Had fitted their own thoughts, schemers more mild,
And in the region of their peaceful selves ;-
Now was it that both 1 found, the meek and lofty

Did both find, helpers to their heart's desire,
And stuff at hand, plastic as they could wish;
Were called upon to exercise their skill,
Not in Utopia, subterranean2 fields,

Or some secreted island, Heaven knows where !
But in the very world, which is the world
Of all of us,—the place where in the end
We find our happiness, or not at all!

30

35

40

Compare Coleridge's remarks in The Friend, vol. ii. p. 38, before quoting this poem, "My feelings and imagination did not remain unkindled in this general conflagration; and I confess I should be more inclined to be ashamed than proud of myself if they had! I was a sharer in the general vortex, though my little world described the path of its revolution in an orbit of its own," etc.-ED.

ODE TO DUTY

Composed 1805.-Published 1807

"Jam non consilio bonus, sed more eò perductus, ut non tantum rectè facere possim, sed nisi rectè facere non possim.

[This Ode is on the model of Gray's Ode to Adversity, which is copied from Horace's Ode to Fortune. Many and many a time have I been twitted by my wife and sister for having forgotten this dedication of myself to the stern law-giver. Transgressor indeed I have been from hour to hour, from day to day I would fain hope, however, not more flagrantly, or in a worse way than most of my tuneful brethren. But these last words are in a wrong strain. We should be rigorous to ourselves, and forbearing, if not indulgent, to others; and, if

1 "both" italicised from 1815 to 1832, and also in The Prelude.

2 1832.

subterraneous

* This motto was added in the edition of 1837.-ED.

1809.

we make comparison at all, it ought to be with those who have morally excelled us.-I. F.]

In pencil on the MS., "But is not the first stanza of Gray's from a chorus of Eschylus? And is not Horace's Ode also modelled on the Greek?"

This poem was placed by Wordsworth among his "Poems of Sentiment and Reflection."-ED.

STERN Daughter of the Voice of God!
O Duty! if that name thou love
Who art a light to guide, a rod
To check the erring, and reprove;

Thou, who art victory and law

When empty terrors overawe;

5

From vain temptations dost set free;

And calm'st the weary strife of frail humanity! 1

Glad Hearts! without reproach or blot ;

Who do thy work,2 and know it not:

Oh, if through confidence misplaced

IO

15

They fail, thy saving arms, dread Power! around them cast.3

1 1815.

2

From strife and from despair; a glorious ministry. 1807.

3 1837.

May joy be theirs while life shall last!

And Thou, if they should totter, teach them to stand fast!

1807.

* Compare S. T. C. in The Friend (edition 1818, vol. iii. p. 62), “Its instinct, its safety, its benefit, its glory is to love, to admire, to feel, and to labour."-ED.

Serene will be our days and bright,
And happy will our nature be,

When love is an unerring light,
And joy its own security.

And they a blissful course may hold
Even now, who, not unwisely bold,1
Live in the spirit of this creed;

Yet seek thy firm support,2 according to their need.

I, loving freedom, and untried;
No sport of every random gust,
Yet being to myself a guide,

Too blindly have reposed my trust:
And oft, when in my heart was heard

Thy timely mandate, I deferred

The task, in smoother walks to stray ;3

But thee I now 4 would serve more strictly, if I may.

And may that genial sense remain, when youth is past.

My hopes no more must change their name,
I long for a repose that 1 ever is the same.

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40

2

Stern Lawgiver! yet thou dost wear
The Godhead's most benignant grace;
Nor know we any thing so fair
As is the smile upon thy face: †
Flowers laugh before thee on their beds
And fragrance in thy footing treads; ‡

1 1827.

1807.

45

3

Of my own wish; and feel past doubt

That my submissiveness was choice:

Not seeking in the school of pride
For "precepts over dignified,"

Denial and restraint I prize

No farther than they breed a second Will more wise.

* Compare Churchill's Gotham, i. 49—

An Englishman in chartered freedom born.

ED.

+ Compare in Sartor Resartus, 'Happy he for whom a kind of heavenly sun brightens it [Necessity] into a ring of Duty, and plays round it with beautiful prismatic refractions."-ED.

Compare Persius, Satura, ii. 1. 38

Quidquic calcaverit hic, rosa fiat.

And Ben Jonson, in The Sad Shepherd, act 1. scene i. ll. 8, 9

And where she went, the flowers took thickest root,

As she had sow'd them with her odorous foot.

Also, a similar reference to Aphrodite in Hesiod, Theogony, vv. 192 sqq.-ED.

T

pa

(Thou dost preserve the stars from wrong;

And the most ancient heavens, through Thee, are fresh

and strong.

To humbler functions, awful Power!
I call thee: I myself commend
Unto thy guidance from this hour;
Oh, let my weakness have an end!
Give unto me, made lowly wise,
The spirit of self-sacrifice ;
The confidence of reason give;

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55

And in the light of truth thy Bondman let me live! *

Mr. J. R. Tutin has supplied me with the text of a proof copy of the sheets of the edition of 1807, which was cancelled by Wordsworth, in which the following stanzas take the place of the first four of that edition :

There are who tread a blameless way
In purity, and love, and truth,
Though resting on no better stay
Than on the genial sense of youth:

Glad Hearts! without reproach or blot;
Who do the right, and know it not :

May joy be theirs while life shall last

And may a genial sense remain, when youth is past.

Serene would be our days and bright;

And happy would our nature be;

If Love were an unerring light;

And Joy its own security.

And bless'd are they who in the main,

This creed, even now, do entertain,

Do in this spirit live; yet know

That Man hath other hopes; strength which elsewhere

must grow.

I, loving freedom, and untried;

No sport of every random gust,

Yet being to myself a guide,

Too blindly have reposed my trust;

* Compare S. T. C. in The Friend (edition 1818), vol. iii. p. 64.—ED.