THE UNIVERSITY 
 OF ILLINOIS 
 LIBRARY 
 
 From the collection of 
 Julius Doerner, Chicago 
 Purchased, 1918. 
 
 < 52.1 
 
 TS3p 
 
 1849 
 
 p. 
 
 
Y/y/a ? 
 

PROVERBIAL PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 FIRST SERIES. 
 
 
 
Digitized by the Internet Archive 
 in 2016 
 
 https://archive.org/details/proverbialphilos00tupp_1 
 
Wise is the 
 saves all he can and 'gives, “uS* £ 
 
 PROVERBIAL PHILOSOPHY 
 
 A BOOK OF 
 
 THOUGHTS AND ARGUMENTS, 
 
 ORIGINALLY TREATED 
 
 BY 
 
 MARTIN FARQUHAR TUPPER, ESQ., M.A., 
 Of Christchurch , Oxford. 
 
 AUTHOR OF “ THE CROCK OF OOLD,” ETC. 
 
 NEW YORK: 
 
 JOHN WILEY, HU BROADWAY. 
 
 1849. 
 
ROBERT CRAIRHEAD, PRINTER, 
 112 FULTON STREET. 
 
 T. B. SMITH, STEREOTYPER, 
 216 WILLIAM STREET. 
 
/ ~5 
 
 X 
 
 %xi 
 
 TZIp 
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 FIRST SERIES. 
 
 Page 
 
 Prefatory --------- 7 
 
 The Words of Wisdom - -- - - - - - - - 9 
 
 Of Truth in Things False - -- -- -- -- n 
 
 Of Anticipation- - -- -- -- -----15 
 
 Of Hidden Uses - -- -- -- -- -- -- 1 7 
 
 Of Compensation - -- -- -- -- -- - -22 
 
 Of Indirect Influences -------- --27 
 
 Of Memory - -- -- -- -- -- -- --33 
 
 The Dream of Ambition - -- -- -- -- -37 
 
 Of Subjection - -- -- -- -- -- -- -39 
 
 Of Rest - -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -50 
 
 Of Humility - -- -- -- -- -- -- --53 
 
 Of Pride - -- -- -- -- -- - - - - 58 
 
 Of Experience - -- -- -- -- -- -- -00 
 
 Of Estimating Character - -- -- -- --63 
 
 Of Hatred and Anger --------- - 73 
 
 Of Good in Things Evil - -- -- -- -- 74 
 
 Of Prayer --- - - - - 80 
 
 The Lord’s Prayer - -- -- -- -- -- -85 
 
 Of Discretion - -- -- -- -- -- -- -87 
 
 Of Trifles - -- -- -- -- -- -- --90 
 
 Of Recreation --------------93 
 
 The Train of Religion - -- -- -- -- --98 
 
 > 0 1405 
 
iv CONTENTS. 
 
 Page 
 
 Of a Trinity ----- --------- - 10O 
 
 Of Thinking - -- -- -- -- -- -- - 105 
 
 Of Speaking - -- -- - _____ _ 440 
 
 Of Reading ------- - - 116 
 
 Of Writing - -- - ------- 118 
 
 Of Wealth -- ------- - 122 
 
 Of Invention - ------- - 128 
 
 Of Ridicule ---------- - 131 
 
 Of Commendation - ---------- - 133 
 
 Of Self- Acquaintance - - - 138 
 
 Of Cruelty to Animals - -- -- -- -- - 145 
 Of Friendship - -- -- -- -- -- -- - 443 
 
 Of Love ---------- - 453 
 
 Of Marriage - -- -- -------- - 156 
 
 Of Education - -- -- -- -- -- -- - 164 
 
 Of Tolerance - -- -- -- ^ - -- -- - 472 
 
 Of Sorrow - - ---------- - 176 
 
 Of Joy - - ------ - - -- -- - 47s 
 
 SECOND SERIES. 
 
 Introductory -------------- JS5 
 
 Of Cheerfulness ---------- • 488 
 
 Of Yesterday - -- -- - -- -- -- - - 193 
 Of To-day - - r - - -- -- -- - - -- - 198 
 
 Of To-morrow - -- -- -- -- -- -- - 201 
 
 Of Authorship - -- -- -- -- -- -- - 204 
 
 Of Mystery - -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 212 
 
 Of Gifts - -- - -- -- -- -- -- -- 221 
 
 Of Beauty ---------- 227 
 
 Of Fame - -- -- -- -- -- -- -- - 243 
 
 Of Flattery - -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 252 
 
 Of Neglect - -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 2G2 
 
 Of Contentment - -- -- -- -- -- -- 271 
 
 Of Life - -- -- -- -- -- -- -- - 277 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 Page 
 
 Of Death - - -- -- -- -- - 284 
 
 Of Immortality - - - -- -- -- -- -- - 292 
 Of Ideas - -- -- -- ------- - 314 
 
 Of Names - -- -- -- ------- 318 
 
 Of Things - -- -- -- ------- - 324 
 
 Of Faith 328 
 
 Of Honesty - -- -- - ------- 339 
 
 Of Society - -- -- - ------- 344 
 
 Of Solitude ------ - 354 
 
 The End ------ - 358 
 
 Votes - • ----- _ 365 
 
PROVERBIAL PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 PREFATORY. 
 
 Thoughts, that have tarried in my mind, and peopled its 
 inner chambers, 
 
 The sober children of reason, or desultory train of fancy ; 
 
 Clear running wine of conviction, with the scum and the 
 lees of speculation ; 
 
 Corn from the sheaves of science, with stubble from mine 
 own garner ; 
 
 Searchings after Truth, that have tracked her secret lodes, 
 
 And come up again to the surface-world, with a knowledge 
 grounded deeper ; 
 
 Arguments of high scope, that have soared to the keystone of 
 heaven, 
 
 And thence have swooped to their certain mark, as the fal- 
 con to its quarry ; 
 
 The fruits I have gathered of prudence, the ripened harvest 
 of my musings, 
 
 These commend I unto thee, O docile scholar of Wisdom, 
 
 These 1 give to thy gentle heart, thou lover of the right. 
 
 What though a guilty man renew that hallowed theme, 
 
 And strike with feebler hand the harp of Sirach’s son ? 
 
 What, though a youthful tongue take up that ancient parable 
 
 And utter faintly forth dark sayings as of old? 
 
 Sweet is the virgin honey, though the wild bee have sided 
 it in a reed ; 
 
 L 
 
8 PREFATORY. [series i. 
 
 And bright the jewelled band, that circleth an Ethiop’s 
 arm ; 
 
 Pure are the grains of gold in the turbid stream of Ganges, 
 
 And fair the living flowers, that spring from the dull cold 
 sod. 
 
 Wherefore, thou gentle student, bend thine ear to my speech, 
 
 For I also am as thou art; our hearts can commune together: 
 
 To meanest matters will I stoop, for mean is the lot of mortal ; 
 
 I will rise to noblest themes, for the soul hath an heritage of 
 glory : 
 
 The passions of puny man ; the majestic characters of God ; 
 
 The feverish shadows of time, and the mighty substance of 
 eternity. 
 
 Commend thy mind unto candor, and grudge not as though 
 thou hadst a teacher, 
 
 Nor scorn angelic Truth for the sake of her evil herald ; 
 
 Heed not him, but hear his words, and care not whence they 
 come ; 
 
 The viewless winds might whisper them, the billows roar 
 them forth, 
 
 The mean unconscious sedge sigh them in the ear of evening, 
 
 Or the mind of pride conceive, and the mouth of folly speak 
 them. 
 
 Lo now, 1 stand not forth laying hold on spear and buckler, 
 
 I come a man of peace, to comfort, not to combat ; 
 
 With soft persuasive speech to charm thy patient ear, 
 
 Giving the hand of fellowship, acknowledging the heart of 
 sympathy : 
 
 Let us walk together as friends in the shaded paths of medi- 
 tation. 
 
 Nor Judgment set Its seal until he hath poised his balance ; 
 
 That the chastenings of mild reproof may meet unwitting 
 error, 
 
 And Charity not be a stranger at the board that is spread for 
 brothers. 
 
series 1.1 THE WORDS OF WISDOM. 
 
 9 
 
 THE WORDS OF WISDOM. 
 
 Few and precious are the words which the lips of Wisdom 
 utter : 
 
 To what shall their rarity be likened 1 What price shall 
 count their worth 1 
 
 Perfect and much to be desired, and giving joy with riches, 
 
 No lovely thing on earth can picture all their beauty. 
 
 They be chance pearls, flung among the rocks by the sullen 
 waters of Oblivion, 
 
 Which Diligence loveth to gather, and hang around the neck 
 of Memory ; 
 
 They be white-winged seeds of happiness, wafted from the 
 islands of the blessed, 
 
 Which Thought carefully tendeth, in the kindly garden of 
 the heart ; 
 
 They be sproutings of an harvest for eternity, bursting 
 through the tilth of time, 
 
 Green promise of the golden wheat, that yieldeth angels’ 
 food ; 
 
 They be drops of the crystal dew,, which the wings of se- 
 raphs scatter, 
 
 When on some brighter Sabbath, their plumes quiver most 
 with delight ; 
 
 Such, and so precious, are the words which the lips of Wis- j 
 doin utter. 
 
 Yet more, for the half is not said, of their might, and dignity, 
 and value ; 
 
 For live-giving be they and glorious, redolent of sanctity and 
 heaven : 
 
 As the fumes of hallowed incense, that veil the throne of 
 the Most High ; 
 
10 PROVERBIAL PHILOSOPHY. [series i. 
 
 As the beaded bubbles that sparkle on the rim of the cup of 
 immortality ; 
 
 As wreaths of the rainbow spray, from the pure cataracts of 
 Truth. 
 
 Such, and so precious, are the words which the lips of Wis- 
 dom utter. 
 
 Yet once again, loving student, suffer the praises of thy 
 teacher, 
 
 For verily the sun of the mind, and the life of the heart, is 
 Wisdom : 
 
 She is pure and full of light, crowning grey hairs with lustre, 
 
 And kindling the eye of youth with a fire not its own ; 
 
 And her words, whereunto canst thou liken them 1 for earth 
 cannot show their peers : 
 
 They be grains of the diamond sand, the radiant floor of 
 heaven, 
 
 Rising in sunny dust behind the chariot of God ; 
 
 They be flashes of the day-spring from on high, shed from 
 the windows of the skies ; 
 
 They be streams of living waters, fresh from the fountain of 
 Intelligence ; 
 
 Such, and so precious, are the words which the lips of Wis- 
 dom utter. 
 
 For these shall guide thee well, and guard thee on thy way ; 
 
 And wanting all beside, with these shalt thou be rich : 
 
 Though all around be woe, these shall make thee happy ; 
 
 Though all within be pain, these shall bring thee health ; 
 
 Thy good shall grow into ripeness, thine evil wither and 
 decay, 
 
 And Wisdom’s words shall sweetly charm thy doubtful into 
 virtues : 
 
 Meanness shall then be frugal care ; where shame was, thou 
 art modest ; 
 
series i.J OF TRUTH IN THINGS FALSE. 11 
 
 Cowardice riseth into caution, rashness is sobered into cou- 
 rage ; 
 
 The wrathful spirit, rendering a reason, standeth justified in 
 anger, 
 
 The idle hand hath fair excuse, propping the thoughtful 
 forehead. 
 
 Life shall have no labyrinth but thy steps can track it, 
 
 For thou hast a silken clue, to lead thee through the dark- 
 ness: 
 
 The rampant Minotaur of ignorance shall perish at thy 
 coming, 
 
 And thine enfranchised fellows hail thy white victorious 
 sails. (*) 
 
 Wherefore, friend and scholar, hear the words of Wisdom ; 
 
 Whether she speaketh to thy soul in the full chords of reve- 
 lation ; 
 
 In the teaching earth, or air, or sea; in the still melodies of 
 thought, 
 
 Or, haply, in the humbler strains that would detain thee 
 here. 
 
 OF TRUTH IN THINGS FALSE. 
 
 Error is a hardy plant; it flourisheth in every soil ; 
 
 In the heart of the wise and good, alike with the wicked nnd 
 foolish ; 
 
 For there is no error so crooked, but it hath in it some lines 
 of truth ; 
 
 Nor is any poison so deadly, that it serv^h not some whole- 
 some use : 
 
 And the just man, enamored of the right, is blinded by the 
 specious ness of wrong, 
 
 And the prudent, perceiving an advantage, is content to over- 
 look the harm. 
 
12 PROVERBIAL PHILOSOPHY. [series i. 
 
 On all things created remaineth the half-effaced signature of 
 God, 
 
 Somewhat of fair and good, though blotted by the finger of 
 corruption : 
 
 And if error cometh in like a flood, it mixeth with streams of 
 truth, 
 
 And the Adversary loveth to have it so, for thereby many 
 are decoyed. 
 
 Providence is dark in its permissions ; yet one day, when all 
 is known, 
 
 The universe of reason shall acknowledge how just and 
 good were they ; 
 
 For the wise man leanetli on his wisdom, and the righteous 
 trusteth to his righteousness, 
 
 And those who thirst for independence, are suffered to drink 
 of disappointment. 
 
 Wherefore ? — to prove and humble them ; and to teach the 
 idolators of truth, 
 
 That it is but the ladder unto Him, on whom only they 
 should trust. 
 
 There is truth in the wildest scheme that imaginative heat 
 hath engendered, 
 
 And a man may gather somewhat from the crudest theories 
 of fancy : 
 
 The alchemist laboreth in folly, but catcheth chance gleams 
 of wisdom, 
 
 And findeth out many inventions, though his crucible breed 
 not gold ; 
 
 The sinner, toying with witchcraft, thinketh to delude his 
 fellows, • 
 
 But there be very spirits of evil, and what if they come at 
 his bidding ? 
 
 He is a bold bad man who dareth to tamper with the dead ; 
 
 For their whereabout lieth in a mystery— that vestibule 
 leading to Eternity, 
 
series i.J OF TRUTH IJVJ THINGS FALSE. 
 
 13 
 
 The waiting-room for unclad ghosts, before the presence- 
 chamber of their King: 
 
 Mind may act upon mind, though bodies be far divided ; 
 
 For the life is in the blood, but souls communicate unseen : 
 
 And the heat of an excited intellect, radiating to its fellows, 
 
 Doth kindle dry leaves afar off, while the green wood around 
 it is un warmed. 
 
 The dog may have a spirit, as well as his brutal master ; 
 
 A spirit to live in happiness ; for why should he be robbed 
 of his existence ? % 
 
 Hath he not a conscience of evil, a glimmer of moral sense, 
 
 Love and hatred, courage and fear, and visible shame and 
 pride 1 
 
 There may be a future rest for the patient victims of the 
 cruel ; 
 
 And a season allotted for their bliss, to compensate for unjust 
 suffering. 
 
 Spurn not at seeming error, but dig below its surface for the 
 truth ; 
 
 And beware of seeming truths, that grow on the roots of 
 error : 
 
 For comely are the apples that spring from the Dead Sea’s 
 cursed shore : 
 
 But within are they dust and ashes, and the hand that pluck- 
 ed them shall rue it. 
 
 A frequent similar effect argueth a constant cause : 
 
 Yet who hath counted the links that bind an omen to its 
 issue ? 
 
 Who hath expounded the law that rendereth calamities gre- 
 gaiious, 
 
 Pressing down with yet more woes the heavy-laden mourn- 
 er ? 
 
 Who knoweth wherefore a monsoon should swell the sails 
 of the prosperous, 
 
 Blithely speeding on their course the children of good luck % 
 
 2 
 
14 PROVERBIAL PHILOSOPHY. [series i. 
 
 Who hath companioned a vision from the horn or ivory 
 gate, (2) 
 
 Or met another’s mind in his, and explained its presence ? 
 
 There is a secret somewhat in antipathies ; and love is 
 more than fancy ; 
 
 Yea, and a palpable notice warneth of an instant danger ; 
 
 For the soul hath its feelers, cobwebs floating on the wind, 
 
 That catch events in their approach with sure and apt pre- 
 sentiment. 
 
 So that some halo of attraction heraldeth a coming friend, 
 
 Investing in his likeness the stranger that passed on before ; 
 
 And while the word is in thy mouth, behold thy word ful- 
 filled, 
 
 And he of whom we spake can answer for himself. 
 
 O man, little hast thou learnt of truth in things most true, 
 
 How therefore shall thy blindness wot of truth in things 
 most false ? 
 
 Thou hast not yet perceived the causes of life or motion, 
 
 How then canst thou define the subtle sympathies of mind ? 
 
 For the spirit, sharpest and strongest when disease hath rent 
 the body, 
 
 Hath welcomed kindred spirits in nightly visitations, 
 
 Or learnt from restless ghosts dark secrets of the living, 
 
 And helped slow justice to her prey by the dreadful teaching 
 of a dream. 
 
 Verily, there is nothing so true, that the damps of error 
 have not warped it ; 
 
 Verily, there is nothing so false, that a sparkle of truth is not 
 in it. 
 
 For the enemy, the father of lies, the giant Upas of crea- 
 tion, 
 
 Whose deadly shade hath blasted this once green garden of 
 the Lord, 
 
 Can but pervert the good, but may not create the evil ; 
 
series i.] OF ANTICIPATION. 15 
 
 He destroyeth, but cannot build ; for he is not antagonist 
 deity : 
 
 Mighty is his stolen power, yet is he a creature and a sub- 
 ject; 
 
 Not a maker of abstract wrong, but a spoiler of concrete 
 right : 
 
 The fiend hath not a royal crown ; he is but a prowling rob- 
 ber, 
 
 Suffered, for some mysterious end, to haunt the King’s high- 
 way ; 
 
 And the keen sword he beareth, once was « simple plough- 
 share ; 
 
 Yea, and his panoply of error is but a distortion of the truth: 
 
 The sickle that once reaped righteousness, beaten from its 
 useful curve, 
 
 With axe, and spike, and bar, headeth the marauder’s hal- 
 bert, 
 
 Seek not further, O man, to solve the dark riddle of sin ; 
 
 Suffice it, that thine own bad heart is to thee thine origin of 
 evil. 
 
 OF ANTICIPATION. 
 
 Thou hast seen many sorrows, travel-stained pilgrim of the 
 world. 
 
 But that which hath vexed thee most, hath been the look- 
 ing for evil ; 
 
 And though calamities have crossed thee, and misery been 
 heaped on thy head, 
 
 Yet ills that never happened, have chiefly made thee 
 wretched. 
 
 The sting of pain and the edge of pleasure are blunted by 
 long expectation, 
 
 For the gall and the balm alike are diluted in the waters of 
 patience : 
 
16 PROVERBIAL PHILOSOPHY. [series i. 
 
 And often thou sippest sweetness, ere the cup is dashed from 
 thy lip ; 
 
 Or drainest the gall of fear, while evil is passing by thy 
 dwelling. 
 
 A man too careful of danger liveth in continual torment, 
 
 But a cheerful expecter of the best hath a fountain of joy 
 within him : 
 
 Yea, though the breath of disappointment should chill the 
 sanguine heart, 
 
 Speedily gloweth it again, warmed by the live embers of 
 hope ; 
 
 Though the black and heavy surge close above the head for 
 a moment, 
 
 Yet the happy buoyancy of Confidence riseth superior to 
 Despair. 
 
 Verily, evils may be cburted, may be wooed and won by dis- 
 trust ; 
 
 For the wise Physician of our weal loveth not an unbeliev- 
 ing spirit ; 
 
 And to those giveth he good, who rely on his hand for good ; 
 
 And those ieaveth he to evil, who fear, but trust him not. 
 
 Ask for good, and hope it. ; for the ocean of good is fathomless ; 
 
 Ask for good, and have it; for thy Friend would see thee 
 
 ) happy . 
 
 But to the timid heart, to the child of unbelief and dread, 
 
 That leaneth on his own weak staff, and trusteth the sight 
 of his eyes, 
 
 The evil he feared shall come, for the soil is ready for the 
 seed, 
 
 And suspicion hath coldly put aside the hand that was ready 
 to help him, 
 
 \ Therefore look up, sad spirit ; be strong, thou coward heart, 
 
 •Or fear will make thee wretched, though evil follow not be- 
 hind : 
 
 Cease to anticipate misfortune, — there are still many chances 
 of escape ; 
 
SERIES I.[ 
 
 OF HIDDEN USES. 
 
 17 
 
 But if it come, be courageous : face it, and conquer thy cala- 
 mity. 
 
 There is not an enemy so stout as to storm and take the for- 
 tress of the mind, 
 
 Unless its infirmity turn traitor, and Fear unbar the gates. 
 
 The valiant standeth as a rock, and the billows break upon 
 him ; 
 
 The timorous is a skiff unmoored, tossed and mocked at by a 
 ripple ; 
 
 The valiant holdeth fast to good, till evil wrench it from him ; 
 
 The timorous casteth it aside, to meet the worst half way : 
 
 Yet oftentimes is evil but a braggart, that provoketh and will 
 not fight ; 
 
 Or the feint of a subtle fencer, who measureth his thrust 
 elsewhere : 
 
 Or perchance a blessing in a masque, sent to try thy trust. 
 
 The precious smiting of a friend, whose frowns are all in love : 
 
 Often the storm threateneth, but is driven to other climes, 
 
 And the weak hath quailed in fear, while the firm hath been 
 glad in his confidence. 
 
 OF HIDDEN USES. 
 
 The sea-wort ^3) floating on the waves, or rolled up high 
 along the shore, 
 
 Ye counted useless and vile, heaping on it names of contempt : 
 
 Yet hath it gloriously triumphed, and man been humbled In 
 his ignorance, 
 
 For health is in the freshness of its savor, and it cumbereth 
 the beach with wealth ; 
 
 Comforting the tossings of pain with its violet-tinctured | 
 essence 
 
 And by its humbler ashes enriching many proud. 
 
 Be this, then, a lesson to thy soui, that thou reckon nothing 
 worthless, 
 
 2 * 
 
18 PROVERBIAL PHILOSOPHY. [series i. 
 
 Because thou heedest not its use, nor knowest the virtues 
 thereof. 
 
 And herein, as thou walkest by the sea, shall weeds be a 
 type and an earnest 
 
 Of the stored and uncounted riches lying hid in all creatures 
 of God: 
 
 There be flowers making glad the desert, and roots fattening 
 the soil, 
 
 And jewels in the secret deep, scattered among groves of coral, 
 And comforts to crown all wishes, and aids unto every need, 
 Influences yet unthought, and virtues, and many inventions, 
 And uses above and around, which man hath not yet regarded. 
 Not long to charm away disease, hath the crocus (i) yielded 
 up its bulb, 
 
 Nor the willow lent its bark, nor the nightshade its vanquished 
 poison ; 
 
 Not long hath the twisted leaf, the fragrant gift of China, 
 Nor that nutritious root, the boon of far Peru, 
 
 Nor the many-colored dahlia, nor the gorgeous flaunting cactus. 
 Nor the multitude of fruits and flowers ministered to life and 
 luxury ; 
 
 Even so, there be virtues yet unknown in the wasted foliage 
 of the elm, 
 
 In the sun-dried harebell of the downs, and the hyacinth 
 drinking in the meadow, 
 
 In the sycamore’s winged fruit, and the facet-cut cones of the 
 cedar ; 
 
 And the pansy and bright geranium live not alone for beauty 
 Nor the waxen flower of the arbute, though it dieth in a day, 
 Nor the sculptured crest of the fir, unseen but by the stars ; 
 And the meanest weed of the garden serveth unto many uses, 
 The salt tamarisk, and juicy flag, the freckled orchis, and the 
 daisy. 
 
 The world may laugh at famine when forest-trees yield bread, 
 When acorns give out fragrant drink, (5) and the sap of the 
 Maden is as fatness : 
 
series i.] OF HIDDEN USES. 19 
 
 For every preen herb, from the lotus to the darnel, 
 
 Is rich with delicate aids to help incurious man. 
 
 Still, Mind is up and stirring, and pryeth in the corners of 
 contrivance, 
 
 Often from the dark recesses picking out bright seeds of truth : 
 
 Knowledge hath clipped the lightning’s wings, and mewed it 
 up for a purpose, 
 
 Training to some domestic task the fiery bird of heaven ; 
 
 Tamed is the spirit of the storm, to slave in all peaceful arts, 
 
 To walk with husbandry and science; to stand in the 
 vanguard against death : 
 
 And’ the chemist balanceth his elements with more than 
 magic skill, 
 
 Commanding stones that they be bread, and draining 
 sweetness out of wormwood. 
 
 Yet man, heedless of a God, counteth up vain reckonings, 
 
 Fearing to be jostled and starved out, by the too prolific 
 increase of his kind ; 
 
 And asketh, in unbelieving dread, for how few years to come 
 
 Will the black cellars of the world yield unto him fuel for 
 his winter. 
 
 Might not the wide waste sea be pent within narrower 
 bounds 1 
 
 Might not the arm of diligence make the tangled wilderness 
 a garden ? 
 
 And for aught thou canst tell, there may be a thousand 
 methods 
 
 Of comforting thy limbs in warmth, though thou kindle not a 
 spark. 
 
 Fear not, son of man, for thyself nor thy seed: — with a 
 multitude is plenty ; 
 
 God’s blessing giveth increase, and with it larger than enough. 
 
 Search out the wisdom of nature, there is depth in all her 
 doings ; 
 
20 PROVERBIAL PHILOSOPHY. [series i. 
 
 She seemeth prodigal of power, yet her rules are the maxims 
 of frugality : 
 
 The plant refresheth the air, and the earth filtereth the 
 water, 
 
 And dews are sucked into the cloud, dropping fatness on the 
 world : 
 
 She hath, on a mighty scale, the general use for all things ; 
 
 Yet hath she specially for each its microscopic purpose: 
 
 There is use in the prisoned air, that swelleth the pods of 
 the laburnum ; 
 
 Design in the venomed thorns, that sentinel the leaves of the 
 nettle ; 
 
 A final cause for the aromatic gum, that congealeth the moss 
 around a rose : 
 
 A reason for each blade of grass, that reareth its small spire. 
 
 How knoweth discontented man what a train of ills might 
 follow, 
 
 If the lowest menial of nature knew not her secret office 7 
 
 If the thistle never sprang up, to mock the loose husbandry 
 of indolence, 
 
 Or the pestilence never swept away an unknown curse from 
 among men 7 
 
 Would ye crush the buzzing myriads that float on the breath 
 of the evening 7 
 
 Would ye trample the creatures of God that people the 
 rotting fruit 7 
 
 Would ye suffer no mildew forest to stain the unhealthy wall, 
 
 Nor a noisome savor to exhale from the pool that breedeth 
 disease 7 
 
 Pain is useful unto man, for it teacheth him to guard his life, 
 
 And the fetid vapors of the fen warn him to fly from danger: 
 I And the meditative mind, looking on, winneth good food for 
 its hunger, 
 
 Seeing the wholesome root bring forth a poisonous berry ; 
 
 For otherwhile fallcth it out that truth, driven to extremities, 
 
 Yieldeth bitter folly as the spoilt fruit of wisdom. 
 
series i.J OF HIDDEN USES. 21 
 
 O, blinded is thine eye, if it see not just aptitude in all things ; 
 
 O, frozen is thy heart, if it glow not with gratitude for all 
 things ; 
 
 In the perfect circle oftcreation not an atom could he spared, 
 
 From earth’s magnetic zone to the bindweed round a 
 hawthorn. 
 
 The sago, and the beetle at his feet, hath each a ministration 
 to perform ; 
 
 The briar and the palm have the wages of life, rendering 
 secret service. 
 
 Neither is it thus alone with the definite existences of matter ; 
 
 But motion and sound, circumstance and quality, yea, all 
 things have their office. 
 
 The zephyr playing with an aspen leaf, — the earthquake that 
 rendeth a continent ; 
 
 The moonbeam silvering a ruined arch, — the desert wave 
 dashing up a pyramid ; 
 
 The thunder of jarring icebergs, — the stops of a shepherd’s 
 pipe; 
 
 The howl of the tiger in the glen, — and the wood-dove calling 
 to her mate ; 
 
 The vulture’s cruel rage, — the grace of the stately swan ; 
 
 The fierceness looking from the lynx’s eye, and the dull 
 stupor of the sloth : 
 
 To these, and to all, is there added each its use, though man 
 considereth it lightly ; 
 
 For Power hath ordained nothing which Economy saw not 
 needful. 
 
 All things being are essential to the vast ubiquity of God ; 
 
 Neither is there one thing overmuch, nor freed from honorable 
 servitude. 
 
 Were there not a need-be of wisdom, nothing would be as it is ; 
 
 For essence without necessity argue th a moral weakness. 
 
22 PROVERBIAL PHILOSOPHY. [series i. 
 
 We look through a glass darkly, we catch but glimpses of 
 truth ; 
 
 But, doubtless, the sailing of a cloud hath Providence to its 
 pilot, $ 
 
 Doubtless, the root of an oak is gnarled for a special purpose, 
 
 The foreknown station of a rush is as fixed as the station of 
 a king, 
 
 And chaff from the hand of a winnower, steered as the stars 
 in their courses. 
 
 Man liveth only in himself, but the Lord liveth in all things ; 
 
 And His pervading unity quickeneth the whole creation. 
 
 Man doeth one thing at once, nor can he think two thoughts 
 together ; 
 
 But God compasseth all things, mantling the globe like air: 
 
 And we render homage to His wisdom, seeing use in all His 
 creatures, 
 
 For, perchance, the universe would die, were not all things 
 as they are. 
 
 OF COMPENSATION. 
 
 Equal is the government of heaven in allotting pleasures 
 among men, 
 
 And just the everlasting law, that hath wedded happiness to 
 virtue : 
 
 For verily on all things else broodeth disappointment with 
 
 care, 
 
 That childish man may be taught the shallowness of earthly 
 enjoyment. 
 
 Wherefore, ye that have enough, envy ye the rich man his 
 abundance 1 
 
 Wherefore, daughters of affluence, covet ye the cottager’s 
 content ? 
 
 Take the good with the evil, for ye all are pensioners of God, 
 And none may choose- or refuse the cup His wisdom mixeth. 
 
SERIES I.J 
 
 OF COMPENSATION. 
 
 23 
 
 The poor man rejoiceth at his toil, and his daily bread is 
 sweet to him : 
 
 Content with present good he looketh not for evil to the future. 
 
 The rich m in languisheth with sloth, and findeth pleasure 
 in nothing, 
 
 He locketh up care with his gold, and feareth the fickleness 
 of fortune. 
 
 Can a cup contain within itself the measure of a bucket ? 
 
 Or the straitened appetites of man drink more than their fill 
 of luxury ? 
 
 There is a limit to enjoyment, though the sources of wealth 
 be boundless, 
 
 And the choicest pleasures of life lie within the ring of 
 moderation. 
 
 Also, though penury and pain be real and bitter evils, 
 
 I would reason with the poor afflicted, for he is not so 
 wretched as he seemeth. 
 
 What right hath an offender to complain, though others 
 escape punishment, 
 
 If the stripes of earned misfortune overtake him in his sin ? 
 
 Wherefore not endure with resignation the evils thou canst 
 not avert ? m 
 
 For the coward pain will flee, if thou meet him as a man : 
 
 Consider whatever be thy fate, that it might and ought to 
 have been worse. 
 
 And that it lieth in thy hand to gather even blessings from 
 afflictions : 
 
 Bethink thee, wherefore were they sent ? and hath not use 
 blunted their keenness 1 
 
 Need hope, and patience, and courage, be strangers to the 
 meanest hovel 1 
 
 hou art in an evil case, — it were cruel to deny to thee 
 
 ut there is not unmitigated ill in the sharpest of this world’s 
 
 compassion, 
 
 sorrows : 
 
24 PROVERBIAL PHILOSOPHY. (series i. 
 
 I touch not the sore of thy guilt ; but of human griefs 1 
 ( counsel thee, 
 
 Cast off' the weakness of regret, and gird thee to redeem thy 
 loss. 
 
 Thou hast gained, in the furnace of affliction, self-knowledge, 
 patience, and humility, 
 
 And these be as precious ore, that waiteth the skill of the 
 coiner : 
 
 Despise not the blessings of adversity, nor the gain thou hast 
 earned so hardly, 
 
 And now thou hast drained the bitter, take heed that thou 
 lose not the sweet. 
 
 Power is seldom innocent, and envy is the yoke-fellow of 
 eminence ; 
 
 And the rust of the miser’s riches wasteth his soul as a canker. 
 
 The poor man counteth not the cost at which such wealth 
 hath been purchased ; 
 
 He would be on the mountain’s top without the toil and 
 travail of the climbing. 
 
 But equity demandeth recompense ; for high-place, calumny 
 and care ; 
 
 For state* comfortless splendor eating out the heart of home ; 
 
 For warrior fame, dangers and death; for a name among the 
 learned, a spirit overstrained ; 
 
 For honor of all kinds, the goad of ambition; on every 
 acquirement, the tax of anxiety. 
 
 He that would change with another, must take the cup as it 
 is mixed : 
 
 Poverty, with largeness of heart : or a full purse, with a 
 sordid spirit : 
 
 Wisdom, in an ailing body ; or a common mind with health: 
 
 Godliness, with man’s scorn ; or the welcome of the mighty, 
 with guilt: 
 
 Beauty, with a fickle heart ; or plainness of face, with 
 affection. 
 
series i.J OF COMPENSATION. 25 
 
 For so hath Providence determined, that a man shall not 
 easily discover 
 
 Unmingled good or evil, to quicken his envy or abhorrence. 
 
 A bold man or a fool must he be, who would change his lot 
 with another, 
 
 It were a fearful bargain, and mercy hath lovingly refused it: 
 
 For we know the worst of oursfelvos, but the secrets of another 
 we see not, 
 
 And better is certain bad, than the doubt and dread of worse. 
 
 Just, and strong, and opportune is the moral rule of God ; 
 
 Ripe in its times, firm in its judgments, equal in the measure 
 of its gifts : 
 
 Yet men, scanning the surface, count the wicked happy, 
 
 Nor heed the compensating peace, which gladdeneth the 
 good in his afflictions. 
 
 They see not the frightful dreams that crowd a bad man’s 
 pillow, 
 
 Like wreathed adders crawling round his midnight conscience; 
 
 They hear not the terrible suggestions, that knock at the 
 portal of his will, 
 
 Provoking to wipe away from life the one weak witness of 
 the deed ; 
 
 They know not the torturing suspicions that sting his panting 
 breast, 
 
 When the clear eye of penetration quietly readeth off the truth. 
 
 Likewise of the good what know they I the memories 
 bringing pleasure, 
 
 Shrined in the heart of the benevolent, and glistening from 
 his eye ; 
 
 The calm self-justifying reason that establisheth the upright 
 in his purpose, 
 
 The warm and gushing bliss that floodeth all the thoughts 
 of the religious ; 
 
 Many a beggar at the cross-way, or grey-haired shepherd on 
 the plain, 
 
 3 
 
26 PROVERBIAL PHILOSOPHY. [series i. 
 
 Hath more of the end of all wealth, than hundreds who 
 multiply the means. 
 
 Moreover, a moral compensation reacheth to the secresy of 
 thought, 
 
 For if thou wilt think evil of thy neighbor, soon shalt thou 
 have him for thy foe : 
 
 And yet he may know nothing of the cause that maketh thee 
 distasteful to his soul, — 
 
 The cause of unkind suspicion, for which thou hast thy 
 punishment ; 
 
 And if thou thinK ot him in charity, wishing or praying for 
 his weal, 
 
 He shall not guess the secret charm that lureth his soul to 
 love thee. 
 
 For just is retributive ubiquity : Samson did sin with Dalilah, 
 
 And his eyes and captive strength were forfeit to the 
 Philistine : 
 
 Jacob robbed his brother, and sorrow was his portion to the 
 grave : 
 
 David must fly before his foes, yea, though his guilt is covered : 
 
 And He, who seeming old in youth, (6) was marred for others’ 
 sin, 
 
 For every special crime must bear its special penalty : 
 
 By luxury, or rashness, or vice, the member that hath erred 
 suffereth, 
 
 And therefore the Sacrifice for all was pained at every pore. 
 
 Alike to the slave and his oppressor cometh night with 
 sweet refreshment, 
 
 And half of the life of the most wretched is gladdened by the 
 soothings of sleep. 
 
 Pain addeth zest unto pleasure, and teacheth the luxury of 
 health ; 
 
 There is a joy in sorrow, which none but a mourner can know ; 
 
 Madness hath imaginary bliss, and most men have no more ; 
 
series i.J OF INDIRECT INFLUENCES. 27 
 
 Age hath its quiet calm, and youth enjoyeth not for haste: 
 
 Daily, in the midst of its beatitude, the righteous soul is vexed ; 
 
 And even the misery of guilt doth attain to the bliss of pardon. 
 
 Who, in the face of the born-blind, ever looked on other than 
 content 1 
 
 And the deaf ear listeneth within to the silent music of the 
 heart. 
 
 There is evil poured upon the earth from the overflowings 
 of corruption, — 
 
 Sickness, and poverty, and pain, and guilt, and madness, and 
 sorrow ; 
 
 But, as the water from a fountain riseth and sinketh to its level, 
 
 Ceaselessly toileth justice to equalize the lots of men : 
 
 For, habit, and hope, and ignorance, and the being but one 
 of a multitude, 
 
 And strength of reason in the sage, and dullness of feeling in 
 the fool, 
 
 And the light elasticity of courage, and the calm resignation 
 of meekness, 
 
 And the stout endurance of decision, and the weak carelessness 
 of apathy, 
 
 And helps invisible but real, and ministerings not unfelt, 
 
 Angelic aid with worldly discomfiture, bodily loss with the 
 soul’s gain, 
 
 Secret griefs, and silent joys, thorns in the flesh, and cordials 
 for the spirit 
 
 ( — Short of the insuperable barrier dividing innocence from 
 guilt,—), 
 
 Go far to level all things, by the gracious rule of Compensation. 
 
 OF INDIRECT INFLUENCES. 
 
 Face thy foe in the field, and perchance thou wilt meet thy 
 master, 
 
23 PROVERBIAL PHILOSOPHY. [series i. 
 
 For the sword is chained to his wrist, and his armor buckled 
 for the battle ; 
 
 But find him when he looketh not for thee, aim between the 
 joints of his harness, 
 
 And the crest of his pride will be humbled, his cruelty will 
 bite the dust. 
 
 Beard not a lion in his den, but fashion the secret pitfall, 
 
 So shalt thou conquer the strong, thyself triumphing in weak - 
 ness 
 
 The hurricane rageth fiercely, and the promontory standeth 
 in its might, 
 
 Breasting the artillery of heaven, as darts glance from the 
 crocodile : 
 
 But the small continual creeping of the silent footsteps of the 
 sea 
 
 Mineth the wall of adamant, and stealthily compasseth its ruin. 
 
 The weakness of accident is strong, where the strength of 
 design is weak : 
 
 And a casual analogy convinceth, when a mind beareth not 
 argument. 
 
 Will not a man listen 1 be silent ; and prove thy maxim by- 
 example : 
 
 Never fear, thou losest not thy hold, though thy mouth doth 
 not render a reason. 
 
 Contend not in wisdom with a fool, for thy sense maketh 
 much of his conceit ; 
 
 And some errors never would have thriven, had it not been 
 for learned refutation * 
 
 Yea, much evil hath been caused by an honest wrestler for 
 truth. 
 
 And much of unconscious good, by the man that hated wis- 
 dom : 
 
 For the intellect judgeth closely, and if thou overstep thy ar- 
 gument, 
 
 Or seem not consistent with thyself, or fail in thy direct pur- 
 pose, 
 
series i.J OF INDIRECT INFLUENCES. 
 
 29 
 
 The mind that went .along with thee, shall stop and return 
 without thee, 
 
 And thou shalt have raised a foe, where thou mightest have 
 won a friend. 
 
 Hints, shrewdly strewn, mightily disturb the spirit, 
 
 Where a barefaced accusation would be too ridiculous for 
 calumny : 
 
 The sly suggestion toucheth nerves, and nerves contract the 
 fronds, 
 
 And the sensitive mimosa of affection trembleth to its root; 
 And friendships, the growth of half a century, those oaks 
 that laugh at storms, 
 
 Have been cankered in a night by a worm, even as the pro- 
 phet’s gourd. 
 
 Hast thou loved, and not known jealousy? for a sidelong look 
 Can please or pain thy heart more than the multitude of 
 proofs ; 
 
 Hast thou hated, and not learned that thy silent scorn 
 Doth deeper aggravate thy foe than lcud-cursing malice ? — 
 A wise man prevaileth in power, for he screeneth his batter- 
 ing engine, 
 
 But a fool tilteth headlong, and his adversary is aware. 
 
 Behold those broken arches, that oriel all unglazed, 
 
 That crippled line of columns bleaching in the sun, 
 
 The delicate shaft stricken midway, and the flying buttress 
 Idly stretching forth to hold up tufted ivy: 
 
 Thinkest thou the thousand eyes that shine with rapture on 
 a ruin, 
 
 Would have looked with half their wonder on the perfect 
 pile ? 
 
