Page:Lyrical ballads, Volume 1, Wordsworth, 1800.djvu/74

22 I well remember.—He was one who owned

No common soul. In youth by science nursed

And led by nature into a wild scene

Of lofty hopes, he to the world went forth,

A favored being, knowing no desire

Which genius did not hallow, 'gainst the taint

Of dissolute tongues, and jealousy, and hate

And scorn, against all enemies prepared,

All but neglect. The world, for so it thought,

Owed him no service: he was like a plant

Fair to the sun, the darling of the winds,

But hung with fruit which no one, that passed by,

Regarded, and, his spirit damped at once,

With indignation did he turn away

And with the food of pride sustained his soul

In solitude.—Stranger! these gloomy boughs

Had charms for him; and here he loved to sit,

His only visitants a straggling sheep,

The stone-chat, or the glancing sand-piper;

And on these barren rocks, with juniper,

And heath, and thistle, thinly sprinkled o'er,