* * * * * "A NARROW GIRDLE OF ROUGH STONES AND CRAGS" Composed 1800.--Published 1800 [The character of the eastern shore of Grasmere Lake is quite changed since these verses were written, by the public road being carried along its side. The friends spoken of were Coleridge and my Sister, and the facts occurred strictly as recorded.--I.F.] A narrow girdle of rough stones and crags, A rude and natural causeway, interposed Between the water and a winding slope Of copse and thicket, leaves the eastern shore Of Grasmere safe in its own privacy: [A] 5 And there myself and two belovèd Friends, One calm September morning, ere the mist Had altogether yielded to the sun, Sauntered on this retired and difficult way. --Ill suits the road with one in haste; but we 10 Played with our time; and, as we strolled along, It was our occupation to observe Such objects as the waves had tossed ashore-- Feather, or leaf, or weed, or withered bough, Each on the other heaped, along the line 15 Of the dry wreck. And, in our vacant mood, Not seldom did we stop to watch some tuft Of dandelion seed or thistle's beard, That skimmed the surface of the dead calm lake, Suddenly halting now--a lifeless stand! 20 And starting off again with freak as sudden; [1] In all its sportive wanderings, all the while, Making report of an invisible breeze That was its wings, its chariot, and its horse, Its playmate, rather say, its moving soul. [2] 25 --And often, trifling with a privilege Alike indulged to all, we paused, one now, And now the other, to point out, perchance To pluck, some flower or water-weed, too fair Either to be divided from the place 30 On which it grew, or to be left alone To its own beauty. Many such there are, Fair ferns and flowers, and chiefly that tall fern, [3] So stately, of the queen Osmunda named; Plant lovelier, in its own retired abode 35 On Grasmere's beach, than Naiad by the side Of Grecian brook, or Lady of the Mere, Sole-sitting by the shores of old romance. --So fared we that bright [4] morning: from the fields, Meanwhile, a noise was heard, the busy mirth 40 Of reapers, men and women, boys and girls. Delighted much to listen [5] to those sounds, And feeding thus our fancies, we advanced [6] Along the indented shore; when suddenly, Through a thin veil of glittering haze was seen [7] 45 Before us, on a point of jutting land, The tall and upright figure of a Man Attired in peasant's garb, who stood alone, Angling beside the margin of the lake. [8] "Improvident and reckless," we exclaimed, 50 "The Man must be, who thus can lose a day [9] Of the mid harvest, when the labourer's hire Is ample, and some little might be stored