thought the story a little on the extravagant

or two points on which he had his doubts.

there were one

"Faith, sir,” replied the story-teller, "as to that matter, I don't believe one-half of it myself."

HESTER.

Charles Lamb.

WHEN maidens such as Hester die,
Their place ye may not well supply,
Though ye among a thousand try,
With vain endeavor.

A month or more hath she been dead,
Yet cannot I by force be led
To think upon the wormy bed,
And her together.

A springy motion in her gait,
A rising step, did indicate

Of pride and joy no common rate,
That flushed her spirit.

I know not by what name beside
I shall it call:-if 'twas not pride,
It was a joy to that allied,

She did inherit.

Her parents held the Quaker rule,
Which doth the human feeling cool,

But she was trained in Nature's school,
Nature had blest her.

A waking eye, a prying mind,

A heart that stirs, is hard to bind,
A hawk's keen sight ye cannot blind,
Ye could not Hester.

My sprightly neighbor, gone before
To that unknown and silent shore,
Shall we not meet, as heretofore,
Some summer morning,

When from thy cheerful eyes a ray
Hath struck a bliss upon the day,
A bliss that would not go away,
A sweet fore-warning?

THE RIME OF THE ANCIENT MARINER.

Samuel Taylor Coleridge.

An ancient

Mariner meeteth three Gallants

bidden to a wedding-feast, and detaineth one.

PART I.

Ir is an ancient Mariner,

And he stoppeth one of three.

'By thy long grey 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:

Mav'st hear the merry din.'

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

'Hold off! unhand me, grey-beard loon!' Eftsoons his hand dropt he.

He holds him with his glittering eye -
The Wedding-Guest stood still,
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 ship was cheered, the harbour 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 WeddingGuest is spellbound by the eye of the old sea-faring man, and constrained to hear his tale.

The Mariner

tells how the
ship sailed
southward with
a good wind
and fair weather,
till it reached
the line.

Higher and higher every day,

Till over the mast at noon

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

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

Nodding their heads before her goes
The merry minstrelsy.

The Wedding.
Guest heareth

the bridal music;
but the Mariner
continueth

his tale.

The ship driven by a storm toward the

south pole.

The land of

ice, and of fear-
ful sounds

where no living
thing was to
be seen.

Till a great seabird, called the Albatross, came through the snow fog,

and was received with great joy

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:

He struck with his o'ertaking wings,
And chased us south along.

With sloping masts and dipping prow,
As who pursued with yell and blow
Still treads the shadow of his foe,

And forward bends his head,

The ship drove fast, loud roar'd the blast,
And southward aye we fled..

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 my cross-bow
I shot the Albatross.

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.

PART II.

THE Sun now rose upon the right:

Out of the sea came he,

Still hid in mist; and on the left

Went down into the sea.

And the good south wind still blew behind,

But no sweet bird did follow,

Nor any day for food or play

Came to the mariners' hollo!