Page:The Excursion, Wordsworth, 1814.djvu/193

167 Are by domestic Pleasures uncaressed

And unenlivened; who exists whole years

Apart from benefits received or done

'Mid the transactions of the bustling crowd;

Who neither hears, nor feels a wish to hear,

Of the world's interests—such a One hath need

Of a quick fancy and an active heart,

That for the day's consumption books may yield

A not unwholesome food, and earth and air

Supply his morbid humour with delight.

—Truth has her pleasure-grounds, her haunts of ease

And easy contemplation,—gay parterres,

And labyrinthine walks, her sunny glades

And shady groves, for recreation framed:

These may he range, if willing to partake

Their soft indulgences, and in due time

May issue thence, recruited for the tasks

And course of service Truth requires from those

Who tend her Altars, wait upon her Throne,

And guard her Fortresses. Who thinks, and feels,

And recognises ever and anon

The breeze of Nature stirring in his soul,

Why need such man go desperately astray,