Page:The Prelude, Wordsworth, 1850.djvu/256

234 Nor all the misery forced upon my sight,

Misery not lightly passed, but sometimes scanned

Most feelingly, could overthrow my trust

In what we may become; induce belief

That I was ignorant, had been falsely taught,

A solitary, who with vain conceits

Had been inspired, and walked about in dreams.

From those sad scenes when meditation turned,

Lo! every thing that was indeed divine

Retained its purity inviolate,

Nay brighter shone, by this portentous gloom

Set off; such opposition as aroused

The mind of Adam, yet in Paradise

Though fallen from bliss, when in the East he saw

(11) Darkness ere day's mid course, and morning light

More orient in the western cloud, that drew

O'er the blue firmament a radiant white,

Descending slow with something heavenly fraught.

Add also, that among the multitudes

Of that huge city, oftentimes was seen

Affectingly set forth, more than elsewhere

Is possible, the unity of man,

One spirit over ignorance and vice

Predominant, in good and evil hearts;