Four rapid years had scarcely then been told [V]
  Since, travelling southward from our pastoral hills,
  I heard, and for the first time in my life,
  The voice of woman utter blasphemy—­385
  Saw woman as she is, to open shame
  Abandoned, and the pride of public vice;
  I shuddered, for a barrier seemed at once
  Thrown in, that from humanity divorced
  Humanity, splitting the race of man 390
  In twain, yet leaving the same outward form. 
  Distress of mind ensued upon the sight
  And ardent meditation.  Later years
  Brought to such spectacle a milder sadness. 
  Feelings of pure commiseration, grief 395
  For the individual and the overthrow
  Of her soul’s beauty; farther I was then
  But seldom led, or wished to go; in truth
  The sorrow of the passion stopped me there.

  But let me now, less moved, in order take 400
  Our argument.  Enough is said to show
  How casual incidents of real life,
  Observed where pastime only had been sought,
  Outweighed, or put to flight, the set events
  And measured passions of the stage, albeit 405
  By Siddons trod in the fulness of her power. 
  Yet was the theatre my dear delight;
  The very gilding, lamps and painted scrolls,
  And all the mean upholstery of the place,
  Wanted not animation, when the tide 410
  Of pleasure ebbed but to return as fast
  With the ever-shifting figures of the scene,
  Solemn or gay:  whether some beauteous dame
  Advanced in radiance through a deep recess
  Of thick entangled forest, like the moon 415
  Opening the clouds; or sovereign king, announced
  With flourishing trumpet, came in full-blown state
  Of the world’s greatness, winding round with train
  Of courtiers, banners, and a length of guards;
  Or captive led in abject weeds, and jingling 420
  His slender manacles; or romping girl
  Bounced, leapt, and pawed the air; or mumbling sire,
  A scare-crow pattern of old age dressed up
  In all the tatters of infirmity
  All loosely put together, hobbled in, 425
  Stumping upon a cane with which he smites,
  From time to time, the solid boards, and makes them
  Prate somewhat loudly of the whereabout [W]
  Of one so overloaded with his years. 
  But what of this! the laugh, the grin, grimace, 430
  The antics striving to outstrip each other,
  Were all received, the least of them not lost,
  With an unmeasured welcome.  Through the night,
  Between the show, and many-headed mass
  Of the spectators, and each several nook 435
  Filled with its fray or brawl, how eagerly
  And with what flashes, as it were, the