Page:The poetical works of Matthew Arnold, 1897.djvu/40

2 TO A FRIEND.

SHAKSPEARE.

abide our question. Thou art free.

We ask and ask. Thou smilest, and art still,

Out-topping knowledge. For the loftiest hill,

Who to the stars uncrowns his majesty,

Planting his steadfast footsteps in the sea,

Making the heaven of heavens his dwelling-place,

Spares but the cloudy border of his base

To the foiled searching of mortality;