Page:The Prelude, Wordsworth, 1850.djvu/266

244 Now in connection with so great a theme

To speak (as I must be compelled to do)

Of one so unimportant; night by night

Did I frequent the formal haunts of men,

Whom, in the city, privilege of birth

Sequestered from the rest, societies

Polished in arts, and in punctilio versed;

Whence, and from deeper causes, all discourse

Of good and evil of the time was shunned

With scrupulous care; but these restrictions soon

Proved tedious, and I gradually withdrew

Into a noisier world, and thus ere long

Became a patriot; and my heart was all

Given to the people, and my love was theirs.

A band of military Officers,

Then stationed in the city, were the chief

Of my associates: some of these wore swords

That had been seasoned in the wars, and all

Were men well-born; the chivalry of France.

In age and temper differing, they had yet

One spirit ruling in each heart; alike

(Save only one, hereafter to be named)

Were bent upon undoing what was done:

This was their rest and only hope; therewith