Hail, ancient Manners! sure defence, 55 Where they survive, of wholesome laws; Remnants of love whose modest sense Thus into narrow room withdraws; Hail, Usages of pristine mould, And ye that guard them, Mountains old! 60 Bear with me, Brother! quench the thought That slights this passion, or condemns; If thee fond Fancy ever brought From the proud margin of the Thames, And Lambeth's venerable towers,[ET] 65 To humbler streams, and greener bowers. Yes, they can make, who fail to find, Short leisure even in busiest days; Moments, to cast a look behind, And profit by those kindly rays 70 That through the clouds do sometimes steal, And all the far-off past reveal. Hence, while the imperial City's din Beats frequent on thy satiate ear, A pleased attention I may win 75 To agitations less severe, That neither overwhelm nor cloy, But fill the hollow vale with joy![EU] VARIANTS: [Footnote 427: 1837. ... and, serving 1820. ] [Footnote 428: 1827. ... latter 1820. ] [Footnote 429: 1827. To the Rev. Dr. W----. 1820. ] [Footnote 430: The date, 1820, was first inserted in the edition of 1837.] FOOTNOTES: [Footnote EQ: Wordsworth delighted in tracing the course of rivers all the way from their source to the sea. On November 12, 1808, Southey wrote to his son, "If I go" (it was to Workington) "it will be with Wordsworth, for the sake of tracing the Derwent the whole way." (See _Selections from the Letters of Robert Southey_, vol. ii. p. 108.)--ED.] [Footnote ER: In the first edition of 1820, this dedicatory poem is not placed at the beginning of the series, but between the lines _Composed at Cora Linn_, and _Repentance_. The whole volume, however,--including many other poems besides those on the Duddon, and the _Topographical Description of the Country of the Lakes in the North of England_--is dedicated thus, "To the Rev. Christopher Wordsworth, D.D., etc. etc., these sonnets called forth by one of the most beautiful streams of his native county, are respectfully inscribed, by his affectionate brother, William Wordsworth."--ED.] [Footnote ES: The fields and streams were those around Cockermouth and Hawkshead. It was near the island Cythera that Aphrodite was said, according to some legends, to have risen from the sea-foam. Hence the term "Cytherea's zone." The "Thunderer" is, of course, Jupiter Tonans.--ED.] [Footnote ET: Dr. Christopher Wordsworth, afterwards Master of Trinity College, Cambridge, was then Rector of Lambeth parish.--ED.] I "NOT ENVYING LATIAN SHADES--IF YET THEY THROW"