Three Years in Europe

Excerpt: ...sympathy, and shall have my prayers." Thus ended our visit to the Bard of Sheffield. Long after I had quitted the presence of the poet, the following lines of his were ringing in my ears:- "Wanderer, whither dost thou roam? Weary wanderer, old and grey, Wherefore has thou left thine home, In the sunset of thy day. Welcome wanderer as thou art, All my blessings to partake; Yet thrice welcome to my heart, For thine injured people's sake. Wanderer, whither would'st thou roam? To what region far away? Bend thy steps to find a home, In the twilight of thy day. Where a tyrant never trod, Where a slave was never known- But where Nature worships God In the wilderness alone." Mr. Montgomery seems to have thrown his entire soul into his meditations on the wrongs of Switzerland. The poem from which we have just quoted, is unquestionably one of his best productions, and contains more of the fire of enthusiasm than all his other works. We feel a reverence almost amounting to superstition, for the poet who deals with nature. And who is more capable of understanding the human heart than the poet? Who has better known the human feelings than Shakspere; better painted than Milton, the grandeur of Virtue; better sighed than Byron over the subtle weaknesses of Hope? Who ever had a sounder taste, a more exact intellect than Dante? or who has ever tuned his harp more in favour of Freedom, than our own Whittier? LETTER XII. Kirkstall Abbey-Mary the Maid of the Inn-Newstead Abbey: Residence of Lord Byron-Parish Church of Hucknall-Burial Place of Lord Byron-Bristol: "Cook's Folly"-Chepstow Castle and Abbey-Tintern Abbey-Redcliffe Church. January 29. In passing through Yorkshire, we could not resist the temptation it offered, to pay a visit to the extensive and interesting ruin of Kirkstall Abbey, which lies embosomed in a beautiful recess of Airedale, about three miles from Leeds. A...