Page:The Excursion, Wordsworth, 1814.djvu/90

64 Spread like a halo round a misty moon,

Widening its circle as the storms advance.

His sacred function was at length renounced;

And every day and every place enjoyed

The unshackled Layman's natural liberty;

Speech, manners, morals, all without disguise.

I do not wish to wrong him;—though the course

Of private life licentiously displayed

Unhallowed actions—planted like a crown

Upon the insolent aspiring brow

Of spurious notions—worn as open signs

Of prejudice subdued—he still retained,

'Mid such abasement, what he had received

From nature—an intense and glowing mind.

Wherefore, when humbled Liberty grew weak

And mortal sickness on her face appeared,

He coloured objects to his own desire

As with a Lover's passion. Yet his moods

Of pain were keen as those of better men,

Nay keener—as his fortitude was less.

And he continued, when worse days were come,

To deal about his sparkling eloquence,