RAMBLE OVER DERBYSHIRE HILLS AND DALES. I31I 
And view the haunts of Nature. The calm shade 
Shall bring a kindred calm, and the sweet breeze, 
That makes the green leaves dance, shall waft a balm 
To thy sick heart. Thou wilt find nothing here 
Of all that pained thee in the haunts of men, 
And made thee loathe thy life. The primal curse 
Fell, it is true, upon the unsinning earth, 
But not in vengeance. Misery is wed 
To guilt. And hence these shades are still the abodes 
Of undissembled gladness : the thick roof 
Of green and stirring branches is alive, 
And musical with birds, that sing and sport 
In wantonness of spirit ; while, below, 
The squirrel, with raised paws and form erect, 
Chirps merrily. Throngs of insects in the glades 
Try their thin wings, and dance in the warm beam 
That waked them into life. Even the green trees 
Partake the deep contentment : as they bend 
To the soft wind, the sun from the blue sky 
Looks in and sheds a blessing on the scene. 
Scarce less the cleft-born wild-flower seems to enjoy 
Existence, than the winged plunderer ~ 
That sucks its sweets. The massy rocks themselves, 
The old and ponderous trunks of prostrate trees, 
‘That bend from knoll to knoll, a causey rude, 
Or bridge the sunken brook, and their dark roots, 
With all their earth upon them ; twisting high 
Breathe fixed tranquillity. The rivulet 
Sends forth glad sounds, and tripping o’er its bed 
Of pebbly sands, or leaping down the rocks, 
Seems with continuous laughter to rejoice 
In its own being. Softly tread the marge, 
Lest from her midway perch thou scare the wren 
That dips her bill in water. The cool wind 
That stirs the stream in play shall come to thee, 
Like one that loves thee, nor will let thee pass 
Ungreeted, and shall give its light embrace. 
Amongst the wonders of this wonderful region we had wandered 
into, the numerous gigantic ant hills stand foremost in my 
memory—great living heaps of insect life, and short sticks and 
straws—hundreds of them, each three or four feet in diameter, 
and each containing myriads of ants. The ferns next claimed 
our admiration, growing in plumy clumps in every direction, and 
bilberry bushes hiding the rocky ground from whence they sprung. 
