Page:The Prelude, Wordsworth, 1850.djvu/201

BOOK VII.] May then entangle our impatient steps;

Conducted through those labyrinths, unawares,

To privileged regions and inviolate,

Where from their airy lodges studious lawyers

Look out on waters, walks, and gardens green.

Thence back into the throng, until we reach,

Following the tide that slackens by degrees,

Some half-frequented scene, where wider streets

Bring straggling breezes of suburban air.

Here files of ballads dangle from dead walls;

Advertisements, of giant-size, from high

Press forward, in all colours, on the sight;

These, bold in conscious merit, lower down;

That, fronted with a most imposing word,

Is, peradventure, one in masquerade.

As on the broadening causeway we advance,

Behold, turned upwards, a face hard and strong

In lineaments, and red with over-toil.

'Tis one encountered here and everywhere;

A travelling cripple, by the trunk cut short,

And stumping on his arms. In sailor's garb

Another lies at length, beside a range

Of well-formed characters, with chalk inscribed

Upon the smooth flat stones: the Nurse is here,