Facile credo, plures esse Naturas invisibiles quam visibiles în 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 Tabulâ, majoris et melioris mundi imaginem contemplari: ne mens assuefecta hodierniæ vitæ minutiis se contrahat nimis, & 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. And he stoppeth one of three. "By thy long grey beard and glittering eye, "Now wherefore stopp'st thou me? "The Bridegroom's doors are open'd wide, "And I am next of kin; "The guests are met, the feast is set: An ancient meeteth three Gallants bid den to a wed ding-feast, and detaineth one. "May'st hear the merry din." He holds him with his skinny hand, "There was a ship," quoth he. "Hold off! unhand me, grey-beard loon!" Eftsoons his hand dropt he. The wedding. guest is spellbound by the eye of the old sea-faring man, and constrained to hear his tale. The Mariner tells how the ship sailed southward with a good wind and fair weather, till it reached the line. He holds him with his glittering eye- And listens like a three years child: The Mariner hath his will. The wedding-guest sat on a stone: He can not chuse but hear; And thus spake on that ancient man, The bright-eyed mariner. The ship was cheer'd, the harbour clear'd, Merrily did we drop Below the kirk, below the hill, Below the light-house top. The Sun came up upon the left, Out of the sea came he; And he shone bright, and on the right Went down into the sea. Higher and higher every day, Till over the mast at noon The Wedding-Guest here beat his breast, For he heard the loud bassoon. The bride hath paced into the hall, Nodding their heads before her goes The merry minstrelsy. The Wedding-Guest he beat his breast, Yet he can not chuse but hear; And thus spake on that ancient man, The wedding- The bright-eyed Mariner. And now the STORM-BLAST came, and he Was tyrannous and strong: He struck with his o'ertaking wings, And chased us south along. With sloping masts and dipping prow, Still treads the shadow of his foe And forward bends his head, The ship drove fast, loud roar'd the blast, And southward aye we fled. And now there came both mist and snow, And it grew wonderous cold: The ship drawn by a storm toward the south pole. |