I. F.]

Included among the "Poems of the Imagination." (See the editorial note
to the following poem.)--ED.

This Height a ministering Angel might select:
For from the summit of BLACK COMB (dread name
Derived from clouds and storms!) the amplest range
Of unobstructed prospect may be seen
That British ground commands:--low dusky tracts, 5
Where Trent is nursed, far southward! Cambrian hills
To the south-west, a multitudinous show;
And, in a line of eye-sight linked with these,
The hoary peaks of Scotland that give birth
To Tiviot's stream, to Annan, Tweed, and Clyde:-- 10
Crowding the quarter whence the sun comes forth
Gigantic mountains rough with crags; beneath,
Right at the imperial station's western base
Main ocean, breaking audibly, and stretched
Far into silent regions blue and pale;-- 15
And visibly engirding Mona's Isle
That, as we left the plain, before our sight
Stood like a lofty mount, uplifting slowly
(Above the convex of the watery globe)
Into clear view the cultured fields that streak 20
Her[1] habitable shores, but now appears
A dwindled object, and submits to lie
At the spectator's feet.--Yon azure ridge,
Is it a perishable cloud? Or there
Do we behold the line[2] of Erin's coast?[A] 25
Land sometimes by the roving shepherd-swain
(Like the bright confines of another world)
Not doubtfully perceived.--Look homeward now!
In depth, in height, in circuit, how serene
The spectacle, how pure!--Of Nature's works, 30
In earth, and air, and earth-embracing sea,
A revelation infinite it seems;
Display august of man's inheritance,
Of Britain's calm felicity and power![B]

VARIANTS:

[1] 1827.

Its ... 1815.

[2] 1832.

... the frame ... 1815.

FOOTNOTES:

[A] The Irish coast can be seen from Black Comb, but it is seldom
visible till after sundown.--ED.

[B] Compare, in _The Minstrels of Winandermere_, by Charles Farish, p.
33--

Close by the sea, lone sentinel,
Black Comb his forward station keeps;
He breaks the sea's tumultuous swell,
And ponders o'er the level deeps. ED.

WRITTEN WITH A SLATE PENCIL ON A STONE, ON THE SIDE OF THE MOU