Such a disposition toils on contentedly enough, obedient indeed to the goad so far as moderately to increase the staid solemnity of his gait, taking the flinty path and the weary load as necessary conditions of life, with a serene equanimity for which he has the philosophical example of the ass! The ways are rough, you know, and the journey long. Depend upon it these animals arrive at its termination with less wear and tear, more safety, and even more despatch, than the sensitive, high-spirited, and courageous horse, wincing from the lash, springing to the voice, striving, panting, sweating, straining every muscle to get home.
In the parable of the "Ancient Mariner"—for is it not ndeed the wildest, dreamiest, and most poetical of parables?—you remember the hopelessness of the weight he carried when
"Instead of the cross the albatross
About his neck was hung."
