HD 



''Inspect tJie 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 soever transported and possessed, 

 Full measure of content; but still I craved 

 An intermingling of distinct regards 

 And truths of individual sympathy 

 Nearer ourselves. 



WORDSWORTH, Prelude^ book xin. 



