Page:The Prelude, Wordsworth, 1850.djvu/328

306 The aspiration, nor shall ever cease

To feel it;—but return we to our course.

Enough, 'tis true—could such a plea excuse

Those aberrations—had the clamorous friends

Of ancient Institutions said and done

To bring disgrace upon their very names;

Disgrace, of which, custom and written law,

And sundry moral sentiments as props

Or emanations of those institutes,

Too justly bore a part. A veil had been

Uplifted; why deceive ourselves? in sooth,

'Twas even so; and sorrow for the man

Who either had not eyes wherewith to see,

Or, seeing, had forgotten! A strong shock

Was given to old opinions; all men's minds

Had felt its power, and mine was both let loose,

Let loose and goaded. After what hath been

Already said of patriotic love,

Suffice it here to add, that, somewhat stern

In temperament, withal a happy man,

And therefore bold to look on painful things,

Free likewise of the world, and thence more bold,

I summoned my best skill, and toiled, intent

To anatomise the frame of social life,