Then, for the pastimes of this delicate age, 95 And all the heavy or light vassalage Which for their sakes we fasten, as may suit Our varying moods, on human kind or brute, 'Twere well in little, as in great, to pause, Lest Fancy trifle with eternal laws. 100 Not from his fellows only man may learn Rights to compare and duties to discern! All creatures and all objects, in degree, Are friends and patrons of humanity. There are to whom the[636] garden, grove, and field, 105 Perpetual lessons of forbearance yield; Who would not lightly violate the grace The lowliest flower possesses in its place; Nor shorten the sweet life, too fugitive, 109 Which nothing less than Infinite Power could give.[637] FOOTNOTES: [618] 1837. HUMANITY. (WRITTEN IN THE YEAR 1829.) 1835. [619] There are several, so-called, "rocking-stones" in Yorkshire and Lancashire, in Derbyshire, in Cornwall, and in Wales. There are one or two in Scotland, and there used to be several in the Lake District. Some are natural; others artificial.--ED. [620] 1837. ... offices! And still in beast and bird a function dwells, That, while we look and listen, sometimes tells Upon the heart, in more authentic guise Than Oracles, or winged Auguries, Spake to the Science of the ancient wise. 1835. [621] The author is indebted, here, to a passage in one of Mr. Digby's valuable works.--W. W. 1835. See his _Of Bodies, and of man's Soul_.--ED. [622] Genesis xxviii. 12.--ED. [623] 1845. ... served ... 1835. [624] 1837. The ready service of ... 1835. [625] 1840. Merciful over all existence, just 1835. [626] 1837. Compassionate to all that suffer, just In the end to every creature born of dust. C. [627] 1840. And, ... 1835. [628] 1837. Where ... 1835. [629] Compare Richard Lovelace, _To Althea, from Prison_-- Stone walls do not a prison make, Nor iron bars a cage. Minds innocent and quiet take That for a hermitage.--ED. [630] 1837. ... should protect 1835. [631] Compare Cowper's _Task_, book ii. l. 40.--ED. [632] 1837. ...--a proud boast! And yet a mockery! if, ... 1835. [633] That to a monstrous idol, called ... C. [634] Compare _The Prelude_, book xiii. ll. 77, 78-- ... that idol proudly named "The Wealth of Nations."--ED. [635] The weal of body and soul; so keen a thirst C. The weal of body, mind, and soul; so keen A thirst urging ... C. [636] 1837. ... eternal laws. There are to whom even ... 1835. [637] Compare the closing lines of the _Ode, Intimations of Immortality_-- To me the meanest flower that blows can give Thoughts that do often lie too deep for tears.--ED. "THIS LAWN, A CARPET ALL ALIVE" Composed 1829.--Published 1835