“THE SELF-EDUCATED SHOEMAKER” WHO “REARED HIS OWN MONUMENT.”[58]
“I consuming fire
Felt daily in my veins to see my race
Emerge from out the foul defiling mire
Of animal enjoyments that debase
Their nature, and well-nigh its lineaments efface.
I burned to see my species proudly count
Themselves for more than brutes; and toiled to draw
Them on to drink at Virtue’s living fount,
Whence purest pleasures flow....