Page:The Excursion, Wordsworth, 1814.djvu/47

21 His mind in a just equipoise of love.

Serene it was, unclouded by the cares

Of ordinary life; unvexed, unwarped

By partial bondage. In his steady course

No piteous revolutions had he felt,

No wild varieties of joy and grief.

Unoccupied by sorrow of it's own

His heart lay open; and, by Nature tuned

And constant disposition of his thoughts

To sympathy with Man, he was alive

To all that was enjoyed where'er he went;

And all that was endured; for in himself

Happy, and quiet in his chearfulness,

He had no painful pressure from without

That made him turn aside from wretchedness

With coward fears. He could afford to suffer

With those whom he saw suffer. Hence it came

That in our best experience he was rich,

And in the wisdom of our daily life.

For hence, minutely, in his various rounds,

He had observed the progress and decay

Of many minds, of minds and bodies too;

The History of many Families;