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Part III.
PETER BELL.
59
Your presence I have often felt
In darkness and the stormy night;
And well I know, if need there be,
Ye can put forth your agency
When earth is calm, and heaven is bright.
Then, coming from the wayward world,
That powerful world in which ye dwell,
Come, Spirits of the Mind! and try
To-night, beneath the moonlight sky,
What may be done with Peter Bell!
—O, would that some more skilful voice,
My further labour might prevent!
Kind listeners, that around me sit,
I feel that I am all unfit
For such high argument.