 And wherefore not — but that light hints, suggesting unseen 
 beauties, 
 
 Fill the complacent gazer with self-grown conceits ; 
 
 And so, the rapid sketch winneth more praise to the painter, 
 
30 PROVERBIAL PHILOSOPHY. [series i. 
 
 Than the consummate work elaborated on his easel ; 
 
 And so, the Helvetic lion caverned in the living rock 
 Hath more of majesty and force, than if upon a marble pedes- 
 tal. 
 
 Tell me, daughter of taste, what hath charmed thine ear in 
 music 7 
 
 Is it the labored theme, the curious fugue or cento, — 
 
 Nor rather the sparkles of intelligence flashing from some 
 strange note, 
 
 Or the soft melody of sounds far sweeter for simplicity 7 
 Tell me, thou son of science, what hath filled thy mind in 
 reading 7 
 
 Is it the volume of detail where all is orderly set down, 
 
 And they that read may run, nor need to stop and think ; 
 
 The book carefully accurate, that counteth thee no better 
 than a fool, 
 
 Gorging the passive mind with annotated notes ; — 
 
 Nor rather the half-suggested thoughts, the riddles thou mayst 
 solve, 
 
 The fair ideas, coyly peeping like young loves out of roses, 
 The quaint arabesque conceptions, half cherub and half 
 flower, 
 
 The light analogy, or deep allusion, trusted to thy learning, 
 The confidence implied in thy skill to unravel meaning mys- 
 teries 7 
 
 For ideas are ofttimes shy of the close furniture of words, 
 And thought wherein only is power, may be best conveyed 
 by a suggestion : 
 
 The flash that lightetli up a valley, amid the dark midnight 
 of a storm, 
 
 Coineth the mind with that scene sharper than fifty sum- 
 mers. 
 
 A worldly man boasteth in his pride, that there is no power 
 but of money : 
 
series i.J OF INDIRECT INFLUENCES. 31 
 
 And he judgeth the characters of men by the differing mea- 
 sures of their means : 
 
 He stealeth all goodly names, as worth, and value, and sub- 
 stance, 
 
 Which be the ancient heritage of Virtue, but such an one 
 ascribeth unto Wealth : 
 
 He spurneth the needy sage, whose wisdom hath enriched 
 nations, 
 
 And the sons of poverty and learning, without whom earth 
 were a desert : 
 
 Music, the soother of cares, the tuner of the dank discordant 
 heart-strings, 
 
 It is naught unto such an one but sounds, whereby some 
 earn their living: 
 
 The poem, and the picture, and the statue, to him seem idle 
 baubles. 
 
 Which wealth condescerfdeth to favor, to gain him the name 
 of patron. 
 
 But little wotteth he the might of the means his folly de- 
 spiseth ; 
 
 He considereth not that these be the wires which move the 
 puppets of the world. 
 
 A sentence hath formed a character, (?) and a character sub- 
 dued a kingdom ; 
 
 A picture hath ruined souls, or raised them to commerce 
 with the skies : 
 
 The pen hath shaken nations, and stablished the world in 
 peace ; 
 
 And the whole full horn of plenty been filled from the vial of 
 science. 
 
 He regardeth man as sensual, the monarch of created mat- 
 ter, 
 
 And careth not aught for mind, that linketh him with spirits 
 unseen : 
 
 He feedeth his carcase and is glad, though his sou . be faint 
 and famished, 
 
32 PROVERBIAL PHILOSOPHY. [series i. 
 
 And the dull brute power of the body bindeth him a captive 
 to himself. 
 
 Man liveth from hour to hour, and kfloweth not what may 
 happen ; 
 
 Influences circle him on all sides, and yet must he answer 
 for his actions. 
 
 For the being that is master of himself, bendeth events to his 
 will, 
 
 But a slave to selfish passion is the wavering creature of 
 circumstance. 
 
 To this man temptation is a poison, to that man it addeth 
 vigor ; 
 
 And each may render to himself influences good or evil. 
 
 As thou directest the power, harm or advantage will follow, 
 
 And the torrent that swept the valley, may be led to turn a 
 mill ; 
 
 The wild electric flash, that could have kindled comets, 
 
 May by the ductile wire give ease to an ailing child. 
 
 For outward matter or event, fashion not the character within, 
 
 But each man, yielding or resisting, fashioneth his mind for 
 himself. 
 
 Some have said, What is in a name ? — most potent plastic 
 influence ; 
 
 A name is a word of character, and repetition stablisheth 
 the fact : 
 
 A word of rebuke, or of honor, tending to obscurity or fame ; 
 
 And greatest is the power of a name, when its power is least 
 suspected. 
 
 A low name is a thorn in the side, that hindereth the foot 
 man in his running ; 
 
 But a name of ancestral renown shall often put the racer to 
 his speed. 
 
 Few men have grown unto greatness whose names are allied 
 to ridicule, 
 
series i.] OF MEMORY. 33 
 
 And many would never have been profligate, but for the 
 splendor of a name. 
 
 A wise man scorneth nothing, be it never so small or homely, 
 
 For he knoweth not the secret laws that may bind it to great 
 effects. 
 
 The world in its boyhood was credulous, and dreaded the 
 vengeance of the stars, 
 
 The world in its dotage is not wiser, fearing not the influence 
 of small things ; 
 
 Planets govern not the soul, nor guide the destinies of man, 
 
 But trifles, lighter than straws, are levers in the building up 
 of character. 
 
 A man hath the tiller in his hand, and may steer against the 
 current, 
 
 Or may glide down idly with the stream, till his vessel foun- 
 der in the whirlpool. 
 
 OF MEMORY. 
 
 Where art thou, storehouse of the mind, garner of facts and 
 fancies, — 
 
 In what strange firmament are laid the beams of thine airy 
 chambers 7 
 
 Or art thou that small cavern, ( 8 ) the centre of the rolling 
 brain, 
 
 Where still one sandy morsel testifieth man’s original ? 
 
 Or hast thou some grand globe, some common hall of intel- 
 lect, 
 
 Some spacious market-place for thought, where all do bring 
 their wares, 
 
 And gladly rescued from the littleness, the narrow closet of a 
 self, 
 
 The privileged soul hath large access, coming in the livery of 
 learning 7 
 
 Live we as isolated worlds, perfect in substance and spirit, 
 
34 PROVERBIAL PHILOSOPHY. [series i. 
 
 Each a sphere, with a special mind, prisoned in its shell of 
 matter 7 
 
 Or rather, as converging radiations, parts of oae majestic 
 whole, 
 
 Beams of the Sun, streams from the River, branches of the 
 mighty Tree, 
 
 Some bearing fruit, some bearing leaves, and some diseased 
 and barren, — 
 
 Some for the feast, some for the floor, and some, — how many, 
 — for the fire 7 
 
 Memory may be but a power of coming to the treasury of Fact, 
 
 A momentary self-desertion, an absence in spirit from the now, 
 
 An actual coursing hither and thither, by the mind, slipped 
 from its leash. 
 
 A life, as in the mystery of dreams, spent within the limits 
 of a moment. 
 
 A brutish man knoweth not this, neither can a fool compre- 
 hend it, 
 
 But there be secrets of the memory, deep, wondrous, and 
 fearful. 
 
 Were I at Petra, could I not declare, My soul hath been here 
 before me 7 
 
 Am I strange to the columned halls, the calm dead grandeur 
 of Palmyra 7 
 
 Know I not thy mount, O Carmel ! Have I not voyaged on 
 the Danube 7 
 
 Nor seen the glare of Arctic snows, — nor the black tents of 
 the Tartar 7 
 
 Is it then a dream, that I remember the faces of them of old, 
 
 While wandering in the grove with Plato, and listening to 
 Zeno in the porch 7 
 
 Paul have I seen, and Pythagoras, and the Stagyrite hath 
 spoken me friendly, 
 
 And His meek eye looked also upon me, standing with Peter 
 in the palace. 
 
series i.] OF MEMORY. 35 
 
 Athens and Rome, Persepolis and Sparta, am I not a freeman 
 of you all 
 
 And chiefly can my yearning heart forget thee. O Jerusalem ? 
 
 For the strong magic of conception, mingled with the fumes 
 of memory, 
 
 Giveth me a life in all past time, yea, and addeth substance 
 to the future. 
 
 Be ye my judges, imaginative minds, full-fledged to soar into 
 the sun, 
 
 Whose grosser natural thoughts the chemistry of wisdom 
 hath sublimed, 
 
 Have ye not confessed to a feeling, a consciousness, strange 
 and vague, 
 
 That ye have gone this way before, and walk again your 
 daily life, 
 
 Tracking an old routine, and on some foreign strand, 
 
 Where bodily ye have never stood, finding your own foot- 
 steps 1 
 
 Hath not at times some recent friend looked out an old familiar, 
 
 Some newest circumstance or place teemed as with ancient 
 memories : 
 
 A startling sudden flash lighted up all for an instant, 
 
 And then it is quenched, as in darkness, and leaveth the cold 
 spirit trembling. 
 
 Memory is not wisdom ; idiots can rote volumes : 
 
 Yet, what is wisdom without memory ? a babe that is stran- 
 gled in its birth, 
 
 The path of the swallow in the air, the path of the dolphin in 
 the waters, 
 
 A cask running out, a bottomless chasm : such is wisdom 
 without memory. 
 
 There be many wise, who cannot store their knowledge ; 
 
 Yet from themselves are they satisfied, for the fountain is 
 within : 
 
 There be many who store, but have no wisdom of their own, 
 
36 PROVERBIAL PHILOSOPHY. [series i. 
 
 Lumbering their armory with weapons their muscles cannot 
 lift: 
 
 There be many thieves and robbers, who gleam and store 
 unlawfully, 
 
 Calling in to memory’s help some cunningly devised Cabala : 
 But to feed the mind with fatness, to fill thy granary with corn, 
 Nor clog with chaff and straw the threshing-floor of reason, 
 Reap the ideas, and house them well ; but leave the words 
 high stubble. 
 
 Strive to store up what was thought, despising what was said. 
 For the mind is a spirit, and drinketh in ideas, as flame melt- 
 eth into flame ; 
 
 But for words, it must pack them as on floors, cumbrous and 
 perishable merchandise, 
 
 To be pained for a minute, to fear for an hour, to hope for a 
 week — how long and weary ! 
 
 But to remember fourscore years, is to look back upon a day. 
 An avenue seemeth to lengthen in the eyes of the wayfaring 
 man, 
 
 But let him turn, those stationed elms crowd up within a 
 yard ; 
 
 Pace the lamp-lit streets of some sleeping city, 
 
 The multitude of cressets shall seem one, in the false picture 
 of perspective ; 
 
 Even so, in sweet treachery, dealeth the aged with self, 
 
 He gazeth on the green hill-tops, while the marshes beneath 
 are hidden, 
 
 And the partial telescope of memory pierceth the blank be 
 tween, 
 
 To look with lingering love at the fair star of childhood. 
 
 Life is as the current spark on the miner’s wheel of flints : 
 Whiles it spinneth there is light; stop it, all is darkness: 
 Life is as a morsel of frankincense burning in the hall of Eter- 
 nity ; 
 
 It is gone, but its odorous cloud curleth to the lofty roof! 
 
 Life is as a lump of salt, melting in the temple-laver ; 
 
series I.] THE DREAM OF AMBITION. 
 
 37 
 
 It is gone, — yet its savor reacheth to the furthest atom ; 
 
 Even so, for evil or for good, is life the criterion of a man, 
 
 For its memories of sanctity or sin pervade all the firmament 
 of being, 
 
 There is but the flitting moment, wherein to hope or to enjoy, 
 But in the calendar of memory, that moment is all time. 
 
 THE DREAM OF AMBITION. 
 
 I left the happy fields that smile around the village of 
 Content, 
 
 And sought with wayward feet the torrid desert of Ambition. 
 
 Long time, parched and weary, l travelled that burning sand, 
 
 And the hooded basilisk and adder were strewed in my way 
 for palms ; 
 
 Black scorpions thronged me round, with sharp uplifted 
 stings, 
 
 Seeming to mock me as I ran (then I guessed it was a 
 dream, — 
 
 But life is oft so like a dream, we know not where we are). 
 
 So I toiled on, doubting in myself, up a steep gravel cliff, 
 
 Whose yellow summit shot up far into the brazen sky ; 
 
 And quickly, I was wafted to the top, as upon unseen wings, 
 
 Carrying me upward like a leaf (then I thought it was a 
 dream, — 
 
 Yet life is oft so like a dream, we know not where we are) ; 
 
 So I stood on the mountain, and behold ! before me a giant 
 pyramid, 
 
 And I clomb with eager haste its high and difiicult steps ; 
 
 For, I longed, like another Belus, to mount up, yea to heaven, 
 
 Nor sought I rest until my feet had spurned the crest of earth. 
 
 Then I sat on my granite throne under the burning sun, 
 
 And the world lay smiling beneath me, but I was WTapt in 
 flames 
 
 4 
 
38 PROVERBIAL PHILOSOPHY. [series i. 
 
 (And I hoped, in glimmering consciousness, that all this 
 torture was a dream, — 
 
 Yet life is oft so like a dream, we know not where we are). 
 And anon, as I sat scorching, the pyramid shuddered to its 
 root, 
 
 And I felt the quarried mass leap from its sand foundations : 
 Awhile it tottered and tilted, as raised by invisible levers — 
 (And now my reason spake with me ; I knew it was a dream ; 
 Yet I hushed that whisper into silence, for I hoped to learn 
 of wisdom, 
 
 By tracking up my truant thoughts, whereunto they might 
 lead). 
 
 And suddenly, as rolling upon wheels, adown the cliff it 
 rushed, 
 
 And I thought, in my hot brain, of the Muscovites’ icy slope ; 
 A thousand yards in a moment we ploughed the sandy seas, 
 And crushed those happy fields, and that smiling village, 
 
 As onward, as a living thing, still rushed my mighty throne, 
 Thundering along, and pounding, as it went, the millions in 
 my way ; 
 
 Before me all was life, and joy, and full-blown summer, 
 Behind me death and woe, the desert and simoom. 
 
 Then I wept and shrieked aloud, for pity and for fear; 
 
 But might not stop, for, comet-like, flew on the maddened 
 mass 
 
 Over the crashing cities, and falling obelisks and towers, 
 
 And columns, razed as by a scythe, and high domes, shivered 
 as an egg-shell, 
 
 And deep embattled ranks, and women, crowded in the streets, 
 And children, kneeling as for mercy, and all I had ever loved, 
 Yea, over all, mine awful throne rushed on with seeming 
 instinct, 
 
 And over the crackling forests, and over the rugged beach, 
 And on with a terrible hiss through the foaming wild Atlantic 
 That roared around me as I sat, but could not quench my 
 spirit, — 
 
OF SUBJECTION. 
 
 39 
 
 Still on, through startled solitudes we shattered the pavement 
 of the sea, 
 
 Down, down, to that central vault, the bolted doors of hell, 
 
 And these, with horrid shock, my huge throne battered in, 
 
 And on to the deepest deep, where the fierce flames were 
 hottest, 
 
 Blazing tenfold as conquering furiously the seas that rushed 
 in with me, — 
 
 And there I stopped : and a fearful voice shouted in mine 
 ear, 
 
 “Behold the home of Discontent; behold the rest of Ambi- 
 tion !” 
 
 OF SUBJECTION. 
 
 Law hath dominion over all things, over universal mind and 
 matter ; 
 
 For there are reciprocities of right, which no creature can 
 gainsay. 
 
 Unto each was there added by its Maker, in the perfect chain 
 of being, 
 
 Dependencies and sustentations, accidents, and qualities, and 
 powers : 
 
 And each must fly forward in the curve, unto which it was 
 forced from the beginning ; 
 
 Each must attract and repel, or the monarchy of Order is no 
 more. 
 
 Laws are essential emanations from the self-poised character 
 of God, 
 
 And they radiate from that sun, to the circling edges of 
 creation. 
 
 Verily, the mighty Lawgiver hath subjected Himself unto 
 laws, 
 
 And God is the primal grand example of free unstrained obe- 
 dience : 
 
40 PROVERBIAL PHILOSOPHY. [series i. 
 
 His perfection is limited by right, and cannot trespass into 
 wrong, 
 
 Because He hath established Himself as the fountain of only 
 good, 
 
 And in thus much is bounded, that the evil hath he left unto 
 another, 
 
 And that dark other hath usurped the evil which Omnipo- 
 tence laid down. 
 
 Unto God there exist impossibilities ; for the True One can- 
 not lie, 
 
 Nor the Wise One wander from the track which he hath 
 determined for himself : 
 
 For his will was purposed from eternity, strong in the love of 
 order ; 
 
 And that will altereth not, as the law of the Medes and Per- 
 sians. 
 
 God is the origin of order, and the first exemplar of his precept ; 
 
 For there is subordination of his Essence, self-guided unto 
 holiness ; 
 
 And there is subordination of his Persons, in due procession 
 of dignity ; 
 
 For the Son, as a son, is subject ; and to him doth the Spirit 
 minister ; 
 
 But these things be mysteries to man, he cannot reach nor 
 fathom them, 
 
 And ever must he speak in paradox, when laboring to ex- 
 pound his God, 
 
 For, behold, God is Alone, mighty in unshackled freedom ; 
 
 And with those wondrous Persons abideth eternal equality. 
 
 So then, start ye from the fountain, and follow the river of 
 existence, 
 
 For its current is bounded throughout by the banks of just 
 subordination : 
 
 Thrones, and dominions, and powers, Archangels, Cherubim, 
 and Seraphim, 
 
series i.J OF SUBJECTION. 41 
 
 Angels, and flaming ministers, and breathing chariots and 
 harps. 
 
 For there are degrees in heaven, and varied capabilities of 
 bliss, 
 
 And steps in the ladder of Intelligence, and ranks in ap- 
 proaches to Perfection : 
 
 Doubtless, reverence is given, as their due, to the masters in 
 wisdom ; 
 
 Doubtless, there are who serve ; or a throne would have 
 small glory. 
 
 Regard now the universe of matter, the substance of visible 
 creation, 
 
 Which of old, with well-observing truth, the Greek hath 
 surnamed Order : ( 9 ) 
 
 Where is there an atom out of place 7 or a particle that 
 yieldeth not obedience 7 
 
 Where is there a fragment that is free 7 or one thing the 
 equal of another 7 
 
 The chain is unbroken down to man, and beyond him the 
 links are perfect : 
 
 But he standeth solitary sin, a marvel of permitted chaos. 
 
 And shall this seeming error in the scale of due subordination 
 Be a spot of desert unreclaimed, in the midst of the vineyard 
 of the Lord 7 
 
 Shall his presumptuous pride snap the safe tether of con- 
 nexion, 
 
 And his blind selfish folly refuse the burden of maintenance 7 
 O man, thou .art a creature ; boast not thyself above the law : 
 Think not of thyself as free : thou art bound in the trammels 
 of dependence, 
 
 What is the sum of thy duty, but obedience to righteous rule. 
 To the great commanding oracle, uttered by delegated organs 7 
 Thou canst not render homage to abstract Omnipresent power, 
 Save through the concrete symbol of visible ordained au- 
 thority. 
 
 4 * 
 
42 PROVERBIAL PHILOSOPHY. [series i. 
 
 Those who obey not man, are oftenest found rebels against 
 God : 
 
 And seldom is the delegate so bold, as to order what he 
 knoweth to be wrong. 
 
 Yet mark me, proud gainsayer ! I say not, obey unto sin ; 
 
 But, where the Principal is silent, take heed thou despise 
 not the Deputy : 
 
 And he that loveth order will bless thee for thy faith. 
 
 If thou recognise his sanction in the powers that fashion hu- 
 man laws. 
 
 Thou, the vicegerent of the Lord, his high anointed image, 
 
 Toward whom a good man’s loyalty floweth from the heart 
 of his religion, 
 
 Thou, whose deep responsibilities are fathomed by a nation’s 
 prayers, 
 
 Whom wise men fear for while they love, and envy thee 
 nothing but thy virtues, 
 
 From thy dizzy pinnacle of greatness, remember thou also art 
 a subject, 
 
 And the throne of thine earthly glory is itself but the foot- 
 stool of thy God. 
 
 The homage thy kingdoms yield thee, regard thou as yielded 
 unto Him ; 
 
 And while girt with all the majesty of state, consider thee 
 the Lord’s chief servant ; 
 
 So shalt thou prosper, and be strong, grafted on the strength 
 of another ; 
 
 So shall thy virgin heaxt be happy, in being humble. 
 
 And thou shalt flourish as an oak, the monarch of thine 
 island forests, 
 
 Whose deep-dug roots are twisted around the stout ribs ot 
 the globe, 
 
 That mocketh at the fury of the storm, and rejoiceth in sum- 
 mer sunshine, 
 
 Glad in the smiles of heaven, and great in the stability of earth. 
 
series i.J OF SUBJECTION. 43 
 
 A ruler hath not power for himself, neither is his pomp for 
 his pride ; 
 
 But beneath the ermine of his office should he wear the 
 rough hair-cloth of humility. 
 
 Nevertheless, every way obey him, so thou break not a 
 higher commandment ; 
 
 For Nero was an evil king, yet Paul prescribeth subjection. 
 
 If the rulers of a nation be holy, the Lord hath blessed that 
 nation ; 
 
 If they be lewd and impious chastisement hath come upon 
 that people ; 
 
 For the bitterest scourge of a land is ungodliness in them 
 that goveri it, 
 
 And the guilt of the sons of Josiah drove Israel weeping into 
 Babylon. 
 
 Yet je thou resolute against them, if they change the man 
 dates of thy God, 
 
 If they touch the ark of his covenant, wherein all his mer- 
 cies are enshrined : 
 
 Be resolute, but not rebellious ; lest thou be of the company 
 of Korah : 
 
 Set thy face against them as a flint : but be not numbered 
 with Abirum. 
 
 Daniel nobly disobeyed ; but not from a spirit of sedition ; 
 
 And Azarias shouted from the furnace, — I will not bow down, 
 
 O KING. 
 
 If truth must be sacrificed to unity, then faithfulness were 
 folly ; 
 
 If man must be obeyed before God, the martyrs have bled in 
 vain : 
 
 Yet none of that blessed army reviled the rulers of the 
 land, 
 
 The} were loud and bold against the sin, but bent before the 
 ensign of authority. 
 
 Honesty, scorning compromise, walketh most suitably with 
 Reverence : 
 
44 PROVERBIAL PHILOSOPHY. [series i. 
 
 Otherwise righteous daring may show but as obstinate re- 
 bellion : 
 
 Therefore, sutler not thy censure to lack the savor of courtesy, 
 
 And remember the mortal sinneth, but the staff of his power 
 is from God. 
 
 Man, thou hast a social spirit, and art deeply indebted to thy 
 kind : 
 
 Therefore claim not all thy rights ; but yield, for thine own 
 advantage. 
 
 Society is a chain of obligations, and its links must support 
 each other : 
 
 The branch cannot but wither, that is cut from the parent vine. 
 
 Wouidst thou be a dweller in the woods, and cast away the 
 cords that bind thee, 
 
 Seeking, in thy bitterness or pride, to be exiled from thy fellows? 
 
 Behold, the beasts shall hunt thee, weak, naked, houseless 
 outcast, 
 
 Disease and Death shall track thee out, as bloodhounds, in 
 the wilderness . 
 
 Better to be vilest of the vile, in the hated company of men, 
 
 Than to live a solitary wretch, dreading and wanting all 
 things ; 
 
 Better to be chained to thy labor, in the dusky thoroughfares 
 of life, 
 
 Than to reign monarch of Sloth, in lonesome savage freedom 
 
 Whence then cometh the doctrine, that all should be equal 
 and free ? — 
 
 It is the lie that crowded hell, when Seraphs flung away 
 subjection. 
 
 No man is his neighbor’s equal, for no two minds are similar, 
 
 And accidents, alike with qualities, have every shade but 
 sameness : 
 
 The lightest atom of difference shall destroy the nice balance 
 of equality, 
 
SERIES I.J 
 
 OF SUBJECTION. 
 
 45 
 
 And all things, from without and from within, make one man 
 to differ from another. 
 
 We are equal and free ! was the watchword that spirited the 
 legions of Satan, 
 
 We are equal and free ! is the double lie that entrappeth to 
 him conscripts from earth : 
 
 The messengers of that dark despot will pander to thy license 
 and thy pride, 
 
 And draw thee from the crowd where thou art safe, to seize 
 thee in the solitary desert. 
 
 Woe unto him whose heart the syren song of Liberty hath 
 charmed ; 
 
 Woe unto him whose mind is bewitched by her treacherous 
 beauty ; 
 
 In mad zeal flingeth he away the fetters of duty and restraint, 
 
 And yieldeth up the holocaust of self to that fair idol of the 
 Damned. 
 
 No man hath freedom in aught save in that from which the 
 wicked would be hindered, 
 
 He is free toward God and good ; but to all else a bondman. 
 
 Thou art in a middle sphere, to render and receive honor, 
 
 If thy king commandeth, obey ; and stand not in the way 
 with rebels : 
 
 But if need be, lay thy hand upon thy sword, and fear not to 
 smite a traitor, 
 
 For the universe acquitteth thee with honor, fighting in de- 
 fence of thy king. 
 
 If a thief break thy dwelling, and thou take him, it were sin 
 in thee to let him go; 
 
 Yea, though he pleadeth to thy mercy, thou canst not spare 
 him and be blameless : 
 
 For his guilt is not only against thee, it is not thy moneys or 
 thy merchandise, 
 
 But he hath done damage to the Law, which duty constrain- 
 eth thee to sanction. 
 
46 PROVERBIAL PHILOSOPHY. [series i. 
 
 Feast not thine a ppetite of vengeance, remembering thou also 
 art a man, 
 
 But weep for the sad compulsion, in which the chain of 
 Providence hath bound thee : 
 
 Mercy is not thine to give ; wilt thou steal another’s privilege 7 
 
 Or send abroad among thy neighbors, a felon whom impunity 
 hath hardened ? 
 
 Remember the Roman father, strong in his stem integrity, 
 
 And let not thy slothful self-indulgence make thee a conni- 
 ver at the crime. 
 
 Also, if the knife of the murderer be raised against thee or 
 thine, 
 
 And through good Providence and courage, thou slay him 
 that would have slain thee, 
 
 Thou loscst not a tittle of thy rectitude, having executed sud- 
 den justice ; 
 
 Still mayst thou walk among the blessed, though thy hands 
 be red with blood 
 
 For thyself, thou art neither worse nor better ; but thy fel- 
 lows should count thee their creditor : 
 
 Thou hast manfully protected the right, and the right is 
 stronger for thy deed. 
 
 Also, in the rescuing of innocence, fear not to smite the 
 ravisher ; 
 
 What though he die at thy hand ? for a good name is better 
 than the life ; 
 
 And if Phineas had everlasting praise in the matter of Salu s 
 son, 
 
 With how much greater honor standeth such a rescuer ac- 
 quitted ? 
 
 Uphold the laws of thy country, and fear not to fight in their 
 defence ; 
 
 But first be convinced in thy mind : for herein the doubter 
 sinneth. 
 
 Above all things look thou well around, if indeed stern duty 
 force thee 
 
series i.J OF SUBJECTION. 4? 
 
 To draw the sword of justice, and stain it with the slaughter 
 of thy fellows. 
 
 She that lieth in thy bosom, the tender wife of thy affections, 
 
 Must obey thee, and be subject, that evil drop noton thy dwel- 
 ling. 
 
 The child that is used to constraint, feareth not more than 
 he loveth ; 
 
 But give thy son his way, he will hate thee and scorn thee 
 together. 
 
 The master of a well-ordered home knowetli to be kind to 
 his servants ; 
 
 Yet he exacteth reverence, and each one feareth at his post. 
 
 There is nothing on earth so lowly, but duty giveth it im- 
 portance ; 
 
 No station so degrading, but it is ennobled by obedience : 
 
 Yea, break stones upon the highway, acknowledging the 
 Lord in thy lot, 
 
 Happy shalt thou be, and honorable, more than many chil- 
 dren of the mighty. 
 
 Thou that despisest the outward forms, beware thou lose not 
 the inward spirit; 
 
 For they are as words unto ideas, as symbols to things unseen. 
 
 Keep then the form that is good : retain, and do reverence to 
 example ; 
 
 And in all things observe subordination, for that is the whole 
 duty of man. 
 
 A horse knoweth his rider, be he confident or timid, 
 
 And the fierce spirit of Bucephalus stoopeth unto none but 
 Alexander ; 
 
 The tigress roused in the jungle by the prying spaniels of the 
 fowler, 
 
 Will quail at the eye of man, so he assert his dignity ; 
 
 Nay, the very ships, those giant swans breasting the mighty 
 waters, 
 
48 PROVERBIAL PHILOSOPHY. [series i. 
 
 Roll in the trough, or break the wave, to the pilot’s fear or 
 courage : 
 
 How much more shall man, discerning the Fountain of au- 
 thority, 
 
 Bow to superior commands, and make his own obeyed. 
 
 And yet, in travelling the world, hast thou not often known 
 A gallant host led on to ruin by a feeble Xerxes ? 
 
 Hast thou not often seen the wanton luxury of indolence 
 Sullying with its sleepy mist the tarnished crown of head- 
 ship 1 
 
 Alas ! for a thousand fathers, whose indulgent sloth 
 Hath emptied the vial of confusion over a thousand homes : 
 Alas ! for the palaces and hovels, that might have been nur 
 series for heaven, 
 
 By hot intestine broils blighted into schools for hell: 
 
 None knoweth his place, yet all refuse to serve, 
 
 None weareth the crown, yet all usurp the sceptre : 
 
 And perchance some fiercer spirit, of natural nobility of 
 mind, 
 
 That needed but the kindness of constraint to have grown up 
 great and good, 
 
 Now, — the rich harvest of his heart choked by unweeded 
 tares, — 
 
 All bold to dare and do, unchecked by wholesome fear, 
 
 A scoffer about bigotry and priestcraft, a rebel against govern- 
 ment and God, 
 
 And standard-bearer of the turbulent, leading on the sons of 
 Belial, 
 
 Such an one is king of that small state, head tyrant of the 
 thirty, 
 
 Brandishing the torch of discord in his village-home : 
 
 And the timid Eli of the house, yon humble parish-priest, 
 Liveth in shame and sorrow, fearing his own handy-work; 
 The mother, heartstricken years agonc, hath dropped into an 
 early grave ; 
 
 The silent sisters long to leave a home they cannot love ; 
 
series i 1 OF SUBJECTION. 49 
 
 The brothers, casting off restraint, follow their wayward 
 wills ; 
 
 And the chance guest, early departing, blesseth his kind stars, 
 
 That on his humbler home hath brooded no domestic curse 
 
 Vet is that curse the fruit ; wouldest thou the root of the 
 evil 1 
 
 A kindness — most unkind, that hath always spared the rod ; 
 
 A weak and numbing indecision in the mind that should be 
 master ; 
 
 A foolish love, pregnant of hate, that never frowned on sin ; 
 
 A moral cowardice of heart that never dared command. 
 
 A kingdom is a nest of families, and a family a small king- 
 dom ; 
 
 And the government of whole or part diflferethin nothing but 
 extent. 
 
 The house, where the master ruleth, is strong in united sub- 
 jection, 
 
 And the only commandment with promise, being honored, is 
 a blessing to that house : 
 
 But and if he yieldeth up the reins, it is weak in discordant 
 anarchy, 
 
 And the bonds of love and union melt away, as ropes of sand. 
 
 The realm, that is ruled with vigor, lacketh neither peace 
 nor glory, 
 
 It dreadeth not foes from without, nor the sons of riot from 
 within : 
 
 But the meanness of temporizing fear robbeth a kingdom of 
 its honor, 
 
 Ana the weakness of indulgent sloth ravageth its bowels 
 with discord. 
 
 The best of human governments is the patriarchal rule ; 
 
 The authorized supremacy of one, the prescriptive subjection 
 of many : 
 
 Therefore, the children of the East have thriven from age to 
 age, 
 
50 PROVERBIAL PHILOSOPHY. [series i. 
 
 Obeying, even as a god, the royal father of Cathay : 
 
 Therefore, to this our day, the Rechabite wanteth not a 
 man, (10) 
 
 But they stand before the Lord, forsaking not the mandate of 
 their sire. 
 
 Therefore shall Magog among nations arise from his northern 
 lair, 
 
 And rend, in the fury of his power, the insurgent world be- 
 neath him : 
 
 For the thunderbolt of concentrated strength can be hurled 
 by the will of one, 
 
 While the dissipated forces of many are harmless as summer 
 lightning. 
 
 OF REST, (ii) 
 
 In the silent watches of the night, calm night that breedeth 
 thoughts, ( 15i ) 
 
 When the task-weary mind disporteth in the careless play- 
 hours of sleep, 
 
 I dreamed ; and behold, a valley, green and sunny and well 
 watered, 
 
 And thousands moving across it, thousands and tens of thou- 
 sands : 
 
 And though many seemed faint and toil-worn, and stumbled 
 often, and fell, 
 
 Yet moved they on unresting, as the ever-flowing cataract. 
 
 Then I noted adders in the grass, and pitfalls under the 
 flowers, 
 
 And chasms yawned among the hills, and the ground was 
 cracked and slippery: 
 
 But Hope and her brother Fear suffered not a foot to linger; 
 
 Bright phantoms of false joys beckoned alluringly forward, 
 
 While yelling grisly shapes o*’ dread came hunting on be- 
 hind : 
 
SERIES I.J 
 
 OF REST. 
 
 51 
 
 And ceaselessly, like Lapland swarms, that miserable crowd 
 sped along 
 
 To the mist involved banks of a dark and sullen river. 
 
 There saw I, midway in the water, standing a giant fisher, 
 
 And he held many lines in his hand, and they called him 
 Iron Destiny. 
 
 So I tracked those subtle chains, and each held one among 
 the multitude. 
 
 Then I understood what hindered, that they rested not in 
 their path : 
 
 For the fisher h >.d sport in his fishing, and drew in his lines 
 continu illy, 
 
 And the new-born b ibe, and the aged man, were dragged 
 into that dark river : 
 
 And he pulled all those myriads along, and none might rest 
 by the way, 
 
 Till many, for sheer weariness, were eager to plunge into the 
 drowning stream. 
 
 So I knew that valley was Life, and it sloped to the waters 
 of Death. 
 
 But far on the thither side spread out a calm and silent shore, 
 
 Where all was tranquil as a sleep, and the crowded strand 
 was quiet : 
 
 And I saw there many I had known, but their eyes glared 
 chillingly upon me, 
 
 As set in deepest slumber ; and they pressed their fingers to 
 their lips. 
 
 Then 1 knew that shore was the dwelling of Rest, where 
 spirits heid thqir Sabbath, 
 
 And it seemed they would have told me much, but they 
 might not break that silence ; 
 
 For the law of their being was mystery : they glided on, 
 hushing as they went. 
 
 Yet further, under the sun, at the roots of purple mountains, 
 
 I noted a blaze of glory, as the night-fires on northern skies ; 
 
52 PROVERBIAL PHILOSOPHY. [series i. 
 
 And I heard the hum of joy, as it were a sea of melody ; 
 
 And far as the eye could reach, were millions of happy crea- 
 tures 
 
 Basking in the golden light ; and I knew that land was 
 Heaven. 
 
 Then the hill whereon I stood split asunder, and a crater 
 yawned at my feet, 
 
 Black and deep and dreadful, fenced round with ragged 
 rocks , 
 
 Dimly was the darkness lit up by spires of distant flame : 
 
 And I saw below a moving mass of life, like reptiles bred in 
 corruption, 
 
 Where all was terrible unrest, shrieks and groans and thun- 
 der. 
 
 So I woke, and I thought upon my dream ; for it seemed of 
 wisdom’s ministration. 
 
 What man is he that findeth rest, though he hunt for it year 
 after year ? 
 
 As a child he had not yet been wearied, and cared not then 
 to court it ; 
 
 As a youth he loved not to be quiet, for excitement spurred 
 him into strife ; 
 
 As a man he tracketh rest in vain, toiling painfully to catch it, 
 
 But still is he pulled from the pursuit, by the strong compul- 
 sion of his fate ; 
 
 So he hopeth to have peace in old age, as he cannot rest in 
 manhood, 
 
 But troubles thicken with his years, till Death hath dodged 
 him to the grave. 
 
 There remaineth a rest for the spirit on the shadowy side of 
 life ; 
 
 But unto this world’s pilgrim no rest for the sole of his foot. 
 
 Ever, from stage to stage, he travelleth wearily forward, 
 
 And though he pluck flowers by the way, he may not sleep 
 among the flowers. 
 
SERIES I.J 
 
 OF HUMILITY. 
 
 53 
 
 Mind is the perpetual motion ; for it is a running stream 
 
 From an unfathomable source, the depth of the divine Intel- 
 ligence : 
 
 And though it be stopped in its flowing, yet hath it a current 
 within, 
 
 The surf ,ce in ny deep unruffled, but underneath are whirl- 
 pools of contention 
 
 Seekest thou re d, O mortal 7 — seek it no more on earth, 
 
 For destiny will not cense from dragging thee through the 
 rough wilderness of life ; 
 
 Seekest thou rest, O immortal 7 — hope not to find it in Hea- 
 ven, 
 
 For sloth yieldeth not happiness : the bliss of a spirit is ac 
 tion. 
 
 Rest dwelleth only on an island in the midst of the ocean of 
 existence, 
 
 Where the world-weary soul for a while may fold its tired 
 wings, 
 
 Until, after short sufficient slumber, it is quickened unto 
 de itnless energy, 
 
 And speedeth in eagle-flight to the Sun of unapproachable 
 perfection. 
 
 OF HUMILITY . 
 
 Vice is grown aweary of her gawds, and donneth russet gar- 
 ments, 
 
 Loving for change to walk as a nun, beneath a modest veil : 
 
 For Pride h th noted how all admire the fiirness of Humility, 
 
 And to clutch the praise he coveteth, is content to be drest in 
 hair-cloth ; 
 
 And wily Lud tempteth the young heart, that is proof 
 ag iin-<t the bravery of harlots, 
 
 With tun'd tears and retiring looks of an artless seeming 
 maid ; 
 
 5 * 
 
54 PROVERBIAL PHILOSOPHY. [series i. 
 
 And indolent Apathy, sleepily ashamed of his dull lack-lustre 
 face, 
 
 Is glad of the livery of meekness, that charitable cloak and 
 cowl ; 
 
 And Hatred hideth his demon frown beneath a gentle mask ; 
 
 And Slander, snake-like, creepeth in the dust, thinking to es- 
 cape recrimination. 
 
 But the world hath gained somewhat from its years, and is 
 quick to penetrate disguises, 
 
 Neither in all these is it easily deceived, but rightly divideth 
 the true from the false. 
 
 Yet there is a meanness of spirit that is fair in the eyes of 
 most men, 
 
 Yea, ana seemeth fair unto itself, loving to be thought Hu- 
 mility. 
 
 Its choler is not roused by insolence, neither do injuries dis- 
 turb it : 
 
 Honest indignation is strange unto its breast, and just reproof 
 unto its lip. 
 
 It shrinketh, looking fearfully on men, fawning at the feet of 
 the great : 
 
 The breath of calumny is sweet unto its ear, and it courteth 
 the rod of persecution. 
 
 But what ! art thou not a man, deputed chief of the crea- 
 tion 1 
 
 Art thou not a soldier of the right, militant for God and 
 good 1 
 
 Shall virtue and truth be degraded, because thou art too base 
 to uphold them 1 
 
 Or Goliath be bolder in blaspheming for want of a David in 
 the camp ? 
 
 I say not, avenge injuries: for th* 1 ministry of vengeance is 
 not thine ; 
 
 But wherefore rebuke not a liar 1 wherefore do dishonor to 
 thyself? 
 
MERIES I.] 
 
 OF HUMILITY. 
 
 55 
 
 Wherefore let the evil triumph, when the just and the right 
 are on thy side 7 
 
 Such Humility is abject, it lacketh the life of sensibility, 
 
 And th it resignation is but mock, where the burden is not 
 felt: 
 
 Suspect thyself and thy meekness : thou art mean and indif- 
 ferent t r sin ; 
 
 And the heart that should grieve and forgive, is case-harden- 
 ed and forgetteth. 
 
 Humility mainly becometh the converse of man with his 
 Maker, 
 
 But oftentimes it seemeth out of place in the intercourse of 
 man with man : 
 
 Yea, it is the cringer to his equal, that is chiefly seen bold to 
 his God, 
 
 While a. m irtyr, whom a world cannot browbeat, is humble 
 as a child before Him. 
 
 Render unto all men their due, but remember thou also art a 
 man, 
 
 And cheat not thyself of the reverence which is owing to 
 thy reasonable being. 
 
 Be courteous, and listen, and learn: but teach and answer if 
 thou canst : 
 
 Serve thee of thy neighbor’s wisdom, but be not enslaved as 
 to a master. 
 
 Where thou perceivest knowledge, bend the ear of attention 
 and respect ; 
 
 But yield not further to the teaching, than as thy mind is 
 warranted by reasons. 
 
 Better is an obstinate disputant, that yieldeth inch by inch, 
 
 Than the shallow traitor to himself, who surrendereth to 
 half an argument. 
 
