MEMORIALS OF A TOUR ON THE CONTINENT
V
BETWEEN NAMUR AND LIEGE
The scenery on the Meuse pleases me more, upon the whole, than
that of the Rhine, though the river itself is much inferior in
grandeur. The rocks both in form and colour, especially between
Namur and Liege, surpass any upon the Rhine, though they are in
several places disfigured by quarries, whence stones were taken
for the new fortifications. This is much to be regretted, for they
are useless, and the scars will remain perhaps for thousands of
years. A like injury to a still greater degree has been inflicted,
in my memory, upon the beautiful rocks of Clifton on the banks of
the Avon. There is probably in existence a very long letter of
mine to Sir Uvedale Price, in which was given a description of the
landscapes on the Mense as compared with those on the Rhine.
Details in the spirit of these sonnets are given both in Mrs.
Wordsworth's Journals and my Sister's, and the re-perusal of them
has strengthened a wish long entertained that somebody would put
together, as in one work, the notices contained in them, omitting
particulars that were written down merely to aid our memory, and
bringing the whole into as small a compass as is consistent with
the general interests belonging to the scenes, circumstances, and
objects touched on by each writer.
WHAT lovelier home could gentle Fancy choose?
Is this the stream, whose cities, heights, and plains,
War's favourite playground, are with crimson stains
Familiar, as the Morn with pearly dews?
The Morn, that now, along the silver MEUSE,
Spreading her peaceful ensigns, calls the swains
To tend their silent boats and ringing wains,
Or strip the bough whose mellow fruit bestrews
The ripening corn beneath it. As mine eyes
Turn from the fortified and threatening hill,
How sweet the prospect of yon watery glade,
With its grey rocks clustering in pensive shade--
That, shaped like old monastic turrets, rise
From the smooth meadow-ground, serene and still!
