Page:The Excursion, Wordsworth, 1814.djvu/386

360 Were they not equal to their own support;

And therefore no incompetence of mine

Could do them wrong. The universal Forms

Of human nature, in a Spot like this,

Present themselves, at once, to all Men's view:

Ye wished for act and circumstance, that make

The Individual known and understood;

And such as my best judgment could select

From what the Place afforded have been given;

Though apprehensions crossed me, in the course

Of this self-pleasing exercise, that Ye

My zeal to his would liken, who, possessed

Of some rare gems, or pictures finely wrought,

Unlocks his Cabinet, and draws them forth

One after one,—soliciting regard

To this—and this, as worthier than the last,

Till the Spectator, who a while was pleased

More than the Exhibitor himself, becomes

Weary and faint, and longs to be released.

—But let us hence! my Dwelling is in sight,

And there—"

At this the Solitary shrunk

With backward will; but, wanting not address