[638] In 1803, Miss Wordsworth thus records it:--"We passed by one patch of potatoes that a florist might have been proud of; no carnation-bed ever looked more gay than this square plot of ground on the waste common. The flowers were in very large bunches, and of an extraordinary size, and of every conceivable shade of colouring from snow-white to deep purple. It was pleasing in that place, where perhaps was never yet a flower cultivated by man for his own pleasure, to see these blossoms grow more gladly than elsewhere, making a summer garden near the mountain dwellings." (_Recollections of a Tour made in Scotland in 1803_, p. 85).--ED. [639] Compare _The Prelude_, book iv. l. 378.--ED. THOUGHTS[640] ON THE SEASONS Composed 1829.--Published 1835 [Written at Rydal Mount.--I. F.] One of the "Poems of Sentiment and Reflection."--ED. Flattered with promise of escape From every hurtful blast, Spring takes, O sprightly May! thy shape, Her loveliest and her last.[641] Less fair is summer riding high 5 In fierce solstitial power, Less fair than when a lenient sky Brings on her parting hour. When earth repays with golden sheaves The labours of the plough, 10 And ripening fruits and forest leaves All brighten on the bough; What pensive beauty autumn shows, Before she hears the sound Of winter rushing in, to close 15 The emblematic round! Such be our Spring, our Summer such; So may our Autumn blend With hoary Winter, and Life touch, Through heaven-born hope, her end! 20 FOOTNOTES: [640] 1850. THOUGHT ... 1835. The text of 1857 returns to that of 1835. [641] Compare _Ode, composed on May Morning_, 1826 (p. 146); also _To May_, 1826 (p. 148).--ED. A TRADITION OF OKER HILL IN DARLEY DALE, DERBYSHIRE[642] Composed 1829.--Published 1829[643] [This pleasing tradition was told me by the coachman at whose side I sate while he drove down the dale, he pointing to the trees on the hill as he related the story.--I.F.] One of the "Miscellaneous Sonnets."--ED.