Page:The Excursion, Wordsworth, 1814.djvu/394

368 On the dim altar burned continually,

In token that the House was evermore

Watching to God. Religious Men were they;

Nor would their Reason, tutored to aspire

Above this transitory world, allow

That there should pass a moment of the year,

When in their land the Almighty's Service ceased.

Triumph who will in these profaner rites

Which We, a generation self-extolled,

As zealously perform! I cannot share

His proud complacency; yet I exult,

Casting reserve away, exult to see

An Intellectual mastery exercised

O'er the blind Elements; a purpose given,

A perseverance fed; almost a soul

Imparted—to brute Matter. I rejoice,

Measuring the force of those gigantic powers,

Which by the thinking Mind have been compelled

To serve the Will of feeble-bodied Man.

For with the sense of admiration blends

The animating hope that time may come

When strengthened, yet not dazzled, by the might