305 This was the crisis of that strong disease, This the soul's last and lowest ebb; I drooped, Deeming our blessed reason of least use Where wanted most: "The lordly attributes Of will and choice," I bitterly exclaimed, 310 "What are they but a mockery of a Being Who hath in no concerns of his a test Of good and evil; knows not what to fear Or hope for, what to covet or to shun; And who, if those could be discerned, would yet 315 Be little profited, would see, and ask Where is the obligation to enforce?
And, to acknowledged law rebellious, still, As selfish passion urged, would act amiss; The dupe of folly, or the slave of crime." 320 Depressed, bewildered thus, I did not walk With scoffers, seeking light and gay revenge From indiscriminate laughter, nor sate down In reconcilement with an utter waste Of intellect; such sloth I could not brook, 325 (Too well I loved, in that my spring of life, Pains-taking thoughts, and truth, their dear reward) But turned to abstract science, and there sought Work for the reasoning faculty enthroned Where the disturbances of space and time--330 Whether in matters various, properties Inherent, or from human will and power Derived--find no admission.

[G] Then it was-- Thanks to the bounteous Giver of all good!-- That the beloved Sister in whose sight 335 Those days were passed, [H] now speaking in a voice Of sudden admonition--like a brook [I] That did but _cross_ a lonely road, and now Is seen, heard, felt, and caught at every turn, Companion never lost through many a league--340 Maintained for me a saving intercourse With my true self; for, though bedimmed and changed Much, as it seemed, I was no further changed Than as a clouded and a waning moon: She whispered still that brightness would return, 345 She, in the midst of all, preserved me still A Poet, made me seek beneath that name, And that alone, my office upon earth; And, lastly, as hereafter will be shown, If willing audience fail not, Nature's self, 350 By all varieties of human love Assisted, led me back through opening day To those sweet counsels between head and heart Whence grew that genuine knowledge, fraught with peace, Which, through the later sinkings of this cause, 355 Hath still upheld me, and upholds me now In the catastrophe (for so they dream, And nothing less), when, finally to close And seal up all the gains of France, a Pope Is summoned in, to crown an Emperor--[K] 360 This last opprobrium, when we see a people, That once looked up in faith, as if to Heaven For manna, take a lesson from the dog Returning to his vomit; when the sun That rose in splendour, was alive, and moved 365 In exultation with a living pomp Of clouds--his glory's natural retinue-- Hath dropped all functions by the gods bestowed, And, turned into a gewgaw, a machine, Sets like an Opera phantom.
Thus, O Friend! 370 Through times of honour and through times of shame Descending, have I faithfully retraced The perturbations of a youthful mind Under a long-lived storm of great events-- A story destined for thy ear, who now, 375 Among the fallen of nations, dost abide Where Etna, over hill and valley, casts His shadow stretching towards Syracuse, [L] The city of Timoleon! [M] Righteous Heaven! How are the mighty prostrated! They first, 380 They first of all that breathe should have awaked When the great voice was heard from out the tombs Of ancient heroes.

If I suffered grief For ill-requited France, by many deemed A trifler only in her proudest day; 385 Have been distressed to think of what she once Promised, now is; a far more sober cause Thine eyes must see of sorrow in a land.
To the reanimating influence lost Of memory, to virtue lost and hope, 390 Though with the wreck of loftier years bestrewn.
But indignation works where hope is not, And thou, O Friend! wilt be refreshed.

There is One great society alone on earth: The noble Living and the noble Dead.

395 Thine be such converse strong and sanative, A ladder for thy spirit to reascend To health and joy and pure contentedness; To me the grief confined, that thou art gone From this last spot of earth, where Freedom now 400 Stands single in her only sanctuary; A lonely wanderer art gone, by pain Compelled and sickness, [N] at this latter day, This sorrowful reverse for all mankind.
I feel for thee, must utter what I feel: 405 The sympathies erewhile in part discharged, Gather afresh, and will have vent again: My own delights do scarcely seem to me My own delights; the lordly Alps themselves, Those rosy peaks, from which the Morning looks 410 Abroad on many nations, are no more For me that image of pure gladsomeness Which they were wont to be.