His soul was girded for its task sublime:

To struggle on, through error’s endless maze;

To bear contempt, and poverty, and pain;

To wait for royal favor’s fickle rays;—

To find a world beyond the western main!

III.—Columbus at the University of Pavia.

Here was the manna for his hungry soul;

And here the fount for which he’d thirsted long.

Though yet his years were few, none might control

His mighty yearnings, or his purpose strong.