BARTRAM'S INFLUENCE ON LITERATURE 157 



in the enjoyment of peace, till disturbed and affrighted by the warrior 

 man. Behold yonder, coming upon them through the darkened groves 

 . . . the naked red warrior, invading the Elysian fields and green plains 

 of Alachua. . . . Suddenly they [the deer] speed off with their young 

 in the centre; but the roebuck fears him not ... he bounds off, and 

 in a few minutes distances his foe a mile . . . (pp. 187-88) . 



Several pages later there is another deer-hunting scene, in which 

 " the princely buck, who headed the party," is killed, but "his 

 affrighted followers at the instant, sprang off in every direction, 

 streaming away like meteors or phantoms," and saved them- 

 selves (pp. 200-201) . No wonder Wordsworth was convinced 

 that Ruth would be won over by the youth's tales and 



agree 

 With him to sail across the sea, 

 And drive the flying deer (stanza xvii) . 



For her vision was upon " those lonesome floods. And green 

 savannahs " and " the wild woods " (stanza xix). 



But a youth who had spent his past in roaming about 

 " through savage lands . . . with vagrant bands of Indians in 

 the West . . ." (stanza xx) was not to be trusted. The fact is 

 that Wordsworth, unlike poor Ruth, distrusted the " Youth 

 from Georgia's shore " from the very beginning. On this point 

 Professor Cooper calls attention to " Wordsworth's ill-concealed 

 dissatisfaction with a too languid or ' too gaudy region '. . . . 

 Properly interpreted," he says, the stanza 



He told of the Magnolia spread 



High as a cloud, high overhead! 



The cypress and her spire; 



— Of flowers that with one scarlet gleam 



Cover a hundred leagues, and seem 



To set the hills on fire 



" discloses the sensuous vision of a character condemned by the 

 poet — of the panther-like youth who has accepted a dangerous 

 education from nature." ^^ The contention is convincing, especi- 

 ally in view of stanzas xxi, xxii, and xxiii; 



*" The Athenaeum, April 22, 1905, p. 499. The phrase " a too gaudy region " 

 is Wordsworth's own — Prelude, III, 446. 



