That stern yet kindly Spirit,[AO] who constrains The Savoyard to quit his naked rocks, The free-born Swiss to leave his narrow vales, (Spirit attached to regions mountainous Like their own stedfast clouds) did now impel 320 His restless mind to look abroad with hope. --An irksome drudgery seems it to plod on, Through hot and dusty ways, or pelting storm, A vagrant Merchant under a heavy load, Bent as he moves, and needing frequent rest;[46] 325 Yet do such travellers find their own delight; And their hard service, deemed debasing now, Gained merited respect in simpler times; When squire, and priest, and they who round them dwelt In rustic sequestration--all dependent 330 Upon the PEDLAR'S toil--supplied their wants, Or pleased their fancies, with the wares he brought. Not ignorant was the Youth that still no few Of his adventurous countrymen were led By perseverance in this track of life 335 To competence and ease:--to him it offered[47] Attractions manifold;--and this he chose. --His Parents on the enterprise bestowed[48] Their farewell benediction, but with hearts Foreboding evil. From his native hills 340 He wandered far; much did he see of men,[AP] Their manners, their enjoyments, and pursuits, Their passions and their feelings; chiefly those Essential and eternal in the heart, That,[49] 'mid the simpler forms of rural life, 345 Exist more simple in their elements, And speak a plainer language.[AQ] In the woods, A lone Enthusiast, and among the fields, Itinerant in this labour, he had passed The better portion of his time; and there 350 Spontaneously had his affections thriven Amid the bounties of the year, the peace And liberty of nature;[50] there he kept In solitude and solitary thought His mind in a just equipoise of love. 355 Serene it was, unclouded by the cares Of ordinary life; unvexed, unwarped By partial bondage. In his steady course, No piteous revolutions had he felt, No wild varieties of joy and grief. 360 Unoccupied by sorrow of its own, His heart lay open; and, by nature tuned And constant disposition of his thoughts To sympathy with man, he was alive To all that was enjoyed where'er he went, 365 And all that was endured; for, in himself Happy, and quiet in his cheerfulness, He had no painful pressure from without That made him turn aside from wretchedness With coward fears. He could _afford_ to suffer 370 With those whom he saw suffer. Hence it came That in our best experience he was rich, And in the wisdom of our daily life. For hence, minutely, in his various rounds,