"Yet be it said, in justice to myself, That in more genial times, when I was free To explore the destiny of human kind (Not as an intellectual game pursued 285 With curious subtilty, from wish[236] to cheat Irksome sensations; but by love of truth Urged on, or haply by intense delight In feeding thought, wherever thought could feed) I did not rank with those (too dull or nice, 290 For to my judgment such they then appeared, Or too aspiring, thankless at the best) Who, in this frame of human life, perceive An object whereunto their souls are tied In discontented wedlock; nor did e'er, 295 From me, those dark impervious shades, that hang Upon the region whither we are bound, Exclude a power to enjoy the vital beams Of present sunshine.--Deities that float On wings, angelic Spirits! I could muse 300 O'er what from eldest time we have been told Of your bright forms and glorious faculties, And with the imagination rest[237] content, Not wishing more; repining not to tread The little sinuous path of earthly care, 305 By flowers embellished, and by springs refreshed.[238] --'Blow winds of autumn!--let your chilling breath Take the live herbage from the mead, and strip The shady forest of its green attire,-- And let the bursting clouds to fury rouse 310 The gentle brooks!--Your desolating sway, Sheds,' I exclaimed, 'no sadness upon me,[239] And no disorder in your rage I find. What dignity, what beauty, in this change From mild to angry, and from sad to gay, 315 Alternate and revolving! How benign, How rich in animation and delight, How bountiful these elements--compared With aught, as more desirable and fair, Devised by fancy for the golden age; 320 Or the perpetual warbling that prevails In Arcady,[DE] beneath unaltered skies, Through the long year in constant quiet bound, Night hushed as night, and day serene as day!' --But why this tedious record?--Age, we know, 325 Is garrulous; and solitude is apt To anticipate the privilege of Age. From far ye come; and surely with a hope Of better entertainment:--let us hence!"