 Modesty winneth good report, but scorn cometh close npon 
 servility, 
 
56 PROVERBIAL PHILOSOPHY. [series i. 
 
 Therefore use meekness with discretion, casting not pearls 
 before swine, 
 
 For a fool will tread upon thy neck, if he seeth thee lying in 
 the dust ; 
 
 And there be companies and seasons where resolute bearing 
 is but duty. 
 
 If a good man discloseth his secret failings unto the view of 
 the profane, 
 
 What doeth he but harm unto his brother, confirming him 
 in his sin 1 
 
 There is a concealment that is right, and an open-mouthed 
 humility that erreth ; 
 
 There is a candor near akin to folly, and a meekness look- 
 ing like shame. 
 
 Masculine sentiments, vigorously holden, well become a man ; 
 
 But a weak mind hath a timorous grasp, and mistaketh it for 
 tenderness of conscience. 
 
 Many are despised for their folly, who put it to the account 
 of their religion, 
 
 And because men treat them with contempt, they look to 
 their God for glory : 
 
 But contempt shall still be their reward, who betrayed their 
 Master unto ridicule, 
 
 Reflecting on Him in themselves, meanness and ignorance 
 and cowardice. 
 
 A Christian hath a royal spirit, and need not be ashamed but 
 unto One. 
 
 Among just men walketh he softly, but the world should see 
 him as a champion. 
 
 Ills humbleness is far unlike the shame that covereth the 
 profligate and weak, 
 
 When the sober reproof of virtue hath touched their tingling 
 ears ; 
 
 It is born of love and wisdom, and is worthy of all honor, 
 
 And the sweet persuasion of its smile change th contempt 
 into reverence. 
 
SERIES I.] 
 
 OF HUMILITY. 
 
 57 
 
 A man of a haughty spirit is daily adding to his enemies : 
 
 He standeth as the Arab in the desert, and the hands of all 
 men are against him : 
 
 A man of a base mind daily siibtracteth from his friends, 
 
 For he holdeth himself so cheaply, that others learn to 
 despise him : 
 
 But where the meekness of self-knowledge veileth the front 
 of self-respect, 
 
 There look thou for the man, whom none can know but they 
 will honor. 
 
 Humility is the softening shadow before the stature of Ex- 
 cellence, 
 
 And lieth lowly on the ground, beloved and lovely as the 
 violet : 
 
 Humility is the fair-haired maid, that calleth Worth her 
 brother, 
 
 The gentle silent nurse, that fostereth infant virtues : 
 
 Humility bringeth no excuse ; she is welcome to God and 
 nun : 
 
 Her countenance is needful unto all, who would prosper in 
 either world ; 
 
 And the mild light of her sweet face is mirrored in the eyes 
 of her companions, 
 
 And straightway stand they accepted, children of penitence 
 and love. 
 
 As when the blind man is nigh unto a rose, its sweetness is 
 the herald of its beauty. 
 
 So when thou savorest humility, be sure thou art nigh unto 
 merit. 
 
 A gift rejoiceth the covetous, and praise fatteneth the vain, 
 
 And the pride of man delighteth in the humble bearing of 
 his fellow ; 
 
 But to the tender benevolence of the unthanked Almoner of 
 good, 
 
 Humility is queen among the graces, for she giveth him oc- 
 casion to bestow. 
 
58 
 
 PROVERBIAL PHILOSOPHY. [series i. 
 
 OF PRIDE. 
 
 Deep is the sea, and deep is hell, but Pride niineth deeper ; 
 
 It is coiled as a poisonous worm about the foundations of the 
 soul. 
 
 If thou expose it in thy motives, and track it in thy springs 
 of thought, 
 
 Complacent in its own detection, it will seem indignant 
 virtue ; 
 
 Smoothly will it gratulate thy skill, O subtle anatomist of 
 self, 
 
 And spurn at its very being, while it nestleth the deeper in 
 thy bosom. 
 
 Pride is a double traitor, and betrayeth itself to entrap thee, 
 
 Making thee vain of thy self-knowledge ; proud of thy dis- 
 coveries of pride. 
 
 Fruitlessly thou strainest for humility, by darkly diving into 
 seif : 
 
 Rather look away from innate evil, and gaze upon extrane- 
 ous good : 
 
 For in sounding the deep things of the heart, thou shalt learn 
 to be vain of its capacities, 
 
 But in viewing the heights above thee, thou shalt be taught 
 thy littleness : 
 
 Could an emmet pry into itself, it might marvel at its own 
 anatomy, 
 
 But let it look on eagles, to discern how mean a thing it is. 
 
 And all things hang upon comparison; to the greater, great 
 is small : 
 
 Neither is there anything so vile, but somewhat yet is viler; 
 
 On all sides is there an infinity ; the culprit at the gallows 
 hath his worse, 
 
 And the virgin martyr at the stake need not look far for a 
 better. 
 
series i.] OF PRIDE. 59 
 
 Therefore see thou that thine aim reacheth unto higher than 
 thyself : 
 
 Beware that the standard of thy soul wave from the loftiest 
 battlement : 
 
 For pride is a pestilent meteor, flitting on the marshes of 
 corruption, 
 
 That will lure thee forward to thy death, if thou seek to 
 track it to its source : 
 
 Pride is a gloomy bow, arching the infernal firmament, 
 
 That will lead thee on, if thou wilt hunt it, even to the 
 dwelling of despair. 
 
 Deep calleth unto deep, and mountain overtoppcth mountain, 
 
 And still shalt thou fathom to no end the depth and the 
 height of pride : 
 
 For it is the vast ambition of the soul, warped to an idol 
 object, 
 
 And nothing but a Deity in Self can quench its insatiable 
 thirst. 
 
 Be aware of the smiling enemy, that openly sheatheth his 
 weapon, 
 
 But mingleth poison in secret with the sacred salt of hospi- 
 tality : 
 
 For pride will lie dormant in thy heart, to snatch its secret 
 opportunity. 
 
 Watching, as a lion-ant, in the bottom of its toils. 
 
 Stay not to parley with thy foe, for his tongue is more potent 
 than his arm, 
 
 But be wiser, fighting against pride in the simple panoply of 
 prayer. 
 
 As one also of the poets hath said, let not the Proteus escape 
 thee ; (13) 
 
 For he will blaze forth as fire, and quench himself in like- 
 ness of water ; 
 
 He will fright thee as a roaring beast, or charm thee as a 
 t subtle reptile. 
 
60 PROVERBIAL PHILOSOPHY. [series i. 
 
 Mark, amid all his transformations, the complicate deceitful- 
 ness of pride, 
 
 And the more he striveth to elude thee, bind him the closer 
 in thy toils. 
 
 Prayer is the net that snareth him ; prayer is the fetter that 
 holdeth him : 
 
 Thou canst not nourish pride, while waiting as an almsman 
 on thy God, — 
 
 Waiting in sincerity and trust, or pride shall meet thee even 
 there ; 
 
 Yea, from the palaces of Heaven, hath pride cast down his 
 millions. 
 
 Root up the mandrake from thy heart, though it cost thee 
 blood and groans, 
 
 Or the cherished garden of thy graces will fade and perish 
 utterly. 
 
 OF EXPERIENCE 
 
 I knew that age was enriched with the hard-earned wages 
 of knowledge, 
 
 And I saw that hoary wisdom was bred in the school of dis- 
 appointment : 
 
 I noted that the wisest of youth, though provident and cau- 
 tious of evil, 
 
 Yet sailed along unsteadily, as lacking some ballast of the 
 mind : 
 
 And the cause seemed to lie in this, that while they con- 
 sidered around them, 
 
 And warded off all dangers from without, they forgat their 
 own weakness within. 
 
 So steer they in self-confidence, until, from the multitude of 
 perils, 
 
 They begin to be weary of themselves, and learn the first 
 lessons of Experience. 
 
series i.J OF EXPERIENCE. 61 
 
 I knew that in the morning of life, before its wearisome 
 journey, 
 
 The youthful soul doth expand, in the simple luxury of 
 being ; 
 
 It hath not contracted its wishes, nor set a limit to its hopes ; 
 
 The wing of fancy is unclipt, and sin hath not seared the 
 feelings : 
 
 Each feature is stamped with immortality, for all its desires 
 are infinite, 
 
 And it seeketh an ocean of happiness, to fill the deep hollow 
 within. 
 
 But the old and the grave look on, pitying that generous 
 youth, 
 
 For they also have tasted long ago the bitterness of hope de- 
 stroyed : 
 
 They pity him, and are sad, remembering the days that are 
 past, 
 
 But they know he must taste for himself, or he will not give 
 ear to their wisdom. 
 
 For Experience hath another lesson, which a man will do 
 well if he learn, 
 
 By checking the flight of expectation, to cheat disappoint- 
 ment of its pain. 
 
 Experience teacheth many things, and all men are his 
 scholars : 
 
 Yet is he a strange tutor, unteaching that which he hath 
 taught. 
 
 Youth is confident, manhood wary, and old age confident 
 again : 
 
 Youth is kind, manhood cold, and age returneth unto kindness. 
 
 For youth suspecteth naught, till manhood, bitterly learned, 
 
 Mistrustelh all, overleaping the mark ; and age correcteth his 
 excess. 
 
 Suspicion is the scatfold unto faith, a temporary needful 
 eyesore, 
 
62 PROVERBIAL PHILOSOPHY. [series i. 
 
 By which the strong man’s dwelling is slowly builded up 
 behind : 
 
 But soon as the top-stone hath been set to the well-proved 
 goodly pyramid, 
 
 The scaffold is torn down, and well-timed trust taketh its 
 long leave of suspicion, 
 
 A thousand volumes in a thousand tongues, enshrine the 
 lessons of Experience, 
 
 Yet a man shall read them all, and go forth none the wiser: 
 
 For self-love lendeth him a glass, to color all he conneth, 
 
 Lest in the features of another he find his own complexion. 
 
 And we secretly judge of ourselves, as differing greatly from 
 all men, 
 
 And love to challenge causes to show how we can master 
 their effects ; 
 
 Pride is pampered in expecting that we need not fear a com- 
 mon fate, 
 
 Or wrong-headed prejudice exulteth, in combating old expe- 
 rience ; 
 
 Or perchance caprice and discontent are the spurs that goad 
 us into danger, 
 
 Careless, and half in hope to find there an enemy to joust 
 with. 
 
 Private experience is an unsafe teacher, for we rarely learn 
 both sides, 
 
 And from the gilt surface reckon not on steel beneath : 
 
 The torrid sons of Guinea think scorn of icy seas, 
 
 And the frostbitten Greenlander.disbelieveth suns too hot. 
 
 But thou, student of Wisdom, feed on the marrow of the 
 m itter ; 
 
 If thou wilt suspect, let it be thyself ; if thou wilt expect, let 
 it not be gladness. 
 
series i.] OF ESTIMATING CHARACTER. 
 
 63 
 
 OF ESTIMATING CHARACTER. 
 
 Rashly, nor ofttimes truly, doth man pass judgment on his 
 brother ; 
 
 For he seeth not the springs of the heart, nor heareth the 
 reasons of the mind. 
 
 And the world is not wiser than of old, when justice was 
 meted by the sword, 
 
 When the spear avenged the wrong, and the lot decided the 
 right, 
 
 When the footsteps of blindfold innocence were tracked by 
 burning ploughshares, 
 
 And the still condemning water delivered up the wizard to 
 the stake : 
 
 For we wait, like the sage of Salamis, to see what the end 
 will be, (N) 
 
 Fixing the right or the wrong, by the issues of failure or suc- 
 cess. 
 
 Judge not of things by their events ; neither of character by 
 providence ; 
 
 And count not a man more evil, because he is more unfortu- 
 nate ; 
 
 For the blessings of a better covenant lie not in the sunshine 
 of prosperity, 
 
 But pain and chastisement the rather show the wise Father’s 
 love. 
 
 Behold that daughter of the world ; she is full of gaiety and 
 ghdness ; 
 
 The diadem of rank is on her brow, uncounted wealth is in 
 her coffers : 
 
 She tricketh out her beauty like Jezebel, and is welcome in 
 the courts of kings ; 
 
64 PROVERBIAL PHILOSOPHY. [series i. 
 
 She is queen of the fools of fashion, and ruleth the revels of 
 luxury. 
 
 And though she sitteth not as Tamar, nor standeth in the 
 ways as Rahab, 
 
 Yet in the secret of her chamber, she shrinketh not from dal- 
 liance and guilt. 
 
 She careth not if there be a God, or a soul, or a time of 
 retribution, 
 
 Pleasure is the idol of her heart : she thirsteth for no purer 
 heaven. 
 
 And she laugheth with light good humor, and all men praise 
 her gentleness ; 
 
 They are glad in her lovely smile, and the river of her bounty 
 filleth them. 
 
 So she prospered in the world : the worship and desire of 
 thousands ; 
 
 And she died even as she had lived, careless and courteous 
 and liberal. 
 
 The grave swallowed up her pomp, the marble proclaimed 
 her virtues, 
 
 For men esteemed her excellent, and charities sounded forth 
 her praise ; 
 
 But elsewhere far other judgment setteth her — with infidels 
 and harlots ! 
 
 She abused the trust of her splendor : and the wages of her 
 sin shall be hereafter. 
 
 Look again on this fair girl, the orphan of a village pastor 
 Who is dead, and hath left her his all, — his blessing, and a 
 name unstained. 
 
 And friends, with busy zeal, that their purses be not taxed, 
 Place the sad mourner in a home, poor substitute for that 
 she hath lost. 
 
 A stranger among strange faces, she drinketh the wormwood 
 of dependence ; 
 
series i.] OF ESTIMATING CHARACTER. 65 
 
 She is marked as a child of want; and the world liateth 
 poverty. 
 
 Prayer is not heard in that house : the day she hath loved to 
 hallow 
 
 Is noted but bv deeper dissipation, the riot of luxury and 
 gaming : 
 
 And wantonness is in her master’s eye, and she hath no- 
 where to flee to ; 
 
 She is cared for by none upon earth, and her God sceineth to 
 forsake her. 
 
 Then cometh, in fair show, the promise, and the feint of 
 affection, 
 
 And her heart, long unused to kindness, remembereth her 
 father, and loveth. 
 
 And the villain hath wronged her trust, and mocked, and 
 flung her from him, 
 
 And men point at her and laugh ; and women hate her as an 
 outcast : 
 
 But elsewhere, far other judgment setteth her — among the 
 martyrs ! 
 
 And the Lord, w r ho seemed to forsake, giveth double glory to 
 the fallen. 
 
 Once more, in the matter of wealth : if thou throw thine 
 all on a chance. 
 
 Men will come around thee, and wait, and watch the turning 
 of the wheel ; 
 
 And if, in the lottery of life, thou hast drawn a splendid prize, 
 
 What foresight hadst thou, and skill ! yea, what enterprise 
 and wisdom ! 
 
 But if it fall out against thee, and thou fail in thy perilous 
 endeavor, 
 
 Behold, the simple did sow, and hath reaped the right har- 
 vest of his folly, 
 
 And the world woll be gladly excused, nor will reach out a 
 finger to help ; 
 
 6 * 
 
66 PROVERBIAL PHILOSOPHY. [series i. 
 
 For why should this speculative dullard be a whirlpool to all 
 around him 7 
 
 Go to, let him sink by himself: we knew what the end of it 
 would be : — 
 
 For the man hath missed his mark, and his fellows look no 
 further. 
 
 Also, touching guilt and innocence : a man shall walk in 
 his uprightness 
 
 Year after year without reproach, in charity and honesty 
 with all : 
 
 But in one evil hour the enemy shall come in like a flood ; 
 
 Shall track him and tempt him, and hem him, — till he 
 knoweth not whither to fly. 
 
 Perchance his famishing little ones shall scream in his ears 
 for bread, 
 
 And, maddened by that fierce cry, he rusheth as a thief upon 
 the world ; 
 
 The world that hath left him to starve, itself wallowing in 
 plenty, — 
 
 The world, that, denieth him his rights, — he daringly rob- 
 beth it of them. 
 
 I say not, such an one is innocent : but small is the measure 
 of his guilt 
 
 To that of his wealthy neighbor, who would not help him at 
 his need ; 
 
 To that of the selfish epicure, who turned away with cold- 
 ness from his tale ; 
 
 To that of unsufferi ig thousands, who look with compla- 
 cence on his fall. 
 
 Or perchance the continual dropping of the venomed words 
 of spite, 
 
 Insult and injury and scorn, have galled and pierced his 
 heart; 
 
series i.J OF ESTIMATING CHARACTER. 
 
 G7 
 
 5fet, with all long-suffering and meekness, he forgiveth unto 
 seventy times seven: 
 
 Till, in some weaker moment, tempted beyond endurance, 
 
 He striketh, more in anger than in hate ; and, alas ! for his 
 heavy chance, 
 
 He hath smitten unto instant death his spiteful life-long 
 enemy! 
 
 And none was by to see it ; and all men knew of their con- 
 tentions: 
 
 Fierce voices shout for his blood, and rude hands hurry him 
 to judgment. 
 
 Then man’s verdict cometh, — Murderer, with forethought 
 malice ; 
 
 And his name is a note of execration ; his guilt is too black 
 for devils. 
 
 But to the righteous Judge seemeth he the suffering victim ; 
 
 For his anger was not unlawful, but became him as a 
 Christian and a m in ; 
 
 And though his guilt was grievous when he struck that 
 heavy bitter blow, 
 
 Yet light is the sin of the smiter, and verily kicketh the 
 beam. 
 
 To the weight of that man’s wickedness, whose slow relent- 
 less hatred 
 
 Met him at every turn, with patient continuance in evil. 
 
 Doubtless, eternal wrath shall be heaped upon that spiteful 
 enemy. 
 
 It is vain, it is vain, snith the preacher ; there be none but 
 the righteous and the wicked, 
 
 Base rebels, and staunch allies, the true knight, and the 
 traitor ; 
 
 And he beareth strong witness among men, There is no neu- 
 tral ground, 
 
 The broad highway and narrow path map out the whole 
 domain ; 
 
68 PROVERBIAL PHILOSOPHY. [series i. 
 
 Sit here among the saints, these holy chosen few, 
 
 Or grovel tnere a wretch condemned, to die among the mil- 
 lion. 
 
 And verily for ultimate results, there be but good and bad ; 
 
 Heaven hath no dusky twilight ; hell is not gladdened with 
 a dawn. 
 
 Yet looking round among his fellows, who can pass righteous 
 judgment, 
 
 Such an one is holy and accepted, and such an one reprobate 
 and doomed ? 
 
 There is so much of good among the worst, so much of evil 
 in the best, 
 
 Such seeming partialities in providence, so many things to 
 lessen and expand, 
 
 Yea, and with all man’s boast, so little real freedom of his 
 will, — 
 
 That, to look a little lower than the surface, garb or dialect 
 or fashion, 
 
 Thou shalt feebly pronounce for a saint, and faintly condemn 
 for a sinner. 
 
 Over many a heart good and true, fluttereth the Great King’s 
 pennant: 
 
 By many an iron hand, the pirate’s black banner is unfurled : 
 
 But there be many more besides, in the yacht and the trader 
 and the fishing boat, 
 
 In the feather’d war-canoe, and the quick mysterious gon- 
 dola: 
 
 And the army of that Great King hath no stated uniform ; 
 
 Of mingled characters and kinds goeth forth the countless 
 host ; 
 
 There is the turbaned Damascene, with his tatooed Zealand 
 brother, 
 
 There the slim bather in the Ganges, with the sturdy Rus- 
 sian boor, 
 
 The sluggish inmate of a polar cave, with the fire souled 
 daughter of Brazil, 
 
series i.J OF ESTIMATING CHARACTER. 69 
 
 The embruted slave from Cuba, and the Briton of gentle 
 birth. 
 
 For all are His inheritance, of all He taketh tithe : 
 
 And the Church, his mercy’s ark, hath some of every sort. 
 Who art thou, O m in, that art fixing the limits of the fold ? 
 Wherefore settest thou stakes to spread the tent of heaven? 
 Lay not the plummet to the line : religion hath no land- 
 marks : 
 
 No human keenness can discern the subtle shades of faith : 
 In some it is as earliest dawn, the scarce diluted daikness ; 
 
 In some as dubious twilight, cold and grey and gloomy ; 
 
 In some the ebon east is streaked with flaming gold : 
 
 In some the dayspring from on high breaketh in all its 
 praise. 
 
 And who hath determined the when, separating light from 
 darkness ? 
 
 Who shall pluck from earliest dawn the promise of the day ? 
 Leave that care to the II usbandman, lest thou garner tares ; 
 Help thou the Shepherd in his seeking, hut to separate be his : 
 For I have often seen the noble erring spirit 
 Wrecked on the shoals of passion, and numbered of the lost; 
 Often the generous heart, lit by unhallowed fire, 
 
 Counted a brand among the burning, and left uncared-for, in 
 his sin : 
 
 >Yet I waited a little year, and the mercy thou hadst for- 
 , gotten, 
 
 Hath purged that noble spirit, washing it in waters of re- 
 j, pentance ; 
 
 That glowing generous heart, having burnt out all its dross, 
 Jjs as a golden censer, ready for the aloes and cassia: 
 
 While thou, hard-visaged man, unlovely in thy strictness, 
 Who turned from him thy sympathies with self-complacent 
 pride, 
 
 How art thou shamed by him ! his heart is a spring oflove, 
 While the dry well of thine affections is choked with secret 
 mammon. 
 
70 PROVERBIAL PHILOSOPHY. [series i. 
 
 Sometimes at a glance thou judgest well ; years could add 
 little to thy knowledge: 
 
 When charity gloweth on the cheek, or malice is lowering in 
 the eye, 
 
 When honesty’s open brow, or the weasel-face of cunning is 
 before thee, 
 
 Or the loose lip of wantonness, or clear bright forehead of 
 reflection. 
 
 But often, by shrewd scrutiny, thou judgest to the good man’s 
 harm : 
 
 For it may be his hour of trial, or he slumbereth at his post, 
 
 Or he hath slain his foe, but not yet levelled the stronghold, 
 
 Or barely recovered of the wounds, that fleshed him in his 
 fray with passion. 
 
 Also, of the worst, through prejudice, thou loosely shalt think 
 well : 
 
 For none is altogether evil, and thou mayst catch him at his 
 prayers : 
 
 There may be one small prize, though all beside be blanks ; 
 
 A silver thread of goodness in the black sergecloth of crime. 
 
 There is to whom all things are easy: his mind, as a master- 
 key, 
 
 Can open, with intuitive address, the treasuries of art and 
 science : 
 
 There is to whom all things are hard ; but industry giveth 
 him a crow-bar, 
 
 To force, with groaning labor, the stubborn lock of learning: 
 
 And often, when thou lookest on an eye, dim in native dul- 
 ness, 
 
 Little shalt thou wot of the wealth diligence hath gathered 
 to its gaze; 
 
 Often the brow that should be bright with the dormant fire 
 of genius, 
 
 Within its ample halls, hath ignorance the tenant. 
 
 Yet are not the sons of men cast as in moulds by the lot? 
 
series i.J OF ESTIMATING CHARACTER. 
 
 71 
 
 The like in frame and feature have much alike in spirit; 
 
 Such a shape hath such a soul, so that a deep discernGr 
 
 From his make will read the man, and err not far in judg- 
 ment: 
 
 Yea, and it holdeth in the converse, that growing similarity 
 of mind 
 
 Findeth or maketh for itself an apposite dwelling in the body: 
 
 Accident may modify, circumstance may bevil, externals 
 seem to change it, 
 
 But still the primitive crystal is latent in its many variations : 
 
 For the map of the face, and the picture of the eye, are traced 
 by the pen of passion ; 
 
 And the mind fashioneth a tabernacle suitable for itself. 
 
 A mean spirit boweth down the back, and the bowing foster- 
 eth meanness; 
 
 A resolute purpose knitteth the knees, and the firm tread 
 nourisheth decision ; 
 
 Love looketh softly from the eye, and kindleth love by look- 
 ing ; 
 
 Hate furroweth the brow, and a man may frown till he hat- 
 eth : 
 
 For mind and body, spirit and matter, have reciprocities of 
 power, 
 
 And each keepeth up the strife ; a man’s works make or mar 
 him. 
 
 There be deeper things than these, lying in the twilight of 
 truth ; 
 
 But few can discern them aright, front surrounding dimness of 
 error. 
 
 For perchance, if thou knewest the whole, and largely with 
 comprehensive mind 
 
 Could h read the history of character, the chequered story 
 cf a life, 
 
 And into the great account, which summeth a mortal’s des 
 tiny, 
 
72 PROVERBIAL PHILOSOPHY. [series i. 
 
 Wert to add the forces from without, dragging him this way 
 and that, 
 
 And the secret qualities within, grafted on the s®nl from the 
 womb, 
 
 And the might of other men’s example, among whom his lot 
 is cast, 
 
 And the influence of want, or wealth, of kindness, or harsh 
 ill-usage, 
 
 Of ignorance he cannot help, and knowledge found for him 
 by others, 
 
 And first impressions, hard to be effaced, and leadings to 
 right or to wrong, 
 
 And inheritance of likeness from a father, and natural human 
 frailty, 
 
 And the habit of health or disease, and prejudices poured 
 into his mind, 
 
 And the myriad little matters none but Omniscience can 
 know, 
 
 And accidents that steer the thoughts, where none but Ubi- 
 quity can trace them ; — 
 
 If thou couldst compass all these, and the consequents flow- 
 ing from them, 
 
 And the scope to which they tend, and the necessary fitness 
 of all things, 
 
 Then shouldst thou see as He seeth, who judgeth all men 
 equal, — 
 
 Equal touching innocence and guilt ; and different alone in 
 this, 
 
 That one acknowledgeth his evil, and looketh to his God for 
 mercy ; 
 
 Another boasteth of his good, and calleth on his God for 
 justice ; 
 
 So He, that sendeth none away, is largely munificent to 
 prayer, 
 
 But, in the heart of presumption, sheathed the sword of ven- 
 geance. 
 
series 1 . 1 OF HATRED AND ANGER. 
 
 73 
 
 OF HATRED AND ANGER. 
 
 Blunted unto goodness is the heart which anger never stir- 
 reth, 
 
 But that which hatred swelleth, is keen to carve out evil. 
 
 Anger is a noble infirmity, the generous failing of the just, 
 
 The one degree that riseth above zeal asserting the preroga- 
 tives of virtue : 
 
 But hatred is a slow continuing crime, afire in the bad man’s 
 breast, 
 
 A dull and hungry flame, for ever craving insatiate. 
 
 Hatred would harm another; anger would indulge itself: 
 
 Hatred is a simmering poison ; anger, the opening of a vaJ ire : 
 
 Hatred destroyeth as the upas-tree ; angei:* smiteth as a staff: 
 
 Hatred is the atmosphere of hell ; but anger is known in hea- 
 ven. 
 
 Is there not a righteous wrath, an anger just and holy, 
 
 When goodness is sitting in the dust, and wickedness en- 
 throned on Babel ? 
 
 Doth pity condemn guilt 1 — is justice not a feeling but a law 
 
 Appealing to the line and to the plummet, incognisant of 
 moral sense 1 
 
 Thou that condemnest anger, small is thy sympathy with 
 angels, 
 
 Thou that hast accounted it for sin, cold is thy communion 
 with heaven. 
 
 Beware of the angry in his passion ; but fear not to approach 
 him afterward ; 
 
 For if thou acknowledge thine error, he himself will be sorry 
 for his wrath : 
 
 Beware of the hater in his coolness : for he meditateth evil 
 against thee ; 
 
 7 
 
74 PROVERBIAL PHILOSOPHY. [series i 
 
 Commending the resources of his mind calmly to work thy 
 ruin. 
 
 Deceit and treachery skulk with hatred, hut an honest spirit 
 flieth with anger : 
 
 The one lieth secret, as a serpent ; the other chaseth, as a 
 leopard. 
 
 Speedily be reconciled in love, and receive the returning of- 
 fender, 
 
 For wittingly prolonging anger, thou tarn perest unconsciously 
 with hatred. 
 
 Patience is power in a man, nerving him to rein his spirit : 
 
 Passion is as palsy to his arm, while it yelleth on the cours- 
 ers to their speed : 
 
 Patience keepeth counsel, and standeth in solid self-posses- 
 sion, 
 
 But the weakness of sudden passion layeth bare the secrets 
 of the soul. 
 
 The sentiment of anger is not ill, when thou lookest on the 
 impudence of vice, 
 
 Or savorest the breath of calumny, or hast earned the hard 
 wages of injustice, 
 
 But see thou that thou curb it in expression, rendering the 
 mildness of rebuke, 
 
 So shalt thou stand without reproach, mailed in all the dig- 
 nity of virtue. 
 
 OF GOOD IN THINGS EVIL. 
 
 I heard the man of sin reproaching the goodness of Jehovah, 
 Wherefore, if he be Almighty Love, permitteth he misery 
 and pain 1 
 
 I saw the child of hope vexed in the labyrinth of doubt, 
 Wherefore, O holy One and just, is the horn of thy foul foe 
 so high exalted 1 — 
 
 
 
series i.J OF GOOD IN THINGS EVIL. 75 
 
 And, alas ! for this our groaning world, for that grief and 
 guilt are here ; 
 
 Alas ! for that Earth is the battle-field, where good must com- 
 bat with evil : 
 
 Angels look on and hold their breath, burning to mingle in 
 the conflict, 
 
 But the troops of the Captain of Salvation may be none but 
 the soldiers of the cross : 
 
 And that slender band must fight alone, and yet shall tri- 
 umph gloriously, 
 
 Enough shall they be for conquest, and the motto of their 
 standard is Enough. 
 
 Thou art sad, O denizen of earth, for pains and diseases and 
 death, 
 
 But remember, thy hand hath earned them ; grudge not at 
 the wages of thy doings : 
 
 Thy guilt, and thy fathers’ guilt, must bring many sorrows in 
 their company, 
 
 And if thou wilt drink sweet poison, doubtless it shall rot 
 thee to the core. 
 
 What art thou but the heritor of evil, with a right to noming 
 good 1 
 
 The respite of an interval of ease were a boon which Justice 
 might deny thee : 
 
 Therefore lay thy hand upon thy mouth, O man much to be 
 forgiven, 
 
 And wait, thou child of hope, for time shall teach thee all 
 things. 
 
 Yet hear, for my speech shall comfort thee ; reverently, but 
 with boldness, 
 
 I would raise the sable curtain, that hideth the symmetry of 
 Providence. 
 
 Pain and sin are convicts, and toil in their fetters for good ; 
 
 The weapons of evil are turned against itself, fighting under 
 better banners : 
 
76 PROVERBIAL PHILOSOPHY. [series i. 
 
 The leech delighteth in stinging, and the wicked loveth to do 
 harm, 
 
 But the wise Physician of the universe useth that ill ten- 
 dency for health. 
 
 Verily, from others’ griefs are gendered sympathy and kind- 
 ness ; 
 
 Patience, humility, and faith, spring not seldom from thine 
 own : 
 
 An enemy, humbled by his sorrows, cannot be far from thy 
 forgiveness, 
 
 A friend, who hath tasted of calamity, shall fan the dying 
 incense of thy love : 
 
 And for thyself, is it a small thing, so to learn thy frailty, 
 
 That from an aching bone thou savest the whole body ? 
 
 The furnace of affliction may be fierce, but it refineth thy 
 soul, 
 
 The goo'd of one meek thought shall outweigh years of tor- 
 ment. 
 
 Nevertheless, wretched man, if thy bad heart be hardened in 
 the flame, 
 
 Being earth-born as of clay, and not of moulded wax, 
 
 Judge not the hand that smiteth, as if thou wert visited in 
 wrath ; 
 
 Reproach thyself, for He is Justice : repent thee, for He is 
 Mercy. 
 
 Cease, fond caviller at wisdom, to be satisfied that every- 
 thing is wrong : 
 
 Be sure there is good necessity, even for the flourishing of 
 evil. 
 
 Would the eye delight in perpetual noon ? or the ear in un- 
 qualified harmonies ? 
 
 Hath winter’s frost no welcome, contrasting sturdily with 
 summer 1 
 
 Couldst thou discern benevolence, if there were no sorrows 
 to be soothed 1 
 
series i.J OF GOOD IN THINGS EVIL. 
 
 77 
 
 Or discover the resources of contrivance, if nothing stood op- 
 posed to the means ? 
 
 What were power without an enemy 1 or mercy without an 
 object 1 
 
 Or truth, where the false were impossible 1 or love, where 
 love were a debt ? 
 
 The characters of God were but idle, if all things around 
 him were perfection, 
 
 And virtues might slumber on like death, if they lacked the 
 opportunities of evil. 
 
 There is one all-perfect, and but one ; man dare not reason 
 of His Essence. 
 
 But there must be deficiencies in heaven, to leave room for 
 progression in bliss : 
 
 A realm of unqualified best were a stagnant pool of being, 
 
 And the circle of absolute perfection, the abstract cipher of 
 indolence. 
 
 Sin is an awful shadow, but it addeth new glories to the 
 light ; 
 
 Sin is a black foil, but it setteth oflT the jewelry of heaven : 
 
 Sin is the traitor that hath dragged the majesty of mercy into 
 action ; 
 
 Sin is the whelming argument, to justify the attribute of 
 vengeance. 
 
 It is a deep dark thought, and needeth to be diligently studied, 
 
 But perchance evil was essential, that God should be seen of 
 his creatures : 
 
 For where perfection is not, there lacketh possible good, 
 
 Aad the absence of better that m'ght be, taketh from the 
 praise of it is well : 
 
 And creatures must be finite, and finite cannot be perfect; 
 
 Therefore, though in small degree, creation involveth evil. 
 
 He chargeth his angels with folly, and the heavens are not 
 clean in His sight : 
 
 For every existence in the universe hath either imperfection 
 or Godhead : 
 
 7 * 
 
73 PROVERBIAL PHILOSOPHY. [ SER1ES x . 
 
 And the light that blazeth but in One, must be softened with 
 shadow for the many. 
 
 There is then good in evil ; or none c#ild have known his 
 Maker ; 
 
 No spiritual intellect or essence could have gazed on his high 
 perfections, 
 
 No angel harps could have tuned the wonders of his wisdom, 
 
 No ransomed souls have praised the glories of his mercy, 
 
 No howling fiends have shown the terrors of his justice, 
 
 But God would have dwelt alone in the fearful solitude of 
 holiness. 
 
 Nevertheless, O sinner, harden not thine heart in evil ; 
 
 Nor plume thee in imaginary triumph, because thou art not 
 valueless as vile ; 
 
 Because thy dark abominations add lustre to the clarity of 
 Light ; 
 
 Because a wonder-working alchemy draineth elixir out of 
 poisons ; 
 
 Because the same fiery volcano that scorcheth and ravageth 
 a continent, 
 
 Hath in the broad blue bay cast up some petty island ; 
 
 Because to the full demonstration of the qualities and acci- 
 dents of good, 
 
 The swarthy legions of the devil have toiled as unwitting 
 pioneers ; 
 
 For sin is still sin : so hateful Love doth hate it ; 
 
 A blot on the glory of creation, which justice must wipe out. 
 
 Sin is a loathsome leprosy, fretting the white robe of inno- 
 cence ; 
 
 A rottenness, eating out the heart of the royal cedars of Le- 
 banon ; 
 
 A pestilential blast, the terror of that holy pilgrimage ; 
 
 A rent in the sacred veil, whereby God left his temple. 
 
 Therefore, consider thyself, thou that dost not sorrow for thy 
 guilt: 
 
series i J OF GOOD IN THINGS EVIL. 79 
 
 Fear evil, or face its enemy : dread sin, or dare justice. 
 
 Yea, saith the Spirit: and their works do follow them ; 
 
 Habits, and thoughts, and deeds, are shadows and satellites 
 of self. 
 
 What! shall the claimant to a throne stand forward with a 
 rabble rout, — 
 
 Meanness, impiety, and lust; riot and indolence and vanity? 
 
 Nay, man ! the train wherewith thou comest attend whither 
 thou shalt go. 
 
 A throne for a king’s son, but an inner dungeon for the felon. 
 
 For a man’s works do follow him : bodily, standing in the 
 judgment, 
 
 Behold the false accuser, behold the slandered saint; 
 
 The slave, and his bloody driver ; the poor, and his generous 
 friend ; 
 
 The simple dupe, and the crafty knave : the murderer, and — 
 his victim ! 
 
 Yet are all in many characters ; the best stand guilty at the 
 bar ; 
 
 And he that seemed the worst may have most of real excuse. 
 
 The talents unto which a man is born, lie they few or many, 
 
 Are dropped into the balance of account, working unlooked- 
 for changes, 
 
 And perchance the convict from the galleys may stand above 
 the hermit from his cell, 
 
 For that the obstacles in one outweigh the propensions in the 
 other. 
 
 There be, who have made themselves friends, yea, by un- 
 righteous mammon, — 
 
 Friends, ready waiting as an escort to those everlasting habi- 
 tations ; 
 
 Embodied in living witnesses, thronging to meet them in a 
 cloud, 
 
 Charity, meekness and truth, zeal, sincerity and patience. 
 
 There be, who have made themselves foes, yea by honest gain, 
 
80 PROVERBIAL PHILOSOPHY. [series i. 
 
 Foes, whose plaint must have its answer, before the bright 
 portal is unbarred : 
 
 Pride, and selfishness, and sloth, apathy, wrath and false- 
 hood, 
 
 Bind to their everlasting toil many that must weary in the 
 fires. 
 
 Love hath a power and a longing to save the gathered world, 
 
 And rescue universal man from the hunting hell-hounds of 
 his doings : 
 
 Yet few, here one, and there one, scanty as the gleaning after 
 harvest, 
 
 Are glad of the robes of praise which Mercy would fling 
 around the naked ; 
 
 But wrapping closer to their skin the poisoned tunic of their 
 works, 
 
 They stand in self-dependence to perish in abandonment of 
 God. 
 
 OF PRAYER 
 
 A wicked man scorneth prayer, in the shallow sophistry of 
 reason ; 
 
 He derideth the silly hope, that God can be moved by sup- 
 plication : — 
 
 Can the unchangeable be changed or waver in his purpose 7 
 
 Can the weakness of pity affect him 7 Should he turn at 
 the bidding of a man 7 
 
 Methought he ruled all things, and ye called his decrees im- 
 mutable, 
 
 But if thus he listeneth to words, wherein is the firmness of 
 his will 7 — 
 
 So I heard the speech of the wicked, and, lo, it was smoother 
 than oil ; 
 
 But I knew that his reasonings were false, for the promise 
 of the Scripture is true : 
 
 J 
 
series i.J OF PRAYER. 81 
 
 Yet was my soul in darkness, for his words were too hard 
 for me ; 
 
 Till I turned to my God in prayer, for I know he heareth 
 always. 
 
 Then I looked abroad on the earth, and, behold, the Lord 
 was in all things ; 
 
 Yet saw I not his hand in aught, but perceived that he work- 
 eth by means ; 
 
 Yea, and the power of the mean proveth the wisdom that 
 ordained it, 
 
 Yea, and no act is useless, to the hurling of a stone through 
 the air. 
 
 So I turned my thoughts to supplication, and beheld the mer- 
 cies of Jehovah, 
 
 And I saw sound argument was still the faithful friend of 
 godliness ; 
 
 For as the rock of the affections is the solid approval of 
 reason, 
 
 Even so the temple of Religion is founded on the basis of 
 Philosophy. 
 
 Scorner, thy thoughts are weak, they reach not the summit 
 of the matter ; 
 
 Go to, for the mouth of a child might show thee the mystery 
 of prayer: 
 
 Verily there is no change in the counsels of the Mighty 
 Ruler : 
 
 Verily, his purpose is strong, and rooted in the depths of ne- 
 cessity : 
 
 But who hath shown thee his purpose, who hath made 
 known to thee his will ? 
 
 When, O gainsayer, hast thou been schooled in the secrets 
 of wisdom 1 
 
 Fate is a creature of God, and all things move in their orbits, 
 
 And that which shall surely happen is known unto him from 
 eternity ; 
 
82 PROVERBIAL PHILOSOPHY. [series i 
 
 But as, in the field of nature, he useth the sinews of the ox, 
 
 And commandeth diligence and toil, himself giving the in- 
 crease ; 
 
 So, in the kingdom of his grace, granteth he omnipotence to 
 prayer, 
 
 For he knoweth what thou wilt ask, and what thou wilt ask 
 aright. 
 
 No man can pray in faith, whose prayer is not grounded on a 
 promise : 
 
 Yet a good man commendeth all things to the righteous wis- 
 dom of his God : 
 
 For those who pray in faith, trust the immutable Jehovah, 
 
 And they, who ask blessings unpromised, lean on uncove- 
 nanted mercy. 
 
 Man, regard thy prayers as a purpose of love to thy soul ; 
 
 Esteem the providence that led to them as an index of God’s 
 goodwill : 
 
 So shalt thou pray aright, and thy words shall meet with ac- 
 ceptance. 
 
 Also, in pleading for others, be thankful for the fulness of thy 
 prayer, 
 
 For if thou art ready to ask, the Lord is more ready to be- 
 siow. 
 
