355
He proudly thought that his gold's might
Had set those spirits burning.

20.
And men of learning, science, wit,
Considered him as you and I
Think of some rotten tree, and sit 360
Lounging and dining under it,
Exposed to the wide sky.

21.
And all the while with loose fat smile,
The willing wretch sat winking there,
Believing 'twas his power that made 365
That jovial scene--and that all paid
Homage to his unnoticed chair.

22.
Though to be sure this place was Hell;
He was the Devil--and all they--
What though the claret circled well, 370
And wit, like ocean, rose and fell?--
Were damned eternally.

PART 5. GRACE.

1.
Among the guests who often stayed
Till the Devil's petits-soupers,
A man there came, fair as a maid, 375
And Peter noted what he said,
Standing behind his master's chair.

2.
He was a mighty poet--and
A subtle-souled psychologist;
All things he seemed to understand, 380
Of old or new--of sea or land--
But his own mind--which was a mist.

3.
This was a man who might have turned
Hell into Heaven--and so in gladness
A Heaven unto himself have earned; 385
But he in shadows undiscerned
Trusted.--and damned himself to madness.

4.
He spoke of poetry, and how
'Divine it was--a light--a love--
A spirit which like wind doth blow 390
As it listeth, to and fro;
A dew rained down from God above;

5.
'A power which comes and goes like dream,
And which none can ever trace--
Heaven's light on earth--Truth's brightest beam.' 395
And when he ceased there lay the gleam
Of those words upon his face.

6.
Now Peter, when he heard such talk,
Would, heedless of a broken pate,
Stand like a man asleep, or balk 400
Some wishing guest of knife or fork,
Or drop and break his master's plate.

7.
At night he oft would start and wake
Like a lover, and began
In a wild measure songs to make 405
On moor, and glen, and rocky lake,
And on the heart of man--

8.
And on the universal sky--
And the wide earth's bosom green,--
And the sweet, strange mystery 410
Of what beyond these things may lie,
And yet remain unsee