cuts and binds the grain, And sings a melancholy strain ; O listen ! for the Vale profound Is overflowing with the sound.

No Nightingale did ever chaunt

More welcome notes to weary bands

Of travellers in some shady haunt,

Among Arabian sands :

�� �