 The salt preserve th the sea, and the saints uphold the earth ; 
 
 Their prayers are the thousand pillars that prop the canopy 
 of nature. 
 
 Verily, an hour without prayer, from some terrestrial mind, 
 
 Were a curse in the calendar of time, a spot of the blackness 
 ot darkness. 
 
 Perchance the terrible day, when the world must rock into 
 ruins, 
 
 Will be one unwhitened by prayer, — shall He find faith on 
 the earth ? 
 
 For there is an economy of mercy, as of wisdom, and power, 
 and means ; 
 
SERIES I.J 
 
 OF PRAYER. 
 
 83 
 
 Neither is one blessing granted, unbesought from the treasury 
 of good : 
 
 And the charitable heart of the Being, to depend upon whom 
 is happiness, 
 
 Never withholdeth a bounty, so long as his subject prayeth ; 
 Yea, ask what thou wilt, to the second throne in heaven, 
 
 It is thine, for whom it was appointed ; there is no limit unto 
 prayer : 
 
 But and if thou cease to ask, tremble, thou self-suspended 
 creature, 
 
 For thy strength is cut off as was Samson’s : and the hour of 
 thy doom is come. 
 
 Frail art thou, O man, as a bubble on the breaker, 
 
 Weak and governed by externals, like a poor bird caught in 
 the storm ; 
 
 Yet thy momentary breath can still the raging waters, 
 
 Thy hand can touch a lever that may move the world. 
 
 O Mereitul, we strike eternal covenant with thee, 
 
 For mau may take for his ally the King who ruleth kings : 
 How strong, yet how most weak, in utter poverty how rich, 
 What possible omnipotence to good is dormant in a man! 
 Behold that fragile form of delicate transparent beauty, 
 Whose light-blue eye and hectic cheek are lit by the balefires 
 of decline, 
 
 All droopingly she Ueth, as a dew- laden lily, 
 
 Her flaxen tresses, rashly luxuriant, dank with unhealthy- 
 moisture ; 
 
 Hath not thy heart said of her, Alas ! poor child of weakness 1 
 Thou hast erred ; Goliath of Gath stood not in half her 
 strength : 
 
 Terribly she fighteth in the van as the virgin daughter of 
 Orleans, 
 
 She beareth the banner of heaven, her onset is the rushing 
 cataract, 
 
 Seraphim rally at her side, and the captain of that host is God, 
 
84 PROVERBIAL PHILOSOPHY. [series i. 
 
 And the serried ranks of evil are routed by the lightning of 
 her eye, 
 
 She is the King’s remembrancer; and steward of many bless- 
 ings, 
 
 Holding the buckler of security over her unthankful land : 
 
 For that weak fluttering heart is strong in faith assured, 
 
 Dependence is her might, and behold — she prayeth. 
 
 Angels are round the good man, to catch the incense of his 
 prayers, 
 
 And they fly to minister kindness to those for whom he 
 pleadeth ; 
 
 For the altar of his heart is lighted, and burneth before God 
 continually, 
 
 And he breatheth, conscious of his joy, the native atmosphere 
 of heaven, 
 
 Yea, though poor, and contemned, and ignorant of this 
 world’s wisdom, 
 
 111 can his fellows spare him though they know not of his 
 value. 
 
 Thousands bewail a hero, and a nation mourneth for its king, 
 
 But the whole universe lamenteth the loss of a man of prayer. 
 
 Verily, were it not for One, who sitteth on his rightful throne, 
 
 Crowned with a rainbow of emerald, ( 15 ) the green memorial 
 of earth, — 
 
 For one, a mediating man, that hath clad his Godhead with 
 mortality, 
 
 And oftereth prayer without ceasing, the royal priest of 
 Nature, 
 
 Matter and life and mind had sunk into dark annihilation, 
 
 And the lightning frown of Justice withered the world into 
 nothing. 
 
 Thus, O worshipper of reason, thou hast heard the sum of the 
 matter ; 
 
 And woe to his hairy scalp that restraineth prayer before God. 
 
SERIES I.J 
 
 THE LORD’S PRAYER. 
 
 85 
 
 Prayer is a creature’s strength, his very breath and being; 
 
 Prayer is the golden key that can open the wicket of Mercy ; 
 
 Prayer is the magic sound that saith to Fate, So be it ; 
 
 Prayer is the slender nerve that moveth the muscles of Om- 
 nipotence. 
 
 Wherefore, pray, O creature, for many and great are thy 
 wants ; 
 
 Thy mind, thy conscience, and thy being, thy rights com- 
 mend thee unto prayer, 
 
 The cure of all cares, the grand panacea for all pains. 
 
 Doubt’s destroyer, ruin’s remedy, the antidote to all anxieties. 
 
 So then, God is true, and yet He hath not changed ; 
 
 It is he that sendeth the petition, to answer it according to 
 his will. 
 
 THE LORD’S PRAYER. 
 
 Inquirest thou, O man, wherewithal may I come unto the 
 Lord ? 
 
 And with what wonder-working sounds may I move the 
 majesty of heaven ? 
 
 There is a model to thy hand ; upon that do thou frame thy 
 supplication. 
 
 Wisdom hath measured its words, and redemption urgeth 
 thee to use them. 
 
 Call thy God thy Father, and yet not thine alone, 
 
 For thou art but one of many, thy brotherhood is with all : 
 
 Remember his high estate, that he dvvelleth King of Heaven ; 
 
 So shall thy thoughts be humbled, nor love be unmixed with 
 reverence : 
 
 Re thy first petition unselfish, the honor of Him who made 
 thee, 
 
 And that in the depths of thy heart his memory be shrined 
 in holiness. 
 
 8 
 
86 PROVERBIAL PHILOSOPHY. [series i. 
 
 Pray for that blessed time when good shall triumph over evil, 
 
 And one universal temple echo the perfections of Jehovah : 
 
 Bend thou to his good-will, and subserve his holy purposes, 
 
 Till in thee, and those around thee, grow a little heaven 
 upon earth : 
 
 Humbly, as a gra teful almsman, beg thy bread of God, — 
 
 Bread for thy triple estate, for thou hast a trinity of nature : 
 
 Humility smootheth the way, and gratitude softeneth the 
 heart, 
 
 Be then thy prayer for pardon mingled with the tear of peni- 
 tence ; 
 
 Yea, and while, all unworthy, thou leanest on the hand that 
 should smite, 
 
 Thou canst not from thy fellows withhold thy less forgive- 
 ness. 
 
 To thy father thy weaknesses are known, and thou hast not 
 hid thy sin, 
 
 Therefore ask him, in all trust, to lead thee from the dangers 
 of temptation ; 
 
 While the last petition of the soul that breatlieth on the con- 
 fines of prayer 
 
 Is deliverance from sin and the evil one, the miseries of earth 
 and hell. 
 
 And wherefore, child of hope, should the rock of thy confi- 
 dence be sure 1 
 
 Thou knowest that God hearetli, and promiseth an answer 
 of peace ; 
 
 Thou knowest that he is King, and none can stay his hand ; 
 
 Thou knowest his power to be boundless, for there is none 
 other: 
 
 And to Him thou givest glory, as a creature of his workman- 
 ship and favor, 
 
 For the never-ending term of thy saved and bright existence. 
 
SERIES I.J 
 
 OF DISCRETION. 
 
 87 
 
 OF DISCRETION. 
 
 For what then was I horn ? — to fill the circling year 
 With daily toil for daily bread, with sordid pains and plea- 
 sures ? — 
 
 To walk this chequered world, alternate light and darkness, 
 The day-dream of deep thought followed by the niglit- 
 dreams of fancy ? — 
 
 To be one in a full procession ? — to dig my kindred clay ? — 
 To decorate the gallery of art? — to clear a few acres of 
 forest ? 
 
 For more than these, my soul, thy God hath lent thee life. 
 
 Is then that noble end to feed this mind with knowledge, 
 
 To mix for mine own thirst the sparkling wine of wisdom, 
 
 To light with many lamps the caverns of my heart, 
 
 To reap, in the furrows of my brain, good harvest of right 
 reasons ? — 
 
 For more than these, my soul, thy God hath lent thee life. 
 
 Is it to grow stronger in self-government, to check the chafing 
 will, 
 
 To curb with tightening rein the mettled steeds of passion, 
 To welcome with calm heart, far in the voiceless desert, 
 
 The gracious visitings of heaven that bless my single self? — 
 For more than these, my soul, thy God hath lent thee life. 
 To aim at thine own happiness, is an end idolatrous and evil, 
 In earth, yea in heaven, if thou seek it for itself, seeking thou 
 shall not find. 
 
 Happiness is a roadside flower, growing on the highways of 
 Usefulness, 
 
 Plucked, it shall wither in thy hand ; passed by, it is fra- 
 grance to thy spirit : 
 
 Love not thine own soul, regard not thine own weal, 
 Trample the thyme beneath thy feet ; be useful, and be 
 happy ! 
 
88 PROVERBIAL PHILOSOPHY. [series I. 
 
 Thus unto fair conclusions argueth generous youth, 
 
 And quickly he starteth on his course, knight-errant to do 
 good. 
 
 His sword is edged with arguments, his vizor terrible with 
 censures ; 
 
 He goeth full mailed in faith, and zeal is flaming at his 
 heart. 
 
 Yet one thing he lacketh, the Mentor of the mind, 
 
 The quiet whisper of Discretion — Thy time is not yet come. 
 For he smiteth an oppressor ; and vengeance for that smiting 
 Is dealt in double stripes on the faint body of the victim : 
 
 He is glad to give and to distribute ; and clamorous pauper- 
 ism feasteth, 
 
 While honest labor, pining, hideth his sharp ribs : 
 
 He challengeth to a fair field that subtle giant Infidelity, 
 
 And worsted in the unequal fight, strengtheneth the hands 
 of error : 
 
 He haste th to teach and preach, as the war-horse rusheth to 
 the battle, 
 
 And to pave a way for truth, would break up the Appenines 
 of prejudice : 
 
 He wearieth by stale proofs, where none looked for a reason, 
 And to the listening ear will urge the false argument of feel- 
 ing. 
 
 So hath it often been, that, judging by results, 
 
 The hottest friends of truth have done her deadliest wrong. 
 Alas ! for there are enemies without, glad enough to parley 
 with a traitor, 
 
 And a zealot will let down the drawbridge, to prove his own 
 prowess : 
 
 Yea, from within will he break away a breach in the citadel 
 of truth, 
 
 That he may fill the gap, for fame, with his own weak body. 
 
 Zeal without judgment is an evil, though it be zeal unto 
 good : 
 
SERIES I.J 
 
 OF DISCRETION. 
 
 Touch not the ark with unclean hand, yea, though It seem 
 to totter. 
 
 There are evil who work good, and there are good who work 
 evil, 
 
 And foolish backers of wisdom have brought on her many 
 reproaches. 
 
 Truth hath more than enough to combat in the minds of all 
 men, 
 
 For the mist of sense is a thick veil, and sin hath warped 
 their wills ; 
 
 Yet doth an officious helper awkwardly prevent her victory, — 
 
 These thy wounded hands were smitten in the house of 
 friends : — 
 
 To point out a meaning in her words, he will blot those 
 words with his finger ; 
 
 And winno v chaff into the eyes, before he hath wheat to 
 show : 
 
 He will heap sturdy logs on a faint expiring fire, 
 
 And with a room in flames, will cast the casement open ; 
 
 By a shoulder to the wheel downhill harasseth the laboring 
 beast, 
 
 And where obstruction were needed, will harm by an ill- 
 judged thrusting-on. 
 
 A vessel* foundereth at sea if a storm have unshipped the 
 rudder ; 
 
 And a mind with much sail shall require heavy ballast. 
 
 Take a lever by the middle, thou shalt seem to prove it pow- 
 erless, 
 
 Argue for truth indiscreetly, thou shalt toil for falsehood. 
 
 There is plenty of room for a peaceable man in the most 
 thronged assembly; 
 
 But a quarrelsome spirit is straitened in the open field : 
 
 Many a teacher, lacking judgment, hindereth his own les- 
 sons ; 
 
 And the savory mess of pottnge is spoiled by a bitter herb : 
 
 The garment woven of a piece is rashly torn by schism, 
 
90 PROVERBIAL PHILOSOPHY [series i. 
 
 Because its unwise claimants will not cast lots for its pos- 
 session. 
 
 Discretion guide thee on thy way, nobly-minded youth, 
 
 Help thee to humor infirmities, to wink at innocent errors, 
 
 To take small count of forms, to bear with prejudice and 
 fancy: 
 
 Discretion guard thine asking, discretion aid thine answer, 
 
 Teach thee that well-timed silence hath more eloquence 
 than speech, 
 
 Whisper thee, thou art Weakness, though thy cause be 
 strength, 
 
 And tell thee, the keystone of an arch can be loosened with 
 least labor from within. 
 
 The snows of Hecla lie around its troubled smoking Geysers , 
 
 Let the cool streams of prudence temper the hot spring of 
 zeal : 
 
 So shalt thou gain thine honorable end, nor lose the midway 
 prize, 
 
 So shall thy life be useful, and thy young heart happy. 
 
 OF TRIFLES. 
 
 Yet once more, saith the fool, yet once, and is it not a little 
 one I 
 
 Spare me this folly yet an hour, for what is one among so 
 many ? 
 
 And he blindeth his conscience with lies, and stupifieth his 
 heart with doubts ; — 
 
 Whom shall I harm in this matter? and a little ill breedeth 
 much good ; 
 
 My thoughts, are they not mine own? and they leave no 
 mark behind them; 
 
 And if God so pardoncth crime, how should these petty sins 
 alfect him ? — 
 
SERIES I.J 
 
 OF TRIFLES. 
 
 91 
 
 So he transgresseth yet again, and falleth by little and little, 
 
 Till the ground crumble beneath him, and he sinketh in the 
 gulf despairing. 
 
 For there is nothing in the earth so small that it may not 
 produce great things, 
 
 And no swerving from a right line, that may not lead eter- 
 nally astray. 
 
 A landmark tree was once a seed ; and the dust in the balance 
 maketh a difference ; 
 
 And the cairn is heaped high by each one flinging a pebble ; 
 
 The dangerous bar in the harbor’s mouth is only grains of 
 sand ; 
 
 And the shoal that hath wrecked a navy is the work of a 
 colony of worms : 
 
 Yea, and a despicable gnat may madden the mighty elephant; 
 
 And the living rock is worn by the diligent flow of the brook* 
 
 Little art thou, O man, and in trifles thou contendest with 
 thine equals, 
 
 For atoms must crowd upon atoms, ere crime groweth to be a 
 giant. 
 
 What, is thy servant a dog 1 — not yet wilt thou grasp the 
 
 dagger, 
 
 Not yet wilt thou laugh with the scoffers, not yet betray the 
 innocent ; 
 
 But if thou nourish in thy heart the reveries of injury or 
 passion, 
 
 And travel in mental heat the mazy labyrinths of guilt, 
 
 And then conceive it possible, and then reflect on it as done, 
 
 And use, by little and little, thyself to regard thyself a villain, 
 
 Not long will crime be absent from the voice that doth invoke 
 him to thy heart, 
 
 And bitterly wilt thou grieve, that the buds have ripened into 
 poison. 
 
 A spark is a molecule of matter, yet may it kindle the world ; 
 
 Vast is the mighty ocean, but drops have made it vast. 
 
92 
 
 PROVERBIAL PHILOSOPHY. [series i. 
 
 Despise not thou a small thing either for evil or for good ; 
 
 For a look may work thy ruin or a word create thy wealth : 
 
 The walking this way or that, the casual stopping or hasten- 
 ing, 
 
 Hath saved life, and destroyed it, hath cast down and built 
 up fortunes. 
 
 Commit thy trifles unto God, for to him is nothing trivial ; 
 
 And it is but the littles of man that seeth no greatness in a 
 trifle. 
 
 All things are infinite in parts, and the moral is as the ma- 
 terial, 
 
 Neither is anything vast, but it is compacted of atoms. 
 
 Thou art wise, and shall find comfort, if thou study thy 
 pleasure in trifles, 
 
 For slender joys, often repeated, fall as sunshine on the heart ; 
 
 Thou art wise, if thou beat off petty troubles, nor suffer their 
 stinging to fret thee ; 
 
 Thrust not thine hand among the thorns, but with a leathern 
 glove. 
 
 Regard nothing lightly which the wisdom of Providence hath 
 ordered ; 
 
 And therefore consider all things that happen unto thee or 
 unto others. 
 
 The warrior that stood against a host, may be pierced unto 
 death by a needle ; 
 
 And the saint that feareth not the fire, may perish the 
 victim of a thought : 
 
 A mote in the gunner’s eye is as bad as a spike in the gun ; 
 
 And the cable of a furlong is lost through an ill-wrought 
 inch. 
 
 The streams of small pleasures fill the lake of happiness: 
 
 And the deepest wretchedness of life is continuance of petty 
 pains. 
 
 A fool observeth nothing, and seemetli wise unto himself; 
 
 A wise man lieedetli all things, and in his own eyes is a 
 fool : 
 
SERIES I.J 
 
 OF RECREATION. 
 
 93 
 
 He that wondereth at nothing hath no capabilities of bliss ; 
 
 But he that scrutinizeth trifles hath a store of pleasure to 
 his hand. 
 
 If pestilence stalk through the land, ye say, This is God’s 
 doing ; 
 
 Is it not also His doing, when an aphis creepeth on a rose- 
 bud 7 — 
 
 If an avalanche roll from its Alp, ye tremble at the will of 
 Providence ; 
 
 Is not that will concerned when the sear leaves fall from the 
 poplar 7 — 
 
 A thing is great or little only to a mortal’s thinking, 
 
 But abstracted from the body, all things are alike impor- 
 tant : 
 
 The Ancient of Days noteth in his book the idle converse of 
 a creature, 
 
 And happy and wise is the man to whose thought existeth 
 not a trifle. 
 
 OF RECREATION. 
 
 To join advantage to amusement, to gather profit with plea- 
 sure, 
 
 Is the wise man’s necessary aim, when he lieth in the shade 
 of recreation. 
 
 For he cannot fling aside his mind, nor bar up the floodgates 
 of his wisdom ; 
 
 Yea, though he strain after folly, his mental monitor shall 
 check him : 
 
 For knowledge and ignorance alike have laws essential to 
 their being, — 
 
 The sage studieth amusements, and the simple laugheth in 
 his studies. 
 
 Few, but full of understanding, are the books of the library 
 of God, _ . 
 
94 PROVERBIAL PHILOSOPHY. [series i. 
 
 And fitting for all seasons arc the gain and the gladness they 
 bestow : 
 
 The volume of mystery and Grace, for the hour of deep com- 
 inunings, 
 
 When the soul .considereth intensely the startling marvel of 
 itself: 
 
 The book of destiny and Providence for the time of sober study, 
 
 When the mind gleaneth wisdom from the olive grove of 
 history : 
 
 And the cheerful pages of Nature, to gladden the pleasant 
 holiday, 
 
 When the task of duty is complete, and the heart swelleth 
 high with satisfaction. 
 
 The soul may not safely dwell too long with the deep things 
 of futurity ; 
 
 The mind may net always be bent back, like the Parthian, 
 straining at the past: ( J6 ) 
 
 And, if thou art wearied with wrestling on the broad ar£na 
 of science, 
 
 Leave awhile thy friendly foe, half vanquished in the dust, 
 
 Refresh thy jaded limbs, return with vigor to the strife, — 
 
 Thou shalt easier find thyself his master, for the vacant in- 
 terval of leisure. 
 
 That which may profit and amuse is gathered from the vo- 
 lume i i creation, 
 
 For every cnapter therein teemeth with the playfulness of 
 wisdom. 
 
 The elements of all things are the same, though nature hath 
 mixed them with a difference, 
 
 And Learning delighteth to discover the affinity of seeming 
 opposites : 
 
 So out of great things and small draweth he the secrets of 
 the universe, 
 
 And argueth the cycles of the stars, from a pebble flung by a 
 child. 
 
series i.J OF RECREATION. 95 
 
 [t is pleasant to note all plants, from the rush to the spread- 
 ing cedar, 
 
 From the giant king of palms, ( 17 ) to the lichen that staineth 
 its stem : 
 
 To watch the workings of instinct, that grosser reason of 
 brutes, — 
 
 The river-horse browsing in the jungle, the plover screaming 
 on the moor, 
 
 The cayman, basking on a mud-bank, and the walrus anchored 
 to an iceberg. 
 
 The dog at his master’s feet, and the milch-kine lowing in the 
 meadow ; 
 
 To trace the consummate skill that hath modelled the anato- 
 my of insects, 
 
 Small fowls that sun their wings on the petals of wild 
 flowers ; 
 
 To learn a use in the beetle, and more than a beauty in the 
 butterfly ; 
 
 To recognise affections in a moth, and look with admiration 
 on a spider. 
 
 It is glorious to gaze upon the firmament, and see from far 
 the mansions of the blest, 
 
 Each distant shining world, a kingdom for one of the redeemed; 
 
 To read the antique history of earth, stamped upon those 
 medals in the rocks, 
 
 Which Design hath rescued from decay, to tell of the green 
 infancy of time ; 
 
 To gather from the unconsidered shingle mottled starlike 
 agates, 
 
 Full of unstoried flowers in the bubbling bloom-chalcedony ; 
 
 Or gay and curious shells, fretted with microscopic carving, 
 
 Corallines, and fresh seaweeds, spreading forth their delicate 
 branches. 
 
 It is an admirable lore, to learn the cause in the change, 
 
 To study the chemistry of Nature, her grand, but simple 
 secrets. 
 
1 
 
 98 PROVERBIAL PHILOSOPHY. [series i. 
 
 To search out all her wonders, to track the resources of her 
 skill, 
 
 To note her kind compensations, her unobtrusive excellence. 
 
 In all it is wise happiness to see the well-ordained laws of 
 Jehovah, 
 
 The harmony that filleth all his mind, the justice that tem- 
 pereth his bounty, 
 
 The wonderful all-prevalent analogy that testifieth one 
 Creator, 
 
 The broad arrow of the Great King, carved on all the stores 
 of his arsenal. 
 
 But beware, O worshipper of God, thou forget not him in 
 his dealings, 
 
 Though the bright emanations of his power hide him in cre- 
 ated glory ; 
 
 For if, on the sea of knowledge, thou regardest not the pole- 
 star of religion, 
 
 Thy bark will miss her port, and run upon the sand-bar of 
 folly : 
 
 And if, enamored of the means, thou considerest not the 
 scope to which they tend, 
 
 Wherein art thou wiser than the child, that is pleased with 
 toys and baubles J 
 
 Verily, a trilling scholar, thou heedest but the letter of in- 
 struction : 
 
 For as motive is spirit unto action, as memory endeareth place. 
 
 As the sun doth fertilize the earth, as affection quickenetli 
 the heart, 
 
 So is the remembrance of God in the varied wonders of 
 creation. 
 
 Man hath found out inventions, to cheat him of the weari- 
 ness of life, 
 
 To help him forget realities, and hide the misery of guilt. 
 
 For love of praise, and hope of gain, for passion and delusive 
 happiness, 
 
series i.J OF RECREATION. 97 
 
 He joineth the circle of folly, and heapeth on the fire of ex- 
 citement ; 
 
 Oftentimes sadly out of heart at the tiresome insipidity of 
 pleasure, 
 
 Oftentimes laboring in vain, convinced of the palpable deceit : 
 
 Yet a man speaketh to his brother, in the voice of glad con- 
 gratulation, 
 
 And thinketh others happy, though he himself be wretched : 
 
 And hand joineth hand to help in the toil of amusement, 
 
 While the secret aching heart is vacant of all but disappoint- 
 ment. 
 
 The cheapest pleasures are the best ; and nothing is more 
 costly than sin ; 
 
 Yet we mortgage futurity, counting it but little loss: 
 
 Neither can a man delight in that which breedeth sorrow, 
 
 Yet do we hunt for joy even in the fires that consume it. 
 
 Whoso would find gladness may meet her in the hovel of 
 poverty, 
 
 Where benevolence hath scattered around the gleanings of 
 the horn of plenty ; 
 
 Whoso would sun himself in peace, may be seen of her in 
 deads of mercy, 
 
 When the pale lean cheek of the destitute is wet with grate- 
 ful tears, 
 
 If the mind is wearied by study, or the body worn with sick- 
 ness, 
 
 It is well to lie fallow for awhile, in the vacancy of sheer 
 amusement ; 
 
 But when thou prosperest in health, and thine intellect can 
 soar untired, 
 
 To seek uninstructive pleasure is to slumber on the couch of 
 , indolence. 
 
 9 
 
98 PROVERBIAL PHILOSOPHY. [series i. 
 
 THE TRAIN OF RELIGION. 
 
 Stay awhile, thou blessed band, be entreated, daughters of 
 heaven ! 
 
 While the chance-met scholar of Wisdom learneth your 
 sacred names : 
 
 He is resting a little from his toil, yet a little on the borders 
 of earth, 
 
 And fain would he have you his friends, to bid him glad 
 welcome hereafter. 
 
 Who among the glorious art thou, that walkest a Goddess 
 and a Queen, 
 
 Thy crown of living stars, and a golden cross thy sceptre 7 
 
 Who among flowers of loveliness is she, thy seeming herald, 
 
 Yet she boasteth not thee nor herself, and her garments are 
 plain in their neatness 7 
 
 Wherefore is there one among the train, whose eyes are red 
 with weeping, 
 
 Yet is her open forehead beaming with the sun of ecstasy 7 
 
 And who is that blood-stained warrior, with glory sitting on 
 his crest 7 
 
 And who, that solemn sage, calm in majestic dignity 7 
 
 Also, in the lengthening troop see I some clad in robes of 
 triumph, 
 
 Whose fair and sunny faces I have known and loved on 
 earth : 
 
 Welcome, ye glorified Loves, Graces, and Sciences, and 
 Muses, 
 
 That, like sisters of charity, tended in this world’s hospital ; 
 
 Welcome, for verily I knew, ye could not but be children of 
 the light, 
 
 Though earth hath soiled your robes, and robbed you of half j 
 your glory ; 
 
series i.J THE TRAIN OF RELIGION. 99 
 
 Welcome, chiefly welcome, for I find I have friends in 
 heaven, 
 
 And some I might scarce have looked for, as thou, light- 
 hearted Mirth ; 
 
 Thou also, star-robed Urania ; and thou, with the curious glass, 
 
 That rejoicedst in tracking wisdom where the eye was too 
 dull to note it : 
 
 And art thou, too, among the blessed, mild, much-injured 
 Poetry ? 
 
 Who quickenest with light and beauty the leaden face of 
 matter, 
 
 Who not unheard, though silent, fillest earth’s gardens with 
 music, 
 
 And not unseen, though a spirit, dost look down upon us 
 from the stars, — 
 
 That hast been to me for oil and for wine, to cheer and up- 
 hold my soul, 
 
 When wearied, battling with the surge, the stunning surge 
 of life : 
 
 Of thee, for well have I loved thee, of thee may I ask in hope, 
 
 Who among the glorious is she, that walketh a Goddess and 
 a Uueen 1 
 
 And who that fair-haired herald, and who that weeping 
 saint 1 
 
 And who that mighty warrior, and who that solemn sage ? 
 
 Son, happy art thou that Wisdom hath led thee hitherward : 
 
 For otherwise never hadst thou known the joy-giving name 
 of our Queen ; 
 
 Behold her, the life of men, the anchor of their shipwrecked 
 hopes : 
 
 Behold her, the shepherdess of souls, who bringeth back the 
 wanderers to God. 
 
 And for that modest herald, she is named on earth, Humility: 
 
 And hast thou not known, my son, the tearful face of Re- 
 pentance 1 
 
100 PROVERBIAL PHILOSOPHY. [series i. 
 
 Faith is yon time-scarred hero, walking in the shade of his 
 laurels ; 
 
 And Reason, the serious sage, who followeth the footsteps 
 of Faith; 
 
 And we, all we, are but handmaids, ministers of minor bliss, 
 
 Who rejoice to be counted servants in the train of a Queen 
 so glorious. 
 
 But for her name, son of man, it is strange to the language 
 of heaven, 
 
 For those who have never fallen need not and may not 
 learn it : 
 
 Ligeance we sware to our God, and ligeance well have we 
 kept ; 
 
 It is only the band of the redeemed who can tell thee the ful- 
 ness of that name : ( 18 ) 
 
 Yet will I comfort thee, my son, for the love wherewith thou 
 hast loved me, 
 
 And thou shalt touch for thyself the golden sceptre of Reli- 
 gion. 
 
 So that blessed train passed by me ; but the vision was 
 sealed upon my soul ; 
 
 And its memory is shrined in fragrance, for the promise of 
 the Spirit was true : 
 
 I learn from the silent poem of all creation round me, 
 
 How beautiful their feet, who follow in that train. 
 
 OF A TRINITY. (»») 
 
 Despise not, shrewd reckoner, the God of a good man’s 
 worship, 
 
 Neither let thy calculating folly gainsay the unity of three ; 
 Nor scorn another’s creed, although he cannot solve thy 
 doubts ; 
 
series I.J OF A TRINITY. 101 
 
 Reason is the follower of faith, where he may not be pre- 
 cursor : 
 
 It is written, and so we believe, waiting not for outward 
 proof, 
 
 Inasmuch as mysteries inscrutable are the clear prerogatives 
 of Godhead. 
 
 Reason hath nothing positive faith hath nothing doubtful ; 
 
 And the height of unbelieving wisdom is to question all 
 things. 
 
 When there is marvel in a doctrine, faith is joyful and 
 adoreth ; 
 
 But when all is clear, what place is left for faith 1 
 
 Tell me the sum of thy knowledge, — is it yet assured of any- 
 thing 7 
 
 Despise nqi what is wonderful, when all things are wonder- 
 ful around thee 
 
 From the multitude of like effects, thou sayest, behold a law : 
 
 And the matter thou art baffled in unmaking, is to thy mind 
 an element. 
 
 Then look abroad I pray thee, for analogy holdeth every- 
 where, 
 
 And the Maker hath stamped his name on every creature of 
 his hand : 
 
 I know not of a matter or a spirit, that is not three in one, 
 
 And truly should account it for a marvel, a coin without the 
 image of its Caesar. 
 
 Man talketh of himself as ignorant, but judgeth by himself 
 as wise : 
 
 His own guess counteth he truth, but the notions of another 
 are his scorn ; 
 
 But bear thou yet with a brother, whose thought may be 
 less subtle than thine own, 
 
 And suffer the passing speculation suggested by analogies to 
 faith. 
 
 Like begetteth like, and the great sea of Existence 
 9 * 
 
102 PROVERBIAL PHILOSOPHY. [series i. 
 
 In each of its uncounted waves holdeth up a mirror to its 
 Maker : 
 
 Like hegetteth like, and the spreading tree of being 
 With each of its trefoil leaves pointeth at the trinity of God. 
 Let him whose eyes have been unfilmed, read this homily in 
 all things, 
 
 And thou, of duller sight, despise not him that readeth : 
 
 There be three grand principles ; life, generation, and obedi- 
 ence ; 
 
 Shadowing in every creature, the Spirit, and the Father, and 
 the Son. 
 
 There be three grand unities, variously mixed in trinities, 
 Three catholic divisors of the million sums of matter : 
 
 Yea, though science hath not seen it, climbing the ladder of 
 experiment, 
 
 Let faith, in the presence of her God, promulgate the mighty 
 truth. 
 
 Of three sole elements all nature’s works consist : 
 
 The pine, and the rock to which it clingeth, and the eagle 
 sailing round it ; 
 
 The lion, and the northern whale, and the deeps wherein he 
 sporteth ; 
 
 The lizard sleeping in the sun ; the lightning flashing from a 
 cloud ; 
 
 The rose, and the ruby, and the pearl ; each one is made of 
 three ; 
 
 And the three be the like ingredients, mingled in diverse 
 measures. 
 
 Thyself hast within thyself body, and life, and mind : 
 
 Matter, and breath, and instinct, unite in all the beasts of the 
 field ; 
 
 Substance, coherence, and weight, fashion the fabrics of the 
 earth ; 
 
 The will, the doing, and the deed, combine to frame a fact: 
 The stem, the leaf, and the flower ; beginning, middle, and 
 end ; 
 
103 
 
 series i.J OF A TRINITY. 
 
 Cause, circumstance, consequent ; and every three is one. 
 Yea, the very breath of man’s life consisteth of a trinity of 
 vapors, 
 
 And the noonday light is a compound, the triune shadow of 
 Jehovah. (*>) 
 
 Shall all things else be in mystery, and God alone be under- 
 stood ? 
 
 Shall finite fathom infinity, though it sound not the shallows 
 of creation ? 
 
 Shall a man comprehend his Maker, being yet a riddle to 
 himself? 
 
 Or time teach the lesson that eternity cannot master? 
 
 If God be nothing more than one, a child can compass the 
 thought ; 
 
 But seraphs fail to unravel the wondrous unity of three. 
 
 One verily He is, for there can be but one who is all mighty; 
 
 Yet the oracles of nature and religion proclaim Him three in 
 one. 
 
 And where were the value to thy soul, O miserable denizen 
 of earth, 
 
 Of the idle pageant of the cross, where hung no sacrifice for 
 thee ? 
 
 Where the worth to thine impotent heart, of that stirred 
 Bethesda, 
 
 All numbed and palsied as it is, by the scorpion stings of sin ? 
 
 No, thy trinity of nature, enchained by treble death, 
 
 Helplessly craveth of its God, himself for three salvations : 
 
 The soul to be,reconciled in love, the mind to be glorified in 
 light. 
 
 While this poor dying body leapeth into life. 
 
 And if indeed for us all the costly ransom hath been paid, 
 
 Bethink thee, could less than Deity have owned so vast a 
 treasure ? 
 
 Could a man contend with God, and stand against the bosses 
 of his buckler, 
 
104 PROVERBIAL PHILOSOPHY. [series i. 
 
 Rendering the balance for guilt, atonement to the uttermost 7 
 
 Thou art subtle to thine own thinking, but wisdom judgeth 
 thee a fool, 
 
 Resolving thou wilt not bow the knee to a Being thou canst 
 not comprehend : 
 
 The mind that could compass perfection were itself perfec- 
 tion’s equal ; 
 
 And reason refuseth its homage to a God who can be fully 
 understood. 
 
 Thou that despisest mystery, yet canst expound nothing, 
 
 Wherefore rejectest thou the fact that solveth the enigma of 
 all things 7 
 
 Wherefore veilest thou thine eyes, lest the light of revelation 
 sun them, 
 
 And puttest aside the key that would open the casket of truth 7 
 
 The mind and the nature of God is shadowed in all his works, 
 
 And none could have guessed of his essence, had He not 
 uttered it himself; 
 
 Therefore, thou child of folly, that scornest the record of his 
 wisdom, 
 
 Learn from the consistencies of nature the needful miracle 
 of Godhead : 
 
 Yea, let the heathen be thy teacher, who adoreth many gods, 
 
 For there is no wide-spread error that hath not truth for its 
 beginning. 
 
 Be content ; thine eye cannot see all the sides of a cube at 
 one view, 
 
 Nor thy mind in the self-same moment follow two ideas i 
 
 There are now many marvels in thy creed, believing what 
 thou seest, 
 
 Then let not the conceit of intellect hinder thee from wor- 
 shipping mystery. 
 
series i.J OF THINKING. 105 
 
 OF THINKING. 
 
 Reflection is a flower of the mind, giving out wholesome 
 fragrance, 
 
 But reverie is the same flower, when rank and running to seed. 
 
 Better to read little with thought, than much with levity and 
 quickness ; 
 
 For mind is not as merchandise, which decreaseth in the 
 using, 
 
 But liker to the passions of man, which rejoice and expand 
 in exertion : 
 
 Yet live not wholly on thine own ideas, lest they lead thee 
 astray ; 
 
 For in spirit, as in substance, thou art a social creature; 
 
 And if thou leanest on thyself, thou rejectedst the guidance 
 of thy betters, 
 
 Yea, thou contemnestall men, — Am I not wiser than they 1 — 
 
 Foolish vanity hath blinded thee, and warped thy weak 
 judgment ; 
 
 For, though new ideas flow from new springs, and enrich 
 the treasury of knowledge, 
 
 Yet listen often, ere thou think much ; and look around thee 
 ere thou judgest. 
 
 Memory, the daughter of Attention, is the teeming mother 
 of Wisdom, 
 
 And safer is he that storeth knowledge, than he that would 
 make it for himself. 
 
 Imagination is not thought, neither is fancy reflection: 
 
 Thought paceth like a hoary sage, but imagination hath 
 wings as an eagle ; 
 
 Reflection sternly considereth, nor is sparing to condemn evil, 
 
 But fancy lightly laugheth, in the sun-clad gardens of amuse- 
 ment. 
 
106 PROVERBIAL PHILOSOPHY. [series i. 
 
 For the shy game of the fowler the quickest shot is the surest ; 
 
 But with slow care and measured aim the gunner pointeth 
 his cannon : 
 
 So for all less occasions, the surface-thought is best, 
 
 But to be master of the great take thou heavier metal. 
 
 It is a good thing, and a wholesome, to search out bosom sius, 
 
 But to be the hero of selfish imaginings, is the subtle poison 
 of pride : 
 
 At night, in the stillness of thy chamber, guard and curb thy 
 thoughts, 
 
 And in recounting the doings of the day, beware that thou 
 do it with prayer, 
 
 Or thinking will be an idle pleasure, and retrospect yield no 
 fruit. 
 
 Steer the bark of thy mind from the syren isle of reverie, 
 
 And let a watchful spirit mingle with the glance of recollec- 
 tion : 
 
 Also, in examining thine heart, in sounding the fountain 
 of thine actions, 
 
 Be more careful of the evil than of the good ; and humble 
 thyself in thy sin. 
 
 The root of all wholesome thought is knowledge of thyself, 
 
 For thus only canst thou learn the character of God toward 
 thee. 
 
 He made thee, and thou art ; he redeemed thee, and thou 
 wilt be : 
 
 Thou art evil, yet he loveth thee ; thcu sinnest, yet he par- 
 doneth thee. 
 
 Though triou canst not perceive him, yet is he in all his 
 works, 
 
 Infinite in grand outline, infinite in minute perfection: 
 
 Nature is the chart of God, mapping out all his attributes ; 
 
 Art is the shadow of his wisdom, and copietli his resources. 
 
 Thou k no west the laws of matter to be emanations of his 
 will, 
 
series i.J OF THINKING. 107 
 
 And thy best reason for aught is this, — thou, Lord, wouldst 
 have it so. 
 
 Yea, what is any lav/ but an absolute decree of God 7 
 
 > Or the properties of matter and mind, but the arbitrary fiats 
 of Jehovah 7 
 
 He made and ordained necessity; he forged the chain of 
 reason ; 
 
 And holdeth in his own right hand the first of the golden 
 links. 
 
 A fool re§ardeth mind as the spiritual essence of matter, 
 
 And not rather matter as the gross accident of mind. 
 
 Can finite govern infinite, or a part exceed the whole, 
 
 Or the wisdom of God sit down at the feet of innate necessity 7 
 
 Necessity is a creature of his hand : for He can never change ; 
 
 And chance hath no existence where everything is needful. 
 
 Canst thou measure Omnipotence, canst thou conceive 
 Ubiquity, 
 
 Which guideth the meanest reptile, and quickeneth the 
 brightest seraph, 
 
 Which steereth the particles of dust, and commandeth the 
 path of the comet 7 
 
 To him all things are equal, for all things are necessary. 
 
 The smith is weary at his forge, and v/eldeth the metal care- 
 lessly, 
 
 And the anchor breaketh in its bed ; and the vessel founder- 
 eth with her crew : 
 
 A word of anger is muttered, engendering the midnight mur- 
 der: 
 
 The sun bursteth from a cloud, and maddeneth the toiling 
 husbandman. 
 
 Shall these things be, and God not know it? 
 
 Shall he know, and not be in them 7 shall he see, and not be 
 among them 7 
 
 And how can they be otherwise than as he knoweth 7 
 
 Truly, the Lord is in all things ; verily, he worketh in all. 
 
108 PROVERBIAL PHILOSOPHY. [series i. 
 
 Think thus, and thy thoughts are firm, ascribing each cir- 
 cumstance to Him ; 
 
 Yet know surely, and believe the truth, that God willeth not 
 evil : 
 
 For adversities are blessings in disguise, and wickedness the 
 Lord abhorreth ; 
 
 That He is in all things is an axiom, and that he is righteous 
 in all : 
 
 Ascribe holiness to Him, while thou musest on the mystery 
 of sin, 
 
 For infinite can grasp that which finite cannot compass. 
 
 In works of art, think justly : what praise canst thou render 
 unto man 1 
 
 For he made not his own mind, nor is he the source of con- 
 trivance. 
 
