A pause ensued; and with minuter care We scanned the various features of the scene: And soon the Tenant of that lonely vale 115 With courteous voice thus spake-- "I should have grieved Hereafter, not escaping self-reproach,[220] If from my poor retirement ye had gone Leaving this nook unvisited: but, in sooth, Your unexpected presence had so roused 120 My spirits, that they were bent on enterprise; And, like an ardent hunter, I forgot, Or, shall I say?--disdained, the game that lurks[221] At my own door. The shapes before our eyes, And their arrangement, doubtless must be deemed 125 The sport of Nature, aided by blind Chance Rudely to mock the works of toiling Man. And hence, this upright shaft of unhewn stone, From Fancy, willing to set off her stores By sounding titles, hath acquired the name 130 Of Pompey's pillar; that I gravely style My Theban obelisk; and, there, behold A Druid cromlech!--thus I entertain The antiquarian humour, and am pleased To skim along the surfaces of things, 135 Beguiling harmlessly the listless hours. But if the spirit be oppressed by sense Of instability, revolt, decay, And change, and emptiness, these freaks of Nature And her blind helper Chance, do _then_ suffice 140 To quicken, and to aggravate--to feed Pity and scorn, and melancholy pride, Not less than that huge Pile (from some abyss Of mortal power unquestionably sprung)[CX] Whose hoary diadem of pendent rocks 145 Confines the shrill-voiced whirlwind, round and round Eddying within its vast circumference, On Sarum's naked plain--than pyramid Of Egypt, unsubverted, undissolved-- Or Syria's marble ruins towering high[CY] 150 Above the sandy desert, in the light Of sun or moon.--Forgive me, if I say That an appearance which hath raised your minds To an exalted pitch (the self-same cause Different effect producing) is for me 155 Fraught rather with depression than delight, Though shame it were, could I not look around,[222] By the reflection of your pleasure, pleased. Yet happier, in my judgment, even than you With your bright transports, fairly may be deemed 160 The wandering Herbalist,[223]--who, clear alike From vain, and, that worse evil, vexing thoughts, Casts, if he ever chance to enter here, Upon these uncouth Forms[224] a slight regard Of transitory interest, and peeps round 165 For some rare floweret of the hills, or plant Of craggy fountain; what he hopes for wins, Or learns, at least, that 'tis not to be won: Then, keen and eager, as a fine-nosed hound