Page:The Prelude, Wordsworth, 1850.djvu/119

BOOK IV.] Than as they were a badge glossy and fresh

Of manliness and freedom) all conspired

To lure my mind from firm habitual quest

Of feeding pleasures, to depress the zeal

And damp those yearnings which had once been mine—

A wild, unworldly-minded youth, given up

To his own eager thoughts. It would demand

Some skill, and longer time than may be spared,

To paint these vanities, and how they wrought

In haunts where they, till now, had been unknown.

It seemed the very garments that I wore

Preyed on my strength, and stopped the quiet stream

Of self-forgetfulness.

Yes, that heartless chase

Of trivial pleasures was a poor exchange

For books and nature at that early age.

'Tis true, some casual knowledge might be gained

Of character or life; but at that time,

Of manners put to school I took small note,

And all my deeper passions lay elsewhere.

Far better had it been to exalt the mind

By solitary study, to uphold

Intense desire through meditative peace;

And yet, for chastisement of these regrets,

The memory of one particular hour