"The Bridegroom's doors are opened wide, And I am next of kin ; The guests are met, the feast is set: 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 WeddingGuest is spellbound by the eye of the old seafaring 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. The Wedding- the bridal music; He holds him with his glittering eye- And listens like a three years' child: The Wedding-Guest sat on a stone: He cannot choose but hear; And thus spake on that ancient man, The bright-eyed Mariner. "The ship was cheered, the harbour cleared, Merrily did we drop Below the kirk, below the hill, Below the lighthouse top. "The sun came up upon the left, 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, Red as a rose is she; but the Mariner Nodding their heads before her goes continueth his tale. The merry minstrelsy. The Wedding-Guest he beat his breast, 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 tabulâ, majoris et melioris mundi imaginem contemplari: ne mens assuefacta hodiernæ vitæ minutiis se contrahat nimis, et tota subsidat in pusillas cogitationes. Sed veritati interea invigilandum est, modusque servandus, ut certa ab incertis, diem a nocte, distinguamus.T. BURNET. ARCHEOL. PHIL. p. 68. B |