Page:The Excursion, Wordsworth, 1814.djvu/286

260 Unseconded, uncountenanc'd; then, as time

Passed on, while still his lonely efforts found

No recompence, derided; and, at length,

By many pitied, as insane of mind;

By others dreaded as the luckless Thrall

Of subterraneous Spirits, feeding hope

By various mockery of sight and sound;

Hope, after hope, encouraged and destroyed.

—But when the Lord of seasons had matured

The fruits of earth through space of twice ten years,

The mountain's entrails offered to the view

Of the Old Man, and to his trembling grasp,

His bright, his long-deferred, his dear reward.

Not with more transport did Columbus greet

A world, his rich discovery! But our Swain,

A very Hero till his point was gained,

Proved all unable to support the weight

Of prosperous fortune. On the fields he looked

With an unsettled liberty of thought,

Of schemes and wishes; in the day-light walked

Giddy and restless; ever and anon

Quaffed in his gratitude immoderate cups;

And truly might be said to die of joy!