Page:The Excursion, Wordsworth, 1814.djvu/292

266 Allured him, sunk so low in self-respect

As there to linger, there to eat his bread,

Hired Minstrel of voluptuous blandishment;

Charming the air with skill of hand or voice,

Listen who would, be wrought upon who might,

Sincerely wretched Hearts, or falsely gay.

—Truths I record to many known, for such

The not unfrequent tenor of his boast

In ears that relished the report;—but all

Was from his Parents happily concealed;

Who saw enough for blame and pitying love.

They also were permitted to receive

His last, repentant breath; and closed his eyes,

No more to open on that irksome world

Where he had long existed in the state

Of a young Fowl beneath one Mother hatched,

Though from another sprung—of different kind:

Where he had lived, and could not cease to live,

Distracted in propensity; content

With neither element of good or ill;

And yet in both rejoicing; man unblest;

Of contradictions infinite the slave,

Till his deliverance, when Mercy made him

One with Himself, and one with those who sleep."