The Pub in Literature: England's Altered State
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William Wordsworth Benjamin the Waggoner Canto IV
1 Thus they, with freaks of proud delight, 2 Beguile the remnant of the night; 3 And many a snatch of jovial song 4 Regales them as they wind along; 5 While to the music, from on high, 6 The echoes make a glad reply.--- 7 But the sage Muse the revel heeds 8 No farther than her story needs; 9 Nor will she servilely attend 10 The loitering journey to its end. 11 ---Blithe spirits of her own impel 12 The Muse, who scents the morning air, 13 To take of this transported pair 14 A brief and unreproved farewell; 15 To quit the slow-paced waggon's side, 16 And wander down yon hawthorn dell, 17 With murmuring Greta for her guide. 18 ---There doth she ken the awful form 19 Of Raven-crag---black as a storm--- 20 Glimmering through the twilight pale; 21 And Ghimmer-crag, his tall twin brother, 22 Each peering forth to meet the other:--- 23 And, while she roves through St. John's Vale, 24 Along the smooth unpathwayed plain, 25 By sheep-track or through cottage lane, 26 Where no disturbance comes to intrude 27 Upon the pensive solitude, 28 Her unsuspecting eye, perchance, 29 With the rude shepherd's favoured glance, 30 Beholds the faeries in array, 31 Whose party-coloured garments gay 32 The silent company betray: 33 Red, green, and blue; a moment's sight! 34 For Skiddaw-top with rosy light 35 Is touched---and all the band take flight. 36 ---Fly also, Muse! and from the dell 37 Mount to the ridge of Nathdale Fell; 38 Thence, look thou forth o'er wood and lawn 39 Hoar with the frost-like dews of dawn; 40 Across yon meadowy bottom look, 41 Where close fogs hide their parent brook; 42 And see, beyond that hamlet small, 43 The ruined towers of Threlkeld-hall, 44 Lurking in a double shade, 45 By trees and lingering twilight made! 46 There, at Blencathara's rugged feet, 47 Sir Lancelot gave a safe retreat 48 To noble Clifford; from annoy 49 Concealed the persecuted boy, 50 Well pleased in rustic garb to feed 51 His flock, and pipe on shepherd's reed 52 Among this multitude of hills, 53 Crags, woodlands, waterfalls, and rills; 54 Which soon the morning shall enfold, 55 From east to west, in ample vest 56 Of massy gloom and radiance bold. 57 The mists, that o'er the streamlet's bed 58 Hung low, begin to rise and spread; 59 Even while I speak, their skirts of grey 60 Are smitten by a silver ray; 61 And lo!---up Castrigg's naked steep 62 (Where, smoothly urged, the vapours sweep 63 Along---and scatter and divide, 64 Like fleecy clouds self-multiplied) 65 The stately waggon is ascending, 66 With faithful Benjamin attending, 67 Apparent now beside his team--- 68 Now lost amid a glittering steam: 69 And with him goes his Sailor-friend, 70 By this time near their journey's end; 71 And, after their high-minded riot, 72 Sickening into thoughtful quiet; 73 As if the morning's pleasant hour, 74 Had for their joys a killing power. 75 And, sooth, for Benjamin a vein 76 Is opened of still deeper pain, 77 As if his heart by notes were stung 78 From out the lowly hedge-rows flung; 79 As if the warbler lost in light 80 Reproved his soarings of the night, 81 In strains of rapture pure and holy 82 Upbraided his distempered folly. 83 Drooping is he, his step is dull; 84 But the horses stretch and pull; 85 With increasing vigour climb, 86 Eager to repair lost time; 87 Whether, by their own desert, 88 Knowing what cause there is for shame, 89 They are labouring to avert 90 As much as may be of the blame, 91 Which, they foresee, must soon alight 92 Upon his head, whom, in despite 93 Of all his failings, they love best; 94 Whether for him they are distrest; 95 Or, by length of fasting roused, 96 Are impatient to be housed: 97 Up against the hill they strain 98 Tugging at the iron chain, 99 Tugging all with might and main, 100 Last and foremost, every horse 101 To the utmost of his force! 102 And the smoke and respiration, 103 Rising like an exhalation, 104 Blend with the mist---a moving shroud 105 To form, an undissolving cloud; 106 Which, with slant ray, the merry sun 107 Takes delight to play upon. 108 Never golden-haired Apollo, 109 Pleased some favourite chief to follow 110 Through accidents of peace or war, 111 In a perilous moment threw 112 Around the object of his care 113 Veil of such celestial hue; 114 Interposed so bright a screen--- 115 Him and his enemies between! 116 Alas! what boots it?---who can hide, 117 When the malicious Fates are bent 118 On working out an ill intent? 119 Can destiny be turned aside? 120 No---sad progress of my story! 121 Benjamin, this outward glory 122 Cannot shield thee from thy Master, 123 Who from Keswick has pricked forth, 124 Sour and surly as the north; 125 And, in fear of some disaster, 126 Comes to give what help he may, 127 And to hear what thou canst say; 128 If, as needs he must forbode, 129 Thou hast been loitering on the road! 130 His fears, his doubts, may now take flight--- 131 The wished-for object is in sight; 132 Yet, trust the Muse, it rather hath 133 Stirred him up to livelier wrath; 134 Which he stifles, moody man! 135 With all the patience that he can; 136 To the end that, at your meeting, 137 He may give thee decent greeting. 