Page:The Prelude, Wordsworth, 1850.djvu/325

BOOK XI.] Ran in new channels, leaving old ones dry;

And hence a blow that, in maturer age,

Would but have touched the judgment, struck more deep

Into sensations near the heart: meantime,

As from the first, wild theories were afloat,

To whose pretensions, sedulously urged,

I had but lent a careless ear, assured

That time was ready to set all things right,

And that the multitude, so long oppressed,

Would be oppressed no more.

But when events

Brought less encouragement, and unto these

The immediate proof of principles no more

Could be entrusted, while the events themselves,

Worn out in greatness, stripped of novelty,

Less occupied the mind, and sentiments

Could through my understanding's natural growth

No longer keep their ground, by faith maintained

Of inward consciousness, and hope that laid

Her hand upon her object—evidence

Safer, of universal application, such

As could not be impeached, was sought elsewhere.

But now, become oppressors in their turn,

Frenchmen had changed a war of self-defence