Page:The Excursion, Wordsworth, 1814.djvu/201

175 And recognized,—existence unexposed

To the blind walk of mortal accident;

From diminution safe and weakening age;

While Man grows old, and dwindles, and decays;

And countless generations of Mankind

Depart; and leave no vestige where they trod.

We live by admiration, hope, and love;

And even as these are well and wisely fixed,

In dignity of being we ascend.

But what is error?—"Answer he who can!"

The Sceptic somewhat haughtily exclaimed,

"Love, Hope, and Admiration—are they not

Mad Fancy's favourite Vassals? Does not Life

Use them, full oft, as Pioneers to ruin,

Guides to destruction? Is it well to trust

Imagination's light when Reason's fails,

The unguarded taper where the guarded faints?

—Stoop from those heights, and soberly declare

What error is; and, of our errors, which

Doth most debase the mind; the genuine seats

Of power, where are they? Who shall regulate,

With truth, the scale of intellectual rank?"