PART IV

The Bright Turrets of Ilion

Return of a Wanderer
Uldale: II. Family Life
They meet in Penrith, Feb. 4, 1772
Phantasmagoria in the Hills
They are Alone and are Happy
Departure from Herries

_Over this country, when the giant Eagle flings the shadow of
his wing, the land is darkened. So compact is it that the wing
covers all its extent in one pause of the flight. The sea breaks
on the pale line of the shore; to the Eagle’s proud glance waves
run in to the foot of the hills that are like rocks planted in
green water._

_From Whinlatter to Black Combe the clouds are never still. The
Tarns like black unwinking eyes watch their chase, and the
colours are laid out in patterns on the rocks and are
continually changed. The Eagle can see the shadows rise from
their knees at the base of Scawfell and Gable, he can see the
black precipitous flanks of the Screes washed with rain and the
dark purple hummocks of Borrowdale crags flash suddenly with
gold._

_So small is the extent of this country that the sweep of the
Eagle’s wing caresses all of it, but there is no ground in the
world more mysterious, no land at once so bare in its nakedness
and so rich in its luxury, so warm with sun and so cold in
pitiless rain, so gentle and pastoral, so wild and lonely; with
sea and lake and river there is always the sound of running
water, and its strong people have their feet in the soil and are
independent of all men._

_During the flight of the Eagle two hundred years are but as a
day—and the life of man, as against all odds he pushes toward
immortality, is eternal. . . ._