Page:The Excursion, Wordsworth, 1814.djvu/181

155 Prevents me not from owning, that the law,

By which Mankind now suffers, is most just.

For by superior energies; more strict

Affiance in each other; faith more firm

In their unhallowed principles; the Bad

Have fairly earned a victory o'er the weak,

The vacillating, inconsistent Good.

Therefore, not unconsoled, I wait—in hope

To see the moment, when the righteous Cause

Shall gain Defenders zealous and devout

As They who have opposed her; in which Virtue

Will to her efforts tolerate no bounds

That are not lofty as her rights; aspiring

By impulse of her own etherial zeal.

That Spirit only can redeem Mankind;

And when that sacred Spirit shall appear

Then shall our triumph be complete as their's.

Yet, should this confidence prove vain, the Wise

Have still the keeping of their proper peace;

Are guardians of their own tranquillity.

They act, or they recede, observe, and feel;

"Knowing"—(to adopt the energetic words

Which a time-hallowed Poet hath employed)