Page:The Excursion, Wordsworth, 1814.djvu/127

101 Leaving this Nook unvisited: but, in sooth,

Your unexpected presence had so roused

My spirits, that they were bent on enterprize;

And, like an ardent Hunter, I forgot,

Or, shall I say?—disdained, the game that lurked

At my own door. The shapes before our eyes,

And their arrangement, doubtless must be deemed

The sport of Nature, aided by blind Chance

Rudely to mock the works of toiling Man.

And hence, this upright Shaft of unhewn stone,

From Fancy, willing to set off her stores

By sounding Titles, hath acquired the name

Of Pompey's Pillar; that I gravely style

My Theban Obelisk; and, there, behold

A Druid Cromlech!—thus I entertain

The antiquarian humour, and am pleased

To skim along the surfaces of things,

Beguiling harmlessly the listless hours.

But, if the spirit be oppressed by sense

Of instability, revolt, decay,

And change, and emptiness, these freaks of Nature

And her blind helper Chance, do then suffice

To quicken, and to aggravate, to feed