Xviii

Two days did he groan in his domicile: "Good Saints, set me free and I promise I 'll Abjure all ambition of preaching Change, whether to minds touched by teaching --The smooth folk of fancy, mere figments Created by plaster and pigments,-- Or to minds that receive with such rudeness Dissuasion from pride, greed and lewdness, --The rough folk of fact, life's true specimens Of mind--'hand in posse sed esse mens' As it was, is, and shall be forever Despite of my utmost endeavor. O live foes I thought to illumine, Henceforth lie untroubled your gloom in! I need my own light, every spark, as I couch with this sole friend--a carcase!"