Were laid away in some great trance-the ages
Coming and going all the while-till dawned

His true time's advent; and could then record
The words they spoke who kept watch by his bed,-
Then I might tell more of the breath so light
Upon my eyelids, and the fingers light

Among my hair. Youth is confused; yet never
So dull was I but, when that spirit passed,
I turned to him, scarce consciously, as turns
A water-snake when fairies cross his sleep.
And having this within me and about me
While Einsiedeln, its mountains, lakes and woods
Confined me-what oppressive joy was mine
When life grew plain, and I first viewed the thronged,
The everlasting concourse of mankind!

Believe that ere I joined them, ere I knew
The purpose of the pageant, or the place
Consigned me in its ranks-while, just awake,
Wonder was freshest and delight most pure-
"T was then that least supportable appeared
A station with the brightest of the crowd,
A portion with the proudest of them all.
And from the tumult in my breast, this only
Could I collect, that I must thenceforth die
Or elevate myself far, far above

The gorgeous spectacle. I seemed to long

At once to trample on, yet save mankind,
To make some unexampled sacrifice

In their behalf, to wring some wondrous good
From heaven or earth for them, to perish, winning
Eternal weal in the act: as who should dare
Pluck out the angry thunder from its cloud,
That, all its gathered flame discharged on him,
No storm might threaten summer's azure sleep:
Yet never to be mixed with men so much
As to have part even in my own work, share
In my own largess. Once the feat achieved,
I would withdraw from their officious praise,
Would gently put aside their profuse thanks.
Like some knight traversing a wilderness,
Who, on his way, may chance to free a tribe
Of desert-people from their dragon-foe;
When all the swarthy race press round to kiss
His feet, and choose him for their king, and yield
Their poor tents, pitched among the sand-hills, for
His realm and he points, smiling, to his scarf
Heavy with riveled gold, his burgonet

Gay set with twinkling stones-and to the East,
Where these must be displayed!

Festus.

Good: let us hear

No more about your nature, "which first shrank "From all that marked you out apart from men!"

Paracelsus. I touch on that; these words but analyse The first mad impulse: 't was as brief as fond, For as I gazed again upon the show,

I soon distinguished here and there a shape Palm-wreathed and radiant, forehead and full eye. Well pleased was I their state should thus at once Interpret my own thoughts :-" Behold the clue "To all," I rashly said, "and what I pine "To do, these have accomplished: we are peers. "They know and therefore rule: I, too, will know!" You were beside me, Festus, as you say;

You saw me plunge in their pursuits whom fame

Is lavish to attest the lords of mind,

Not pausing to make sure the prize in view
Would satiate my cravings when obtained,
But since they strove I strove. Then came a slow
And strangling failure. We aspired alike,
Yet not the meanest plodder, Tritheim counts
A marvel, but was all-sufficient, strong,
Or staggered only at his own vast wits;
While I was restless, nothing satisfied,
Distrustful, most perplexed. I would slur over
That struggle; suffice it, that I loathed myself
As weak compared with them, yet felt somehow
A mighty power was brooding, taking shape
Within me; and this lasted till one night

When, as I sat revolving it and more,

A still voice from without said-" Seest thou not, "Desponding child, whence spring defeat and loss? "Even from thy strength. Consider: hast thou gazed "Presumptuously on wisdom's countenance,

"No veil between; and can thy faltering hands, "Unguided by the brain the sight absorbs,

"Pursue their task as earnest blinkers do

"Whom radiance ne'er distracted? Live their life

"If thou wouldst share their fortune, choose their eyes "Unfed by splendour.

"Its petty good to thee.

Let each task present

Waste not thy gifts

"In profitless waiting for the gods' descent, "But have some idol of thine own to dress

"With their array. Know, not for knowing's sake, "But to become a star to men for ever;

"Know, for the gain it gets, the praise it brings,

"The wonder it inspires, the love it breeds :
"Look one step onward, and secure that step!"
And I smiled as one never smiles but once,
Then first discovering my own aim's extent,
Which sought to comprehend the works of God,
And God himself, and all God's intercourse
With the human mind; I understood, no less,
My fellows' studies, whose true worth I saw,
But smiled not, well aware who stood by me.

And softer came the voice-"There is a way: ""T is hard for flesh to tread therein, imbued "With frailty-hopeless, if indulgence first "Have ripened inborn germs of sin to strength : "Wilt thou adventure for my sake and man's,

Apart from all reward?" And last it breathed"Be happy, my good soldier; I am by thee, "Be sure, even to the end! -I answered not, Knowing him. As he spoke, I was endued With comprehension and a steadfast will;

And when he ceased, my brow was sealed his own.
If there took place no special change in me,
How comes it all things wore a different hue
Thenceforward?-pregnant with vast consequence,
Teeming with grand result, loaded with fate?
So that when, quailing at the mighty range
Of secret truths which yearn for birth, I haste
To contemplate undazzled some one truth,
Its bearings and effects alone-at once
What was a speck expands into a star,
Asking a life to pass exploring thus,
Till I near craze. I go to prove my soul!
I see my way as birds their trackless way.
I shall arrive! what time, what circuit first,
I ask not: but unless God send his hail
Or blinding fireballs, sleet or stifling snow,