Page:The Excursion, Wordsworth, 1814.djvu/293

267 "'Tis strange," observed the Solitary, "strange

It seems, and scarcely less than pitiful

That in a Land where Charity provides

For all who can no longer feed themselves,

A Man like this should choose to bring his shame

To the parental door; and with his sighs

Infect the air which he had freely breathed

In happy infancy. He could not pine,

Whencee'er rejected howsoe'er forlorn,

Through lack of converse, no, he must have found

Abundant exercise for thought and speech

In his dividual Being, self-reviewed,

Self-catechized, self-punished.—Some there are

Who, drawing near their final Home, and much

And daily longing that the same were reached,

Would rather shun than seek the fellowship

Of kindred mold.—Such haply here are laid."

"Yes," said the Priest, "the Genius of our Hills

Who seems, by these stupendous barriers cast

Round his Domain, desirous not alone

To keep his own, but also to exclude

All other progeny, doth sometimes lure,