tollere vultus.

Ed.]

[Footnote D: With this poem compare Frederick William Faber's "Hymn,"
which he called 'The Old Labourer', beginning:

What end doth he fulfil!
He seems without a will.
Ed.]

[Footnote E: In January 1801 Charles Lamb thus wrote to Wordsworth of
his 'Old Cumberland Beggar':

"It appears to me a fault that the instructions conveyed in it are too
direct, and like a lecture: they don't slide into the mind of the
reader while he is imagining no such matter,"

At the same time he refers to

"the delicate and curious feeling in the wish of the Beggar that he
may have about him the melody of birds, although he hears them not."

('The Letters of Charles Lamb', edited by Alfred Ainger, vol. i. p.
163.)--Ed.]

* * * * *

ANIMAL TRANQUILLITY AND DECAY

Composed 1798.--Published 1798.

[If I recollect right, these verses were an overflowing from 'The Old
Cumberland Beggar'.--I. F.]

They were published in the first edition of "Lyrical Ballads" (1798),
but 'The Old Cumberland Beggar' was not published till 1800. In an early
MS., however, the two are incorporated.

In the edition of 1798, the poem was called, 'Old Man Travelling; Animal
Tranquillity and Decay, a Sketch'. In 1800, the title was 'Animal
Tranquillity and Decay. A Sketch'. In 1845, it was 'Animal Tranquillity
and Decay'.

It was included among the "Poems referring to the Period of Old
Age."--Ed.

* * * * *

THE POEM

The little hedgerow birds,
That peck along the road, regard him not.
He travels on, and in his face, his step,
His gait, is one expression: every limb,
His look and bending figure, all bespeak 5
A man who does not move with pain, but moves
With thought.--He is insensibly subdued
To settled quiet: he is one by whom
All effort seems forgotten; one to whom
Long patience hath [1] such mild composure given, 10
That patience now doth seem a thing of which
He hath no need. He is by nature led
To peace so perfect that the young behold
With envy, what the Old Man hardly feels. [2]

* * * * *

VARIANTS ON THE TEXT

[Variant 1:

1805.

...has... 1798.]

[Variant 2:

1815.

--I asked him whither he was bound, and what
The object of his journey; he replied
"Sir! I am going many mil