Page:The Excursion, Wordsworth, 1814.djvu/324

298 Or less benign than that which I had felt

When, seated near my venerable Friend,

Beneath those shady elms, from him I heard

The story that retraced the slow decline

Of Margaret sinking on the lonely Heath,

With the neglected House in which she dwelt.

—I noted that the Solitary's cheek

Confessed the power of nature.—Pleased though sad,

More pleased than sad, the grey-haired Wanderer sate;

Thanks to his pure imaginative soul

Capacious and serene, his blameless life,

His knowledge, wisdom, love of truth, and love

Of human kind! He was it who first broke

The pensive silence, saying, "Blest are they

Whose sorrow rather is to suffer wrong

Than to do wrong, although themselves have erred.

This Tale gives proof that Heaven most gently deals

With such, in their affliction.—Ellen's fate,

Her tender spirit, and her contrite heart,

Call to my mind dark hints which I have heard

Of One who died within this Vale, by doom

Heavier, as his offence was heavier far.

Where, Sir, I pray you, where are laid the bones