Page:Lyrical ballads, Volume 2, Wordsworth, 1800.djvu/119

111 Yet, in his worst pursuits, I ween,

That sometimes there did intervene

Pure hopes of high intent:

For passions link'd to forms so fair

And stately, needs must have their share

Of noble sentiment.

But ill he liv'd, much evil saw

With men to whom no better law

Nor better life was known;

Deliberately and undeceiv'd

Those wild men's vices he receiv'd,

And gave them back his own.

His genius and his moral frame

Were thus impair'd, and he became

The slave of low desires;

A man who without self-controul

Would seek what the degraded soul

Unworthily admires.