Page:The Excursion, Wordsworth, 1814.djvu/181

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155

Prevents me not from owning, that the law,
By which Mankind now suffers, is most just.
For by superior energies; more strict
Affiance in each other; faith more firm
In their unhallowed principles; the Bad
Have fairly earned a victory o'er the weak,
The vacillating, inconsistent Good.
Therefore, not unconsoled, I wait—in hope
To see the moment, when the righteous Cause
Shall gain Defenders zealous and devout
As They who have opposed her; in which Virtue
Will to her efforts tolerate no bounds
That are not lofty as her rights; aspiring
By impulse of her own etherial zeal.
That Spirit only can redeem Mankind;
And when that sacred Spirit shall appear
Then shall our triumph be complete as their's.
Yet, should this confidence prove vain, the Wise
Have still the keeping of their proper peace;
Are guardians of their own tranquillity.
They act, or they recede, observe, and feel;
"Knowing"—(to adopt the energetic words

Which a time-hallowed Poet hath employed)