Page:The Excursion, Wordsworth, 1814.djvu/182

156 "Knowing the heart of Man is set to be

The centre of this World, about the which

Those revolutions of disturbances

Still roll; where all the aspects of misery

Predominate; whose strong effects are such

As he must bear, being powerless to redress;

And that unless above himself he can

Erect himself, how poor a thing is Man!"

Happy is He who lives to understand!

Not human Nature only, but explores

All Natures,—to the end that he may find

The law that governs each; and where begins

The union, the partition where, that makes

Kind and degree, among all visible Beings;

The constitutions, powers, and faculties,

Which they inherit,—cannot step beyond,—

And cannot fall beneath; that do assign

To every Class its station and its office,

Through all the mighty Commonwealth of things;

Up from the creeping plant to sovereign Man.

Such Converse, if directed by a meek,