In that sweet mood when pleasure loves to pay
Tribute to ease; and of its joy secure, 40
The heart luxuriates with indifferent things,
Wasting its kindliness on stocks and stones,
And on the vacant air. Then up I rose,
And dragged to earth both branch and bough, with crash
And merciless ravage: and the shady nook 45
Of hazels, and the green and mossy bower,
Deformed and sullied, patiently gave up
Their quiet being: and unless I now
Confound my present feelings with the past,
Ere from the mutilated bower I turned 50
Exulting, rich beyond the wealth of kings,
I felt a sense of pain when I beheld
The silent trees, and saw the intruding sky.--
Then, dearest Maiden, move along these shades
In gentleness of heart; with gentle hand 55
Touch,--for there is a spirit in the woods.


5. OUR COTTAGE THRESHOLD. "The house at which I was boarded during the
time I was at school." (Wordsworth's note, 1800). The school was the
Hawkshead School.

9. TRICKED OUT=_dressed_. The verb "to trick"="to dress" is derived
probably from the noun, "trick" in the sense of 'a dexterous artifice,'
'a touch.' See "Century Dictionary."

CAST-OFF WEEDS=_cast-off clothes_. Wordsworth originally wrote 'of
Beggar's weeds.' What prompted him to change the expression?