Page:The Excursion, Wordsworth, 1814.djvu/163

137 Primeval Nature's Child. A Creature weak

In combination (wherefore else driven back

So far, and of his old inheritance

So easily deprived?) but, for that cause,

More dignified, and stronger in himself,

Whether to act, judge, suffer, or enjoy.

True, the Intelligence of social Art

Hath overpowered his Forefathers, and soon

Will sweep the remnant of his line away;

But contemplations, worthier, nobler far

Than her destructive energies, attend

His Independence, when along the side

Of Mississippi, or that Northern Stream

Which spreads into successive seas, he walks;

Pleased to perceive his own unshackled life,

And his innate capacities of soul,

There imaged: or, when having gained the top

Of some commanding Eminence, which yet

Intruder ne'er beheld, he thence surveys

Regions of wood and wide Savannah, vast

Expanse of unappropriated earth,

With mind that sheds a light on what he sees;