Page:The Prelude, Wordsworth, 1850.djvu/298

276 Well might my wishes be intense, my thoughts

Strong and perturbed, not doubting at that time

But that the virtue of one paramount mind

Would have abashed those impious crests—have quelled

Outrage and bloody power, and, in despite

Of what the People long had been and were

Through ignorance and false teaching, sadder proof

Of immaturity, and in the teeth

Of desperate opposition from without—

Have cleared a passage for just government,

And left a solid birthright to the State,

Redeemed, according to example given

By ancient lawgivers.

In this frame of mind,

Dragged by a chain of harsh necessity,

So seemed it,—now I thankfully acknowledge,

Forced by the gracious providence of Heaven,—

To England I returned, else (though assured

That I both was and must be of small weight,

No better than a landsman on the deck

Of a ship struggling with a hideous storm)

Doubtless, I should have then made common cause

With some who perished; haply perished too,

A poor mistaken and bewildered offering,—

Should to the breast of Nature have gone back,