 If a cunning workman make an engine that fashioneth 
 curious works, 
 
 Which hath the praise, the machine or its maker — the 
 engine, or he that framed it 1 
 
 And could he frame it so subtly as to give it a will and free- 
 dom, 
 
 Endow it with complicated powers, and a glorious living soul, 
 
 Who, while he admireth the wondrous unde/standing crea- 
 ture, 
 
 Will not pay deeper homage to the Maker of master minds 1 
 
 Otherwise, thou art senseless as the pagan, that adoreth his 
 own handiwork : 
 
 Yea, while thou boastest of thy wisdom, thy mind is as the 
 mind of the savage, 
 
 For he fcoweth down to his idols, and thou art a worshipper 
 of self, 
 
 Giving to the reasoning machine the credit due to its creator. 
 
 The keystone of thy mind, to give thy thoughts solidity, 
 
 To bind them as in an arch, to fix them as a world in its sphere, 
 
series i.J OF THINKING. 109 
 
 Is to learn from the book of the Lord, to drink from the well 
 of his wisdom. 
 
 Who can condense the sun, or analyse the fulness of the 
 Bible, 
 
 So that its ideas be gathered, and the harvest of its wisdom 
 be brought in 1 
 
 That book is easy to the man who setteth his heart to under- 
 stand it, 
 
 But to the careless and profane it shall seem the foolishness 
 of God ; 
 
 And it is a delicate test to prove thy moral state ; 
 
 To the humble disciple it is bread, but a scone to the proud 
 and unbelieving: 
 
 A scorner shall find nothing but the husks, wherewith to 
 feed his hunger. 
 
 But for the soul of the simple, it is plenty of full-ripe wheat. 
 
 The Scripture abideth the same in the sobpr majesty of truth ; 
 
 And the differing aspects of its teaching proceed from diver- 
 sity in minds. 
 
 He that would learn to think may gain that knowledge there ; 
 
 For the living word, as an angel, standetli at the gate of wis- 
 dom, 
 
 And publisheth, This is the way, walk ye surely in it. 
 
 Religion taketh by the hand the humble pupil of repentance, 
 
 And teacheth him lessons of mystery, solving the questions 
 of doubt ; 
 
 She maketh man worthy of himself, of his high prerogative 
 of reason. 
 
 Whreadeth all the labyrinths of thought, and leadeth him to 
 his God. 
 
 Come hither, child of meditation, upon whose high fair fore- 
 head 
 
 Glittereth the star of mind in its unearthly l ustre, 
 
 Hast thou naught to tell us of thine airy joys, — 
 
 When borne on sinewy pinions, strong as the western condor, 
 10 
 
110 PROVERBIAL PHILOSOPHY. [series i. 
 
 The soul, after soaring for a while round the cloud-capped 
 Andes of reflection, 
 
 Glad in its conscious immortality, leaveth a world behind, 
 
 To dare at one bold flight the broad Atlantic to another ? 
 Hast thou no secret pangs to whisper common men, 
 
 No dread of thine own energies, still active, day and night, 
 Lest too ecstatic heat sublime thyself away, 
 
 Or vivid horrors, sharp and clear, madden thy tense fibres ? 
 In half-shaped visions of sleep hast thou not feared thy flit 
 tings, 
 
 Lest reason, like a raking hawk, return not to thy call ; 
 
 Nor waked to work-day life with throbbing head and heart, 
 Nor welcomed early dawn to save thee from unrest ? 
 
 For the wearied spirit lieth as a fainting maiden, 
 
 Captive and borne away on the warrior’s foam-covered steed, 
 And sinketh down wounded, as a gladiator on the sand, 
 While the keen falchion of Intellect is cutting through the 
 scabbard of the brain. 
 
 Imagination, like a shadowy giant looming on the twilight 
 of the Hartz, 
 
 Shall overwhelm Judgment with affright, and scare him from 
 his throne : 
 
 In a dream thou mayst be mad, and feel the fire within thee ; 
 In a dream thou mayst travel out of self, and see thee with 
 the eyes of another ; 
 
 Or sleep in thine own corpse ; or wake as in many bodies : 
 Or swell, as expanded to infinity ; or shrink, as imprisoned to 
 a point ; 
 
 Or among moss-grown ruins may wander with the sullen 
 disembodied, 
 
 And gaze upon their glassy eyes until thy heart-blood freeze. 
 
 Alone must thou stand, O man ! alone at the bar of judg- 
 ment ; 
 
 Alone must thou bear thy sentence, alone must thou answer 
 for thy deeds : 
 
series i.] OF THINKING. Ill 
 
 Therefore it is well thou retirest often to secresy ami soli- 
 tude, 
 
 To feel that thou art accountable separately from thy fellows : 
 
 For a crowd hideth truth from the eyes, society drowneth 
 thought, 
 
 And, being but one among many, stifleth the chidings of 
 conscience. 
 
 Solitude bringeth woe to the wicked, for his crimes are told 
 out in his ear; 
 
 But addeth peace to the good, for the mercies of his God are 
 numbered. 
 
 Thou mayst know if it be well with a man, — loveth he gaiety 
 or solitude 7 
 
 For the troubled river rusheth to the sea, but the calm lake 
 slumbereth among the mountains. 
 
 How dear to the mind of the sage are the thoughts that are 
 bred in loneliness, 
 
 For there is as it were music at his heart, and he talketh 
 within him as with friends : 
 
 But guilt maddeneth the brain, and terror glareth in the eye, 
 
 Where, in his solitary cell, the malefactor wrestleth with 
 remorse. 
 
 Give me but a lodge in the wilderness, drop me on an island 
 in the desert, 
 
 And thought shall yield me happiness, though I may not in- 
 crease it by imparting: 
 
 For the soul never slumbereth, but is as the eye of the Eter- 
 nal, 
 
 And mind, the breath of God, knoweth not ideal vacuity . 
 
 At night, after weariness and watching, the body siuketh 
 into sleep, 
 
 But the mental eye is awake, and thou reasonest in thy 
 dreams : 
 
 In a dream thou mayest live a life-time, and all be forgotten 
 in the morning : 
 
 Even such is life, and so soon perisheth its memory. 
 
112 
 
 PROVERBIAL PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 [SERIES I. 
 
 OF SPEAKING. 
 
 Speech is the golden harvest that followeth the flowering 
 of thought ; 
 
 Yet oftentimes runneth it to husk, and the grains be withered 
 and scanty ; 
 
 Speech is reason’s brother, and a kingly prerogative of man, 
 
 That likeneth him to his Maker, who spake, and it was done : 
 
 Spirit may mingle with spirit, but sense requiretha symbol ; 
 
 And speech is the body of a thought, without which it were 
 not seen. 
 
 When thou walkest, musing with thyself, in the green aisles 
 of the forest, 
 
 Utter thy thinkings aloud, that they take a shape and being ; 
 
 For he that pondereth in silence crowdeth the storehouse of 
 his mind, 
 
 And though he hath heaped great riches, yet is he hindered 
 in the using. 
 
 A man that speaketh too little, and thinketh much and 
 deeply, 
 
 Corrodeth his own heart-strings, and keepeth back good from 
 his fellows : 
 
 A man that speaketh too much, and museth but little and 
 lightly, 
 
 Wasteth his mind in words, and is counted a fool among 
 men ; 
 
 But thou, when thou hast thought, weave charily the web of 
 meditation, 
 
 And clothe the ideal spirit in the suitable garments of speech. I 
 
 Uttered out of time, or concealed in its season, good savor- 
 eth of evil ; 
 
 To be secret looketh like guilt, to speak out may breed con- 
 tention : 
 
series i.] OF SPEAKING. 113 
 
 Often have I known the honest heart, flaming with indignant 
 virtue, 
 
 Provoke unneeded war by its rash ambassador the tongue : 
 Often have I seen the charitable man go so slily on his mis- 
 sion, 
 
 That those who met him in the twilight, took him for a 
 skulking thief: 
 
 I have heard the zealous youth telling out his holy secrets 
 Before a swinish throng, who mocked him as he spake ; 
 
 And I considered, his openness was hardening them that 
 mocked, 
 
 Whereas, a judicious keeping-back might have won their 
 sympathy ; 
 
 I have judged rashly and hardly the hand liberal in the dark, 
 Because in the broad daylight it hath holden it a virtue to be 
 close ; 
 
 And the silent tongue have I condemned, because reserve 
 hath chained it, 
 
 That it hid, yea from a brother, the kindness it had done by 
 comforting. 
 
 No need to sound a trumpet, but less to hush a footfall : 
 
 Do thou thy good openly, not as though the doing were a 
 crime. 
 
 Secresy goeth cowled, and Honesty demandeth wherefore 7 
 For he judgeth,— judgeth he not well 7 — that nothing need be 
 hid but guilt ; 
 
 Why should thy good be evil spoken of through thine un- 
 righteous silence ; 
 
 If thou art challenged, speak, and prove the good thou doest. 
 The free example of benevolence, unobtruded, yet unhidden, 
 Soundeth in the ears of sloth, Go, and do thou likewise : 
 
 And I wot the hypocrite’s sin to be of darker dye, 
 
 Because the good man, fearing, thereby hideth his light : 
 
 But neither God nor man hath bid thee cloak thy good, 
 
 When a seasonable word won id set thee in thy sphere, that 
 all might see thy brightness, 
 
 10 * 
 
114 PROVERBIAL PHILOSOPHY. [series i. 
 
 Ascribe the honor to thy Lord, but be thou jealous of that 
 honor. 
 
 Nor think it light and worthless, because thou mayst not wear 
 it for thyself: 
 
 Remember thy grand prerogative is free unshackled utter- 
 ance, 
 
 And sutler not the floodgates of secresy to lock the full river 
 of thy speech. 
 
 Come, I will show thee an affliction, unnumbered among this 
 world’s sorrows, 
 
 Yet real and wearisome and constant, embittering the cup of 
 life. 
 
 There be, who can think within themselves, and the fire 
 burneth at their heart, 
 
 And eloquence waiteth at their lips, yet they speak not with 
 their tongue ; 
 
 There be, whom zeal quickeneth, or slander stirreth to reply, 
 
 Or need constraineth to ask, or pity sendeth as her messen- 
 gers, 
 
 But nervous dread and sensitive shame freeze the current of 
 their speech ; 
 
 The mouth is sealed as with lead, a cold weight presseth on 
 the heart, 
 
 The mocking promise of power is once more broken in per- 
 formance, 
 
 And they stand impotent of words, travailing with unborn 
 thoughts : 
 
 Courage is cowed at the portal : wisdom is widowed of utter- 
 ance ; 
 
 He that went to comfort is pitied ; he that should rebuke, is 
 silent. 
 
 And fools who might listen and learn, stand by to look and 
 laugh ; 
 
 While friends, with kinder eyes, wound deeper by compas- 
 sion, 
 
SERIES I.J 
 
 OF SPEAKING. 
 
 115 
 
 And thought, finding not a vent, sinouldereth, gnawing at the 
 heart, 
 
 And the man sinketh in his sphere, for lack of empty sounds. 
 
 There be many cares and sorrows thou hast not yet consi 
 dered, 
 
 And well may thy soul rejoice in the fair privilege of speech; 
 
 For at 6 very turn to want a word, — thou canst not guess that 
 want ; 
 
 ! It is as lack of breath or bread : life hath no grief more gall- 
 ing. 
 
 Come, I will tell thee of a joy, which the parasites of plea- 
 sure have not known, 
 
 Though earth and air and sea have gorged all the appetites 
 of sense. 
 
 Behold, what fire is in his eye, what fervor on his cheek'? 
 
 That glorious burst of winged words ! — how bound they from 
 liis tongue ! 
 
 The full expression of the mighty thought, the strong tri- 
 umphant argument, 
 
 The rush of native eloquence, resistless as Niagara, 
 
 The keen demand, the clear reply, the fine poetic image, 
 
 The nice analogy, the clenching fact, the metaphor bold and 
 free, 
 
 The grasp of concentrated intellect wielding the omnipotence 
 of truth, 
 
 The grandeur of his speech, in his majesty of mind ! 
 
 Champion of the right, — patriot, or priest, or pleader of the 
 innocent cause, 
 
 Upon whose lips the mystic bee hath dropped the honey of 
 persuasion, (21) 
 
 Whose heart and tongue have been touched, as of old, by 
 the live coal froi**. the altar, 
 
 IIow wide the spreading of thy peace, how deep the draught 
 of thy pleasures ! 
 
 To h >ld the multitude as one, breathing in measured cadence, 
 
116 PRC VERBIAL PHILOSOPHY. [series i. 
 
 A thousand men with flashing eyes, waiting upon thy will ; 
 
 A thousand hearts kindled by thee with consecrated fire, 
 
 Ten flaming spiritual hecatombs offered on the mount of 
 God : 
 
 And now a pause, a thrilling pause, — they live but in thy 
 words, — 
 
 Thou hast broken the bounds of self, as the Nile at its rising. 
 
 Thou art expanded into them, one faith, one hope, one spirit, 
 
 They breathe but in thy breath, their minds are passive unto 
 thine, 
 
 Thou turnest the key of their love, bending their affections to 
 thy purpose, 
 
 And all, in sympathy with thee, tremble with tumultuous 
 emotions. 
 
 Verily, O man, with truth for thy theme, eloquence shall 
 throne thee with archangels. 
 
 OF READING. 
 
 One drachma for a good book, and a thousand talents for a 
 true friend : — 
 
 So standeth the market where scarce is ever costly : 
 
 Yea, were the diamonds of Golconda common as shingles on 
 the shore, 
 
 A ripe apple would ransom kings before a shining stone : 
 
 And so, were a wholesome book as rare as an honest friend, 
 
 To choose the book be mine: the friend let another take. 
 
 For altered looks and jealousies and fears have none entrance 
 there : 
 
 The silent volume listeneth well, and speaketh when thou 
 listest : 
 
 It praiseth thy good without envy, it chideth thine evil with- 
 out malice, 
 
 It is to thee tliy waiting slave, and thine unbending teacher. 
 
 Need to humoV no cd price, need to bear with no infirmity, 
 
series i.] OF READING. 117 
 
 Thy sin, thy slander, or neglect, chilleth not, quenchetli not, 
 its love ; 
 
 Unalterably speaketh it the truth, warped nor by error nor 
 interest ; 
 
 For a good book is the best of friends, the same to-day and 
 for ever. 
 
 To draw thee out of seif, thy petty plans and cautions, 
 
 To teach thee what thou lackest, to tell thee how largely thou 
 art blest, 
 
 To lure thy thought from sorrow, to feed thy famished mind, 
 
 To graft another’s wisdom on thee, pruning thine own folly, 
 
 Choose discreetly, and well digest the volume most suited to 
 thy case, 
 
 Touching not religion with levity, nor deep things when thou 
 art wearied. 
 
 Thy mind is freshened by morning air, grapple with science 
 and philosophy; 
 
 Noon hath unnerved thy thoughts, dream for awhile on 
 fictions ; 
 
 Grey evening sobereth thy spirit, walk thou then with wor- 
 shippers ; 
 
 But reason shall dig deepest in the night.and fancy fly most free. 
 
 O books, ye monuments of mind, concrete wisdom of the 
 wisest ; 
 
 Sweet solaces of daily life ; proofs and results of immortality ; 
 
 Trees yielding all fruits, whose leaves are for the healing of 
 the nations ; 
 
 Groves of knowledge, where all may eat, nor fear a flaming 
 sword ; 
 
 Gentle comrades, kind advisers; friends, comforts, treasures: 
 
 Helps, governments, diversities of tongues ; who can weigh 
 your worth 1 — 
 
 To walk no longer with the just ; to be driven from the porch 
 of science; 
 
118 
 
 PROVERBIAL PHILOSOPHY. [series i. 
 
 To bid a long adieu to those intimate ones, poets, philoso- 
 phers, and teachers ; 
 
 To see no record of the sympathies which bind thee in com- 
 munion with the good ; 
 
 To be thrust from the feet of Him, who spake as never man 
 spake ; 
 
 To have no avenue to heaven but the dim aisle of superstition ; 
 
 To live as an Esquimaux, in lethargy ; to die as the Mohawk, 
 in ignorance : 
 
 O what were life, but a blank 1 what were death hut a terror 1 
 
 What were man, but a burden to himself 1 what were mind, 
 but misery 1 
 
 Yea, let another Omar burn the full library of knowledge, ( 22 ) 
 
 And the broad world may perish in the flames, offered on the 
 ashes of its wisdom ! 
 
 OF WRITING. 
 
 The pen of a ready writer, whereunto shall it be likened 1 
 
 Ask of the scholar, he shall know, — to the chains that bind 
 a Proteus : 
 
 Ask of the poet, he shall say, — to the sun, the lamp of 
 heaven ; 
 
 Ask of thy neighbor, he can answer, — to the friend that tell- 
 eth my thought: 
 
 The merchant considereth it well, as a ship freighted with 
 wares ; 
 
 The divine holdeth it a miracle, giving utterance to the dumb. 
 
 It fixeth, expoundeth, and disseminateth sentiment ; 
 
 Chaining up a thought, clearing it of mystery, and sending it 
 bright into the world. 
 
 To think rightly is of knowledge ; to speak fluently, is of 
 nature ; 
 
 To read with profit, is of care : but to write aptly, is of prac- 
 tice. 
 
series i.J OF WRITING. 119 
 
 No talent among men hath more scholars and fewer masters : 
 
 For to write is to speak beyond hearing, and none stand by 
 to explain. 
 
 To be accurate, write ; to remember, write ; to know thine 
 own mind, write : 
 
 And a written prayer is a prayer of faith ; special, sure, and 
 to be answered. 
 
 Hast thou a thought upon thy brain, catch it while thou 
 canst; 
 
 Or other thoughts shall settle there, and this shall soon take 
 wing : 
 
 Thine uncompounded unity of soul, which argueth and ma- 
 keth it immortal, 
 
 Yieldeth up its momentary self to every single thought ; 
 
 Therefore, to husband thine ideas, and give them stability 
 and substance, 
 
 Write often for thy secret eye : so shalt thou grow wiser. 
 
 The commonest mind is full of thoughts ; some worthy of the 
 rarest ; 
 
 And could it see them fairly writ, would wonder at its 
 wealth. 
 
 O precious compensation to the dumb, to write his wants 
 and wishes : 
 
 O dear amends to the stammering tongue, to pen his burning 
 thoughts ! 
 
 To be of the college of Eloquence, through these silent sym- 
 bols ; 
 
 To pour out all the flowing mind without the toil of speech ; 
 
 To show the babbling world how it might discourse more 
 sweetly , 
 
 To prove that merchandise of words bringeth no monopoly 
 of wisdom , 
 
 To take sweet vengeance on a prating crew, for the tongue’s 
 dishonor, 
 
 By the large triumph of the pen, the homage rendered to a 
 writing. 
 
120 PROVERBIAL PHILOSOPHY. [series i. 
 
 With such, that telegraph of mind is dearer than wealth or 
 wisdom, 
 
 Enabling to please without pain, to impart without humilia- 
 tion. 
 
 Fair girl, whose eye hath caught the rustic penmanship of 
 love. 
 
 Let thy bright brow and blushing cheek confess in this sweet 
 hour, — 
 
 Let thy full heart, poor guilty one, whom the scroll of par- 
 don hath just reached, — 
 
 Thy wet glad face, O mother, with news or a tar-off child, — 
 
 Thy strong and manly delight, pilgrim of other shores, 
 
 When the dear voice of thy betrothed speaketh in the letter 
 of affection : — 
 
 Let the young poet exulting in his lay, and hope (how false) 
 of fame, 
 
 While watching at deep midnight, he buiideth up the 
 
 verse, — 
 
 Let the calm child of genius, whose name shall never die, 
 
 For that the transcript of his mind hath made his thoughts 
 immortal, — 
 
 Let these, let all, with no faint praise, with no light gratitude, 
 confess 
 
 The blessings poured upon the earth from the pen of a ready 
 writer. 
 
 Moreover, their preciousness in absence is proved by the 
 desire of their presence : 
 
 When the despairing lover waiteth day after day, 
 
 Looking for a word in reply, one word writ by that hand, 
 
 And cursing bitterly the morn ushered in by blank disap 
 pointment : 
 
 Or when the long-looked-for answer argueth a cooling friend, 
 
 And the mind is plied suspiciously with dark inexplicable 
 doubts, 
 
series i.J OF WRITING. 121 
 
 While thy wounded heart counteth its imaginary scars, 
 
 And thou art the innocent and injured, that friend the capri- 
 cious and in fault : 
 
 Or when the earnest petition, that craveth for thy needs 
 Unheeded, yea, unopened, tortureth with starving delay : 
 
 Or when the silence of a son, who would have written of his 
 welfare, 
 
 Racketh a father’s bosom with sharp-cutting fears, 
 
 For a letter, timely writ, is a rivet to the chain of affection, 
 And a letter, untimely delayed, is as rust to the solder. 
 
 The pen, flowing with love, or dipped black in hate, 
 
 Or tipped with delicate courtesies, or harshly edged with cen- 
 sure, 
 
 Hath quickened more good than the sun, more evil than the 
 sword, 
 
 More joy than woman’s smile, more woe than frowning for- 
 tune ; 
 
 And shouldst thou ask my judgment of that which hath most 
 profit in the world, 
 
 For answer take thou this, The prudent penning of a letter. 
 
 Thou hast not lost an hour, whereof there is a record ; 
 
 A written thought at midnight shall redeem the livelong day. 
 Idea is as a shadow that departeth, speech is fleeting as the 
 wind, 
 
 Reading is an unremembered pastime : but a writing is eternal : 
 For therein the dead heart liveth, the clay -cold tongue is elo- 
 quent, 
 
 And the quick eye of the reader is cleared by the reed of the 
 scribe. 
 
 As a fossil in the rock, or a coin in the mortar of a ruin, 
 
 So the symbolled thoughts tell of a departed soul : 
 
 The plastic hand hath its witness in a statue, and exactitude 
 of vision in a picture, 
 
 And so, the mind, that was among us, in its writings is em- 
 balmed. 
 
 11 
 
122 PROVERBIAL PHILOSOPHY. Series i. 
 
 OF WEALTH. 
 
 Prodigality hath a sister Meanness, his fixed antagonist 
 heart-fellow, 
 
 Who often out-liveth the short career of the brother she de- 
 spiseth : 
 
 She hath lean lips and a sharp look, and her eyes are red and 
 hungry ; 
 
 But he sloucheth in his gait, and his mouth speaketh loosely 
 and maudlin. 
 
 Let a spendthrift grow to be old, he will set his heart on 
 saving, 
 
 And labor to build up by penury that which extravagance 
 threw down : 
 
 Even so, with most men, do riches earn themselves a double 
 curse ; 
 
 They are ill-got by tight dealing: they are ill-spent by loose 
 squandering. 
 
 Give me en''" <J .i, saith Wisdom; — for he feareth to ask for 
 more ; 
 
 And that by the sweat of my brow, addeth stout-hearted In- 
 dependence : 
 
 Give me enough, and not less, for want is leagued with the 
 tempter ; 
 
 Poverty shall make a man desperate, and hurry him ruthless 
 into crime ; 
 
 Give me enough, and not more, saving for the children of 
 distress ; 
 
 Wealth ofttimes killeth, where want but hindereth the bud- 
 ding : 
 
 There is green glad summer near the pole, though brief and 
 after long winter, 
 
 But the burnt breasts of the torrid zone yield never kindly 
 nourishment. 
 
series i.] OF WEALTH. 123 
 
 Wouldst thou be poor, scatter to the rich, — and reap the 
 tares ot' ingratitude ; 
 
 Wouldst thou be rich, give unto the poor; — thou shalt have 
 thine own with usury : 
 
 For the secret hand of Providence prospereth the charitable 
 all ways, 
 
 Good luck shall he have in his pursuits, and his heart shall 
 be glad within him ; 
 
 Yet perchance he never shall perceive, that even as to earthly 
 gains. 
 
 The cause of his weal, as of his joy, hath been small givings 
 to the poor. 
 
 In the plain of Benares is there found a root that fathereth 
 a forest, 
 
 Where round the parent banian-tree drop its living scions; 
 
 Thirstily they strain to the earth, like stalactites in a grotto, 
 
 And strike broad roots, and branch again, lengthening their 
 cool arcades : 
 
 And the dervish madly danceth there, and the faquir is tor- 
 turing his flesh, 
 
 And the calm brahmin worshippeth the sleek and pampered 
 bull ; 
 
 At the base lean jackalls coil, while from above depending 
 
 With dull malignant stare watcheth the branch -like boa. 
 
 Even so, in man’s heart is a sin that is the root of all evil ; 
 
 Whose fibres strangle the affections, whose branches over- 
 grow the mind : 
 
 And oftenest beneath its shadow thou shalt meet distorted 
 piety,— 
 
 The clenched and rigid fist, with the eyes upturned to hea- 
 ven, 
 
 Fanatic zeal with miserly severity, a mixture of gain with 
 godliness, 
 
 And him, against whom passion hath no power, kneeling to 
 a golden calf : 
 
124 PROVERBIAL PHILOSOPHY. [series i. 
 
 The hungry hounds of extortion are there, the bond, and the 
 mortgage, and the writ, 
 
 While the appetite for gold, unslumbering, watclieth to glut 
 its maw : — 
 
 And the heart, so tenanted and shaded, is cold to all things else ; 
 
 It seeth not the sunshine of heaven, nor is warmed by the 
 light of charity. 
 
 For covetousness disbelieveth God, and laugheth at the 
 rights of men ; 
 
 Spurring unto theft and lying, and tempting to the poison and 
 the knife ; 
 
 It sundereth the bonds of love, and quickeneth the flames of 
 hate ; 
 
 A curse that shall wither the brain, and case the heart with iron. 
 
 Content is the true riches, for without it there is no satisfying, 
 
 But a ravenous all-devouring hunger gnaweth the vitals of 
 the soul. 
 
 The wise man knoweth where to stop, as he runneth in the 
 race of fortune, 
 
 For experience of old hath taught him that happiness linger- 
 eth midway ; 
 
 And many in hot pursuit have hasted to the goal of wealth, 
 
 But have lost, as they ran, those apples of gold, — the mind 
 and the power to enjoy it. 
 
 There is no greater evil among men than a testament framed 
 with injustice : 
 
 Where caprice hath guided the boon, or dishonesty refused 
 what was due. 
 
 Generous is the robber on the highway, in the open daring of 
 his guilt, 
 
 To the secret coward, whose malice liveth and harmeth after 
 him. 
 
 Who smoothly sank into the tomb with the smile of fraud 
 upon his face, 
 
SERIES I.J 
 
 OF WEALTH. 
 
 125 
 
 And the last black deed of his existence was injury without 
 redress ; 
 
 For deaf- is the ear of the dead, and can hear no palliating 
 reasons , 
 
 The smiter is not among the living, and Right pleadeth but 
 in vain. 
 
 Yet shall the curse of the oppressed be as blight upon the 
 grave of the unjust ; 
 
 Yea, bitterly shall that handwriting testify against him at 
 the judgment. 
 
 I saw the humble relation that tendcth the peevishness of 
 wealth, 
 
 And ministered with kind hand to the wailings of disease and 
 discontent ; 
 
 [ noted how watchfulness and care were feeding on the 
 m irrow of her youth, 
 
 IIovv heavy was the yoke of dependence, loaded by petty 
 tyranny ; 
 
 Yet I heard the frequent suggestion, — It can be but a little 
 longer, 
 
 Patience and mute submission shall one day reap a rich re- 
 ward. 
 
 So, tacitly enduring much, waited that humble friend, 
 
 Putting off the lover of her youth until the dawn of 
 wealth : 
 
 And it came, that day of release, and the freed heart could 
 not sorrow, 
 
 For now were the years of promise to yield their golden har- 
 vest : 
 
 Hope, so long deferred, sickly sparkled in her eye, 
 
 The miserable past was forgotten, as she looked for the hap- 
 pier future, 
 
 And she checked, as unworthy and ungrateful, the dark sus- 
 picious thought 
 
 That perchance her right had been the safer, if not left alone 
 with honor : 
 
 11 * 
 
123 
 
 PROVERBIAL PHILOSOPHY. [series i. 
 
 Bat, alas, the sad knowledge soon came, that her stern task- 
 master’s will 
 
 Hath rewarded her toil with a jibe, her patience with utter 
 destitution ! — 
 
 Shrill not the scourge of justice lash that cruel coward, 
 
 Who mingled the gall of ingratitude with the bitterness of 
 disapppiotment 7 
 
 Shall not the hate of men, and vengeance, fiercely pursuing, 
 
 Hunt down the wretched being that sinneth in his grave 7 
 
 He fancied his idol self safe from the wrath of his fellows, 
 
 But Hades rose as he came in, to point at him the finger of 
 scorn ; 
 
 And again must he meet that orphan-maid to answer her 
 face to face, 
 
 And her wrongs shall cling around his neck, to hinder him 
 rising with the just : 
 
 For his last most solemn act has linked his name with liar, 
 
 And the crime of Ananias is branded on his brow ! 
 
 A good man commendeth his cause to the one great Patron 
 of innocence, 
 
 Convinced of justice at the last, and sure of good mean- 
 while. 
 
 He knoweth he hath a Guardian, wise and kind and strong. 
 
 And can thank Him for giving, or refusing, the trust or the 
 curse of riches : 
 
 His confidence standeth as a rock ; he dreadeth not malice 
 nor caprice, 
 
 Nor the whisperings of artful men, nor envious secret influ- 
 ence ; 
 
 He scorneth servile compromise, and the pliant mouthings of 
 deceit ; 
 
 He maketh not a show of love, where he cannot concede 
 esteem ; 
 
 He regardeth ill-got wealth, as the root most fruitful of 
 wretchedness, 
 
SERIES I.J 
 
 OF WEALTH. 
 
 127 
 
 So he walketh in straight integrity, leaning : n God and his 
 right. 
 
 No gain, but by its price ; labor, for the poor man s meal, 
 Ofttimes heart-sickening toil, to win him a morsel for his 
 hunger . 
 
 Labor for the chapman at his trade, a dull unvaried round, 
 Year after year, unto death ; yea, what a weariness is itl 
 Labor, for the pale-faced scribe, drudging at his hated desk, 
 Who Imrtereth for needful pittance the untold gold of health ; 
 Labor, with fear, for the merchant, whose hopes are ventured 
 on the sea ; 
 
 Labor, with care, for the man of law, responsible in his 
 gains ; 
 
 Labor, with envy and annoyance, where strangers will thee 
 wealth ; 
 
 Labor, with indolence and gloom, where wealth falleth from 
 a father ; 
 
 Labor unto all, whether aching thews, or aching head, or 
 spirit, — 
 
 The curse on the sons of men, in all their states, is labor. 
 Nevertheless, to the diligent, labor bringeth blessings : 
 
 The thought of duty sweeteneth toil, and travail is as plea- 
 sure ; 
 
 And time spent in doing hath a comfort that is not for the 
 idle, 
 
 The hardship is transmuted into joy, by the dear alchemy of 
 Mercy. 
 
 Labor is good for a man, bracing up his energies to conquest, 
 And without it life is dull, the man perceiving himself use- 
 less : 
 
 For wearily the body groaneth, like a door on rusty hinges, 
 And the grasp of the mind is weakened, as the talons of a 
 caged vulture. 
 
 Wealth hath never given happiness : but often hastened 
 misery : 
 
328 PROVERBIAL PHILOSOPHY. [series i. 
 
 Enough hath never caused misery, but often quickened happi- 
 ness : 
 
 Enough is less than thy thought, O pampered creature of 
 society, 
 
 And he that hath more than enough, is a thief of the rights 
 of his brother. 
 
 OF INVENTION. 
 
 Man is proud of his mind, boasting that it giveth him divinity, 
 
 Yet with all its powers, can it originate nothing; 
 
 For the great God into all his works hath largely poured out 
 himself, 
 
 Saving one special property, the grand prerogative — Creation. 
 
 To improve and expand is ours, as well as to limit and defea t ; 
 
 But to create a thought or a thing is hopeless and impossible. 
 
 Can a man make matter 1 — and yet this would-be-god 
 
 Thinketh to make mind, and form original idea: 
 
 The potter must have his clay, and the mason his quarry, 
 
 And mind must drain ideas from everything around it. 
 
 Doth the soil generate herbs, or the torrid air breed flies, 
 
 Or the water frame its monads, or the mist its swarming 
 blight 1 — 
 
 Mediately, through thousand generations, having seed 
 within themselves, 
 
 All things, rare or gross, own one common Father. 
 
 Truly spake Wisdom, there is nothing new under the sun ; 
 
 We only arrange and combine the ancient elements of all 
 things. 
 
 Invention is activity of mind, as fire is air in motion. 
 
 A sharpening of the spiritual sight, to discern hidden apti- 
 tudes. 
 
 From the basket and acanthus, is modelled the graceful 
 capital , 
 
OF INVENTION. 
 
 129 
 
 SERIES I.J 
 
 The shadowed profile on the wall helpeth the limner to his 
 likeness : 
 
 The footmarks stamped in clay, lead on the thoughts to 
 printing ; 
 
 The strange skin garments cast upon the shore suggest an- 
 other hemisphere : (23) 
 
 A falling apple taught the sage pervading gravitation ; 
 
 The Huron is certain of his prey, from tracks upon the grass ; 
 
 And shrewdness, guessing on the hint, follovveth on the trail ; 
 
 But the hint must be given, the trail must be there, or the 
 keenest sight is as blindness. 
 
 Behold the barren reef, which an earthquake hath just left 
 dry; 
 
 It hath no beauty to boast of, no harvest of fair fruits : 
 
 But soon the lichen fixeth there, and, dying, diggeth its own 
 grave. ( 21 ) 
 
 And softening suns and splitting frosts crumble the reluctant 
 surface ; 
 
 And cormorants roost there, and the snail addeth its slime, 
 
 And efts, with muddy feet, bring their welcome tribute ; 
 
 And the sea casteth out her dead, wrapped in a shroud of 
 weeds ; 
 
 And orderly nature arrangeth again the disunited atoms ; 
 
 Anon, the cold smooth stone is warm with feathery grass, 
 
 And the light sporules of the fern are dropt by the passing 
 wind, 
 
 The wood-pigeon, on swift wing, leaveth its crop-full of grain, 
 
 The squirrel’s jealous care planteth the fir-cone, and the filbert; 
 
 Years pass, and the sterile rock is rank with tangled herbage ; 
 
 The wild vine clingeth to the brier, and ivy runneth green 
 among the corn, 
 
 Lordly beeches are studded on the down, and willows crowd 
 around f he rivulet, 
 
 And the tall pine and hazel thicket shade the rambling 
 hunter. 
 
130 PROVERBIAL PHILOSOPHY. [series i. 
 
 Shall tne rock boast of its fertility ? shall it lift the head in 
 pride 1 — 
 
 Shall the mind of man be vain of the harvest of its thoughts 1 
 The savage is that rock ; and a million chances from without, 
 By little and little acting on the mind, heap up the hotbed of 
 society ; 
 
 And the soul, fed and fattened on the thoughts and things 
 around it, 
 
 Groweth to perfection full of fruit, the fruit of foreign seeds. 
 For we learn upon a hint, we find upon a clue, 
 
 We yield an hundred-fold ; but the great sower is Analogy. 
 There must be an acrid sloe before a luscious peach, 
 
 A boll of rotting flax before the bridal veil, 
 
 An egg before an eagle, a thought before a thing, 
 
 A spark struck into tinder to light the lamp of knowledge, 
 
 A slight suggestive nod to guide the watching mind, 
 
 A half-seen hand upon the wall, pointing to the balance of 
 Comparison, 
 
 By culture man may do all things, short of the miracle, — 
 Creation ; 
 
 Here is the limit of thy power, — here let thy pride be stayed : 
 The soil may be rich, and the mind may be active, but 
 neither yield unsown : 
 
 The eye cannot make light, nor the mind make spirit; 
 Therefore it is wise in man to name all novelty invention ; 
 For it is to find out things that are, not to create the unex- 
 isting : 
 
 It is to cling to contiguities, to be keen in catching likeness, 
 And with energetic elasticity to leap the gulfs of contrast. 
 The globe knoweth not increase, either of matter or spirit: 
 Atoms and thoughts are used again, mixed in varied combi- 
 nations ; 
 
 And though, by moulding them anew, thou makest them 
 thine own, 
 
 Yet have they served thousands, and all their merit is of God. 
 
SERIES I.J 
 
 OF RIDICULE. 
 
 131 
 
 OF RIDICULE. 
 
 Seams of thought for the sage’s brow, and laughing lines for 
 the fool’s face ; 
 
 For all tilings leave their track in the mind ; and the glass of 
 the mind is faithful. 
 
 Seest thou much mirth upon the cheek? there is then little 
 exercise of virtue ; 
 
 For he that looketh on the world cannot be glad and good: 
 
 Seest thou much gravity in the eye ? be not assured of finding 
 wisdom ; 
 
 For she hath too great praise, not to get many mimics; 
 
 There is a grave-faced folly; and verily, a laughter-loving 
 wisdom : 
 
 And what, if surface-judges account it vain frivolity? 
 
 There is indeed an evil in excess, and a field may lie fallow 
 too long ; 
 
 Yet merriment is often as a froth, thatmantleth on the strong 
 mind : 
 
 And note thou this for a verity, — the subtlest thinker when 
 alone, 
 
 From ease of thoughts unbent, will laugh the loudest with 
 his fellows ; 
 
 And well is the loveliness of wisdom mirrored in a cheerful 
 countenance ; 
 
 Justly the deepest pools are proved by dimpling eddies; 
 
 For that a true philosophy cotnmandeth an innocent life, 
 
 And the unguilty spirit is lighter than a linnet’s heart ; 
 
 Yea, there is no cosmetic like a holy conscience : 
 
 The eye is bright with trust, the cheek bloomed over with 
 affection, 
 
 The brow unwrinkled by a care, and the lip iziumphant in 
 its gladness. 
 
132 PROVERBIAL PHILOSOPHY. [series i. 
 
 And for yon grave-faced folly, need not far to look for her : 
 
 How seriously on trifles dote those leaden eyes, 
 
 How ruefully she sigheth after chances long gone by, 
 
 How sulkily she moaneth over evils without cure ! 
 
 I have known a true-born mirth, the child of innocence and 
 wisdom, 
 
 I have seen a base-born gravity, mingled of ignorance and 
 guilt : 
 
 And again a base-born mirth, springing out of carelessness 
 and folly, 
 
 And again, a true-born gravity, the croduct of reflection and 
 right fear. 
 
 The wounded partridge hideth in a furrow, and a stricken 
 conscience would be left alone ; 
 
 But when its breast is healed, it runneth gladly with its 
 fellows : 
 
 Whereas the solitary heron, standing in the sedgy fen, 
 
 Holdeth aloof from the social world, intent on wiles and 
 death. 
 
 Need but of light philosophy to dare the world’s dread 
 laugh ; 
 
 For a little mind courteth notoriety, to illustrate its puny self; 
 
 But the sneer of a man’s own comrades trieth the muscles of 
 courage, 
 
 And to be derided in his home is as a viper in the nest: 
 
 The laugh of a hooting world hath in it a notion of sublimity, 
 
 But the tittering private circle stingeth as a hive of wasps. 
 
 Some have commended ridicule : counting it the test of 
 truth, t 25 ) 
 
 But neither wittily nor wisely ; for truth must prove ridicule ; 
 
 Otherwise a blunt bulrush is to pierce the proof armor of 
 argument, 
 
 Because the stolidity of ignorance took it for a barbed shaft. 
 
 Softer is the hide of the rhinoceros than the heart of deriding 
 unbelief, 
 
 L 
 
SZEIES I.] 
 
 OF COMMENDATION. 
 
 133 
 
 And truth is idler there than the Bushman’s feathered reed : 
 
 A droll conceit parrieth a thrust that should have hit the 
 conscience, 
 
 And the leering looks of humor tickle the childish mind ; 
 
 For that the matter of a man is mingled most with folly, 
 
 Neither can he long endure the searching gaze of wisdom. 
 
 It is pleasanter to see a laughing cheek than a serious tore- 
 head, 
 
 And there liveth not one among a thousand whose idol is not 
 pleasure : 
 
 Ridicule is a weak weapon, when levelled at a strong mind ; 
 
 But common men are cowards, and dread an empty laugh. 
 
 Fear a nettle, and touch it tenderly, — its poison shall bum 
 thee to the shoulder ; 
 
 But grasp it with bold hand, — is it not a bundle of myrrh ? 
 
 Betray mean terror of ridicule, thou shalt find fools enough to 
 mock thee : 
 
 But answer thou their laughter with contempt, and the 
 scoffers will lick thy feet. 
 
 OF COMMENDATION. 
 
 The praise of holy men is a premise of praise from their 
 Master ; 
 
 A forerunning earnest of thy welcome, — Well done, faithful 
 „ servant ; 
 
 A rich preludious note, that droppeth softly on thine ear, 
 
 To tell thee the chords of thy heart are in tune with the l 
 choirs of heaven. 
 
 Yet is it a dangerous hearing, for the sweetness may lull thee 
 into slumber, 
 
 And the cordial quaffed with thirst may generate the fumes 
 of presumption. 
 
 So seek it not for itself, but taste, and go gladly on thy 
 way, 
 
 12 
 
134 
 
 PROVERBIAL PHILOSOPHY. [series I. 
 
