By exhortation of my frugal Dame,—­ Motley accoutrement, of power to smile At thorns, and brakes, and brambles, and, in truth, More ragged than need was!  O’er pathless rocks, Through beds of matted fern and tangled thickets, 15 Forcing my way, I came to one dear nook Unvisited, where not a broken bough Drooped with its withered leaves, ungracious sign Of devastation; but the hazels rose Tall and erect, with tempting clusters hung, 20 A virgin scene!  A little while I stood, Breathing with such suppression of the heart As joy delights in; and with wise restraint Voluptuous, fearless of a rival, eyed The banquet; or beneath the trees I sate 25 Among the flowers, and with the flowers I played; A temper known to those, who, after long And weary expectation, have been blest With sudden happiness beyond all hope.  Perhaps it was a bower beneath whose leaves 30 The violets of five seasons reappear And fade, unseen by any human eye; Where fairy water-breaks do murmur on Forever; and I saw the sparkling foam, And, with my cheek on one of those green stones 35 That, fleeced with moss, under the shady trees, Lay round me, scattered like a flock of sheep, I heard the murmur and the murmuring sound, 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?

10.  FOR THAT SERVICE. i.e., for nutting.

12-13.  OF POWER TO SMILE AT THORNS=_able to defy_, etc.  Not because of their strength, but because so ragged that additional rents were of small account.

21.  VIRGIN=_unmarred, undevastated_.

31.  Explain the line.  Notice the poetical way in which the poet conveys the idea of solitude, (l. 30-32).