The Harveian Oration for 1874

‘And this grey spirit yearning in desireTo follow knowledge like a sinking star,Beyond the utmost bound of human thought,’

‘Terruit gentes, grave ne rediretSæculum Pyrrhæ, nova monstra questæ;Omne cum Proteus pecus egit altosVisere montes,’

‘My heritage, how lordly rich and fair,Time is my great seed-field; to time I’m heir,’

‘Where life, and life’s companion, heat, abideth;And their attendants, passions untamed,Oft very Hell in this straight room resideth,Yet that great Light, by whom all heaven shinesWith borrowed beams, oft leaves his lofty skies,And to this lowly seat himself confines.’

‘Wedges of gold, great anchors, heaps of pearls,Inestimable stones, unvalued jewels,All scattered at the bottom of the sea.’

‘Captain, or Colonel, or Knight-in-Arms,Whose chance on these defenceless doors may seize,If deed of honour did thee ever please,Guard them from harm!’

‘Non ebur neque aureumNostrâ renidet in domo lacunar:Non trabes HymettiæPremunt columnas ultimâ recisasAfricâ.’

‘At fides, et ingeniBenigna vena est.’

‘Of Providence, Foreknowledge, Will, and Fate,Vain Wisdom all, and false Philosophie;’

‘More medicinal than that Moly,Which Hermes once to wise Ulysses gave.’