 For the mariner slacketh not his sail, though the sandal- 
 groves of Araby allure him ; 
 
 And the fragrance of that incense would harm thee, as when, 
 on a summer evening, 
 
 The honied yellow flowers of the broom oppress thy charmed 
 sense : 
 
 And a man hath too much of praise, for he praiseth himself 
 continually ; 
 
 Neither lacketh he at any time self-commendation or excuse. 
 
 Praise a fool, and slay him : for the canvas of his vanity i» 
 spread ; 
 
 His bark is shallow in the water, and a sudden gust shall 
 sink it : 
 
 Praise a wise man, and speed him on his way ; for he car 
 rieth the ballast of humility. 
 
 And is glad when his course is cheered by the sympathy ot 
 brethren ashore. 
 
 The praise of a good man is good, for he holdeth up the mir 
 ror of Truth, 
 
 That Virtue may see her own beauty, and delight in her own 
 fair face : 
 
 The praise of a bad man is evil, for he hideth the deformity 
 of Vice, 
 
 Casting the mantle of a queen around the limbs of a leper. 
 
 Praise is rebuke to the man whose conscience alloweth it not: 
 
 And where conscience feeleth it her due, no praise is bettei 
 than a little. 
 
 He that despiseth the outward appearance, despiseth the es 
 teem of his fellows ; 
 
 And he that overmuch regardeth it, shall earn only their con 
 tempt : 
 
 The honest commendation of an equal no one can scorn, and 
 be blameless, 
 
 Yet even that fair fame no one can hunt for and be hon 
 ored : 
 
series i.J OF COMMENDATION. 135 
 
 If it coins, accept it and be thankful, and be thou humble in 
 accepting ; 
 
 If it tarry, be no -thou cast down ; the bee can gather honey 
 out of rue : 
 
 And is thine aim so luw, that the breath of those around thee 
 
 Can speed thy feathered arrow, or retard its flight? 
 
 The child sbooteth at a butterfly, but the man’s mark is an 
 eagle : 
 
 And while his fellows talk, he hath conquered in the 
 
 clouds. 
 
 Ally thee to truth and godliness, and use the talents in thy 
 charge ; 
 
 So shalt thou walk in peace, deserving, if not having. 
 
 With a friend, praise him when thou canst; for many a 
 friendship hath decayed, 
 
 Like a plant in a crowded corner, for want of sunshine on its 
 leaves : 
 
 With another praise him not often — otherwise he shall de- 
 spise thee ; 
 
 But be thou frugal in commending; so will he give honor to 
 thy judgment : 
 
 For thou that dost so zealously commend, art acknowledging 
 thine own inferiority, 
 
 And he, thou so highly hast exalted, shall proudly look down 
 on thy esteem. 
 
 Wilt thou that one remember a thing? — praise him in the 
 midst of thy advice ; 
 
 Never yet forgat man the word whereby he hath been praised. 
 
 Better to be censured by a thousand fools, than approved but 
 by one man that is wise ; 
 
 For the pious are slower to help right, than the profane to 
 hinder it : 
 
 Scv where the world rebuketh, there look thou for the excel- 
 lent, 
 
 And be suspicious of the good, which wicked men can praise. 
 
136 PROVERBIAL PHILOSOPHY. [series i. 
 
 The captain bindeth his troop, not more by severity than 
 kindness, 
 
 And justly, should recompense well-doing, as well as be strict 
 with an offender ; 
 
 The laurel is cheap to the giver, but precious in his sight 
 who hath won it, 
 
 And the heart of the soldier rejoiceth in the approving glance 
 of his chief. 
 
 Timely-given praise is even better than the merited rebuke 
 of censure, 
 
 For the sun is more needful to the plant than the knife that 
 cutteth out a canker ; 
 
 Many a father hath erred, in that he hath withheld reproof, 
 
 But more have mostly sinned, in withholding praise where it 
 was due : 
 
 There be many such as Eli among men ; but these be more 
 culpable than Eli, 
 
 Who chill the fountain of exertion by the freezing looks of 
 indifference : 
 
 Ye call a man easy and good, yet he is as a two-edged 
 sword, 
 
 He rebuketh not vice, and it is strong : he comforteth not vir- 
 tue, and it fainteth. 
 
 There is nothing more potent among men than a gift timely 
 bestowed, 
 
 And a gift kept back where rt was hoped, separateth chief 
 friends : 
 
 For what is a gift but a symbol, giving substance to praise 
 and esteem I 
 
 And where is a sharper arrow than the sting of unmerited 
 neglect 1 
 
 Expect not praise from the mean, neither gratitude from the 
 selfish ; 
 
 And to keep the proud thy friend, see thou do him not a 
 service : 
 
series i.J OF COMMENDATION. 137 
 
 For, behold, he will hate thee for his debt : thou hast hum- 
 bled him by giving ; 
 
 And his stubbornness never shall acknowledge the good he 
 hath taken from thy hand : 
 
 Yea, rather will he turn and be thy foe, lest thou gather from 
 his friendship, 
 
 That he doth account thee creditor, and standeth in the se- 
 cond place. 
 
 Still, O kindly feeling heart, be not thou chilled by the thank- 
 less, 
 
 Neither let the breath of gratitude fan thee into momentary 
 heat ; 
 
 Do good for good’s own sake, looking not to worthiness nor 
 love : 
 
 Fling thy grain among the rocks, cast thy bread upon the 
 waters, 
 
 His claim be strongest to thy help, who is thrown most help- 
 lessly upon thee, — 
 
 So shalt thou have a better praise, and reap a richer harvest 
 of reward. 
 
 If a man hold fast to thy creed, and fit his thinking to thy 
 notions, 
 
 Thou shalt take him for a man right minded, yea, and excuse 
 his evil : 
 
 But seest thou not, O bigot, that thy zeal is but a hunting 
 after praise, 
 
 And the full pleasure of a proselyte lieth in the flattering of 
 self? 
 
 A man of many praises meeteth many welcomes, 
 
 But he who blameth often, shall not keep a friend ; 
 
 The velvet-coated apricot is one thing, and the spiked horse- 
 chestnut is another, 
 
 A handle of smooth amber is pleasanter than rough buck-horn. 
 
 Show me a popular man ; I can tell thee the secret of his 
 power ; 
 
 12 * 
 
133 
 
 F PROVERBIAL FH1LOSOPHY. [series i. 
 
 He hath soothed them with giozing words, lulling their ears 
 with flattery, 
 
 The smile of seeming approbation is ever the companion of 
 his presence, 
 
 And courteous looks, and warm regards, earn him all their 
 hearts. 
 
 * 
 
 Nothing but may be better, and every better might be best - 
 
 The blind may discern, and the simple prove, fault or want 
 in all things, 
 
 And a little mind looketh on the lily with a microscopic eye, 
 
 Eager and glad to pry out specks on its robe of purity ; 
 
 But a great mind gazeth on the sun, glorying in his bright- 
 ness, 
 
 And taking large knowledge of his good, in the broad prairie 
 of creation : 
 
 What, though he hatch basilisks ? what, though spots are on 
 the sun 7 
 
 In fulness is his worth, in fulness be his praise ! 
 
 OF SELF ACQUAINTANCE. 
 
 Knowledge holdeth by the hilt, and heweth out a road to 
 conquest ; 
 
 Ignorance graspeth the blade, and is wounded by its own 
 good sword : 
 
 Knowledge distilleth health from the virulence of opposite 
 poisons ; 
 
 Ignorance mixeth wholesomes unto the breeding of disease : 
 
 Knowledge is leagued with the universe, and findeth a friend 
 in all things ; 
 
 But ignorance is everywhere a stranger ; unwelcome, ill at 
 ease, and out of place. 
 
 A man is helpless and unsafe up to the measure of his igno- 
 rance, 
 
series i.] OF SELF- ACQUAINTANCE. 139 
 
 For he lacketh perception of the aptitudes commending such 
 a matter to his use, 
 
 Clutching at the horn of danger, while he judgeth it the 
 handle of security. 
 
 Or casting his anchor so widely, that the granite reef is just 
 within the tether. 
 
 Untaught in science he is but half alive, stupidly taking note 
 of nothing, 
 
 Or listening with dull wonder to the crafty saws of an em- 
 piric ; 
 
 Simple in the world, he trusteth unto knaves ; and then to 
 make amends for folly, 
 
 Dealeth so shrewdly with the honest, they cannot but sus- 
 pect him for a thief; 
 
 With an unknown God, he makethmock of reason, fathering 
 contrivance on chance, 
 
 Or doting with superstitious dread on some crooked image of 
 
 • his fancy, 
 
 But ignorant of self, he is weakness at heart ; the keystone 
 crumbleth into sand, 
 
 There is panic in the general’s tent, the oak is hollow as 
 hemlock ; 
 
 Though the warm sap creepeth up its bark, filling qut the 
 sheaf of leaves, 
 
 Though knowledge of all things beside add proofs of seeming 
 vigor. 
 
 Though the master-mind of the royal sage feast on the mys- 
 teries of wisdom, 
 
 Yet ignorance of self shall bow down the sp 5 rit of a Solomon 
 to idols ; 
 
 The storm of temptation, sweeping b>, shall snap that oak 
 like a reed, 
 
 And the proud luxuriance of its tufted crown drag it the sooner 
 to the dust. 
 
 Youth, confident in self, tampereth with dangerous dalliance, 
 
140 PROVERBIAL PHILOSOPHY. [series i. 
 
 Till the vice his heart once hated hath locked him in her 
 foul embrace : 
 
 Manhood, through zeal of doing good, seeketh high place for 
 its occasions, 
 
 Unwitting that the bleak mountain-air will nip the tender 
 budding of his motives ; 
 
 Or painfully, for love of truth, he climbeth the ladder of sci- 
 ence, 
 
 Till pride of intellect, heating his heart, warpeth it aside to 
 delusion : 
 
 The maiden, to give shadow to her fairness, plaiteth her ra- 
 ven hair, 
 
 Heedlessly weaving for her soul the silken net of vanity : 
 
 The grey-beard looketh on his gold, till he loveth its yellow 
 smile, 
 
 Unconscious of the bright decoy which is luring his heart 
 unto avarice : 
 
 Wrath avoideth no quarrel, jealousy counteth its sus* 
 picions, 
 
 Pining envy gazeth still, and melancholy seeketh solitude, 
 
 The sensitive broodeth on his slights, the fearful poreth over 
 horrors, 
 
 The train of wantonness is fired, the nerves of indecision are 
 unstrung, 
 
 Each special proneness unto harm is pampered by ignorant 
 indulgence, 
 
 And the man, for want of warning, yieldeth to the apt tempt 
 ation. 
 
 A smith at the loom, and a weaver at the forge, were but 
 sorry craftsmen ; 
 
 And a ship that saileth on every wind never shall reach her 
 port : 
 
 Yet there be thousands among men who heed not the lean- 
 ing of their talents, 
 
 But, cutting against the grain, toil on to no good end ; 
 
series i.] OF SELF-ACQUAINTANCE. 141 
 
 And the light of a thoughtful spirit is quenched beneath the 
 bushel of commerce, 
 
 While me aner plodding minds are driven up the mountain of 
 philosophy : 
 
 The cednr withereth on a wall, while the house-leek is fat- 
 tening in a hot-bed, 
 
 And the dock with its rank leaves hideth the sun from vio 
 lets. 
 
 To everything a fitting place, a proper honorable use ; 
 
 The humblest measure of mind is bright in its humble sphere : 
 
 The glowworm, creeping in the hedge, lighteth her evening 
 torch, 
 
 And her far-off mate, on gossamer sail, steereth his course by 
 that star : 
 
 But ignorance mocketh at proprieties, bringing out the glow- 
 worm at noon, 
 
 And setteth the faults of mediocrity in the full blaze of wis- 
 dom. 
 
 Ravens croaking in darkness, and a skylark trilling to the 
 sun, 
 
 The voice of a screech-owl from a ruin, and the black-bird’s 
 whistle in a wood, 
 
 A cushion-footed camel for the sands, and a swift reindeer 
 for the snows, 
 
 A naked skin for Ethiopia, and rich soft furs for the Pole : 
 
 In all things is there a fitness : discord with discord hath its 
 music ; 
 
 And the harmony of nature is preserved by each one know- 
 ing his place. 
 
 The blind at an easel, the palsied with a graver, the halt 
 making for the goal, 
 
 The deaf ear tuning psaltery, the stammerer discoursing 
 eloquence, — 
 
 What wonder if all fail 1 the shaft flieth wide of the mark 
 
 Alike if itself be crooked, or the bow be strung awry ; 
 
142 PROVERBIAL PHILOSOPHY. [series i. 
 
 And the mind which were excellent in one way, but foolishly 
 toileth in another, 
 
 What is it but an ill-strung bow, and its aim a crooked ar- 
 row ? 
 
 By knowledge of self, thou provest thy powers ; put not the 
 racer to the plough, 
 
 Nor goad the toilsome ox to wager his slowness with the fleet : 
 
 Consider thy failings, heed thy propensities, search out thy 
 latent virtues, 
 
 Analyse the doubtful, cultivate the good, and crush the head 
 of evil ; 
 
 So shall thou catch with quick hand the golden ball of op- 
 portunity. 
 
 The warrior armed shall be ready for the fray, beside his 
 bridled steed ; 
 
 Thou shalt ward off* special harms, and have the sway of 
 circumstance, 
 
 And turn to thy special good the common current of events : 
 
 Choosing from the wardrobe of the world, thou shalt suitably 
 clothe thy spirit, 
 
 Nor thrust the white hand of peace into the gauntlet of de- 
 fiance : 
 
 The shepherd shall go with a staff, and conquer by sling and 
 stone ; 
 
 The soldier shall let alone the distaff, and the scribe lay 
 down the sword ; 
 
 The man unlearned shall keep silence, and earn one attribute 
 of wisdom ; 
 
 The sage be sparing of his lessons before unhearing ears : 
 
 Calm shalt thou be, as a lion in repose, conscious of passive 
 strength, 
 
 And the shock that splitteth the globe, shall not unthrone 
 thy self-possession. 
 
 Acquaint thee with thyself, O man ! so shalt thou be hum- 
 ble : 
 
series i.] OF SELF- ACQUAINTANCE. 
 
 143 
 
 The hard hot desert of thy heart shall blosson with the lily 
 and the rose ; 
 
 The frozen cliffs of pride shall melt as an iceberg in the tro- 
 pics ; 
 
 The bitter fountains of self-seeking be sweeter than the 
 water? of the Nile. 
 
 But if thou lack that wisdom, — thy frail skiff is doomed, 
 
 On stronger eddy whirling to the dreadful gorge ; 
 
 Untaught in that grand lore, — thou standest, cased in steel, 
 
 To dare with mocking unbelief the thunderbolts of heaven. 
 
 For look now around thee on the universe, behold how all 
 things serve thee ; 
 
 The teeming soil, and the buoyant sea, and undulating 
 air, 
 
 Golden crops, and bloomy fruits, and flowers, and precious 
 gems, 
 
 Choice perfumes and fair sights, soft touches and sweet 
 music : 
 
 For thee, shoaling up the bay, crowd the finny nations, 
 
 For thee, the cattle on a thousand hills live and labor and 
 die . 
 
 Light is thy daily slave, darkness inviteth thee to slumber ; 
 
 Thou art served by the hands of Beauty, and Sublimity 
 kneeleth at thy feet : 
 
 Arise, thou sovereign of creation, and behold thy glory ! 
 
 Yet more, thou hast a mind ; intellect wingeth thee to heaven, 
 
 Tendeth thy state on earth, and by it thou divest down to 
 hell ; 
 
 Thou hast measured the belt of Saturn, thou hast weighed 
 the moons of Jupiter, 
 
 And seen, by reason’s eye, the centre of thy globe ; 
 
 Subtly hast thou numbered by billions the leagues between 
 sun and sun, 
 
 And noted in thy book the coming of their shadows : 
 
 With marvellous unerring truth thou knowest to an inch and 
 to an instant. 
 
144 PROVERBIAL PHILOSOPHY. [series i. 
 
 The where and the when of the comet’s path that shall seem 
 to rush by at thy command : 
 
 Arise, thou king of mind, and survey thy dignity ! 
 
 Yet more, — for once believe religion’s flattering tale ; 
 
 Thou hast a soul, aye, and a God, but be not therefore hum- 
 bled : * 
 
 Thy Maker’s self was glad to live and die — a man ; 
 
 The brightest jewel in his crown is voluntary manhood: 
 
 By deep dishonor and great price, bought he that envied free- 
 dom, 
 
 But thou wast born an heir of all, thy Master scarce could 
 earn. 
 
 O climax unto pride, O triumph of humanity, 
 
 O triple crown upon thy brow, most high and mighty Self ! 
 Arise, thou Lord of all, thou greater than a God ! — 
 
 How saidst thou, wretched being 1 — cast thy glance within ; 
 Regard that painted sepulchre, the hovel of thy heart. 
 
 Ha ! with what fearful imagery swarmeth that small cham- 
 ber ; 
 
 The horrid eye of murder scowling in the dark, 
 
 The bony hand of avarice, filching from the poor, 
 
 The lurid fires of lust, the idiot face of folly, 
 
 The sickening deed of cruelty, the foul fierce orgies of the 
 drunken, 
 
 Weak contemptible vanity, stubborn stolid unbelief, 
 
 Envy’s devilish sneer, and the vile features of ingratitude, — 
 Man, hast thou seen enough 7 or are these full proof 
 That thou art a miracle of mercy, and all thy dignity is dross 7 
 
 Well said the wisdom of earth, O mortal, know thyself ; 
 
 But better the wisdom of heaven, O man, learn thou thy 
 God : 
 
 By knowledge of self thou art conusant of evil, and mailed in 
 panoply to meet it ; 
 
 By knowledge of God cometh knowledge of good, and uni- 
 versal love is at thy heart. 
 
- ft 
 
 meries i.] OF CRUELTY TO ANIMALS. 145 
 
 Every creature knoweth its capacities, running in the road of 
 instinct, 
 
 And reason must not lag behind, but serve itself of all pro- 
 prieties : 
 
 The swift to the race, and the strong to the burden, and the 
 wise for right direction ; 
 
 For self-knowledge filleth with acceptance its niche in the 
 temple of utility : 
 
 But vainly wilt thou look for that knowledge, till the clue of 
 all truth is in thy hand, 
 
 For the labyrinth of man’s heart windeth in complicate de- 
 ceivings : 
 
 Thou canst not sound its depths with the shallow plumb-line 
 of reason, 
 
 Till religion, the pilot of the soul, have lent thee her unfa- 
 thomable coil : 
 
 Therefore, for this grand knowledge, and knowledge is the 
 parent of dominion, 
 
 Learn God, thou shalt know thyself; yea, and shalt have 
 mastery of all things. 
 
 OF CRUELTY TO ANIMALS. 
 
 Shame upon thee, savage monarch-man, proud monopolist 
 of reason ; 
 
 Shame upon Creation’s lord, the fierce ensanguined despot: 
 
 What, man! are there not enough, hunger, and disease, and 
 fatigue, — 
 
 And yet must thy goad or thy tliong add another sorrow to 
 existence ? 
 
 What ! art thou noi content thy sin hath dragged down suf- 
 fering and death 
 
 On the poor dumb servants of thy comfort, and yet must thou 
 rack them with their spite 1 
 
 The prodigal heir of creation hath gambled away his all, — 
 
— m 
 
 146 PROVERBIAL PHILOSOPHY. [series i. 
 
 Shall he add torment to the bondage that is galling his forfeit 
 serfs 7 
 
 The leader in nature’s paean himself hath marred her psaltery, 
 
 Shall he multiply the din of discord by overstraining all the 
 strings 7 
 
 The rebel hath fortified his stronghold, shutting in his vas- 
 sals with him — 
 
 Shall he aggravate the woes of the besieged by oppression 
 from within 7 
 
 Thou twice deformed image of thy Maker, thou hateful 
 representative of Love, 
 
 For very shame be merciful, be kind unto the creatures thou 
 hast ruined ; 
 
 Earth and her million tribes are cursed for thy sake ; 
 
 Earth and her million tribes still writhe beneath thy cruelty: 
 
 Liveth there but one among the million that shall not bear 
 witness against thee, 
 
 A pensioner of land or air or sea, that hath not whereof it 
 will accuse thee 7 
 
 From the elephant toiling at a launch, to the shrew mouse 
 in the harvest-field, 
 
 From the whale which the harponeer hath stricken, to the 
 minnow caught upon a pin, 
 
 From the albatross wearied in its flight, to the wren in her 
 covered nest, 
 
 From the death-moth and lace-winged dragon-fly, to the 
 lady-bird and the gnat, 
 
 The verdict of all things is unanimous, finding their master 
 cruel : 
 
 The dog, thy humble friend, thy trusting honest friend ; 
 
 The ass, thine uncomplaining slave, drudging from mom to 
 even ; 
 
 The lamb, and the timorous hare, and the laboring ox at 
 plough ; 
 
 The speckled trout, basking in the shallow, and the partridge, 
 gleaning in the stubble, 
 
series i.J OF CRUELTY TO ANIMALS. 147 
 
 And the stag at bay, and the worm in thy path, and the wild 
 bird pining in captivity, 
 
 And all things that minister alike to thy life and thy comfort 
 and thy pride, 
 
 Testify with one sad voice that man is a cruel master. 
 
 Verily, they are all thine : freely mayst thou serve thee of 
 them all : 
 
 They are thine by gift for thy needs, to be used in all grati- 
 tude and kindness : 
 
 Gratitude to their God and thine, — their Father and thy 
 Father, 
 
 Kindness to them who toil for thee, and help thee with their 
 all: 
 
 For meat, but not by wantonness of slaying ; for burden, but 
 with limits of humanity ; 
 
 For luxury, but not through torture ; for draught, but accord- 
 ing to the strength : 
 
 For a dog cannot plead his own right nor render a reason for 
 exemption, 
 
 Nor give a soft answer unto wrath, to turn aside the unde- 
 served lash ; 
 
 The galled ox cannot complain, nor supplicate a moment’s 
 respite ; 
 
 The spent horse hideth his distress, till he panteth out his 
 spirit at the goal ; 
 
 Also, in the winter of life, when worn by constant toil, 
 
 If ingratitude forget his services, he cannot bring them to 
 remembrance ; 
 
 Behold he is faint with hunger; the big tear standeth in his 
 eye ; 
 
 His skin is sore with stripes, and he tottereth beneath his 
 burden ; 
 
 His limbs are stiff with age, his sinews have lost their vigor, 
 
 And pain is stamped upon his face, wnile he wrestleth un- 
 equally with toil ; 
 
148 PROVERBIAL PHILOSOPHY. [series i. 
 
 Yet once more mutely and meekly endureth he the crushing 
 blow ; 
 
 That struggle hath cracked his heart-strings, — the generous 
 brute is dead ! 
 
 Liveth there no advocate for him? no judge to avenge his j 
 wrongs ? 
 
 No voice that shall be heard in his defence ? no sentence to 
 be passed on his oppressor ? 
 
 Yea, the sad eye of the tortured pleadeth pathetically for 
 him : 
 
 Yea, all the justice in heaven is roused in indignation at his 
 woes : 
 
 Yea, all the pity upon earth shall call down a curse upon the 
 cruel : 
 
 Yea, the burning malice of the wicked is their own exceed- 
 ing punishment. 
 
 The Angel of Mercy stoppeth not to comfort, but passeth by 
 on the other side, 
 
 And hath no tear to shed when a cruel man is damned. 
 
 OF FRIENDSHIP. 
 
 As frost to the bud, and blight to the blossom, even such is 
 self-interest to friendship : 
 
 For Confidence cannot dwell where Selfishness is porter at 
 the gate. 
 
 If thou see thy friend to be selfish, thou canst not be sure of 
 his honesty ; 
 
 And in seeking thine own weal, thou hast wronged the reli- 
 ance of thy friend. 
 
 Flatter* hideth her varnished face when Friendship sitteth 
 at his board ; 
 
 And the door is shut upon suspicion, but candor is bid glad 
 
 welcome, 4* 
 
 For friendship abhorreth doubt, its life is in mutual trust, 
 
series i.] OF FRIENDSHIP. 149 
 
 And perisheth, when artful praise proveth it is sought for a 
 purpose. 
 
 A man may he good to thee at times, and render thee mighty 
 service, 
 
 Whom yet thy secret soul could not desire as a friend ; 
 
 For the sum of life is in trifles, and though, in the weightier 
 
 masses, 
 
 A man refuse thee not his purse, nay, his all in thine utmost 
 need, 
 
 Yet, if thou canst not feel that his character agreeth with 
 thine own, 
 
 Thou never wilt call him friend, though thou render him a 
 heart full of gratitude. 
 
 A coarse man grindeth harshly the finer feelings of his brother ; 
 
 A common mind will soon depart from the dull companion- 
 ship of wisdom ; 
 
 A weak soul dareth not to follow in the track of vigor and 
 decision; 
 
 And the worldly rcgardeth with scorn the seeming foolish- 
 ness of faith. 
 
 A mountain is made up of atoms, and friendship of little 
 matters, 
 
 And if the atoms hold not together, the mountain is crum- 
 bled into dust. 
 
 Come, I will show thee a friend ; I will paint one worthy 
 of thy trust: 
 
 Thine heart shall not weary of him: thou shalt not secretly 
 despise him. 
 
 Thou art long in learning him, in unravelling all his worth; 
 
 And he dazzleth not thine eyes at first, to be darkened in thy 
 sight afterward, 
 
 But riseth from small beginnings, and reacheth the height of 
 thy esteem. 
 
 He remembereth that thou ar* only man ; he expecteth not 
 great things from thee ; 
 
150 PROVERBIAL PHILOSOPHY. [series i. 
 
 And his forbearance toward thee silently teacheth thee to be 
 considerate unto him. 
 
 He despiseth not courtesy of manner, nor neglecteth the 
 decencies of life : 
 
 Nor mocketh the failings of others, nor is harsh in his cen- 
 sures before thee ; 
 
 For so, how couldst thou tell, if he talketh not of thee in 
 ridicule 7 
 
 He withholdeth no secret from thee, and rejecteth not thine 
 in turn ; 
 
 He share th his joys with thee, and is glad to bear part in thy 
 sorrows. 
 
 Yet one thing, he loveth thee too well to show thee the cor- 
 ruptions of his heart : 
 
 For as an ill example strengthened the hands of the wicked, 
 
 So to put forward thy guilt is a secret poison to thy friend : 
 
 For the evil in his nature is comforted, and he warreth more 
 weakly against it, 
 
 If he find that the friend whom he honored is a man more 
 sinful than himself. 
 
 I hear the communing of friends ; ye speak out the fulness 
 of your souls, 
 
 And being but men, as men, ye own to all the sympathies of 
 manhood : ( 26 ) 
 
 Confidence openeth the lips, indulgence beamed from the eye, 
 
 The tongue loveth not boasting, the heart is made glad with 
 kindness : 
 
 And one standeth not as on a. hill, beckoning to the other to 
 follow, 
 
 But ye toil up hand in hand, and carry each other’s burdens. 
 
 Ye commune of hopes and aspirations, the fervent breathings 
 of the heart, 
 
 Ye speak with pleasant interchange the treasured secrets of 
 affection, 
 
 Ye listen to the voice of complaint, and whisper the language 
 of comfort, 
 
series i.] OF FRIENDSHIP. 151 
 
 And, as in a do lble solitude, yc think in each other’s hearing. 
 
 Choose thy friend discreetly, and see thou consider his sta- 
 tior , 
 
 For the graduated scale of ranks accordeth with the ordinance 
 of heaven : 
 
 If a low companion ripen to a friend, in the full sunshine of 
 thy confidence, 
 
 Know, that for old age thou hast heaped up sorrow : 
 
 For thou sinkest to that level, and thy kin shall scorn thee, 
 Yea, and the menial thou hast pampered haply shall neglect 
 thee in thy death : 
 
 And if thou readiest up to high estates, thinking to herd with 
 princes, 
 
 What art thou but a footstool, though so near a throne ? 
 
 O rush among the lilies, be taught thou art a weed, 
 
 O brier among the cedars, hot contempt shall burn thee. 
 
 But thou, friend and scholar, select from thine own caste, 
 And make not an intimate of one, thy servant or thy master; 
 For only friendship, among men is the true republic, 
 
 Where all have equality of service, and all have freedom of 
 command. 
 
 And yet, if thou wilt take my judgment, be shy of too much 
 openness with any, 
 
 Lest thou repent hereafter, should he turn and rend thee : 
 For many an apostate friend hath abused unguarded con- 
 fidence, 
 
 And bent to selfish ends the secret of the soul. 
 
 Absence strengtheneth friendship, where the last recollec- 
 tions were kindly; 
 
 But it must be good wine at the last, or absence shall weaken 
 it daily. 
 
 A rare thing is faith, and friendship is a marvel among men, 
 Yet strange faces call they friends, and say they believe 
 when they doubt. 
 
152 PROVERBIAL PHILOSOPHY. [series l 
 
 Those hours are not lost that are spent in cementing affec- 
 tion ; 
 
 For a friend is above gold, precious as the stores of the mind. 
 
 Be sparing of advice by words, but teach thy lesson by exam- 
 ple : 
 
 For the vanity of man may be wounded, and retort unkindly 
 upon thee. 
 
 There be some that never had a friend, because they were 
 gross and selfish : 
 
 Worldliness, and apathy, and pride, leave not many that are 
 worthy : 
 
 But one who ineriteth esteem, need never lack a friend ; 
 
 For as thistledown flieth abroad, and casteth its anchor ill 
 the soil, 
 
 So philanthropy yearneth for a heart, where it may take root 
 and blossom. 
 
 Yet I hear the child of sensibility moaning at the wintry 
 cold, 
 
 Wherein the mists of selfishness have wrapped the society of 
 men: 
 
 He grieveth, and hath deep reasons ; for falsehood hath 
 wronged his trust, 
 
 And the breaches in his bleeding heart have been filled with 
 the briers of suspicion. 
 
 For alas, how few be friends, of whom charity hath hoped 
 well ! 
 
 IIow few there be among men who forget themselves for 
 other ! 
 
 Each one seeketh his own, and looketh on his brethren as 
 rivals, 
 
 Masking envy with friendship, to serve his secret ends. 
 
 And the world, that corrupteth all good, hath wronged that 
 sacred name, 
 
 For it calleth any man friend, who is not known for an ene- 
 my; 
 
153 
 
 series i.] OF LOVE. 
 
 And such be as the flies of summer, while plenty sitteth at 
 thy board ; 
 
 But who can wonder at their flight from the cold denials of 
 want ? 
 
 Such be as vultures round a carcase, assembled together for 
 the feast : 
 
 But a sudden noise scareth them, and forthwith are they 
 specks among the clouds. 
 
 There be few, O child of sensibility, who deserve to have 
 thy confidence ; 
 
 Yet weep not, for there are some, and such some live for 
 thee : 
 
 To them is the chilling world a drear and barren scene, 
 
 And gladly seek they such as thou art, for seldom find they 
 the occasion. 
 
 For, though no man excludeth himself from the high capa- 
 bility of friendship, 
 
 Yet verily the man is a marvel whom truth cau write a 
 friend. 
 
 OF LOVE. 
 
 There is a fragrant blossom, that maketh glad the garden of 
 the heart. 
 
 Its root lieth deep ; it is delicate, yet lasting, as the lilac 
 crocus of autumn : 
 
 Loneliness and thought are the dews that water it mom and 
 even ; 
 
 Memory and Absence cherish it, as the balmy breathings of 
 the south : 
 
 Its sun is the brightness of affection, and it bloometh in the 
 borders of Hope ; 
 
 Its companions are gentle flowers, and the brier withereth by 
 its side. 
 
 I saw it budding in beauty ; I felt the magic of its smile ; 
 
154 PROVERBIAL PHILOSOPHY. [series i. 
 
 The violet rejoiced beneath it, the rose stooped down and 
 kissed it ; 
 
 And I thought some cherub had planted there a truant flower 
 of Eden, 
 
 As a bird bringeth foreign seeds, that they may flourish in a 
 kindly soil. 
 
 I saw and asked not its name ; I knew no language was so 
 wealthy, 
 
 Though every heart of every clime findeth its echo within. 
 And yet what shall I say 1 Is a sordid man capable of— 
 Love 1 
 
 Hath a seducer known it ? Can an adulterer perceive it ? 
 
 Or he that seeketh strange women, can he feel its purity 1 
 Or he that changeth often, can he know its truth 1 
 Longing for another’s happiness, yet often destroying its 
 own ; 
 
 Chaste, and looking up to God, as the fountain of tenderness 
 and joy ; 
 
 Quiet, yet flowing deep, as the Rhine among rivers ; 
 
 Lasting, and knowing not change — it walketh with Truth 
 and Sincerity. 
 
 Love : — what a volume in a word, an ocean in a tear, 
 
 A seventh heaven in a glance, a whirlwind in a sigh, 
 
 The lightning in a touch, a millennium in a moment, 
 
 What concentrated joy or woe in blest or blight *d love ! 
 
 For it is that native poetry springing up indigenous to Mind, 
 The heart’s own country music thrilling all its chords, 
 
 The story without an end that angels throng to hear. 
 
 The word, the king of words, carved on Jehovah’s heart! 
 Oh! call thou snake-eyed malice mercy, call envy honest 
 praise, 
 
 Count selfish craft for wisdom, and coward treachery for pru- 
 dence, 
 
 Do homage to blaspheming unbelief as to bold and free phi- 
 losophy, 
 
r 
 
 series i.J OF LOVE. 155 
 
 And estimate the recklessness of license as the right attri- 
 bute of liberty, — 
 
 But with the world, thou friend and scholar, stain not this 
 pure name ; 
 
 Nor suffer the majesty of Love to be likened to the meanness 
 of desire : 
 
 For Love is no more such, than seraphs’ hymns are discord, 
 And such is no more Love, than ^Etna’s breath is summer. 
 
 Love is a sweet idolatry, enslaving all the soul, 
 
 A mighty spiritual force, warring with the dullness of matter, 
 An angel-mind breathed into a mortal, though fallen yet how 
 beauti ful ! 
 
 All the devotion of the heart in all its depth and grandeur. 
 Behold that pale geranium, pent within the cottage window; 
 How yearningly it stretcheth to the light its sickly long- 
 stalked leaves, 
 
 How it straineth upward to the sun, coveting his sweet influ- 
 ences, 
 
 How real a living sacrifice to the god of all its worship ! 
 
 Such is the soul that loveth ; and so the rose-tree of affection 
 Bendeth its every leaf to look on those dear eyes, 
 
 Its every blushing petal basketh in their light, 
 
 And all its gladness, all its life, is hanging on their love. 
 
 If the love of the heart is blighted, it buddeth not again ; 
 
 If that pleasant song is forgotten, it is to be learnt no more : 
 Yet often will thought look back, and weep over early affec- 
 tion ; 
 
 And the dim notes of that pleasant song will be heard as a 
 reproachful spirit, 
 
 Moaning in yEolian strains over the desert of the heart, 
 Where the hot siroccos of the world have withered its one 
 oasis. 
 
156 PROVERBIAL PHILOSOPHY. [series i. 
 
 OF MARRIAGE. 
 
 Seek a good wife of thy God, for she is the best gift of his 
 providence ; 
 
 Yet ask not in bold confidence that which he hath not pro- 
 mised. 
 
 Thou knowest not his good-will : — be thy prayer then sub- 
 missive thereunto ; 
 
 And leave thy petition to his mercy, assured that he will 
 deal well with thee. 
 
 If thou art to have a wife of thy youth, she is now living on 
 the earth 
 
 Therefore think^f her, and pray for her weal ; yea, though 
 thou hast not seen her. 
 
 They that love early become like-minded, and the tempter 
 toucheth them not: 
 
 They grow up leaning on each other, as the olive and the 
 
 , vine. 
 
 \Ycuth longeth for a kindred spirit, and yearneth for a heart 
 that can commune with his own ; ) 
 
 He ineditateth night and day, doting on the image of his 
 fancy. 
 
 Take heed that what charmeth thee is real, nor springeth of 
 thine own imagination ; 
 
 And suffer not trifles to win thy love; for a wife is thine 
 unto death. 
 
 The harp and the voice may thrill thee, — sound may enchant 
 thine ear, 
 
 But consider thou, — the hand will wither, and the sweet 
 notes turn to discord : 
 
 The eye, so brilliant at even, may be red with sorrow in the 
 morning ; 
 
 And the sylph-like form of elegance must writhe in the 
 crampings of pain. 
 
series i.J OF MARRIAGE. 157 
 
 O happy lot, and hallowed, even as the joy of angels, 
 
 Where the golden chain of godliness is entwined with the 
 roses of love : 
 
 But beware, thou seem not to be holy, to win favor in the 
 eyes of a creature, 
 
 For the guilt of the hypocrite is deadly, and winneth thee 
 wrath elsewhere, 
 
 The idol of thy heart is as thou, a probationary sojourner on 
 earth ; 
 
 Therefore be chary of her soul, for that is the jewel in her 
 casket. 
 
 Let her be a child of God, that she bring with her a blessing 
 to thy house, — 
 
 A blessing above riches, and leading contentment in its train : 
 
 Let her be an heir of heaven : so shall she help thee on thy 
 way ; 
 
 For those who are one in faith, fight double-handed against 
 evil. 
 
 Take heed lest she love thee before God ; that she be not an 
 idolator : 
 
 Yet see that she love thee well : for her heart is the heart of 
 woman ; 
 
 And the triple nature of humanity must be bound by a triple 
 chain, 
 
 For soul and mind and body — godliness, esteem, and affection. 
 
 How beautiful is modesty ! it winneth upon all beholders : 
 
 But a word or a glance may destroy the pure love that should 
 have been for thee. 
 
 Affect not to despise beauty ; no one is freed from its dominion : 
 
 But regard it not a pearl of price : — it is fleeting as the bow in 
 the clouds. 
 
 If the character within be gentle, it often hath its index in 
 the countenance 1 
 
 The soft smile of a lo\ ir.g face is better than splendor that 
 fadeth quickly. 
 
 14 
 
358 
 
 PROVERBIAL PHILOSOPHY. [series i. 
 
 When thou choosest a wife, think not only of thyself, 
 
 But of those God may give thee of her, that they reproach 
 thee not for their being: 
 
 See that he hath given her health, lest then lose her early 
 and weep ; 
 
 See that she springeth of a wholesome stock, that thy little 
 ones perish not before thee : 
 
 For many a fair skin hath covered a mining disease, 
 
 And many a laughing cheek been bright with the glare of 
 ' madness. 
 
 Mark the converse of one thou lovest, that it be simple and 
 sincere ; 
 
 For an artful or false woman shall set thy pillow with thorns. 
 
 Observe her deportment with others, when she thinketh not 
 that thou art nigh, 
 
 For with thee will the blushes of love conceal the true color 
 of her mind. 
 
 Hath she learning? it is good, so that modesty go with it: 
 
 Hath she wisdom? it is precious, but beware that thou ex- 
 ceed ; 
 
 For woman must be subject, and the true mastery is orf the 
 mind. 
 
 Be joined to thine equal in rank, or the foot of pride will kick 
 at thee : 
 
 And look not only for riches, lest thou be mated with mise- 
 ry : 
 
 Marry not without means ; for so shouldst thou tempt Provi- 
 dence ; 
 
 But wait not for more than enough ; for marriage is the m ty 
 of most men ; 
 
 Grievous indeed must be the burden that shall outweigh in- 
 nocence and health, 
 
 And a well-assorted marriage hath not many cares 
 
 In the day of the joy consider the poor: thou shalt reap a 
 rich harvest of blessing ; 
 
series i.J OF MARRIAGE. 159 
 
 For these be the pensioners of One who filleth thy cup with 
 pleasures , 
 
 In the day of thy joy be thankful: He hath well deserved 
 thy praise : 
 
 Mean and selfish is the heart that seeketh him only in sorrow. 
 
 For her sake, who leaneth on thine arm, court not the notice 
 of the world, 
 
 And remember that sober privacy is comelier than public 
 display. 
 
 If thou marriest, thou art allied unto strangers : see they be 
 not such as shame thee : 
 
 If thou marriest, thou leavest thine own; see that it be not 
 done in anger. 
 
 Bride and bridegroom, pilgrims of life, henceforward to travel 
 together, 
 
 In this the beginning of your journey, neglect not the favor 
 of Heaven : 
 
 Let the day of hopes fulfilled be blest by many prayers, 
 
 And at eventide kneel ye together, that your joy be not un- 
 hallowed : 
 
 Angels that are round you shall be glad, those loving minis- 
 ters of mercy, 
 
 And the richest blessings of your God shall be poured on his 
 favored children. 
 
 Marriage is a figure and an earnest of holier things unseen, 
 
 And reverence well becometh the symbol of dignity and glory. 
 
 Keep thy heart pure, lest thou do dishonor to thy state ; 
 
 Selfishness is base and hateful ; but love considereth not 
 itself. 
 
 The wicked turneth good into evil, for his mind is warped 
 within him ; 
 
 But the heart of the righteous is chaste ; his conscience cast- 
 eth off sin. 
 
 If thou wilt be loved, reader implicit confidence ; 
 
 If thou wouldst not suspect, receive full confidence in turn : 
 
]60 PROVERBIAL PHILOSOPHY. [series i. 
 
