Page:The Excursion, Wordsworth, 1814.djvu/46

20 Of his adventurous Countrymen were led

By perseverance in this Track of life

To competence and ease;—for him it bore

Attractions manifold;—and this he chose.

He asked his Mother's blessing; and, with tears

Thanking his second Father, asked from him

Paternal blessings. The good Pair bestowed

Their farewell benediction, but with hearts

Foreboding evil. From his native hills

He wandered far; much did he see of Men,

Their manners, their enjoyments, and pursuits,

Their passions, and their feelings; chiefly those

Essential and eternal in the heart,

Which, mid the simpler forms of rural life,

Exist more simple in their elements,

And speak a plainer language. In the woods,

A lone Enthusiast, and among the fields,

Itinerant in this labour, he had passed

The better portion of his time; and there

Spontaneously had his affections thriven

Upon the bounties of the year, and felt

The liberty of Nature; there he kept

In solitude and solitary thought