enfasten

c 1819–1861: Arthur Hugh Clough, Amours de Voyage: Canto V, V. Claude tu Eustace Utterly vain is, alas! this attempt at the Absolute, — wholly! I, who believed not in her, because I would fain believe nothing, Have to believe as I may, with a wilful, unmeaning acceptance. I, who refused to enfasten the roots of my floating existence In the rich earth, cling now to the hard, naked rock that is left me, — Ah! she was worthy, Eustace — and that, indeed, is my comfort, — Worthy a nobler heart than a fool such as I could have given her.