“No philosophical poem, ancient or modern, has a plan so noble and at the same time so simple. An English wanderer, seated on a crag among the Alps, near the point where three great countries meet, looks down on the boundless prospect, reviews his long pilgrimage, recalls the variety of scenery, of climate, of government, of religion, of national character, which he has observed, and comes to the conclusion, just or unjust, that our happiness depends little on political institutions, and much on the temper and regulation of the mind.” 1. =Remote=, etc. These adjectives modify _I_ in line 7. =slow.= Wandering slowly because heavy of heart. 2. =Scheldt.= A river flowing into the North Sea. =lazy.= Having a slow current. =Po.= A river in northern Italy. =wandering.= Winding. 3. =Carinthian.= Carinthia is a province of Austria. 4. =Campania.= The Campagna—a plain adjacent to the city of Rome. 8. =My heart untravell’d.= His affections are still with his early home. 11. =crown.= Subjunctive mood, expressing a wish. =friend.= His brother. 15. =where want and pain repair.= (Personification.) To which the needy and the troubled go (repair) for help. 23. =me.= Object of _leads_. 27-8. These two lines explain how the fleeting good mocks him. His idea of what will bring him happiness is always changing. When one thing is attained he finds no real satisfaction in it, but is constantly looking forward to some new thing which he thinks may bring him happiness. 32. =pensive.= Meditative. 34. =a hundred realms.= Exaggeration for effect. 38. Should the proud man remain ungrateful and dissatisfied? 39-40. Should the scholar, puffed up with his knowledge, look with scorn on the petty pleasures of these humble people? 41-2. The scholar may try to pretend that he takes no pleasure in these things, but man is petty and enjoys these petty pleasures. 48. =dress.= Cultivate. 50. =Creation’s heir.= In apposition with the pronoun value of _mine_. 51-8. Note the points of comparison involved in the simile. What are the alternate possessions of the miser? Of the poet? 64. =pretend.= Claim. 69. =the line.= The Equator. 70. =palmy.= Made from palms. 71. =tepid.= Lukewarm. 75-80. This idea is elaborated and illustrated in the remainder of the poem. 82. No matter where one lives, Nature gives returns to those who labour. 84. =Idra.= Probably Lake Idro in Switzerland. =Arno.= A river in Italy. 90. =either.= Here means any one of the things mentioned. 93. =prone.= Disposed, inclined, favourable to. 98. =peculiar pain.= Pain which follows this particular good. 101. =proper.= Own, belonging to me. 108. =Woods over woods.= Like tiers of seats in theatres. 114. Growing on trees or on trailing vines. 117-8. The flowers of northern countries, which last only through the spring.