Page:The Prelude, Wordsworth, 1850.djvu/171

BOOK VI.] Of college studies and their set rewards;

Nor had, in truth, the scheme been formed by me

Without uneasy forethought of the pain,

The censures, and ill-omening of those

To whom my worldly interests were dear.

But Nature then was sovereign in my mind,

And mighty forms, seizing a youthful fancy,

Had given a charter to irregular hopes.

In any age of uneventful calm

Among the nations, surely would my heart

Have been possessed by similar desire;

But Europe at that time was thrilled with joy,

France standing on the top of golden hours,

And human nature seeming born again.

Lightly equipped, and but a few brief looks

Cast on the white cliffs of our native shore

From the receding vessel's deck, we chanced

To land at Calais on the very eve

Of that great federal day; and there we saw,

In a mean city, and among a few,

How bright a face is worn when joy of one

Is joy for tens of millions. Southward thence

We held our way, direct through hamlets, towns,

Gaudy with reliques of that festival,