III.—COLUMBUS AT THE UNIVERSITY OF PAVIA.
Here was the manna for his hungry soul; And here the fount for which he’d thirsted long. Though yet his years were few, none might control His mighty yearnings, or his purpose strong. Ah! it is joy to watch the spark divine, To feel it struck, as thought encounters thought! What deep, exulting happiness was thine, When to thine aid long-hidden lore was brought, And thou, Columbus! didst believe the skies Stooped down to nerve thee for thy high emprise! ’Twas well thou hadst the witness in thine heart, Or thou hadst fainted in thy weary way; Though hope “deferred,” though anguish were thy part, Faith shed a halo round thee day by day.
What veiléd glory, and what strange disguise, We meet in by-ways of this wondrous earth! How oft the “angel” to our scaléd eyes Seems but a “stranger” guest of mortal birth! Met with cold words, or, haply, careless mirth, Known only when he’s passed into the skies. Columbus asks for bread![2] None see the ties Which link him to the future home and hearth Of unborn millions. Thus, the glorious day Oft dawns in clouds, while the cold, ceaseless rain Fills up each pause in the wind’s moaning strain, And forms of evil seem to haunt our way. The sky seems brightest when the clouds depart! Earth-woes make heaven still dearer to the heart.
[2] On his first arrival in Spain, Columbus asked for bread and water for his child, at the convent of La Rabida.
A silver lining to on ebon cloud;[4] A diamond flashing in Cimmerian cave; A Lazarus, up-rising from the grave, Bursting the cerements of the straitened shroud; To all true men Columbus calls aloud. He scans the past, with all its priestly lore, But, Janus-like, beholds the future’s shore. What glorious scenes, what teeming wonders crowd! What though the church behold him with a frown! What though the crosier point toward the rack, When heresy is near, as to the track Of precious gold the magic hazel leans? He heedeth not the mitre, cowl, or gown; A new creation on his spirit beams.
[3] Irving speaks of the ignorance of this body on all _scientific_ subjects, causing the opinions of Columbus to be regarded as heretical.
Was I deceived, or did an ebon cloud Turn forth its silver lining on the night? MILTON.