On fickle pleasures, and superfluous cares, And trivial ostentation--is left free And puissant to range the solemn walks Of time and nature, girded by a zone That, while it binds, invigorates and supports. 825 Acknowledge, then, that whether by the side Of his poor hut, or on the mountain top, Or in the cultured field, a Man so bred[371] (Take from him what you will upon the score Of ignorance or illusion) lives and breathes 830 For noble purposes of mind: his heart Beats to the heroic song of ancient days; His eye distinguishes, his soul creates, And those illusions, which excite the scorn Or move the pity of unthinking minds, 835 Are they not mainly outward ministers Of inward conscience? with whose service charged They came and go, appeared and disappear,[372] Diverting evil purposes, remorse Awakening, chastening an intemperate grief, 840 Or pride of heart abating: and, whene'er For less important ends those phantoms move, Who would forbid them, if their presence serve, On thinly-peopled mountains and wild heaths,[373] Filling a space, else vacant, to exalt 845 The forms of Nature, and enlarge her powers? "Once more to distant ages of the world Let us revert, and place before our thoughts The face which rural solitude might wear To the unenlightened swains of pagan Greece.[374] 850 --In that fair clime, the lonely herdsman, stretched On the soft grass through half a summer's day, With music lulled his indolent repose: And, in some fit of weariness, if he, When his own breath was silent, chanced to hear 855 A distant strain, far sweeter than the sounds Which his poor skill could make, his fancy fetched, Even from the blazing chariot of the sun, A beardless Youth, who touched a golden lute,[FK] And filled the illumined groves with ravishment. 860 The nightly hunter, lifting a bright eye Up towards the crescent moon,[375] with grateful heart Called on the lovely wanderer who bestowed That timely light, to share his joyous sport:[376] And hence, a beaming Goddess with her Nymphs,[FL] 865 Across the lawn and through the darksome grove, Not unaccompanied with tuneful notes By echo multiplied from rock or cave, Swept in the storm of chase; as moon and stars Glance rapidly along the clouded heaven,[377] 870 When winds are blowing strong. The traveller slaked His thirst from rill or gushing fount, and thanked The Naiad.[FM] Sunbeams, upon distant hills Gliding apace, with shadows in their train, Might, with small help from fancy, be transformed 875 Into fleet Oreads[FM] sporting visibly. The Zephyrs[FM] fanning, as they passed, their wings,