Excuse is needless when with love sincere Of occupation, not by fashion led, Thou turn'st the Wheel that slept with dust o'erspread; _My_ nerves from no such murmur shrink,--tho' near, Soft as the Dorhawk's to a distant ear, 5 When twilight shades darken[453] the mountain's head.[454] Even She who toils to spin[455] our vital thread[456] Might smile on work, O Lady, once so dear[457] To household virtues. Venerable Art, Torn from the Poor![458] yet shall kind Heaven protect 10 Its own; though Rulers, with undue respect, Trusting to crowded factory and mart[459] And[460] proud discoveries of the intellect, Heed not[461] the pillage of man's ancient heart. FOOTNOTES: [452] Sarah Hutchinson, Mrs. Wordsworth's sister.--ED. [453] 1837. ... bedim ... 1827. [454] Either Wansfell, or Loughrigg.--ED. [455] 1840. She who was feigned to spin ... 1827. She who even toils to spin ... C. [456] Lachesis, the second of the three Parcæ, who was supposed to spin out the actions of our life. Clotho colum retinet, Lachesis net, et Atropos occat.--ED. [457] 1837. Might smile, O Lady! on a task once dear 1827. [458] Referring to the introduction of steam-looms, which displaced the hand-loom spinning of a previous generation.--ED. [459] Compare _The Excursion_, book viii. ll. 165-185.--ED. [460] 1837. ... yet will kind Heaven protect Its own, not left without a guiding chart, If Rulers, trusting with undue respect To ... 1827. [461] 1837. Sanction ... 1827. DECAY OF PIETY Composed 1827.--Published 1827 [Attendance at church on prayer-days, Wednesdays and Fridays and Holidays, received a shock at the Revolution. It is now, however, happily reviving. The ancient people described in this Sonnet were among the last of that pious class. May we hope that the practice, now in some degree renewed, will continue to spread.--I. F.] One of the "Miscellaneous Sonnets."--ED. Oft have I seen, ere Time had ploughed my cheek, Matrons and Sires--who, punctual to the call Of their loved Church, on fast or festival Through the long year the House of Prayer would seek: By Christmas snows, by visitation bleak 5 Of Easter winds, unscared, from hut or hall They came to lowly bench or sculptured stall, But with one fervour of devotion meek. I see the places where they once were known, And ask, surrounded even by kneeling crowds, 10 Is ancient Piety for ever flown? Alas! even then they seemed like fleecy clouds That, struggling through the western sky, have won Their pensive light from a departed sun! "SCORN NOT THE SONNET; CRITIC, YOU HAVE FROWNED" Composed 1827.--Published 1827 [Composed, almost extempore, in a short walk on the western side of Rydal Lake.--I. F.]