610 JAMES CLERK MAXWELL. 



As thus I blessed King Numa 



And struggled hard with sleep, 

 I felt unwonted chillness 



O'er all my members creep ; 

 Before mine eyes in fragments 



The fireplace seemed to roll, 

 The chillness left my body 



And slid into my soul. 

 Deep in Egeria's grotto 



I saw the darksome well ; 

 I slowly sunk to Numa, 



But why I cannot tell. 



" What ! Livest thou stiU, old Sabine, 



With thy mysterious wife ? " 

 "Yes, here beneath the surface, 



We lead a torpid life. 

 But little think the Critics 



Who nullify old Eome, 

 That in these benumbing waters 



I always lived at home. 

 Never was I a Sabine, 



Or lived like men above ; 

 No mortal wight was Numa, 



Who quelled the fear of Jove. 

 Before my day the Eomans 



Served gods of wood and stone, 

 But what each man had fashioned 



That worshipped he alone ; 

 With care he saved the silver, 



With pains the mould designed, 

 He loved and feared the offspring 



Of his pocket and his mind. 

 To him he went for counsel 



And then to Common Sense ; 

 When both of these had failed him 



He took to tossing pence ; 



