Thus moderated, thus composed, I found
  Once more in Man an object of delight,
  Of pure imagination, and of love; 50
  And, as the horizon of my mind enlarged,
  Again I took the intellectual eye
  For my instructor, studious more to see
  Great truths, than touch and handle little ones. 
  Knowledge was given accordingly; my trust 55
  Became more firm in feelings that had stood
  The test of such a trial; clearer far
  My sense of excellence—­of right and wrong: 
  The promise of the present time retired
  Into its true proportion; sanguine schemes, 60
  Ambitious projects, pleased me less; I sought
  For present good in life’s familiar face,
  And built thereon my hopes of good to come.

    With settling judgments now of what would last
  And what would disappear; prepared to find 65
  Presumption, folly, madness, in the men
  Who thrust themselves upon the passive world
  As Rulers of the world; to see in these,
  Even when the public welfare is their aim,
  Plans without thought, or built on theories 70
  Vague and unsound; and having brought the books
  Of modern statists to their proper test,
  Life, human life, with all its sacred claims
  Of sex and age, and heaven-descended rights,
  Mortal, or those beyond the reach of death; 75
  And having thus discerned how dire a thing
  Is worshipped in that idol proudly named
  “The Wealth of Nations,” where alone that wealth
  Is lodged, and how increased; and having gained
  A more judicious knowledge of the worth 80
  And dignity of individual man,
  No composition of the brain, but man
  Of whom we read, the man whom we behold
  With our own eyes—­I could not but inquire—­
  Not with less interest than heretofore, 85
  But greater, though in spirit more subdued—­
  Why is this glorious creature to be found
  One only in ten thousand?  What one is,
  Why may not millions be?  What bars are thrown
  By Nature in the way of such a hope? 90
  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 95
  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 100
  I chiefly looked (what need to look beyond?)
  Among the natural abodes of men,
  Fields with their rural works; [B] recalled