21. I could, as then I thought, never know more This little stone,-though hope's diminish'd loreTo this were circumscribed-would breathe this strain 66 Despair, when first thou knewest this, was with thee! "Thou hast since hoped. What has been, still may be! 22. This looking forward, then the little all Of hope that I had left, this dim and drear Was not quite barren-if I such may call 23. So the elected* Israelites of old, By God commanded, when they reached thy shore, * Joshua, chapter the fourth. O'erflowing Jordan, each one as we are told, To distant generations evermore A sign, whence they the hallowed spot might mark, Where Jordan's waves retreated from the ark. 24. Thus, as a symbol of past gone despair Tidings of hope, when hope's resources fail; May we in pleasure be admonished. 25. But this is foreign to my theme! The thought Which every soul possesses, when by aught It is impressed, which seems as 'twere to trim The lamp of life afresh, since it hath caught (As from the live coal which the Seraphim On th' altar placed, Isaiah caught his function) From its discovery a vital unction. 26. Whence is it that the meanest forms we hallow, Of sacred radiance see those shapes enshrined Which speak of other days, and friends long dead ?— Whence, but from feeling, is such reverence fed, 27. That they the present with the past connect?- The meanest utensil a parent used, With what intense delight is it perused!— 28. Some see in forms little to challenge praise, A superstitious structure, which would prove Fatal to nobler aims: since where their gaze Was thus allured, they never would remove Their thoughts to abstract themes :-such influences, Changed Christ's pure laws to purveyors for the senses. 29. But still subordinate to nobler things, Just in proportion will such instinct dwell Without the fire, which, from such instinct springs, Were all life's objects! What were scents, forms, hues, Did moral feeling not her aid infuse? 30. The more, in all respects, mere form is merged * It need be scarcely here said, that in these lines we refer to the Roman Catholic rites; in which, by means of pictures, statues, censers, perfumes, music, and architectural ornament, there is an attempt inade as it were to excite the feelings through the iustrumentality of sensuous symbols-in which, truths the most abstract, are, as it were, embodied, and the very mysteries of religion typified by means of physical hieroglyphics.-This religion certainly tends to the consecration of sensible objects, but to secure this end, does it not lower the sublimity of immaterial ones? The sentiment with which mute shapes are charged, Less are they likely to be idolized By physical attachment, more enlarged Will they from "th' entire point"* be enfran chised: The more we love form's accidents, the less 31. We say the finest soul (but mind we say 32. This is a natural instinct. Homer read Or Virgil; how do they with care describe The helmet, shield, or trappings of the steed Belonging to the chief of each bold tribe ? Love is not love, When it is mingled with regards that stand Aloof from th' entire point. Shakspeare. |