Page:The Excursion, Wordsworth, 1814.djvu/400

374 With light, and gladsome motions, soon becomes

Dull, to the joy of her own motions dead;

And even the Touch, so exquisitely poured

Through the whole body, with a languid Will

Performs its functions; rarely competent

To impress a vivid feeling on the mind

Of what there is delightful in the breeze,

The gentle visitations of the sun,

Or lapse of liquid element—by hand,

Or foot, or lip, in summer's warmth—perceived.

—Can hope look forward to a manhood raised

On such foundations?"

"Hope is none for him,"

The pale Recluse indignantly exclaimed,

"And tens of thousands suffer wrong as deep.

Yet be it asked, in justice to our age,

If there were not, before those Arts appeared,

These Structures rose, commingling old and young,

And unripe sex with sex, for mutual taint;

Then, if there were not, in our far-famed Isle,

Multitudes, who from infancy had breathed

Air unimprisoned, and had lived at large;

Yet walked beneath the sun, in human shape,