Page:The Excursion, Wordsworth, 1814.djvu/419

393 And strength in evil? Hence an after-call

For chastisement, and custody, and bonds,

And oft-times Death, avenger of the past,

And the sole guardian in whose hands we dare

Entrust the future.—Not for these sad issues

Was Man created; but to obey the law

Of life, and hope, and action. And 'tis known

That when we stand upon our native soil,

Unelbowed by such objects as oppress

Our active powers, those powers themselves become

Strong to subvert our noxious qualities:

They sweep away infection from the heart;

And, by the substitution of delight,

Suppress all evil; whence the Being moves

In beauty through the world; and all who see

Bless him, rejoicing in his neighbourhood."

"Then," said the Solitary, "by what power

Of language shall a feeling Heart express

Her sorrow for that multitude in whom

We look for health from seeds that have been sown

In sickness and for increase in a power

That works but by extinction. On themselves