For these lines are the veins and arteries
And undecaying life-strings of those hearts,
That still shall pant, and still shall exercise
The motion, spir't and nature both imparts,
And shall with those alive so sympathize,
As nourish'd with stern powers, enjoy their parts.
O blessed letters! that combine in one
All ages past, and make one live with all:
By you we do confer with who are gone,
And the dead-living unto council call:
By you the unborn shall have communion
Of what we feel, and what does us befall.
O blessed letters, &c.
Since Writings are the Veins, the Arteries,
And undecaying Life-strings of those Hearts,
They still shall pant and still shall exercise
Their mightiest powers when Nature none imparts:
And the strong constitution of their Praise
Wear out the infection of distemper'd days
Motto to 'The Landing-Place', Essay i, The Friend, 1818, i. 215; 1850, 165. The piecing together of the lines in the second stanza of the motto was first noted by J. D. Campbell, in The Athenæum, art. 'Coleridge's Quotations,' Aug. 20, 1892.