Page:The Excursion, Wordsworth, 1814.djvu/422

396 A Bondage lurking under shape of good,—

Arts, in themselves beneficent and kind,

But all too fondly followed and too far;

To Victims, which the merciful can see

Nor think that they are Victims; turned to wrongs

Which Women who have Children of their own

Regard without compassion, yea with praise!

I spake of mischief which the wise diffuse

With gladness, thinking that the more it spreads

The healthier, the securer we become;

Delusion which a moment may destroy!

Lastly I mourned for those whom I had seen

Corrupted and cast down, on favoured ground,

Where circumstance and nature had combined

To shelter innocence, and cherish love;

Who, but for this intrusion, would have lived,

Possessed of health, and strength, and peace of mind;

Thus would have lived, or never have been born.

Alas! what differs more than man from man!

And whence that difference? whence but from himself?

For see the universal Race endowed

With the same upright form!—The sun is fixed,