Of hippogrif, of such velocity

As clothes the lightning and the thunderbolt,

Outstrip in speed the shadowy wings of death.

We pass along an ever-travelled road,

Worn by the silent and continuous tread

Of throngs innumerable, of every clime;

The countless generations of the past,

The uncomputed hosts and multitudes

Who trod the earth in ages most remote,

And those whose pale emaciated forms