Page:The Excursion, Wordsworth, 1814.djvu/246

220 As if the sunshine of the day were met

With answering brightness in the hearts of all

Who walk this favoured ground. But chance-regards,

And notice forced upon incurious ears;

These, if these only, acting in despite

Of the encomiums by my Friend pronounced

On humble life, forbid the judging mind

To trust the smiling aspect of this fair

And noiseless Commonwealth. The simple race

Of Mountaineers, by Nature's self removed

From foul temptations, and by constant care

Of a good Shepherd tended, as themselves

Do tend their flocks, These share Man's general lot

With little mitigation. They escape,

Perchance, guilt's heavier woes; and do not feel

The tedium of fantastic idleness;

Yet life, as with the multitude, with them,

Is fashioned like an ill constructed tale;

That on the outset wastes its gay desires,

Its fair adventures, its enlivening hopes,

And pleasant interests—for the sequel leaving

Old things repeated with diminished grace;

And all the laboured novelties, at best