Page:The Excursion, Wordsworth, 1814.djvu/419

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393

And strength in evil? Hence an after-call
For chastisement, and custody, and bonds,
And oft-times Death, avenger of the past,
And the sole guardian in whose hands we dare
Entrust the future.—Not for these sad issues
Was Man created; but to obey the law
Of life, and hope, and action. And 'tis known
That when we stand upon our native soil,
Unelbowed by such objects as oppress
Our active powers, those powers themselves become
Strong to subvert our noxious qualities:
They sweep away infection from the heart;
And, by the substitution of delight,
Suppress all evil; whence the Being moves
In beauty through the world; and all who see
Bless him, rejoicing in his neighbourhood."


"Then," said the Solitary, "by what power
Of language shall a feeling Heart express
Her sorrow for that multitude in whom
We look for health from seeds that have been sown
In sickness and for increase in a power
That works but by extinction. On themselves