ON THE PROJECTED KENDALL AND WINDERMERE RAILWAY

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by williamwordsworth

by williamwordsworth

Composed October 12, 1844.--Published 1844[277]

One of the "Miscellaneous Sonnets."--ED.

Is then no nook of English ground secure

From rash assault?[278] Schemes of retirement sown

In youth, and 'mid the busy world kept pure

As when their earliest flowers of hope were blown,

Must perish;--how can they this blight endure?

And must he too the ruthless change bemoan

Who scorns a false utilitarian lure

'Mid his paternal fields at random thrown?

Baffle the threat, bright Scene, from Orrest-head[279]

Given to the pausing traveller's rapturous glance:

Plead for thy peace, thou beautiful romance

Of nature; and, if human hearts be dead,

Speak, passing winds; ye torrents, with your strong

And constant voice, protest against the wrong.

October 12th, 1844.

[277] In the first edition of his pamphlet "On the projected Kendal and Windermere Railway."--ED.

[278] The degree and kind of attachment which many of the yeomanry feel to their small inheritances can scarcely be over-rated. Near the house of one of them stands a magnificent tree, which a neighbour of the owner advised him to fell for profit's sake. "Fell it!" exclaimed the yeoman, "I had rather fall on my knees and worship it." It happens, I believe, that the intended railway would pass through this little property, and I hope that an apology for the answer will not be thought necessary by one who enters into the strength of the feeling.--W.W.1845.

Compare the two letters on the Kendal and Windermere Railway,contributed by Wordsworth to The Morning Post in 1844, at Kendal,revised and reprinted in the same year. See The Prose Works of Wordsworth, vol. ii. pp. 383-405.--ED.

[279] Orresthead is the height close to Windermere, to the north of the town.--ED.