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They walk in the city

that they have builded,

The city of God

from evil shielded.

918 851

ALIPORADA

THE

SPIRIT OF MAN

Book I

AFTE

himself.

FTER experience had taught me that the common Spinoza is occurrences of ordinary life are vain and futile, telling of and I saw that all the objects of my desire and fear were in themselves nothing good nor bad, save in so far as the mind was affected by them; I at length determined to search out whether there were not something truly good and communicable to man, by which his spirit might be affected to the exclusion of all other things: yea, whether there were anything, through the discovery and acquisition of which I might enjoy continuous and perfect gladness for ever. I say that I at length determined, because at first sight it seemed ill-advised to renounce things, in the possession of which I was assured, for. the sake of what was yet uncertain.

I therefore turned over in my mind whether it might be possible to come at this new way, or at least to the certitude of its existence, without changing my usual way of life, [a compromise] which I had often attempted

B

·Dissatisfaction

before, but in vain.
happen in life and are esteemed among men as the
highest good (as is witnessed by their works) can be
reduced to these three, Riches, Fame, and Lust; and
by these the mind is so distracted that it can scarcely
think of any other good. With regard to Lust, the
mind is as much absorbed thereby as if it had attained
rest in some good: and this hinders it from thinking of
anything else. But after fruition a great sadness follows,
which, if it do not absorb the mind, will yet disturb
and blunt it. . . . But love directed towards the eternal
and infinite feeds the mind with pure joy, and is free
from all sadness. Wherefore it is greatly to be desired,
and to be sought after with our whole might . . . [and]
although I could perceive this quite clearly in my mind,
I could not at once lay aside all greed and lust and
honour. . . . One thing I could see, and that was
that so long as the mind was turned upon this new way,
it was deflected, and seriously engaged therein; which
was a great comfort to me; for I saw that those evils
were not such as would not yield to remedies: and
though at first these intervals were rare and lasted but
a short while, yet afterwards the true good became
more and more evident to me, and these intervals more
frequent and of longer duration.

For the things that commonly

2

La belle

dame sans merci.

O WHAT can ail thee, Knight-at-arms,
Alone and palely loitering?

The sedge has wither'd from the lake,
And no birds sing.

Sadness

O what can ail thee, Knight-at-arms,
So haggard and so woe-begone?
The squirrel's granary is full,
And the harvest's done.

I see a lily on thy brow

With anguish moist and fever dew;
And on thy cheeks a fading rose
Fast withereth too.

I met a Lady in the meads,

Full beautiful, a faery's child ;-
Her hair was long, her foot was light,
And her eyes were wild.

I made a garland for her head,

And bracelets too, and fragrant zone;
She look'd at me as she did love,
And made sweet moan.

I set her on my pacing steed,

And nothing else saw all day long;
For sidelong would she bend, and sing
A faery's song.

She found me roots of relish sweet,
And honey wild, and manna dew;
And sure in language strange she said-
'I love thee true!'

She took me to her elfin grot,

And there she wept and sigh'd full sore, And there I shut her wild, wild eyes

With kisses four.

And there she lulled me asleep,

And there I dream'd-Ah! woe betide!

The latest dream I ever dream'd

On the cold hill-side.

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