138 There he is---resolved to stop, 139 Till the waggon gains the top; 140 But stop he cannot---must advance: 141 Him Benjamin, with lucky glance, 142 Espies---and instantly is ready, 143 Self-collected, poised, and steady: 144 And, to be the better seen, 145 Issues from his radiant shroud, 146 From his close-attending cloud, 147 With careless air and open mien. 148 Erect his port, and firm his going; 149 So struts yon cock that now is crowing; 150 And the morning light in grace 151 Strikes upon his lifted face, 152 Hurrying the pallid hue away 153 That might his trespasses betray. 154 But what can all avail to clear him, 155 Or what need of explanation, 156 Parley or interrogation? 157 For the Master sees, alas! 158 That unhappy Figure near him, 159 Limping o'er the dewy grass, 160 Where the road it fringes, sweet, 161 Soft and cool to way-worn feet; 162 And, O indignity! an Ass, 163 By his noble Mastiff's side, 164 Tethered to the waggon's tail: 165 And the ship, in all her pride, 166 Following after in full sail! 167 Not to speak of babe and mother; 168 Who, contented with each other, 169 And snug as birds in leafy arbour, 170 Find, within, a blessed harbour! 171 With eager eyes the Master pries; 172 Looks in and out, and through and through; 173 Says nothing---till at last he spies 174 A wound upon the Mastiff's head, 175 A wound, where plainly might be read 176 What feats an Ass's hoof can do! 177 But drop the rest:---this aggravation, 178 This complicated provocation, 179 A hoard of grievances unsealed; 180 All past forgiveness it repealed; 181 And thus, and through distempered blood 182 On both sides, Benjamin the good, 183 The patient, and the tender-hearted, 184 Was from his team and waggon parted; 185 When duty of that day was o'er, 186 Laid down his whip---and served no more.--- 187 Nor could the waggon long survive, 188 Which Benjamin had ceased to drive: 189 It lingered on;---guide after guide 190 Ambitiously the office tried; 191 But each unmanageable hill 192 Called for his patience and his skill;--- 193 And sure it is, that through this night, 194 And what the morning brought to light, 195 Two losses had we to sustain, 196 We lost both Waggoner and Wain! 197 Accept, O Friend, for praise or blame, 198 The gift of this adventurous song; 199 A record which I dared to frame, 200 Though timid scruples checked me long; 201 They checked me---and I left the theme 202 Untouched;---in spite of many a gleam 203 Of fancy which thereon was shed, 204 Like pleasant sunbeams shifting still 205 Upon the side of a distant hill: 206 But Nature might not be gainsaid; 207 For what I have and what I miss 208 I sing of these;---it makes my bliss! 209 Nor is it I who play the part, 210 But a shy spirit in my heart, 211 That comes and goes---will sometimes leap 212 From hiding-places ten years deep; 213 Or haunts me with familiar face, 214 Returning, like a ghost unlaid, 215 Until the debt I owe be paid. 216 Forgive me, then; for I had been 217 On friendly terms with this Machine: 218 In him, while he was wont to trace 219 Our roads, through many a long year's space, 220 A living almanack had we; 221 We had a speaking diary, 222 That in this uneventful place, 223 Gave to the days a mark and name 224 By which we knew them when they came. 225 ---Yes, I, and all about me here, 226 Through all the changes of the year, 227 Had seen him through the mountains go, 228 In pomp of mist or pomp of snow, 229 Majestically huge and slow: 230 Or, with a milder grace adorning 231 The landscape of a summer's morning; 232 While Grasmere smoothed her liquid plain 233 The moving image to detain; 234 And mighty Fairfield, with a chime 235 Of echoes, to his march kept time; 236 When little other business stirred, 237 And little other sound was heard; 238 In that delicious hour of balm, 239 Stillness, solitude, and calm, 240 While yet the valley is arrayed, 241 On this side with a sober shade; 242 On that is prodigally bright--- 243 Crag, lawn, and wood---with rosy light. 244 ---But most of all, thou lordly Wain! 245 I wish to have thee here again, 246 When windows flap and chimney roars, 247 And all is dismal out of doors; 248 And, sitting by my fire, I see 249 Eight sorry carts, no less a train! 250 Unworthy successors of thee, 251 Come straggling through the wind and rain: 252 And oft, as they pass slowly on, 253 Beneath my windows, one by one, 254 See, perched upon the naked height 255 The summit of a cumbrous freight, 256 A single traveller---and there 257 Another; then perhaps a pair--- 258 The lame, the sickly, and the old; 259 Men, women, heartless with the cold; 260 And babes in wet and starveling plight; 261 Which once, be weather as it might, 262 Had still a nest within a nest, 263 Thy shelter---and their mother's breast! 264 Then most of all, then far the most, 265 Do I regret what we have lost; 266 Am grieved for that unhappy sin 267 Which robbed us of good Benjamin;--- 268 And of his stately Charge, which none 269 Could keep alive when He was gone!
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