20 
‘« There was a boy ; ye knew him well, ye cliffs 
And islands of Winander! Many a time, 
At evening, when the earliest stars began 
To move along the edges of the hills, 
Rising or setting, would he stand alone, 
Beneath the trees, or by the glimmering lake ; 
And there, with fingers interwoven, both hands 
Pressed closely palm to palm, and to his mouth 
Uplifted, he, as through an instrument, 
Blew mimic hootings to the silent owls, 
That they might answer him. 
; And when it chanced 
That pauses of deep silence mock’d his skill, 
Then, sometimes, in that silence, while he hung 
Listening, a gentle shock of mild surprise 
Has carried far into his heart the voice 
Of mountain torrents ; or the visible scene 
Would enter unawares into his mind, 
With all its solemn imagery, its rocks, 
Its woods, and that uncertain heaven, received 
Into the bosom of the steady lake.’’ 
Most impressive of all is the account he gives of a personal 
adventure, when fear seemed to have aroused his whole being, 
and which, possibly, was the turning point in his psychological 
career. The lines commence— 
*« One sunny evening led by her (Fancy).” 
Wordsworth tells us elsewhere, it is not just that delight in 
Nature which certain type of artists take, picking and choosing, 
seeing beautiful effects and looking out for combinations and 
new forms; it is the living presence in nature which is to be 
found by the true devotee of Nature in all her moods and 
expressions. ‘‘ Whatever is, is best ’’—whatever scene one finds 
oneself in, is the perfect thing for the time. 
All this is love of Nature—pure nature unaffected by man. 
It is the nature found in solitude among the hills and rivers, 
amongst creatures—not amongst men. 
At last he comes to man: he comes across man in nature, and 
it is as a part of nature that he first begins to appreciate man. 
‘* Shepherds were the men that pleased me first ’?— 
and so he describes the life of the shepherd. 
‘« When the Spring looks out and all the pastures dance with lambs.’’ 
His feeling was that of delight and rejoicing in life, 
‘Pursuits and animal activities, 
Like the worship of nature or of man.”’ 
‘Worship’ was not merely to rejoice in nature with a keen 
joy: there must be something introspective. The rejoicing in 
nature must be rejoicing in ourselves also. There must be a kind 