 For where trust is not reciprocal, the love that trusted 
 withereth. 
 
 Hide not your grief nor your gladness ; be open one with the 
 other ; 
 
 Let bitterness be strange unto your tongues, but sympathy a 
 dweller in your hearts ; 
 
 Imparting halveth the evils, while it doubleth the pleasures 
 of life, 
 
 But sorrows breed and thicken in the gloomy bosom of Re- 
 serve. 
 
 Young wife, be not froward, nor forget that modesty beco- 
 meth thee ; 
 
 If it be discarded now, who will not hold it feigned before 7 
 
 But be not as a timid girl, — there is honor due to thine estate : 
 
 A matron’s modesty is dignified ; she biusheth not, neither is 
 she bold. 
 
 Be kind to the friends of thine husband, for the love they 
 have to him : 
 
 And gently bear with his infirmities ; hast thou no need of 
 his forbearance 7 
 
 Be not always in each other’s company ; it is often good to 
 be alone ; 
 
 And if there be too much sameness, ye cannot but grow 
 weary of each other ; 
 
 Ye have each a soul to be nourished, and a mind to be taught 
 in wisdom, 
 
 Therefore, as accountable for time, help one another to im- 
 prove it. 
 
 If ye feel love to decline, track out quickly the secret cause ; 
 
 Let it not rankle for a day, 'but confess and bewail it to- 
 gether : 
 
 Speedily seek to be reconciled, for love is the life of mar- 
 riage ; 
 
 And be ye co-partners in triumph, conquering the peevish- 
 ness of self. 
 
series i.J OF EDUCATION. 161 
 
 Let no one have thy confidence, O wife, saving thine hus- 
 band : 
 
 Have not a friend more intimate, O husband, than thy wife. 
 
 In the joy of a well-ordered home, be warned that this is not 
 your rest ; 
 
 For the substance to come may be forgotten in the present 
 beauty of the shadow. 
 
 If ye are blessed with children ye have a fearful pleasure, 
 
 A deeper care and a higher joy, and the range of your exist- 
 ence is widened : 
 
 If Cod in wisdom refuse them, thank him for an unknown 
 mercy : 
 
 For how can ye tell if they might be a blessing or a curse 1 
 
 Yet ye may pray, like Hannah, simply dependent on his 
 will : 
 
 Resignation sweeteneth the cup, but impatience dasheth it 
 with vinegar. 
 
 Now this is the sum of the matter : — if ye will be happy in 
 marriage, 
 
 Confide, love, and be patient : be faithful, firm, and holy. 
 
 OF EDUCATION. 
 
 A babe in a house is a well-spring of pleasure, a messenger 
 of peace and love : 
 
 A resting place for innocence on earth ; a link between angels 
 and men : 
 
 Yet is it a talent of trust, a loan to be rendered back with in- 
 terest ; 
 
 A delight, but redolent of caret honey-sweet, but lacking not 
 the bitter. 
 
 For character groweth day by day, and all things aid it in 
 unfolding, 
 
 And the bent unto good or evil may be given in the hours of 
 infancy : 
 
 14 * 
 
162 PROVERBIAL PHILOSOPHY . [series i. 
 
 Scratch the green rind of a sapling, or wantonly twist it in 
 the soil, 
 
 The scarred and crooked oak will tell of thee for centuries to 
 come ; 
 
 i Even so mayst thou guide the mind to good, or lead it to the 
 mnrrings of evil, 
 
 For disposition is builded up by the fashioning of first im- 
 pressions : 
 
 Wherefore, though the voice of Instruction waiteth for the 
 ear of reason, 
 
 Yet with its mother’s milk the young child drinketh Educa- 
 tion. 
 
 Pa tience is the first great lesson ; he may learn it at the breast ; 
 
 And the habit of obedience and trust may be grafted on his 
 mind in the cradle : 
 
 Hold the little hands in prayer, teach the weak knees their 
 
 kneeling ; 
 
 Let him see thee speaking to thy God; he will not forget it 
 afterward : 
 
 When old and grey, will he feelingly remember a mother’s 
 tender piety, 
 
 And the touching recollection of her prayers shall arrest the 
 strong man in his sin. 
 
 Select not to nurse thy darling one that may taint his in- 
 nocence, 
 
 For example is a constant monitor, and good seed will die 
 among the tares. 
 
 The arts of a strange servant have spoiled a gentle disposi- 
 tion : 
 
 Mother, let him learn of th)|lips, and be nourished at thy 
 breast. 
 
 Character is mainly moulded by the cast of the minds that 
 surround it : 
 
 Let then the playmates of thy little one be not other than 
 thy judgment shall approve ; 
 
series!.] OF EDUCATION. 163 
 
 Fora child is in a new world, and learneth somew hat every 
 moment, 
 
 His eye is quick to observe, his memory storeth in secret, 
 
 His ear is greedy of knowledge, and his mind is plastic as 
 soft wax. 
 
 Beware then that he heareth what is good, that he feedeth 
 not on evil maxims, 
 
 For the seeds of first instructions are dropped into the deep- 
 est furrows. 
 
 That which immemorial use hath sanctioned, seemeth to be 
 right and true ; 
 
 Therefore, let him never have to recollect the time when 
 good things were strangers to his thought. 
 
 Strive not to centre in thyself, fond mother, all his love ; 
 
 Nay, do not thou so selfishly, but enlarge his heart for others ; 
 
 Use him to sympathy betimes, that he learn to be sad with 
 the afflicted ; 
 
 And check not a child in his merriment, — should not his 
 morning be sunny ? 
 
 Give him not all his desire, so shalt thou strengthen him in 
 hope ; 
 
 Neither stop with indulgence the fountain of his tears, so 
 shall he fear thy firmness. 
 
 Above all things graft on him subjection, yea in the veriest 
 trifle ; 
 
 Courtesy to all, reverence to some, and to thee unanswering 
 obedience. 
 
 Read thou first, and well approve, the hooks thou givest to 
 thy child ; 
 
 But remember the weakness of his thought, and that wisdom 
 for him must be diluted ; 
 
 In the honied waters of infant tales, let him taste the strong 
 wine of truth : 
 
 Pathetic stories soften the heart ; but legends of terror breed 
 midnight misery ; 
 
164 PROVERBIAL PHILOSOPHY. [series i. 
 
 Fairy fictions cram the mind with folly, and knowledge of evil 
 tempteth to like evil : 
 
 Be not loath to curb imagination, nor be fearful that truths 
 will depress it ; 
 
 And for evil, he will learn it soon enough ; be not thou the 
 devil’s envoy. 
 
 Induce not precocity of intellect, for so shouldst thou nourish 
 vanity ; 
 
 Neither can a plant, forced in the liot-bed, stand against the 
 frozen breath of winter. 
 
 The mind is made wealthy by ideas, but the multitude of 
 words is a clogging weight : 
 
 Therefore be understood in thy teaching, and instruct to the 
 measure of capacity. 
 
 Analogy is milk for babes, but abstract truths are strong meat; 
 
 Precepts and rules are repulsive to a child, but happy illustra- 
 tion winneth him : 
 
 In vain shalt thou preach of industry and prudence, till he 
 learn of the bee and the ant ; 
 
 Dimly will he think of his soul, till the acorn and the chry- 
 salis have taught him 
 
 He will fear God in thunder, and worship his Loveliness in 
 flowers ; 
 
 And parables shall charm his heart, while doctrines seem 
 dead mystery ; 
 
 Faith shall he learn of the husbandman casting good corn 
 into the soil ; 
 
 And if thou train him to trust thee, he will not withhold his 
 reliance from the Lord. 
 
 Fearest thou the dark, poor child 1 I would not have thee 
 left to thy terrors ; 
 
 Darkness is the semblance of evil, and nature regardeth it 
 with dread . 
 
 Yet know thy father’s God is with thee still, to guard thee : 
 
 It is a simple lesson of dependence, let thy tost mind anchor 
 upon Him. 
 
series i.J OF EDUCATION. 165 
 
 Did a sudden noise affright thee 1 lo, this or that hath caused 
 it: 
 
 Things undefined are full of dread, and stagger stouter nerves. 
 
 The seeds of misery and madness have been sowed in the 
 nights of infancy ; 
 
 Therefore be careful that ghastly fears bo not the night com- 
 panions of thy child. 
 
 Lo, thou art a land-mark on a hill ; thy little ones copy thee 
 in all things. 
 
 Let, then, thy religion be perfect . so shalt thou be honored in 
 thy house. 
 
 Be instructed in all wisdom, and communicate that thou 
 knovvest, 
 
 Otherwise thy learning is hidden, and thus thou seemest 
 unwise. 
 
 A sluggard hath no respect ; an epicure commandeth not re- 
 verence : 
 
 Meanness is always despicable, and folly provoketh contempt. 
 
 Those parents are best honored whose characters best de- 
 serve it; 
 
 Show me a child undutiful, I shall know where to look for a 
 foolish f ither : 
 
 Never hath a father done his duty, and lived to be despised 
 of his son. 
 
 But how can that son reverence an example he d;ffc not fol- 
 low ? 
 
 Should he imitate thee in thine evil? his scorn is thy rebuke. 
 
 Nay, but bring him up aright, in obedience to God and to thee ; 
 
 Begin betimes, lest thou fail of his fear; and with judgment, 
 that thou lose not his love : 
 
 Herein use good discretion, and govern not all alike. 
 
 Yet, perhaps, the fault will be in thee, if kindness prove not 
 all sufficient : 
 
 By kindness, the wolf and the zebra become docile as the 
 spaniel and the horse : 
 
168 PROVERBIAL PHILOSOPHY. [series i. 
 
 The kite feedeth with the starling, under the law of kindness : 
 
 That law shall tame the fiercest, bring down the battlements 
 of pride, 
 
 Cherish the weak, control the strong, and win the fea#ful 
 spirit. 
 
 Be obeyed when thou commandest ; but command not often : 
 
 Let thy carriage be the gentleness of love, not the stern front 
 of tyranny ; 
 
 Make not one child a warning to another : but chide the 
 offender apart : 
 
 For self-conceit and wounded pride rankle like poisons in the 
 soul. 
 
 A mild rebuke in the season of calmness, is better than a rod 
 in the heat of passion, 
 
 Nevertheless spare not, if thy word hath passed for punish- 
 ment; 
 
 Let not thy child see thee humbled, nor learn to think thee 
 false ; 
 
 Suffer none to reprove thee before him, and reprove not thine 
 own purposes by change ; 
 
 Yet speedily turn thou again, and reward him where thou 
 canst, 
 
 For kind encouragement in good cutteth at the roots of evil. 
 
 Drive not a timid infant from his home, in the early spring- 
 th* of his life, 
 
 Commit not that treasure to an hireling, nor wrench the 
 young heart’s fibres : 
 
 In his helplessness leave him not alone, a stranger among 
 strange children, 
 
 Where affection longeth for thy love, counting the dreary 
 hours ; 
 
 Where religion is made a terror, and innocence vveepcth un- 
 heard ; 
 
 Where oppression grindeth without remedy, and cruelty de- 
 lighteth in smiting. 
 
series i.J OF EDUCATION. 167 
 
 Wherefore comply with an evil fashion 1 Is it not to spare 
 thee trouble 1 
 
 Can he gather no knowledge at thy mouth ? Wilt thou yield 
 thine honor to another ? 
 
 What can he gain in learning, to equal what he loseth in 
 innocence ? 
 
 Alas ! for the price above gold, by which such learning 
 cometh ! 
 
 For emulative pride and envy are the specious idols of the 
 diligent, 
 
 Oaths and foul-mouthed sin burn in the language of the idle: 
 Bolder in the mimic world of boys stareth brazen-fronted vice, 
 Then thereafter in the haunts of men, where society doth 
 shame her into corners. 
 
 My soul, look well around thee, ere thou give thy timid 
 infant unto sorrows. 
 
 There be many that say, We were happiest in days long past, 
 When our deepest care was an ill-conned book, 
 
 And when we sported in that merry sunshine of our life, 
 Sadness a stranger to the heart, and cheerfulness its gay in- 
 habitant. 
 
 True, ye are now less pure, and therefore are more wretched : 
 But have ye quite forgotten how sorely ye travailed at your 
 tasks, 
 
 How childish griefs and disappointments bowed .down the 
 childish mind ? 
 
 How sorrow sat upon your pillow, and terror hath waked 
 you up betimes, 
 
 Dreading the strict hand of justice, that will not wait for a 
 reason, 
 
 Or the whims of petty tyrants, children like yourselves, 
 
 Or the pestilent extract of evil poured into the ear of inno- 
 cence ? 
 
 Behold the coral island, fresh from the floor of the Atlantic, 
 
 It is dinted by every ripple, and a soft wave can smoothe its 
 surface ; 
 
168 PROVERBIAL PHILOSOPHY. [series i. 
 
 But soon its substance hardeneth in the winds and tropic sun, 
 
 And weakly the foaming billows break against its adaman- 
 tine wall ; 
 
 Even thus, though sin and care dash upon the firmness of 
 manhood, 
 
 The timid child is wasted most by his petty ^roubles ; 
 
 And seldom, when life is mature, and the strength propor- 
 tioned to the burden, 
 
 Will the feeling mind, that can remember, acknowledge to 
 deeper anguish, 
 
 Than when, as a stranger and a little one, the heart first 
 ached with anxiety, 
 
 And the sprouting buds of sensibility were bruised by the 
 harshness of a school. 
 
 My soul, look well around thee, ere thou give thine infant 
 unto sorrows. 
 
 Yet there be boisterous tempers, stout nerves, .and stubborn 
 hearts, 
 
 And there is a riper season, when the mind is well disciplined 
 in good, 
 
 And a. time, when youth may be bettered by the wholesome 
 occasions of knowledge, 
 
 Which rarely will it meet with so well as among the con- 
 gregation of his fellows. 
 
 Only for infancy, fond mother, rend not those first affec- 
 tions ; 
 
 Only for the sensitive and timorous, consign not thy darling 
 unto misery. 
 
 A man looketh on his little one, as a being of better hope ; 
 
 In himself ambition is dead, but it hath a resurrection in his 
 son ; 
 
 That vein is yet untried, — and who can tell if it be not 
 goldeu 1 
 
 While his, well-nigh worked out, never yielded aught but 
 load : 
 
1 
 
 series i.J OF EDUCATION. 169 
 
 And thus is he hurt more sorely, if his wishes are defeated 
 there ; 
 
 He has staked his all upon a throw, and lo ! the dice have 
 foiled him. 
 
 All ways, and at all times, men follow on in flocks, 
 
 And the rife epidemic of the day shall tincture the stream 
 of education ; 
 
 Fashion is a foolish watcher posted at the tree of know- 
 ledge, 
 
 Who plucketh its unripe fruit to pelt away the birds: 
 
 But, for its golden apples, — they dry upon the boughs, 
 
 And few have the courage or the wisdom to eat in spite of 
 fashion : 
 
 One while, the fever is to learn, what none will be wiser for 
 knowing, 
 
 Exploded errors in extinct tongues, and occasions for their 
 use are small ; 
 
 And the bright morning of life, for years of misspent time, 
 Wasted in following sounds, hath tracked up little sense, 
 
 Till at noon a man is thrown upon the world, with a mind 
 expert in trifles, 
 
 Having yet everything to learn that can make him good or 
 useful : 
 
 The curious spirit of youth is crammed with unwholesome 
 garbage, 
 
 While starving for the mother’s milk the breasts of nature 
 yield ; 
 
 And highly-colored fables of depravity lure with their classic 
 varnish, 
 
 While truth is holding out in vain her mirror much despised. 
 
 Of olden time, the fashion was for arms, to make an accom- 
 plished slayer, 
 
 And set gregarious man a-tilting with his fellows ; 
 
 Thereafter, occult sciences, and mystic arts, and symbols, 
 How to exorcise a wizard, and how to lay a ghost ; 
 
 15 
 
170 PROVERBIAL PHILOSOPHY. [series i. 
 
 Anon, all for gallantry and presence, the minuet, the palfry, 
 and the foil, 
 
 And the grand aim of education was to produce a coxcomb; 
 
 Soon came scholastical dispute with hydra-headed argument ; 
 
 And the true philosophy of mind confounded in a labyrinth 
 of words ; 
 
 Then, the Pantheon, and its orgies, initiating docile child- 
 hood, 
 
 While the diligent youth strove hard to render his all unto 
 
 Caesar ; 
 
 And now is seen the passion for utility, when all things are 
 accounted by their price, • 
 
 And the wisdom of the wise is busied in hatching golden 
 eggs. 
 
 Perchance, not many moons to come, and all will again be 
 for abstrusity, 
 
 Unravelling the figured veil that hideth Egypt’s gods ; 
 
 Or in those strange Avatars seeking benignant Vishnu, 
 
 Kali, and Kamala the fair, and much-invoked Ganesa. ( 27 ) 
 
 The mines of knowledge are oft laid bare through the forked 
 hazelwand of chance, 
 
 And in a mountain of quartz we find a grain of gold. 
 
 Of a truth it were well to know all things, and to learn them 
 all at once, 
 
 And what, though mortal insufficiency attain to small know 
 ledge of any ? 
 
 Man loveth exclusions delighting in the sterile trodden path, 
 
 While the broad green meadow is jewelled with wild 
 flowers : 
 
 And whether is it better with the many to follow a beaten 
 track, 
 
 Or by eccentric wanderings to cull unheeded sweets ? 
 
 When his reason yieldeth fruit, make thy child thy friend ! 
 
 For a filial friend is a double gain, a diamond set in gold. 
 
i 
 
 series i.] OF EDUCATION. 171 
 
 As an infant, thy mandate was enough, but now let him see 
 thy* reasons ; 
 
 Confide in him, but with discretion ; and bend a willing ear 
 to his questions. 
 
 More to thee than to all beside, let him owe good counsel and 
 good guidance ; 
 
 Let him feel his pursuits have an interest, more to thee than 
 to all beside. 
 
 Watch his native capacities ; nourish that which suiteth 
 him the readiest ; 
 
 And cultivate early those good inclinations wherein thou 
 fearest he is most lacking : 
 
 Is he phlegmatic and desponding I let small successes com- 
 fort his hope ; 
 
 Is he obstinate and sanguine 1 let petty crosses accustom 
 him to life. 
 
 Showelh he a sordid spirit 1 be quick, and teach him gene- 
 rosity ; 
 
 Inclineth he to liberal excess 1 prove to him how hard it is 
 to earn. 
 
 Gather to thy hearth such friends as are worthy of honor 
 and attention, 
 
 For the company a man chooseth is a visible index of his 
 heart : 
 
 But let not the pastor whom thou liearest be too much a 
 familiar in thy house, 
 
 For thy children may see his infirmities, and learn to cavil 
 at his teaching. 
 
 It is well to take hold on occasions, and render indirect in- 
 struction ; 
 
 It is better to teach upon a system, and reap the wisdom of 
 books : 
 
 The history of nations yieldeth grand outlines : of persons, 
 minute details. 
 
 Poetry is polished to the mind, and high abstractions cleanse 
 it. 
 
172 PROVERBIAL PHILOSOPHY. [series i. 
 
 Consider the station of thy son, and breed him to his fortune 
 with judgment : 
 
 The rich may profit in much which would bring small ad- 
 vantage to the poor. 
 
 But with all thy care for thy son, with all thy strivings for 
 his welfare, 
 
 Expect disappointment, and look for pain: for he is of an 
 evil stock, and will grieve thee. 
 
 OF TOLERANCE. 
 
 A wise man in a crowded street winneth his way with gen 
 tleness, 
 
 Nor rudely pusheth aside the stranger that standeth in his 
 path ; 
 
 He knoweth that blind hurry will but hinder, stirring up 
 contention against him, 
 
 Yet holdeth he steadily right on, with his face to the scope 
 of his pursuit : 
 
 Even so, in the congress of opinions, the bustling highway 
 of intelligence, 
 
 Each man should ask of his neighbor, and yield to him again 
 concession. 
 
 Terms ill defined, and forms misunderstood, and customs, 
 where their reasons are unknown, 
 
 Have stirred up many zealous souls to fight against imagi 
 nary giants : 
 
 But wisdom will hear the matter out, and often, by keen- 
 ness of perception, 
 
 Will find in strange disguise the precious truth he seeketli ; 
 
 So he leaveth unto prejudice or taste the garb and the man- 
 ner of her presence, 
 
 Content to see so nigh the mistress of his lovo. 
 
 There is no similitude in nature that owneth not also to a 
 difference, 
 
SERIES T.J 
 
 OF TOLERANCE. 
 
 173 
 
 Yea, no two berries are alike, though twins upon one stem ; 
 
 No drop in the ocean, no pebble on the beach, no leaf in the 
 forest, hath its counterpart, 
 
 No mind in its dwelling of mortality, no spirit in the world 
 unseen : 
 
 And therefore, since capacity and essence differ alike with 
 accident, 
 
 None but a bigot partisan will hope for impossible unity. 
 
 Wilt thou ensure peace, nor buffet with the waters of con- 
 tention, 
 
 Wilt thou be counted wise and gain the love of men, 
 
 Let unobtruded error escape the frown of censure, 
 
 Nor lift the glass of truth alvvay before thy fellows : 
 
 I say not, aompromise the right, I would not have thee coun- 
 tenance the wrong, 
 
 But hear with charitable heart the reasons of an honest 
 judgment ; 
 
 For thou also hast erred, and knowest not when thou art 
 most right ; 
 
 Nor whether to-morrow’s wisdom may not prove thee simple 
 to-day ; 
 
 Perchance thou art chiding in another what once thou wast 
 thyself; 
 
 Perchance thou sharply reprovest what thou wilt be hereaf- 
 ter. 
 
 A man that can render a reason, is a man worthy of an an- 
 swer ; 
 
 But he that argueth for victory, deserveth not the tenderness 
 of Truth. 
 
 Whiles a man liveth he may mend : count not thy brother 
 reprobate ; 
 
 When he is dead his chance is gone ; remember not his faults 
 in bitterness. 
 
 A man till he dieth is immortal in thy sight ; and then he is 
 as nothing. 
 
 15 * 
 
174 PROVERBIAL PHILOSOPHY. [series i. 
 
 Make not the living thy foe, nor take weak vengeance of the 
 dead ; 
 
 For life is as a game of chess, where least causeth greatest, 
 
 And an ill move bringeth loss, and a pawn may insure vic- 
 tory. 
 
 Dost thou suspect 1 seek out certainty : for now, by self- 
 inflicted pain, 
 
 Or ill-directed wrath, thou wrongest thyself or thy neigh- 
 bor : 
 
 Suspicion is an early lesson, taught in the school of expe- 
 rience, 
 
 Neither shalt thou easily unlearn it, though charity ply thee 
 with her preaching; 
 
 Yet look thou well for reasons, or ever mistrust hath marred 
 thee. 
 
 Or fear curdled thy blood, or jealousy goaded thee to mad- 
 ness : 
 
 For a look, or a word, or an act, may be taken well or ill, 
 
 As construed by the latitude of love, or the closeness of cold 
 suspicion. 
 
 Better is the wrong with sincerity, rather than the right 
 with falsehood : 
 
 And a prudent man will not lay siege to the stronghold of 
 ignorant bigotry. 
 
 To unsettle a weak mind were an easy, inglorious triumph, 
 
 And a strong cause taketh little count of the worthless suf- 
 frage of a fool : 
 
 Lightly he held to the wrong, loosely will he cling to right; 
 
 Weakness is the essence of his mind, and the reed cannot 
 yield an acorn. 
 
 Dogged obstinacy is oftentimes the buttress that proppeth an 
 unstable spirit, 
 
 But a candid man blusheth not to own he is wiser to-day 
 than yesterday. 
 
 A man of a little wisdom is a sage among fools ; 
 
OF TOLERANCE. 
 
 SERIES I.J 
 
 175 
 
 Rut himself is chief among the fools, if he look for admi- 
 ration from them. 
 
 A heresy is an evil thing, for its shame is its pride : 
 
 Its necessary difference of error is the character it most 
 esteemeth : 
 
 Give a man all things short of liberty, thou shalt have no 
 thanks, 
 
 And little wilt thou speed with thine opponent, by proving 
 points he will concede. 
 
 The tost sand darkeneth the waves ; and clear had been the 
 pages of truth, 
 
 Ilnd not the glosses of men obscured the simplicity of faith - 
 
 In all things consider thine own ignorance, and gladly take 
 occasion to be taught ; 
 
 But suffer not excess of liberality to neutralize thy mental 
 independence. 
 
 The faults and follies of most men make their deaths a gain ; 
 
 But thou also art a man, full of faults and follies ; 
 
 Therefore sorrow for the dead, or none shall weep for thee, 
 
 For the measure of charity thou dealest, shall be poured into 
 thine own bosom. 
 
 That which vexeth thee now, provoking thee to hate thy 
 brother, . 
 
 Bear with it ; the annoyance passeth, and may not return 
 for ever : 
 
 The same combinations and results which aggravate thy 
 soul to-day, 
 
 May not meet again for centuries in the kaleidoscope of cir- 
 cumstance ; 
 
 For men and matters change, new elements mixing in con- 
 tinually, 
 
 And, as with chemical magic, the sour is transmuted into 
 sweetness, 
 
 A little explained, a little endured, a little passed over as a 
 foible, 
 
 And, lo, the jagged atoms fit like smooth mosaic. 
 
176 PROVERBIAL PHILOSOPHY. [series i. 
 
 Thou canst not shape another’s mind to suit thine own body, 
 
 Think not, then, to be furnishing his brain with thy special 
 notions. 
 
 Charity walketh with a high step, and stumbleth not at a 
 trifle : 
 
 Charity hath keen eyes, but the lashes half conceal them : 
 
 Charity is praised of all and fear not thou that praise, 
 
 God will not love thee less because men love thee more^ 23 ) 
 
 OF SORROW. 
 
 I said, I will seek out sorrow, and minister the balm of pity : 
 
 So I sought her in the house of mourning ; but peace follow- 
 ed in her train. 
 
 Then I marked her brooding silently in the gloomy caverns 
 of Regret ; 
 
 But a sunbeam of heavenly hope gleamed on her folded 
 wing. 
 
 So I turned to the cabin of the poor, where famine dwelt with 
 disease ; 
 
 But the bed of the sick was smoothed, and the ploughman 
 whistled at his labor. 
 
 So I stopped and mused within myself, to remember where 
 sorrow dwelt, 
 
 For I sought to see her alone, uncomforted, uncompanioned. 
 
 I went to the prison, but penitence was there, and promise of 
 better times ; 
 
 I listened at the madman's cell, but it echoed with deluded 
 laughter. 
 
 Then I turned me to the rich and noble ; I noted the sons of 
 fashion : 
 
 A smile was on the languid cheek, that had no commerce 
 with the heart 
 
 Unhallowed thoughts, like fires, gleamed fi-jin the window 
 of the eye, 
 
SERIES I.] 
 
 OF SORROW. 
 
 177 
 
 And sorrow lived with those whose pleasures add unto their 
 sins. 
 
 His infancy wanted not guilt ; his life was continued evil ; 
 
 He drew in pride with his mother’s milk, and a father’s lips 
 taught him cursing. 
 
 I marked him as the wayward boy ; I traced the dissolute 
 youth : 
 
 I saw him betray the innocent, and sacrifice affection to his 
 lust. 
 
 I saw him the companion of knaves, and a squanderer of ill- 
 got gain, 
 
 I heard him curse his own miserv. while he hugged the 
 chains that galled him : 
 
 For well had experience declared the bitterness of guilty 
 pleasure, 
 
 But habit, with its iron net, involved him in its folds. 
 
 Behind him lowered the thunder-storm, which the caldron 
 of his wickedness had brewed ; 
 
 Before him was the smooth steep cliff*, whose base is ruin 
 and despair. 
 
 So he rushed madly on, and tried to forget his being : 
 
 The noisy revel and the low debauch, and fierce excitement 
 of play, 
 
 With dreary interchange of palling pleasures, filled the dull 
 round of existence ; 
 
 Memory was to him as a foe, so he flew for false solace to 
 the wine cup, 
 
 And stunned his enemy at even, but she rent him as a giant 
 in the morning. 
 
 I turned aside to weep ; I lost him a little while : 
 
 1 looked, years had past : he was hoar with the winter of 
 his age. 
 
 And what was now his hope 1 where was- the balm for his 
 sadness ? 
 
178 PROVERBIAL PHILOSOPHY. [series l. 
 
 The memory of the past was guilt ; the feeling of the pre- 
 sent, remorse. 
 
 Then he set his affections on gold, he worshipped the shrine 
 of Mammon, 
 
 And to lay richer gifts before his idol, he starved his own 
 bowels ; 
 
 So, the youth spent in profligacy ended in the gripings of 
 want . 
 
 The miser grudged himself husks to take deeper vengeance 
 of the prodigal. 
 
 And I said, this is sorrow ; but pity cannot reach it. 
 
 This is to be wretched indeed, to be guilty without repent- 
 ance. 
 
 OF JOY. 
 
 My soul was sickened within me, so I sought the dwelling- 
 place of Joy : 
 
 And I met it not in laughter ; I found it not in wealth or 
 power ; 
 
 But I saw it in the pleasant home, where religion smiled 
 upon content, 
 
 And the satisfied ambition of the heart rejoiced in the favor 
 of its God. 
 
 Behold the happy man, his face is rayed with pleasure, 
 
 His thoughts are of calm delight, and none can know his 
 blessedness : 
 
 I have watched him from his infancy, and seen him in the 
 grasp of death, 
 
 Yet never have I noted on his brow the cloud of desponding 
 sorrow. 
 
 He hath knelt beside his cradle ; his mother’s hymn lulled 
 him to sleep : 
 
 In childhood he hath loved holiness, and drank from that 
 fountain-head of peace. 
 
 Wisdom took him for her scholar, guiding his steps in purity: 
 
OF JOY. 
 
 SERIES I.J 
 
 179 
 
 He lived unpolluted by the world ; and his young heart hated 
 sin. 
 
 But he owned not the spurious religion engendered of faction 
 and moroseness, 
 
 Neither were the sproutings of his soul seared by the brand 
 of superstition. 
 
 His love is pure and single, sincere, and knoweth rot change : 
 
 For his manhood has been blessed with the pleasant choice 
 of his youth : 
 
 Behold his one beloved, she leaneth on his arm, 
 
 And he looketh on the years that are past, to review the 
 dawn of her affection. 
 
 Memory is sweet unto him as a perfect landscape to the sight ; 
 
 Each object is lovely in itself, but the whole is the harmony 
 of nature. 
 
 Behold his little ones around him, they bask in the warmth 
 of his smile ; 
 
 And infant innocence and joy lighten their happy faces ; 
 
 He is holy, and they honor him ; he is loving, and they love 
 him 
 
 He is consistent, and they esteem him ; he is firm, and they 
 fear him. 
 
 His friends are the excellent among men, and the bands of 
 their friendship are strong ; 
 
 His house is the palace of peace : for the Prince of Peace is 
 there. 
 
 As the wearied man to his couch, as the thoughtful man to 
 his musings, 
 
 Even so, from the bustle of life, he goeth to his well-ordered 
 home. 
 
 And though he often sin, he returneth with weeping eyes : 
 
 For he feeleth the mercies of forgiveness, and gloweth with 
 warmer gratitude. 
 
 Thus did he walk in happiness, and sorrow was a stranger 
 to his soul ; 
 
180 PROVERBIAL PHILOSOPHY. [series i. 
 
 The light of affection sunned his heart, the tear of the grate- 
 ful bedewed his feet, 
 
 He put his hand with constancy to good, and angels knew 
 him as a brother, 
 
 And the busy satellites of evil trembled as at God’s ally : 
 
 He used his wealth as a wise steward, making him friends 
 for futurity ; 
 
 lie bent his learning to religion, and religion was with him 
 at the last ; 
 
 For I saw him after many days, when the time of his release 
 was come, 
 
 And 1 longed for a congregated world, to behold that dying 
 saint, 
 
 As the aloe is green and well-liking, till the last best summer 
 of its age, 
 
 And then hangeth out its golden bells to mingle glory with 
 corruption ; 
 
 As a meteor travelleth in splendor, but bursteth in dazzling 
 light ; 
 
 Such was the end of the righteous : his death was the sun 
 at his setting. 
 
 Look on this picture of joy, and remember that portrait of 
 sorrow : 
 
 Behold the beauty of holiness, behold the deformity of 
 sin : 
 
 How long, ye sons of men, will ye scorn the words of wis- 
 dom ? 
 
 How long will ye hunt for happiness in the caverns that 
 breed despair 7 
 
 Will ye comfort yourselves in misery, by denying the exist- 
 ence of delight, 
 
 And from experience in woe, will ye reason that none are 
 happy ? 
 
 Joy is not in your path, for it lovcth not that bleak broad 
 road, 
 
series i.j OF JOY. 181 
 
 But its flowers are hung upon the hedges that line a narrower 
 way ; 
 
 And there the faint travellers of earth may wander and 
 gather for themselves, 
 
 To soothe their wounded hearts with balm from th© ama- 
 ranths of heaven 
 
 16 
 
PROVERBIAL PHILOSOPHY 
 
 SECOND SERIES. 
 

 
 
 
 
 ' 
 
 
 
 
 -\ 
 
 . 
 
PROVERBIAL PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 INTRO DUCTORY 
 
 Come again, and greet me, as a friend, fellow-pilgrim upon 
 life’s highway, 
 
 Leave awhile the hot and dusty road, to loiter in the green- 
 wood of Reflection. 
 
 Come, unto my cool dim grotto, that is watered by the rivulet 
 of truth, 
 
 And over whose time stained rock climb the fairy flowers 
 of content: 
 
 Here, upon this mossy bank of leisure, fling thy load of 
 cares, 
 
 Taste my simple store., and rest one soothing hour. 
 
 Behold, I would count thee for a brother, and commune 
 with thy charitable soul ; 
 
 Though wrapped within the mantle of a prophet, I stand 
 mine own weak scholar. 
 
 Heed no disciple for a teacher, if knowledge be not found 
 upon his tongue ; 
 
 For vanity and folly were the lessons these lips untaught 
 could give : 
 
 The precious staple of my merchandise cometh from a better 
 country, 
 
 The harvest of my reaping sprang of foreign seed ; 
 
 And this poor pensioner of mercy — should he boast of merit 1 
 16 * 
 
186 INTRODUCTORY. [series ii. 
 
 The grafted stock, — should that be proud of apples not its 
 own 1 
 
 Into the bubbling brook I dip my hermit shell ; 
 
 Man receiveih as a cup, but Wisdom is the river. 
 
 Moreover, for this filagree of fancy, this Oriental garnish of 
 similitude. 
 
 Alas, the world is old, — and all things old within it: 
 
 I walk a trodden path, I love the good old ways , 
 
 Prophets, and priests, and kings have tuned the harp I 
 faintly touch. 
 
 Truth in a garment of the past, is my choice and simple 
 theme ; 
 
 No truth is new to-day ; and the mantle was another’s. 
 
 Still, there is an insect swarm, the buzzing cloud of imagery, 
 
 Mote-like streaming on my sight, and thronging my reluctant 
 mind ; 
 
 The memories of studious cullings, and multiplied analo- 
 gies of nature, 
 
 Fresh feelings unrepressed, welling from the heart spontane- 
 ous, 
 
 Facts, and comparisons, and meditative atoms, gathered on 
 the heap of combination, 
 
 Mingie in the fashion of my speech with gossamer dreams 
 of Reverie. 
 
 I need not beat the underwood for game ; my pheasants flock 
 upon the lawn, 
 
 And gambolling hares disport fearless in my dewy field ; 
 
 I roam no heath -empurpled hills, wearily watching for a 
 covey, 
 
 Rut thoughts fly swift to my decoy, eager to be caught ; 
 
 l sit no quiet angler, lingering patiently for sport, 
 
 But spread my nets for a draught, and take the glittering 
 shoal ; 
 
 I chase no solitary stag, tracking it with breathless toil, 
 
series ii.J INTRODUCTORY. 187 
 
 Cut hunt with Aureng-zebe, and spear surrounded thou- 
 sands ! (i) 
 
 What then, — count yo this a boast? — sweet charity think it 
 other, 
 
 For the dog-fish and poisonous ray are captured in the mul- 
 let-haul : 
 
 The crane and the kite are of my thoughts, alike with the 
 partridge and the quail, 
 
 And unclean meats as of the clean hang upon my Seric 
 shambles. 
 
 — How, saith he ? shall a man deceive, dressing up his jackal 
 as a lion ? 
 
 Or color in staid hues of fact the changing vest of false- 
 hood ? — 
 
 Brother, unwittingly he may; doubtless* unwillingly he 
 doth : 
 
 For men are full of fault, and how should he be righteous ? 
 
 Carefully my garden hath been weeded, yet shall it be foul 
 with thistle; 
 
 My grapery is diligently thinned, and yet many berries will 
 be sour: 
 
 From my nets have I flung the bad away, to my small skill 
 and caution : 
 
 Yet may some slimy snake have counted for an eel. 
 
 The rudder of man’s best hopes cannot always steer himself 
 from error ; 
 
 The arrow of man’s straightest aim flieth short of truth. 
 
 Thus, the confession of sincerity visit not as if it were pre- 
 sumption ; 
 
 Nor own me for a leader, where thy reason is not guide. 
 
188 
 
 PROVERBIAL PHILOSOPHY. [series n. 
 
 OF CHEERFULNESS. 
 
 Take courage, prisoner of time, for there be many comforts, 
 Cease thy labor in the pit, and bask awhile with truants in 
 the sun ; 
 
 Be cheerful, man of care, for great is the multitude of chances, 
 Burst thy fetters of anxiety, and walk among the citizens of 
 ease. 
 
 Wherefore dost thou doubt? if present good is round thee, 
 
 It may be well to look for change, but to trust in a continu- 
 ance is better; 
 
 Whilst, at the crisis of adversity, to hope for some amends 
 were wisdom, 
 
 And cheerfully to bear thy cross in patient strength is duty. 
 
 I speak of common troubles, and the petty plagues of life, 
 
 The phantom-spies of Unbelief, that lurk about his outposts: 
 Sharp suspicion, dull distrust, and sullen stern moroseness, 
 Are captains in that locust swarm to lead the cloudy host. 
 Thou hast need of fortitude and faith, for the adversaries 
 come on thickly, 
 
 And he that fled hath added wings to his pursuing foes ; 
 Fight them, and the cravens flee ; thy boldness is their panic * 
 Fear them, and thy treacherous heart hath lent the ranks a 
 legion : 
 
 Among their shouts of victory resoundeth the wail of Hera- 
 clitus, 
 
 While Democrite, confident and cheerful, hath plucked up 
 the standard of their camp. (2) 
 
 Not few nor light are the burdens of life; then load it not 
 with heaviness of spirit ; 
 
 Sicknesses, and penury, and travail, — there be real ills enow : 
 We are wandering benighted, with a waning moon ; plunge 
 not rashly into jungles, 
 
series ii.] OF CHEERFULNESS. 189 
 
 Where cold and poisonous damps will quench the torch of 
 hope ; 
 
 The tide is strong against us ; good oarsmen, pull or perish, — 
 
 If your arms be slack for fear, ye shall not stem the torrent. 
 
 A wise traveller goeth on cheerily, through fair weather or 
 foul ; 
 
 He Knoweth that his journey must be sped, so he carrieth his 
 sunshine with him. 
 
 Calamities came not as a curse, — nor prosperity for other 
 than a trial ; 
 
 Struggle, — thou art better for the strife, and the very energy 
 shall hearten thee. 
 
 Good is taught in a Spartan school, — hard lessons and a 
 rough disci pline. 
 
 But evil cometh idly of itself, in the luxury of Capuan holi- 
 days ; 
 
 And wisdom will go bravely forth to meet the chastening 
 scourge, 
 
 Enduring with a thankful heart that punishment of Love. 
 
 There be three chief rivers of despondency ; sin, sorrow, fear ; 
 
 Sin is the deepest, sorrow hath its shallows, and fear is a 
 noisy ra pid : 
 
 But even to the darkest holes in guilt’s profoundest river 
 
 Ilo^e can pierce with quickening ray, and all those depths 
 are lightened. 
 
 So long as there is mercy in a God, hope is the privilege of 
 creatures, 
 
 And so soon as there is penitence in creatures, that hope is 
 exalted into duty. 
 
 Verily consider this for courage ; that the fearful and the 
 unbelieving 
 
 Are classed with idolators and liars, because they trusted 
 not in God : ( 3 ) 
 
 For it is no other than selfish sin, a hard and proud ingrati- 
 tude, 
 
190 
 
 PROVERBIAL PHILOSOPHY. [series ii. 
 
 Where seeming repentance is herald of despair, instead of 
 hope’s forerunner. 
 
 Moreover, in thy day of Grief, — for friends, or fame, or for- 
 tune, 
 
 Well I wot the heart shall ache, and mind be numbed in 
 torpor : 
 
 Let nature weep ; leave her alone ; the frechet of her sorrow 
 must run off ; 
 
 And sooner will the lake be clear, relieved of turbid floodings. 
 
