Page:The Prelude, Wordsworth, 1850.djvu/361

BOOK XIII.] Why may not millions be? What bars are thrown

By Nature in the way of such a hope?

Our animal appetites and daily wants,

Are these obstructions insurmountable?

If not, then others vanish into air.

"Inspect the basis of the social pile:

Inquire," said I, "how much of mental power

And genuine virtue they possess who live

By bodily toil, labour exceeding far

Their due proportion, under all the weight

Of that injustice which upon ourselves

Ourselves entail." Such estimate to frame

I chiefly looked (what need to look beyond?)

Among the natural abodes of men,

Fields with their rural works; recalled to mind

My earliest notices; with these compared

The observations made in later youth,

And to that day continued.—For, the time

Had never been when throes of mighty Nations

And the world's tumult unto me could yield,

How far soe'er transported and possessed,

Full measure of content; but still I craved

An intermingling of distinct regards

And truths of individual sympathy

Nearer ourselves. Such often might be gleaned