And, through her depths, Saint Mary's Yon cottage seems a bower of bliss, A covert for protection Of tender thoughts, that nestle there The brood of chaste affection. Eternal blessings on the Muse, And her divine employment! The blameless Muse, who trains her Sons For hope and calm enjoyment; Albeit sickness, lingering yet, Has o'er their pillow brooded; For thee, O SCOTT! compelled to change Oh! while they minister to thee, Each vying with the other, With Strength, her venturous brother; 60 For Thou, upon a hundred streams, With gladness must requite Thee. A gracious welcome shall be thine, Dreams treasured up from early days, And what, for this frail world, were all Yea, what were mighty Nature's self? That hourly speaks within us? 70 80 90 Ir this great world of joy and pain Revolve in one sure track; If freedom, set, will rise again, And virtue, flown, come back; Woe to the purblind crew who fill The heart with each day's care; Nor gain, from past or future, skill To bear, and to forbear! SAMUEL TAYLOR COLERIDGE THE RIME OF THE ANCIENT MARINER IN SEVEN PARTS Facile credo, plures esse Naturas invisibiles quam visibiles in rerum universitate. Sed horum omnium familiam quis nobis enarrabit? et gradus et cognationes et discrimina et singulorum munera? Quid agunt ? quæ loca habitant? Harum rerum notitiam semper ambivit ingenium humanum, nunquam attigit. Juvat, interea, non diffiteor, quandoque in animo, tanquam in tabula, majoris et melioris mundi imaginem contemplari ne mens assuefacta hodiernæ vitæ minutiis se contralat nimis, et tota subsidat in pusillas cogitationes. Sed veritati interea invigilandum est, modusque servandus, ut certa ab incertis, diem a nocte, distinguamus. -T. BURNET, Archæol. Phil. p. 68. |