to tell how the life agreeth with the fame. For quarrels, they are with care and discretion to be avoided. They are commonly for place and words. And let a man beware how he keepeth company with choleric and quarrelsome persons; for they will engage him into their own quarrels.

When a traveller returneth home, let him not leave the countries where he hath travelled altogether behind him, but maintain a correspondence by letters with those of his acquaintance which are of most worth. And let his travel appear rather in his discourse than in his apparel or gesture; and in his discourse let him be rather advised in his answers, than forward to tell stories. Let it appear that he doth not change his country manners for those of foreign parts; but only prick in some flowers of that he hath · learned abroad into the customs of his own country.

THE cloud-capt towers, the gorgeous palaces,
The solemn temples, the great globe itself,
Yea, all which it inherits, shall dissolve;
And, like this insubstantial pageant faded,
Leave not a rack behind! we are such stuff
As dreams are made on, and our little life
Is rounded with a sleep..

THE RIME OF THE ANCIENT MARINER

ARGUMENT.

SAMUEL TAYLOR COLERIDGE

How a ship, having passed the Line, was driven by storms to the cold country towards the south pole; and how from thence she made her course to the tropical latitude of the great Pacific Ocean; and of the strange things that befell; and in what manner the Ancient Mariner came back to his own country.

PART I

An ancient Mariner meeteth three

Gallants bidden to a wedding-feast, and detaineth one.

It is an ancient Mariner,.

And he stoppeth one of three.

"By thy long gray 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:
May'st hear the merry din."

He holds him with his skinny hand,
"There was a ship," quoth he.

"Hold off! unhand me, gray-beard loon!"
Eftsoons his hand dropt he.

The Wedding. He holds him with his glittering eye -
The Wedding-Guest stood still,

Guest is spell

bound by the eye of the old sea-faring

man, and constrained to hear his tale.

And listens like a three years' child:
The Mariner hath his will.

The Wedding-Guest sat on a stone:

He cannot choose but hear;
And thus spake on that ancient man,
The bright-eyed Mariner.

The Mariner tells how the ship sailed southward with a good

wind and fair

weather, till it reached the line.

"The ship was cheered, the harbor cleared,

Merrily did we drop

Below the kirk, below the hill,
Below the lighthouse 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.

The Wedding-Guest here beat his breast
For he heard the loud bassoon.

The Wedding The bride hath paced into the hall,
Red as a rose is she;

Guest heareth

the bridal

The ship driven by a

storm toward

Nodding their heads before her goes
The merry minstrelsy.

The Wedding-Guest he beat his breast,
Yet he cannot choose but hear;
And thus spake on that ancient man,
The bright-eyed Mariner.

"And now the Storm-blast came, and he

Was tyrannous and strong:

the south pole. He struck with his o'ertaking wings,

And chased us south along.

And now there came both mist and snow,

And it grew wondrous cold:

And ice, mast-high, came floating by,

As green as emerald.

And through the drifts the snowy clifts

Did send a dismal sheen :

Nor shapes of men, nor beasts we ken
The ice was all between.

The ice was here, the ice was there,

The ice was all around:

It crack'd and growl'd, and roar'd and howl'd,

Like noises in a swound!

At length did cross an Albatross,
Thorough the fog it came;

As if it had been a Christian soul,
We hail'd it in God's name.

It ate the food it ne'er had eat,
And round and round it flew.

The ice did split with a thunder-fit,

The helmsman steer'd us through!

And a good south wind sprung up behind;
The Albatross did follow,

And every day, for food or play,

Came to the mariner's hollo!

In mist or cloud, on mast or shroud,

It perch'd for vespers nine;

Whiles all the night, through fog-smoke white,

Glimmer'd the white moon-shine."

"God save thee, ancient Mariner!

From the fiends, that plague thee thus!

Why look'st thou so?" - With
I shot the Albatross.

my

crossbow

The land of

ice, and of
fearful sounds
where no living
thing was to
be seen.

Till a great
sea-bird, called
the Albatross,
came through
the snow-fog,
and was
received with
great joy and
hospitality.

And lo! the Albatross proveth a bird of good omen, and followeth the ship as it returned northward through fog and floating ice.

The ancient Mariner inhospitably killeth the pious bird of good omen.