Page:The Excursion, Wordsworth, 1814.djvu/228

202 Upon the side

Of that green Slope, the outlet of the Vale,

Lingering behind my Comrades, thus I breathed

A parting tribute to a spot that seemed

Like the fixed centre of a troubled World.

And now, pursuing leisurely my way,

How vain, thought I, it is by change of place

To seek that comfort which the mind denies;

Yet trial and temptation oft are shunned

Wisely; and by such tenor do we hold

Frail Life's possessions, that even they whose fate

Yields no peculiar reason of complaint

Might, by the promise that is here, be won

To steal from active duties, and embrace

Obscurity, and calm forgetfulness.

—Knowledge, methinks, in these disordered times,

Should be allowed a privilege to have

Her Anchorites, like Piety of old;

Men, who, from faction sacred, and unstained

By war, might, if so minded, turn aside

Uncensured, and subsist, a scattered few

Living to God and Nature, and content

With that communion. Consecrated be