not had for years, and may not have again, draw near in what is nearest; and do you, my dear Lord, vouchsafe your friend and brother some clear tokens as to that goal you say has from childhood been mentally prescribed you, and the way you have taken to gain it.
Lord H.—I will do this willingly, and the rather that I have with me a leaf, in which I have lately recorded what appeared to me in glimpse or flash in my young years, and now shines upon my life with steady ray. I brought it, with some thought that I might impart it to you, which confidence I have not shown to any yet; though if, as I purpose, some memoir of my life and times should fall from my pen, these poems may be interwoven there as cause and comment for all I felt, and knew, and was. The first contains my thought of the beginning and progress of life:—
| (From the Latin of Lord Herbert.) |
| LIFE. |
| First, the life stirred within the genial seed, |
| Seeking its properties, whence plastic power |
| Was born. Chaos, with lively juice pervading, |
| External form in its recess restraining, |
| While the conspiring causes might accede, |
| And full creation safely be essayed. |
| Next, movement was in the maternal field; |
| Fermenting spirit puts on tender limbs, |
| And, earnest, now prepares, of wondrous fabric, |
| The powers of sense, a dwelling not too mean for mind contriving |
| That, sliding from its heaven, it may put on |
| These faculties, and, prophesying future fate, |
| Correct the slothful weight (of matter,) nor uselessly be manifested. |
| A third stage, now, scene truly great contains |
| The solemn feast of heaven, the theatre of earth, |
| Kindred and species, varied forms of things |
