Page:The Prelude, Wordsworth, 1850.djvu/275

BOOK IX.] For he, to all intolerance indisposed,

Balanced these contemplations in his mind;

And I, who at that time was scarcely dipped

Into the turmoil, bore a sounder judgment

Than later days allowed; carried about me,

With less alloy to its integrity,

The experience of past ages, as, through help

Of books and common life, it makes sure way

To youthful minds, by objects over near

Not pressed upon, nor dazzled or misled

By struggling with the crowd for present ends.

But though not deaf, nor obstinate to find

Error without excuse upon the side

Of them who strove against us, more delight

We took, and let this freely be confessed,

In painting to ourselves the miseries

Of royal courts, and that voluptuous life

Unfeeling, where the man who is of soul

The meanest thrives the most; where dignity,

True personal dignity, abideth not;

A light, a cruel, and vain world cut off

From the natural inlets of just sentiment,

From lowly sympathy and chastening truth;

Where good and evil interchange their names,