"Such recantation had for me no charm, Nor would I bend to it; who should have grieved At aught, however fair, that[268] bore the mien 780 Of a conclusion, or catastrophe. Why then conceal, that, when the simply[269] good In timid selfishness withdrew, I sought Other support, not scrupulous whence it came; And, by what compromise it stood, not nice? 785 Enough if notions seemed to be high-pitched, And qualities determined.--Among men So charactered did I maintain a strife[270] Hopeless, and still more hopeless every hour; But, in the process, I began to feel 790 That, if the emancipation of the world Were missed, I should at least secure my own, And be in part compensated. For rights, Widely--inveterately usurped upon, I spake with vehemence; and promptly seized 795 All that[271] Abstraction furnished for my needs Or purposes;[DP] nor scrupled to proclaim, And propagate, by liberty of life, Those new persuasions. Not that I rejoiced, Or even found pleasure, in such vagrant course, 800 For its own sake; but farthest from the walk Which I had trod in happiness and peace, Was most inviting to a troubled mind; That, in a struggling and distempered world, Saw a seductive image of herself.[272] 805 Yet, mark the contradictions of which Man Is still the sport! Here Nature was my guide, The Nature of the dissolute; but thee, O fostering Nature! I rejected--smiled At others' tears in pity; and in scorn 810 At those, which thy soft influence sometimes drew From my unguarded heart.--The tranquil shores Of Britain circumscribed me; else, perhaps I might have been entangled among deeds, Which, now, as infamous, I should abhor-- 815 Despise, as senseless: for my spirit relished Strangely the exasperation of that Land, Which turned an angry beak against the down Of her own breast; confounded into hope Of disencumbering thus her fretful wings.[273] 820 "But all was quieted by iron bonds Of military sway. The shifting aims, The moral interests, the creative might, The varied functions and high attributes Of civil action, yielded to a power 825 Formal, and odious, and contemptible. --In Britain, ruled a panic dread of change; The weak were praised, rewarded, and advanced; And, from the impulse of a just disdain, Once more did I retire into myself. 830 There feeling no contentment, I resolved To fly, for safeguard, to some foreign shore, Remote from Europe; from her blasted hopes; Her fields of carnage, and polluted air. 834