dsworth sees with unequalled clearness, and he therefore sees
also the condition of profiting. The mind in which the most valuable
elements have been systematically strengthened by meditation, by
association of deep thought with the most universal presences, by
constant sympathy with the joys and sorrows of its fellows, will be
prepared to convert sorrow into a medicine instead of a poison. Sorrow
is deteriorating so far as it is selfish. The man who is occupied with
his own interests makes grief an excuse for effeminate indulgence in
self-pity. He becomes weaker and more fretful. The man who has learnt
habitually to think of himself as part of a greater whole, whose conduct
has been habitually directed to noble ends, is purified and strengthened
by the spiritual convulsion. His disappointment, or his loss of some
beloved object, makes him more anxious to fix the bases of his
happiness widely and deeply, and to be content with the consciousness of
honest work, instead of looking for what is called success.

But I must not take to preaching in the place of Wordsworth. The whole
theory is most nobly summed up in the grand lines already noticed on the
character of the Happy Warrior. There Wordsworth has explained in the
most forcible and direct language the mode in which a grand character
can be formed; how youthful impulses may change into manly purpose; how
pain and sorrow may be transmuted into new forces; how the mind may be
fixed upon lofty purposes; how the domestic affections--which give the
truest happiness--may also be the greatest source of strength to the man
who is

More brave for this, that he has much to lose;

and how, finally, he becomes indifferent to all petty ambition--

Finds comfort in himself and in his cause;
And, while the mortal mist is gathering, draws
His breath in confidence of Heaven's applause.
This is the Happy Warrior, this is he
Whom every man in arms should wish to be.

We may now see what ethical theory underlies Wordsworth's teaching of
the transformation of instinct into reason. We must start from the
postulate that there is in fact a Divine order in the universe; and that
conformity to this order produces beauty as embodied in the external
world, and is the condition of virtue as regulating our character. It is
by obedience to the 'stern lawgiver,' Duty, that flowers gain their
fragrance, and that 'the most ancient heavens' preserve their freshness