[This, as well as the preceding and the two that follow,[CR] were composed in front of Rydal Mount, and during my walks in the neighbourhood. Nine-tenths of my verses have been murmured out in the open air: and here let me repeat what I believe has already appeared in print. One day a stranger having walked round the garden and grounds of Rydal Mount asked one of the female servants, who happened to be at the door, permission to see her master's study. "This," said she, leading him forward, "is my master's library where he keeps his books, but his study is out of doors." After a long absence from home it has more than once happened that some one of my cottage neighbours has said--"Well, there he is; we are glad to hear him _booing_ about again." Once more in excuse for so much egotism let me say, these notes are written for my familiar friends, and at their earnest request. Another time a gentleman whom James had conducted through the grounds asked him what kind of plants throve best there: after a little consideration he answered--"Laurels." "That is," said the stranger, "as it should be; don't you know that the laurel is the emblem of poetry, and that poets used on public occasions to be crowned with it?" James stared when the question was first put, but was doubtless much pleased with the information.--I.F.] One of the "Poems of Sentiment and Reflection."--ED. Enough of climbing toil!--Ambition treads Here, as 'mid[252] busier scenes, ground steep and rough, Or slippery even to peril![253] and each step, As we for most uncertain recompence Mount toward the empire of the fickle clouds, 5 Each weary step, dwarfing the world below,[254] Induces, for its old familiar sights, Unacceptable feelings of contempt, With wonder mixed--that Man could e'er be tied, In anxious bondage, to such nice array 10 And formal fellowship of pretty things! --Oh! 'tis the _heart_ that magnifies this life, Making a truth and beauty of her own; And moss-grown alleys, circumscribing shades, And gurgling rills, assist her in the work 15 More efficaciously than realms outspread, As in a map, before the adventurer's gaze-- Ocean and Earth contending for regard. The umbrageous woods are left--how far beneath! But lo! where darkness seems to guard the mouth 20 Of yon wild cave, whose jaggèd brows are fringed With flaccid threads of ivy, in the still And sultry air, depending motionless. Yet cool the space within, and not uncheered (As whoso enters shall ere long perceive) 25 By stealthy influx of the timid day Mingling with night, such twilight to compose As Numa loved; when, in the Egerian grot, From the sage Nymph appearing at his wish, He gained whate'er a regal mind might ask, 30 Or need, of counsel breathed through lips divine.[CS]