Page:The Excursion, Wordsworth, 1814.djvu/342

316 —Yet cause was none, whate'er regret might hang

On his own mind, to quarrel with the choice

Or the necessity that fixed him here;

Apart from old temptations, and constrained

To punctual labour in his sacred charge.

See him a constant Preacher to the Poor!

And visiting, though not with saintly zeal

Yet when need was with no reluctant will,

The sick in body, or distressed in mind;

And, by as salutary change, compelled,

Month after month, in that obscure Abode

To rise from timely sleep, and meet the day

With no engagement, in his thoughts, more proud

Or splendid than his garden could afford,

His fields,—or mountains by the heath-cock ranged,

Or these wild brooks; from which he now returned

Contentedly, to take a temperate meal

At his own board, where sate his gentle Mate

And three fair Children, plentifully fed

Though simply, from their little household farm;

With acceptable treat of fish or fowl

By nature yielded to his practised hand,

To help the small but certain comings-in