In days of yore how fortunately fared The Minstrel! wandering on from hall to hall, Baronial court or royal; cheered with gifts Munificent, and love, and ladies' praise; Now meeting on his road an armed knight, 5 Now resting with a pilgrim by the side Of a clear brook;--beneath an abbey's roof One evening sumptuously lodged; the next, Humbly in a religious hospital; Or with some merry outlaws of the wood; 10 Or haply shrouded in a hermit's cell. Him, sleeping or awake, the robber spared; He walked--protected from the sword of war By virtue of that sacred instrument His harp, suspended at the traveller's side; 15 His dear companion wheresoe'er he went Opening from land to land an easy way By melody, and by the charm of verse. Yet not the noblest of that honoured Race Drew happier, loftier, more empassioned, thoughts 20 From his long journeyings and eventful life, Than this obscure Itinerant had skill To gather, ranging through the tamer ground[103] Of these our unimaginative days; Both while he trod the earth in humblest guise 25 Accoutred with his burthen and his staff; And now, when free to move with lighter pace.
What wonder, then, if I, whose favourite school Hath been the fields, the roads, and rural lanes, [104]Looked on this guide with reverential love? 30 Each with the other pleased, we now pursued Our journey, under[105] favourable skies. Turn wheresoe'er we would, he was a light Unfailing: not a hamlet could we pass, Rarely a house, that[106] did not yield to him 35 Remembrances; or from his tongue call forth Some way-beguiling tale. Nor less regard Accompanied those strains of apt discourse, Which nature's various objects might inspire;[107] And in the silence of his face I read 40 His overflowing spirit. Birds and beasts, And the mute fish that glances in the stream, And harmless reptile coiling in the sun, And gorgeous insect hovering in the air, The fowl domestic, and the household dog-- 45 In his capacious mind, he loved them all: Their rights acknowledging he felt for all. Oft was occasion given me to perceive How the calm pleasures of the pasturing herd To happy contemplation soothed his walk; 50 [108]How the poor brute's condition, forced to run Its course of suffering in the public road, Sad contrast! all too often smote his heart With unavailing pity. Rich in love And sweet humanity, he was, himself, 55 To the degree that he desired, beloved. Smiles of good-will from faces that he knew Greeted us all day long;[109] we took our seats By many a cottage-hearth, where he received The welcome of an Inmate from afar,[110] 60 And I at once forgot, I was a Stranger.[111] --Nor was he loth to enter ragged huts, Huts where his charity[112] was blest; his voice Heard as the voice of an experienced friend. 64 And, sometimes--where the poor man held dispute With his own mind, unable to subdue Impatience through inaptness to perceive General distress in his particular lot; Or cherishing resentment, or in vain Struggling against it; with a soul perplexed, 70 And finding in herself[113] no steady power To draw the line of comfort that divides Calamity, the chastisement of Heaven, From the injustice of our brother men-- To him appeal was made as to a judge; 75 Who, with an understanding heart, allayed The perturbation; listened to the plea; Resolved the dubious point; and sentence gave So grounded, so applied, that it was heard With softened spirit, even when it condemned. 80
