And taught me to know them and know myself;
And now that I am strong and full of hope;

That I can from my soul reject all aims,
Save those your earnest words made plain to me;
Now, that I touch the brink of my design,
When I would have a triumph in their eyes,

A glad cheer in their voices—Michal weeps,
And Festus ponders gravely!

Beforehand all this conference will produce.
'Tis this way, Michal, that he uses: first,
Or he declares, or I, the leading points.

Of our belief in what is man's true end
And God's apparent will—no two faiths ever
Agreed as ours agree: next, each allows

These points are no mere visionary truths:
But, once determin'd, it remains alone

To act upon them straight as best we may :
Accordingly, I venture to submit

My plan, in lack of better, for pursuing

The path which God's will seems to authorize—
A broad plan, vague and ill defined enough,

But courting censure and imploring aid :
Well—he discerns much good in it, avows
This motive worthy, that hope plausible,
A danger here, to be avoided—there,
Ah oversight to be repair'd: in fine
Our minds go every way together—all good
Approved by him, I gladly recognize;

All he counts bad, I thankfully discard;
And nought forbids me to look up at last
For some stray comfort in his cautious brow—
When, lo! I learn that, spite of all, there lurks
Some innate and inexplicable germ

Of failure in my schemes; so that at last
It all amounts to this—the sovereign proof
That we devote ourselves wholly to God
Is in a life as though no God there were :
A life which, prompted by the sad and blind
Folly of man, Festus abhors the most-

But which these tenets sanctify at once—

Though to less subtle wits it seems the same,

Consider it how they may.

Mich.

Is it so, Festus ?

He speaks so calmly and kindly—is it so?

Par. Reject those glorious visions of God's love And man's design; laugh loud that he should send

Vast longings to direct us; or find out

How else they may be satiated: but this
Ambiguous warfare wearies...

Fest.

Not so much

That you will grant no last leave to your friend,
And for his own sake, not for yours? I wish
To send my soul in good hopes after you—

Never to sorrow that uncertain words,

Erringly apprehended—a new creed,

Ill understood—begot rash trust in you—

Had share in your undoing.

Par.

Choose your party :

Hold or renounce: but meanwhile blame me not

Because I dare to act on your own views—

Nor shrink when they point onward—nor spy out

A peril where they most ensure success...

Fest. Prove that to me—but that: that

you

Within their warrant—nor presumptuous boast
God's labour laid on you; that all

you covet

A mortal may expect; and, most of all,

abide

That the strange course you now affect, will lead

To its attainment--and I bid you speed!

And count the minutes till you venture forth.

You will smile; but I had gather'd from slow thought— Much musing on the fortunes of my friend—

Matter I deem'd could not be urged in vain ;

But it all leaves me at my need: in shreds

And fragments I must venture what remains.

Mich. Ask at once, Festus, wherefore he should scorn

Fest. Stay, Michal: Aureole, I speak guardedly
And gravely, knowing well, whate'er your error,
This is no ill-consider'd choice of yours—

No sudden fancy of an ardent boy.
Not from your own confiding words alone

Am I aware your passionate heart has long

Nourish'd, and has at length matured, a plan
To give yourself up wholly to one end.
I will not speak of Einsiedeln; 'twas as
I had been born your elder by some years
Only to watch you fully from the first:
In all beside, our mutual tasks were fix'd
Even then—'twas mine to have you in my
As you had your own soul: accordingly

view

I could go further back, and trace each bough
Of this wide-branching tree even to its birth;
Each full-grown passion to its outspring faint;
But I shall only dwell upon the intents
Which fill'd you when, to crown your dearest wish,
With a tumultuous heart, you left with me
Our childhoods' home to join the favour'd few
Whom famed Trithemius condescends to teach
A portion of his lore—and not the dullest
Of those so favour'd, whom you now despise,
Was earnest as you were; resolved, like you,
To grasp all, and retain all, and deserve
By patient toil a wide renown like his.
Now, just as well have I descried the growth