 Yet see that her license hath a limit; with the novelty her 
 agony is over; 
 
 Hasten in that earliest calm, to tie her in the leash with 
 Reason. 
 
 For regrets are an enervating folly, and the season for energy 
 is come, 
 
 Yea rather, that the future may repair with diligence the 
 ruins of the past. 
 
 Again, for empty fears, the harassings of possible calamity ; 
 
 Pray, and thou shalt prosper ; trust in God, and tread them 
 down. 
 
 Yield lo the phantasy, — thou sinnest; resist it, He will aid 
 thee: 
 
 Out of Him there is no help, nor any sober courage. 
 
 Feekle is the comfort of the faithless, a man without a God , 
 
 Who dare counsel such an one to fling away his fears? 
 
 ; Fear is the heritage of him, a portion wise and merciful, 
 
 To drive the trembler into safety, if haply he may turn and 
 
 . flee : 
 
 I Nevertheless, let him reckon an he will, that all he counteth 
 casual 
 
 5 May as well be for him as against him : dice have many 
 sides. 
 
 And, even as in ailments of the body, diseases follow closely 
 upon dreads, 
 
series n.J OF CHEERFULNESS. 191 
 
 So, with infirmities of mind, is fear the pallid harbinger of 
 failure. 
 
 It were wise to talk undaunted even in an accidental chaos, 
 
 For the brave man is at peace and free to get the mastery of 
 circumstance. 
 
 The stoutest armor of defence is that which is worn within 
 the bosom, 
 
 And the Weapon that no enemy can parry, is a bold and 
 cheerful spirit : 
 
 Catapults in old war worked like Titans, crushing foes with 
 rocks ; 
 
 So doth a strong-springed heart throw back every load on its 
 assailants. 
 
 I went heavily for cares, and fell into the trance of sorrow : 
 
 And behold, a vision in my trance, and my ministering angel 
 brought it. 
 
 There stood a mountain huge and steep, the awful Rock of 
 Ages ; 
 
 The sun upon its summit, and storms midway, and deep ra- 
 vines at foot, 
 
 And, as l looked, a dense black cloud, suddenly dropping from 
 the thunder, 
 
 Filled, like a cataract with yeasty foam, a narrow smiling 
 valley : 
 
 Close and hard that vaporous mass seemed to press the 
 ground, 
 
 And lamentable sounds came up, as of some that were smo- 
 thering beneath. 
 
 Then, as I walked upon the mountain, clear in summer’s 
 noon, 
 
 For charity I called aloud, Ho ! climb up hither to the sun- 
 shine. 
 
 And even like a stream of light my voice had pierced the 
 mist; 
 
192 PROVERBIAL PHILOSOPHY. [series ii. 
 
 I saw below two families of men, and knew their names of 
 old ; 
 
 Courage, struggling through the darkness, stout of heart and 
 gladsome, 
 
 Ran up the shining ladder which the voice of hope had 
 made : 
 
 And tripping lightly by his side, a sweet-eyed helpmate with 
 him, 
 
 I looked upon her face to welcome pleasant Cheerfulness ; 
 
 And a babe was cradled in her bosom, a laughing little 
 prattler, 
 
 The child of Cheerfulness and Courage, — could his name be 
 other than Success 1 
 
 So, from his happy wife, when they both stood beside me on 
 the mountain, 
 
 The fond father took that babe, and set him on his shoulder 
 in the sunshine. 
 
 Again I peered into the valley, for I heard a gasping moan, 
 
 A desolate weak cry, as muffled in the vapors. 
 
 So down that crystal shaft into the poisonous mine 
 
 I sped for charity to seek and save, — and those I sought fled 
 from me. 
 
 At length, I spied far distant, a trembling withered dwarf, 
 
 Who crouched beneath the cloak cf a tall and spectral 
 mourner ; 
 
 Then I knew Cowardice and Gloom, and followed them on 
 in darkness, 
 
 Guided by their rustling robes and moans and muffled cries, 
 
 Until in a suffocating pit the wretched pair hud perished, — 
 
 And lo, their whitening bones were shaping out an epitaph 
 of Failure. 
 
 So I saw that despondency was death, and flung rny burdens 
 from rue, 
 
SERIES II. J 
 
 OF YESTERDAY. 
 
 193 
 
 And, lightened by that effort, I was raised above the world ; 
 Yea, in the strangeness of my vision, I seemed to soar on 
 wings, 
 
 And the names they called my wings were Cheerfulness and 
 Wisdom. 
 
 OF YESTERDAY 
 
 Speak, poor almsman of to-day, whom none can assure of a 
 to-morrow, 
 
 Tell out, with honest heart, the price thou settest upon yes- 
 terday. 
 
 Is it then a writing in the dust, traced by the finger of idle- 
 ness, 
 
 Which Industry, clean housewife, can wipe away for 
 ever ? 
 
 Is it as a furrow on the sand, fashioned by the toying waves, 
 
 Quickly to be trampled then again by the feet of the return- 
 ing tide ? 
 
 Is it as the pale blue smoke, rising from a peasant’s hovel, 
 
 That melted into limpid air, before it topped the larches 1 
 
 Is it but a vision, unstable and unreal, which wise men soon 
 forget ? 
 
 Is it as the stranger of the night, — gone, we heed not whither? 
 
 Alas ! thou foolish heart, whose thoughts are but as these, 
 
 Alas ! deluded soul, that hopeth thus of Yesterday. 
 
 For, behold, — those temples of Ellora, the Brahmin’s rock- 
 built shrine, 
 
 Behold, — yon granite cliff, which the North Sea buffeteth in 
 vain, — 
 
 That stout old forest fir, — these waking verities of life, — 
 
 This guest abiding ever, not strange, nor a servant, but a son, — 
 
 Such, O man, are vanity and dreams, transient as a rainbow 
 on the cloud. 
 
 17 
 
194 PROVERBIAL PHILOSOPHY. [series ii. 
 
 Weighed against that solid fact, thine ill-remembered Yes- 
 terday. 
 
 Come, let me show thee an ensample, where Nature shah 
 instruct us ; 
 
 Luxuriantly the arguments for truth spring native in her gar- 
 dens. 
 
 Seek we yonder woodman of the plain ; he is measuring his 
 axe to the elm, 
 
 And anon the sturdy strokes ring upon the wintry air : 
 
 Eagerly the village schoolboys cluster on the tightened rope, 
 
 Shouting, and bending to the pull, or lifted from the ground 
 elastic ; 
 
 The huge tree boweth like Sisera, boweth to its foes with 
 faintness, — \ 
 
 Its sinews crack, — deep groans declare the reeling anguish 
 of Goliath, 
 
 The wedge is driven home, — and the saw is at its heart, — 
 and lo, with solemn slowness, 
 
 The shuddering monarch riseth from his throne, — toppled 
 with a crash, — and is fallen ! 
 
 Now, shall the mangled stump teach proud man a lesson ; 
 
 Now, can we from that elm-tree’s sap distil the wine of 
 Truth. 
 
 Heed ye those hundred rings, concentric from the core, 
 
 Eddying in various waves to the red bark’s shore-like rim ; 
 
 These be the gathering of yesterdays, present all to-day, 
 
 This is the tree’s judgment, self-history that cannot be gain- 
 said: 
 
 Seven years agone there was a drought,— and the seventh 
 ring is narrowed ; 
 
 The fifth from hence was half a deluge,— the fifth was cellu- 
 lar and broad. 
 
 Thus, Man, thou art a result, the growth of many yester- 
 days, 
 
series ii.] OF YESTERDAY. 195 
 
 That stamp thy secret soul with marks of weal or woe ; 
 
 Thou art an almanac of self, the living record of thy deeds ; 
 
 Spirit hath its scars as well as body, sore and aching in their 
 season : 
 
 Here is a knot, — it was a crime ; there is a canker, — selfish- 
 ness ; 
 
 Lo, here, the heart-wood rotten ; lo, there, perchance, the 
 sap-wood sound. 
 
 Nature teacheth not in vain ; thy works are in thee, of thee ; 
 
 Some present evil bent hath grown of older errors : 
 
 And what if thou be walking now uprightly 7 Salve not thy 
 wounds with poison, 
 
 As if a petty goodness of to-day hath blotted out the sin of yes- 
 terday : 
 
 It is well, thou hast life and light ; and the Hewer showeth 
 mercy, 
 
 Dressing the root, pruning the branch, and looking for thy 
 tardy fruits ; 
 
 But, even here, as thou standest, cheerful belike and careless, 
 
 The stains of ancient evil are upon thee, the record of thy 
 wrong is in thee : 
 
 For, a curse of many yesterdays is thine, many yesterdays 
 of sin, 
 
 That, haply little heeded now, shall blast thy many mor- 
 rows. 
 
 Shall, then, a man reck nothing, but hurl mad defiance at 
 his Judge, 
 
 Knowing that less than an omnipotent cannot make the has 
 been, not been 7 
 
 He ought, — so Satan spake ; he must, — so Atheism urgeth ; 
 
 He may, it was the libertine’s thought ; he doth, — the bad 
 world said it. 
 
 But thou of humbler heart, thou student wiser for simplicity, 
 
 While nature warneth thee betimes, heed the loving counsel 
 of Religion 
 
396 PROVERBIAL PHILOSOPHY. [series ii. 
 
 True, this change is good, and penitence most precious ; 
 
 But trust not thou thy change, nor rest upon repentance ; 
 
 For all we are corrupted at the core, smooth as surface 
 seemeth ; 
 
 What health can bloom in a beautiful skin, when rottenness 
 hath fed upon the bones'? 
 
 And guilt is parcel of us all ; not thou, sweet nurseling of 
 affection, 
 
 Art spotless, though so passing fair, — nor thou, mild patriarch 
 of virtue. 
 
 Behold, then, the better Tree of Life, free unto us all for 
 grafting. 
 
 Cut thee from the hollow root of self, to be budded on a richer 
 Vine. 
 
 Be desperate, O man, as of evil, so of good : tear that tunic 
 from thee ; 
 
 The past can never be retrieved, be the present what it may. 
 
 Vain is the penance and the scourge, vain the fast and vigil; 
 
 The fencer’s cautious skill to-day, can this erase his scars “? 
 
 It is Man’s to famish as a faquir, it is Man’s to die a devotee, 
 
 Light is the torture and the toil, balanced with the wages of 
 Eternity : 
 
 But it is God’s to yearn in love on the humblest, the poorest, 
 and the worst, 
 
 For he giveth freely, as a King, asking only thanks for mercy. 
 
 Look upon this noble-hearted Substitute ; seeing thy woes, 
 he pitied thee, 
 
 Bowed beneath the mountain of thy sin, and perished, — but 
 for Godhead ; 
 
 There stood the Atlas in his powei, and Prometheus in his 
 love is there, 
 
 Emptying on wretched men the blessings earned from hea- 
 ven * 
 
 Put them not away, hide them in thy heart, poor and peni- 
 tent receiver, 
 
SERIES II.] 
 
 OF YESTERDAY. 
 
 197 
 
 Be gratitude thy counseller to good, and wholesome fear unto 
 
 obedience : 
 
 Remember, the pruning-knife is keen, cutting cankers even 
 from the vine : 
 
 Remember, twelve were chosen, and one among them liveth 
 — in perdition. 
 
 Yea, — for standing unatoned, the soul is a bison on the 
 prairie, 
 
 Hunted by those trooping wolves, the many sinful yesterdays ; 
 
 And it speedeth a terrified Deucalion, flinging back the pebble 
 in his flight, 
 
 The pebble that must add one more to those pursuing 
 ghosts. ( J ) 
 
 O man, there is a storm behind, should drive thy bark to 
 haven ; 
 
 The foe, the foe is on thy track, patient, certain, and aveng- 
 ing; 
 
 Day by day, solemnly and silently, followeth the fearful 
 past, — 
 
 His step is lame but sure ; for he catcheth the present in 
 eternity : 
 
 And how to escape that foe, the present-past in future 1 
 
 How to avert that fate, living consequence of causes unex- 
 istent ? — 
 
 Boldly we must overleap his birth, and date above his memo- 
 ries, 
 
 Grafted on the living Tree that was before a yesterday; 
 
 No refuge of a younger birth than one that saw creation 
 
 Can hide the child of time from still condemning yesterday. 
 
 There is the sanctuary-city, mocking at the wrath of thine 
 Avenger ; 
 
 Close at hand, with its wicket on the latch ; haste for thy 
 life, poor hunted one ! 
 
 The gladiator. Guilt, fighteth as of old, armed with net and 
 dagger ; 
 
 17 * 
 
198 PROVERBIAL PHILOSOPHY. [series n. 
 
 Snaring in the mesh of yesterdays, stabbing with the poniard 
 of to-day : 
 
 Fly, thy sword is broken at the hilt; fly, thy shield is 
 shivered, 
 
 Leap the barriers and baffle him : the arena of the past is 
 his. 
 
 The bounds of Guilt are the cycles of Time ; thou must be 
 safe within Eternity; 
 
 v ^he arms of God alone shall rescue thee from Yesterday. 
 
 ^>F TO-DAY. 
 
 Now, is the constant syllable ticking from the clock of time, 
 
 Now, is the watchword of the wise, Now, is on the banner 
 of the prudent. 
 
 Cherish thy to-day and prize it well, or ever it be gulfed into 
 the past, 
 
 Husband it, for who can promise if it shall have a morrow ? 
 
 Behold thou art, — it is enough ; that present care be thine; 
 
 Leave thou the past to thy Redeemer, intrust the future to 
 thy Friend ; 
 
 But for to-day, child of man, tend thou charily the minutes 
 
 The harvest of thy yesterday, the seed-corn of thy morrow. 
 
 Last night died its day; and the deeds thereof were judged 
 
 Thou didst lay thee down as in a shroud, in darkness and 
 deathlike slumber; 
 
 But at the trumpet of this morn, waking the world to resur- 
 rection, 
 
 Thou didst arise, like others, to live a new day’s life ; 
 
 Fear, lest folly give thee cause to mourn its passing pre- 
 sence, 
 
 Fear, that to-morrow’s sigh be not, would God it had not 
 dawned ' 
 
series ii.J OF TO-DAY. 199 
 
 For, To-day the lists are set, and thou must bear thee 
 bravely, 
 
 Tilting for honor, duty, life, or death without reproach ; 
 To-day, is the trial of thy fortitude, O dauntless Mandan 
 chief ; 
 
 To-day, is thy watch, O sentinel ; to-day thy reprieve, O 
 captive ; 
 
 What more ? to-day is the golden chance wherewith to 
 snatch fruition, — 
 
 Be glad, grateful, temperate : there are asps among the figs. 
 For the potter’s clay is in thy hands, — to mould it or to mar 
 it at thy will, 
 
 Or idly to leave it in the sun, an uncouth lump to harden. 
 
 0 bright presence of To-day, let me wrestle with thee, gra- 
 
 cious angel, 
 
 1 will not let thee go, except thou bless me : bless me then 
 
 To-day : 
 
 0 sweet garden of To-day, let me gather of thee, precious 
 
 Eden, 
 
 1 have stolen bitter knowledge, give me fruits of life To-day : 
 
 0 true temple of To-day, let me worship in thee, glorious 
 
 Zion ; 
 
 1 find none other place, nor time, than where I am To-day: 
 
 0 living rescue of To-day, let me run into thee, ark of refuge ; 
 
 1 see none other hope nor chance, but standeth in To-day: 
 
 0 rich b ir.qnet of To-day, let me feast upon thee, saving 
 
 manna : 
 
 1 have none other food nor store, but daily bread To-day ! 
 
 Behold, thou art pilot of the ship, and owner of that freight- 
 ed galleon, 
 
 Competent, with all thy weakness, to steer in safety or to be 
 lost : 
 
 Compass and chart are in thy hand: roadstead and rocks 
 thou knowest; 
 
200 PROVERBIAL PHILOSOPHY. [series h. 
 
 Thou art warned of reefs and shallows ; thou beholdest the 
 harbor and its lights. 
 
 What"? shall thy wantonness or sloth drive the gallant vessel 
 on the breakers ? 
 
 What 1 shall the helmsman’s hand wear upon the black lee- 
 shore 1 
 
 Vain is that excuse ; thou canst escape : thy mind is respon- 
 sible for wrong: 
 
 Vain that murmur ; thou may’st live ; thy soul is debtor 
 for the right. 
 
 To-day, in the voyage of thy life down the dark tide of time* 
 
 Stand boldly to thy tiller, guide thee by the pole-star and be 
 safe ; 
 
 To-day, passing near the sunken rocks, the quicksands and 
 whirlpools of probation, 
 
 Leave awhile the rudder to swing round, give the wind its 
 heading, and be wrecked. 
 
 The crisis of man’s destiny is Now, a still recurring danger : 
 
 Who can tell the trials and temptations coining with the 
 coming hour 'l 
 
 Thou standest a target-like Sebastian, and the arrows whistle 
 near thee : 
 
 Who knoweth when he may hit ? for great is the company 
 of archers. 
 
 Each breath is burdened with a bidding, and every minute 
 hath its mission ; 
 
 For spirits, good and bad, cluster on the thickly-peopled air : 
 
 Sin may blast thee, grace may bless thee, good or ill this 
 hour : 
 
 Chance, and change, and doubt, and fear, are parasites of all. 
 
 A man’s life is a tower, with a staircase of many steps, 
 
 That, as he toileth upward, crumble successively behind 
 him : 
 
 No going back, the past is an abyss ; no stopping, for the 
 present perisheth ; 
 
 
 
SERIES II J 
 
 OF TO-MORROW. 
 
 201 
 
 But ever hasting on, precarious on the foothold of To-day. 
 Our cares are all To-day, our joys are all To-day ; 
 
 And in one little word, our life, what is it, but — To-day 1 
 
 OF TO-MORROW. 
 
 There is a floating island, forward, on the stream of time, 
 Buoyant with fermenting air, and borne along the rapids ; 
 And on that island is a siren, singing sweetly as she goeth, 
 Her eyes are bright with invitation, and allurement lurketh 
 in her cheeks ; 
 
 Many lovers vainly pursuing, follow her beckoning finger, 
 Many lovers seek her still, even to the cataract of death. 
 To-morrow is that island, a vain and foolish heritage, 
 
 And, laughing with seductive lips, Delusion hideth there. 
 Often, the precious present is wasted in visions of the future, 
 And coy To-morrow cometh not with prophecies fulfilled. 
 
 There is a fairy skiff, plying on the sea of life, 
 
 And charitably toiling still to save the shipwrecked crews ; 
 Within, kindly patient, sitteth a gentle mariner, 
 
 Piloting, through surf and strait, the fragile barks of men : 
 How cheering is her voice, how skilfully she guideth, 
 
 How nobly leading onward yet, defying even death ! 
 To-morrow is that skiff, a wise and welcome rescue, 
 
 And, full of gladdening words and looks, that mariner is 
 Hope. 
 
 Often, the painful present is comforted by flattering the 
 future, 
 
 And kind to-morrow beareth half the burdens of To-day. 
 
 To-morrow, whispereth weakness ; and To-morrow findeth 
 him the weaker ; 
 
 To-morrow, promise th conscience ; and behold, no to-day for 
 a fulfilment. 
 
202 PROVERBIAL PHILOSOPHY. [series n. 
 
 0 name of happy omen unto youth, O bitter word of terror 
 
 to the dotard, 
 
 Goal of folly’s lazy wish, and sorrow’s ever-coming friend, 
 
 Fraud’s loophole, — caution’s hint, — and trap to catch the 
 honest, — 
 
 Thou wealth to many poor, disgrace to many noble, 
 
 Thou hope and fear, thou weal and woe, thou remedy, thou 
 ruin, 
 
 How thickly swarms of thought are clustering round To- 
 morrow. 
 
 The hive of memory increaseth, to every day its cell ; 
 
 There is the labor stored, the honey or corruption ; 
 
 Eacii morn the bees fly forth, to fill the growing comb, 
 
 And levy golden tribute of the uncomplaining flowers : 
 
 To-morrow is their care ; they toil for rest To-morrow ; 
 
 But man deferreth duty’s task, and loveth ease to-day. 
 
 To-morrow is that lamp upon the marsh, which a traveller 
 never reacheth ; 
 
 To-morrow, the rainbow’s cup, coveted prize of ignorance ; 
 
 To-morrow, the shifting anchorage, dangerous trust of 
 mariners ; 
 
 To-morrow, the wrecker’s beacon, wily snare of the de- 
 stroyer. 
 
 Reconcile conviction with delay, and To-morrow is a fatal lie ; 
 
 Frighten resolutions into action, To-morrow is a wholesome 
 truth : 
 
 1 must, for I fear To-morrow ; this is the Cassava’s food ; 
 
 Why should I ? let me trust To-morrow, — this is the Cas- 
 sava’s poison. 
 
 Lo, it is the even of To-day, — a day so lately a To-morrow ; 
 
 Where are those high resolves, those hopes of yesternight? 
 
 O faint fond heart, still shall thy whisper be, To-morrow, 
 
 And must the growing avalanche of sin roll down that easy 
 slope 1 
 
series ii. J OF TO-MORROW. 203 
 
 Alas, it is ponderous, and moving on in might, that a Sisyphus 
 may not stop it; 
 
 But haste thee with the lever of a prayer, and stem its strength 
 To-day : 
 
 For its race may speedily be run, and this poor hut, thyself, 
 
 Be whelmed in death and suffocating guilt, that dreary Alpine 
 snow wreath. 
 
 Pensioner of life, be wise, and heed a brother’s counsel, 
 
 I also am a beadsman, with scrip and staff as thou : 
 
 Wouldest thou be bold against the past, and all its evil 
 memories, 
 
 Wouldest thou be safe amid the present, its dangers and 
 temptations, 
 
 Wouldest thou be hopeful of the future, vague though it be 
 and endless ? 
 
 Haste thee, repent, believe, obey ! thou standest in the cou- 
 rage of a legion : 
 
 Commend the Past to God, with all its irrevocable harm, 
 
 Humbly, but in cheerful trust, and banish vain regrets; 
 
 Come to him, continually come, casting all the Present at his 
 feet, 
 
 Boldly, but in prayerful love, and fling off selfish cares ; 
 
 Commit the Future to his will, the viewless fated Future ; 
 
 Zealously go forward with integrity, and God will bless thy 
 faith. 
 
 For that, feeble as thou art, there is with thee a mighty Con- 
 queror, 
 
 Thy friend, the same for ever, yesterday, to-day, and to-mor- 
 row ; 
 
 That friend, changeless as eternity, himself shall make thee 
 friends 
 
 Of those thy foes transformed, yesterday, to-day and to- 
 morrow. 
 
204 PROVERBIAL PHILOSOPHY. [series ii. 
 
 OF AUTHORSHIP 
 
 Great is the dignity of Authorship: I magnify mine office; 
 
 Albeit in much feebleness I hold it thus unworthily. 
 
 For it is to be one of a noble band, the welfare of the world, 
 
 Whose haunt is on the lips of men, whose dwelling in their 
 hearts, 
 
 Who are precious in the retrospect of Memory, and walk 
 among the visions of Hope, 
 
 Who commune with the good for everlasting, and call the 
 wisest, brother, 
 
 Whose voice hath burst the Silence, and whose light is flung 
 upon the Darkness, 
 
 —Flashing jewels on a robe of black, and harmony bounding 
 out of chaos, — 
 
 Who gladden empires with their wisdom, and bless to the 
 furthest generation, 
 
 Doers of illimitable good, gainers of inestimable glory! 
 
 We speak but of the Magnates, we heed none humbler than 
 the highest, 
 
 We take no count of sorry scribes, nor waste one thought 
 upon the groundlings ; 
 
 Our eyes are lifted from the multitude, groping in the dark 
 with candles, 
 
 To gaze upon that firmament of praise, the constellated lamps 
 of learning. 
 
 Everduring witnesses of Mind, undisputed evidence of Power, 
 
 Goodly volumes, living stones, build up their author’s temple; 
 
 Though of low estate, his rank is above princes, — though 
 needy, he hath worship of the rich, 
 
 When Genius unfurleth on the winds his banner as a mighty 
 leader. 
 
 Just in purpose, and self-possessed in soul, lor of many ta- 
 lents, 
 
SERIES II.] 
 
 OF AUTHORS PIIP. 
 
 205 
 
 The mental Croesus goeth forth, rejoicing in his wealth; 
 
 Keen and clear perception gloweth on his forehead like a 
 sunbeam, 
 
 He readeth men at a glance, and mists roll away before him ; 
 
 The wise have set him as their captain, the foolish are re- 
 buked at his presence, 
 
 The excellent bless him with their prayers, and the wicked 
 praise him by their curses ; 
 
 His voice, mighty in operation, stirreth up the world as a 
 trumpet, 
 
 And kings account it honor to be numbered of his friends. 
 
 Rare is the worthiness of Authorship : I justify mine office ; 
 
 Albeit fancies weak as mine credit not the calling. 
 
 For it addeth immortality to dying facts, that are ready to 
 vanish away, 
 
 Embalming as in amber the poor insects of an hour ; 
 
 Shedding upon stocks and stones the tender light of interest, 
 
 And illumining dark places of the earth, with radiance of 
 classic lustre. 
 
 It hath power to make past things present, and availeth for 
 the present in the future, 
 
 Delivering thoughts, and words, and deeds, from the outer 
 darkness of oblivion : 
 
 Where are the sages and the heroes, giants of old time ? — 
 
 Where are the mighty kings that reigned before Agamem- 
 non ? — 
 
 Alas, they lie unwept, unlionored, hidden in the midnight: 
 
 Alas, for they died uiichnmicied : ilieu memorial jytvioncd 
 with them. 
 
 Where are the nobles of Nineveh, and mitred rulers of Ba- 
 bylon ? 
 
 Where are the lords of Edom, and the royal pontiffs of The 
 bais ? 
 
 The golden Satrap, and the Tetrarch,— the Hun, and the 
 Druid, and the Celt? 
 
 18 
 
206 PROVERBIAL PHILOSOPHY. [series n. 
 
 The merchant princes of Phoenicia, and the minds that fash- 
 ioned Elephanta ? 
 
 Alas, for the poet hath forgotten them ; and lo ! they are out- 
 casts of Memory ; 
 
 Alas that they are withered leaves, sapless and fallen from 
 the chaplet of fame. 
 
 Speak, Etruria, whose bones be these, entombed with costly 
 care, — 
 
 Tell out, Herculaneum, the titles that have sounded in those 
 thy palaces, — 
 
 Lycian Xanthus, thy citadels are mute, and the honor of 
 their architects hath died ; 
 
 Copan and Palenque, dreamy ruins in the West, the forest 
 hath swallowed up your sculptures ; (5) 
 
 Syracuse, — how silent of the past ! — Carthage, thou art blot- 
 ted from remembrance ! 
 
 Egypt, wondrous shores, ye are buried in the sandhills of 
 forgetfulness ! 
 
 Alas, — for in your glorious youth, Time himself was young, 
 
 And none durst wrestle with that Angel, iron-sinewed bride- 
 groom of Space ; 
 
 So he flew by. strong upon the wing, nor dropped one failing 
 feather, 
 
 Wherewith some hoary scribe might register their honor and 
 renown. 
 
 Beyond the broad Atlantic, in the regions of the setting sun, 
 
 Ask of the plume-crowned Incas, that ruled in old Peru, — 
 
 Ask of grand Caziques, and priests of the pyramids in Mex- 
 ico, — 
 
 Ask of a thousand painted tribes, high nobility of Nature, 
 
 Who, once, could roam their own Elysian plains, free, gene- 
 rous, and happy, 
 
 Who, now, degraded and in exile, having sold their father- 
 land for naught, 
 
 Sink and are extinguished in the western seas, even as the 
 sun they follow, — 
 
SERIES II. J 
 
 OF AUTHORSHIP. 
 
 207 
 
 Where is the record of their deeds, their prowess worthy of 
 Achilles, 
 
 Nestor’s wisdom, the chivalry of Manlius, the native elo- 
 quence of Cicero, 
 
 The skill of Xenophon, the spirit of Alcib^ades, the firmness 
 of a Macca bffi in mother, 
 
 Brotherly love that Antigone might envy, the honor and the 
 fortitude of Regulus ? 
 
 Alas ! their glory and their praise have vanished like a sum- 
 mer cloud : 
 
 Alas ! that they are dead indeed ; they are not written down 
 in the Book of the living. 
 
 High is the privilege of Authorship: I purify mine office; 
 
 Albeit earthly stains pollute it in my hands. 
 
 For it is to the world a teacher and a guide, Mentor of that 
 gay Telemachus ; 
 
 Warning, comforting, and helping, — a lover and friend of 
 Man. 
 
 Heaven’s almoner, Earth’s health, patient minister of good- 
 ness, 
 
 With kind and zealous pen, the wise religious blesseth : 
 
 Nature’s worshipper, and neophyte of grace, rich in tender 
 sympathies, 
 
 With kindled soul and flashing eye the poet poureth out his 
 heartful : 
 
 Priest of truth, champion of innocence, warder of the gates 
 of praise, 
 
 Carefully with sifting search laboreth the pale historian : 
 
 Error’s enemy and acolyte of science, firm in sober argument, 
 
 The calm philosopher marshalleth his facts, noting on his 
 page their principles. 
 
 These pour mercies upon men ; and others little less in 
 honor, 
 
 By cheerful wit and graphic tale, refreshening the harassed 
 spirit 
 
208 PROVERBIAL PHILOSOPHY. [series ii. 
 
 But, there be other some beside, buyers and sellers in the 
 temple, 
 
 Who shame their high vocation, greedy of inglorious gain ; 
 
 There be, who, fabricating books, heed of them meanly as 
 of merchandise; 
 
 And seek nor use, nor truth, nor fame, but sell their minds 
 for lucre ; 
 
 O false brethren ! ye wot indeed the labor, but are witless 
 of the love ; 
 
 O lying prophets, chilled in soul, nnquickened by the life 
 of inspiration ! — 
 
 And there be, who, frivolous and vain, seek to make others 
 foolish, 
 
 Snaring Youth by loose sweet song, and Age by selfish 
 maxim ; 
 
 Cleverly heartless, and wittily profane, they swell the river 
 of corruption : 
 
 Brilliant satellites of sin, — my soul be not found among their 
 company. 
 
 And there be who, haters of religion, toil to prove it priest- 
 craft, 
 
 Owning none other aim nor hope, but to confound the good : 
 
 Woe unto them! for their works shall live; yea to their 
 utter condemnation ; 
 
 Woe ! for their own handwriting shall testify against them 
 for ever. 
 
 Pure is the happiness of Authorship: 1 glorify mine office ; 
 
 Albeit lightly having sipped the cup of its lower pleasures. 
 
 For it is to feel with a father’s heart, when he yearneth on 
 the child of his affections ; 
 
 To rejoice in a man’s own miniature world, gladdened by its 
 rare arrangement. 
 
 The poem, is it not a fabric of mind ? we love what we create : 
 
 That choice and musical order, — how pleasant is the toil of 
 composition ! 
 
SERIES II.] 
 
 OF AUTHORSHIP. 
 
 209 
 
 Yea, when the volume of the universe was blaze ned out in 
 beauty by its Author, 
 
 Gcd was glad, and bleesed his work ; for it war very good. 
 
 And shall not the image of his Maker be happy in his own 
 mind's doing, 
 
 Looking on the structure he hath reared, gratefully with 
 sweet complacence ? 
 
 Shall not the Minerva of his brain, panoplied and perfect in 
 proportions, 
 
 Gladden the soul and give light unto the eyes of him the 
 travailing parent ? 
 
 Go to the sculptor and ask him of his dreams, wherefore are 
 his nights so moonlit 7 
 
 Angel faces, and beautiful shapes, fascinate the pale Pygma- 
 lion : 
 
 Go to the painter and trace his reveries, — wherefore are his 
 days so sunny 7 
 
 Choice design and skilful coloring charm the flitting hours of 
 Parrhasius : 
 
 Even so, walking in his buoyancy, intoxicate with fairy 
 fancies, 
 
 The young enthusiast of authorship goeth on his way re- 
 joicing : 
 
 Behold, — he is gallantly attended; legions of thrilling 
 thoughts 
 
 Throng about the standard of his mind, and call his Will 
 their captain ; 
 
 Behold, — his court is as a monarch’s ; ideas, and grand 
 imaginations 
 
 Swell, with gorgeous cavalcade, the splendour of his Spirit- 
 ual State ; 
 
 Behold, — he is delicately served ; for oftentimes, in solitary 
 calmness, 
 
 Some mental fair Egeria smileth on her Numa’s worship ; 
 
 Behold, — he is happy ; there is gladness in his eye, and his 
 heart is a sealed fountain, 
 
 18 * 
 
210 
 
 PROVERBIAL PHILOSOPHY. [series ii 
 
 Bounding secretly with joys unseen, and keeping down its 
 ecstasy of pleasure ! 
 
 Yea; how dignified, and worthy, full of privilege and hap- 
 piness, 
 
 Standeth in majestic independence the self-ennobled Author! 
 
 For God hath blessed him with a mind, and cherished it in 
 tenderness and purity, 
 
 Hath taught it in the whisperings of wisdom, and added all 
 the riches of content: 
 
 Therefore, leaning on his God, a pensioner for soul and body, 
 
 His spirit is the subject of none other, calling no man Mas- 
 ter. 
 
 His hopes are mighty and eternal, scorning small ambitions: 
 
 He hideth from the pettiness of praise, and pitieth the feeble- 
 ness of envy. 
 
 If he meet honors, well ; it may be his humility to take 
 them : 
 
 If he be rebuked, better; his veriest enemy shall teach him. 
 
 For the master-mind hath a birthright of eminence : his cra- 
 dle is an eagle’s eyrie : 
 
 Need but to wait till his wings are grown, and genius soareth 
 to the sun : 
 
 To creeping things upon the mountain leaveth he the gradual 
 ascent, 
 
 Resting his swiftness on the summit only for a higher flight. 
 
 Glad in clear good conscience, lightly doth he look for com- 
 mendation ; 
 
 What, if the prophet lacketh honor! for he can spare that 
 praise : 
 
 The honest giant careth not to be patted on the back by pig- 
 mies : 
 
 Flatter greatness, he brooketh it good humoredly : blame 
 him, — thou til test at a pyramid : 
 
 Yet, just censure of the good never can he hear without con- 
 trition ; 
 
SERIES II.J 
 
 OF AUTHORSHIP 
 
 211 
 
 Neither would he miss one wise man’s praise, for scarce is 
 that jewel and costly. 
 
 Only for the herd of common minds, and the vulgar trumpet- 
 ings of fame, 
 
 If aught he heedeth in the matter, his honor is sought in 
 their neglect. 
 
 Slender is the marvel, and little is the glory, when round his 
 luscious fruits 
 
 The worm and the wasp and the multitude of flies are 
 gathered as to banquet ; 
 
 Fashion’s freak, and the critical sting, and the flood of flat- 
 teries, he scorneth ; 
 
 Cheerfully asking of the crowd the favor to forget him : 
 
 The while his blooming fruits ripen in richer fragrance, 
 
 A feast for the few, — and the many yet unborn, — who still 
 shall love their savor. 
 
 So, then, humbly with his God, and proudly independent of 
 his fellows, 
 
 Walketh, in pleasures multitudinous, the man ennobled by 
 his pen : 
 
 He hath built up, glorious architect, a monument more dura- 
 ble than brass, 
 
 His children’s children shall talk of him in love, and teach 
 their sons his honor : 
 
 His dignity hath set him among princes, the universe is 
 debtor to his worth, 
 
 His privilege is blessing for ever, his happiness shineth now, 
 
 For he standeth of that grand Election, each man one among 
 a thousand, 
 
 V7hose sound is gone out into all lands, and their words to 
 the end of the world ! 
 
212 PROVERBIAL PHILOSOPHY. [series ii. 
 
 OF MYSTERY. 
 
 All things being are in mystery , we expound mysteries by 
 mysteries ; 
 
 And yet the secret of them all is one in simple grandeur: 
 
 All intricate, yet each path plain, to those who know the 
 way ; 
 
 All unapproachable, yet easy of access, to them that hold the 
 key ; 
 
 We walk among labyrinths of wonder, but thread the mazes 
 with a clue ; 
 
 We sail in chartless seas, but behold ! the pole-star is above 
 us. 
 
 For, counting down from God’s good-will, thou meltest every 
 riddle into him, 
 
 The axiom of reason is an undiscovered God, and all things 
 live in his ubiquity ; 
 
 There is only one great secret ; but that one hideth every- 
 where ; 
 
 How should the infinite be understood in Time, when it 
 stretcheth on ungrasped for ever ; 
 
 Can a halting CEdipus of earth guess that enigma of the uni- 
 verse 1 
 
 Not one ; the sword of faith must cut the Gordian knot of 
 Nature. 
 
 God, pervading all, is in all things the mystery of each ; 
 
 The wherefore of its character and essence, the fountain of 
 its virtues and its beauties. 
 
 The child asketh of its mother, — Wherefore is the violet so 
 sweet 1 
 
 The mother answereth her babe, — Darling, God hath willed it. 
 
 And sages, diving into science, have but a profundity of 
 words, 
 
series ii.] OF MYSTERY. 213 
 
 They track for some new links the circling chain of conse- 
 quence, 
 
 And then, after doubts and disputations, are left where they 
 began, 
 
 At the bald conclusion of a clown, things arc because they 
 are. 
 
 Wherefore are the meadows green, is it not to gratify the eye 7 
 
 But why should greenness charm the eye 7 such is God’s 
 good will 
 
 Wherefore is the ear attuned to a pleasure in musical sounds, 
 
 And who se*a number to those sounds, and fixed the laws 
 of harmony 1 
 
 Who taught the bird to build its nest, or lent the shrub its 
 life, 
 
 Or poised in the balances of order the power to attract and to 
 repel 7 
 
 Who continueth the worlds, and the sea, and the heart in 
 motion 7 
 
 Who commanded gravitation to tie down all upon its 
 sphere 7 — 
 
 For even as a limestone cliff is an aggregate of countless 
 shells, 
 
 One riddle concrete of many, a mystery compact of mysteries, 
 
 So God, eioudcapped in immensity, standeth the cohesion of 
 all things, 
 
 And secrets, sublimely indistinct, permeate that Universe, 
 Himself: 
 
 As is the whole, so are the parts, whether they be mighty or 
 minute, 
 
 The sun is not more unexplained than the tissue of an em- 
 met’s wing. 
 
 Thus then, omnipresent Deity workcth his unbiassed mind, 
 
 A mind, one in moral, but infinitely multiplied in means : 
 
 And the uniform prudence of his will cometh to be counted 
 law, 
 
214 PROVERBIAL PHILOSOPHY. [series ii 
 
 Till mutable man fancieth volition, stirring in the potter’s 
 clay: 
 
 God, a wise father, showeth not his reasons to his babes ; 
 
 But willeth in secresy and goodness ; for causes generate 
 dispute : 
 
 Then we, his darkling children, watch that invariable pur- 
 pose, 
 
 And invest the passive creature with its Maker’s energy and 
 skill. 
 
 Therefore, they of old time stopped short of God in idols, 
 
 Therefore, in these latter days, we heed not tl*e Jehovah in 
 his works. 
 
 Mystery is God’s great name ; He is the mystery of goodness : 
 
 Some other, from the hierarchs of heaven, usurped the mys- 
 tery of sin. 
 
 God is the King, yea even of himself ; he crowned himself 
 with holiness ; 
 
 The burning circlet of iniquity another found and wore. 
 
 God is separate, even from his attributes ; but he willed eter- 
 nally the good ; 
 
 Therefore freely, though unchangeably, is wise, righteous, 
 and loving : 
 
 But ambition, open unto angels, saw the evil, flung aside 
 from everlasting, 
 
 It was Lucifer that saw, and nothing loathed those black un- 
 claimed regalia, 
 
 So he coveted and stole, to be counted for a king, antagonist 
 of God, 
 
 But when he touched the leprous robes, behold, a cheated 
 traitor. 
 
 For self existence, charactered with love, with power, wis- 
 dom, and ubiquity, 
 
 Could not dwell alone, but willed and worked creation. 
 
 Thus, in continual exhalation, darkening the void with mat- 
 ter, 
 
SERIES II. J 
 
 OF MYSTERY. 
 
 215 
 
 Sprang from prolific Deity the creatures of his skill ; 
 
 And beings, living on his breath, were needfully less perfect 
 than himself, 
 
 Therefore less capable of bliss, whereat his benevolence was 
 bounded : 
 
 So to make the capability expand, intensely progressive to 
 eternity, 
 
 He suffered darkness to illustrate the light, and pain to height- 
 en pleasure. 
 
 To heap up happiness on souls he loved, allowed he sin and 
 sorrow, 
 
 And then to guilt and grief and shame, he brought unbidden 
 amnesty : 
 
 Sinless, none had been redeemed, nor wrapt again in God : 
 Sorrowless, no conflict had been known, and Heaven had 
 been mulcted of its comfort : 
 
 Yea, with evil unexhibited, probationary toils unfelt. 
 
 Men had not appreciated good, nor angels valued their se- 
 curity. 
 
 Herein, to reason’s eye, is revealed the mystery of goodness, 
 Blessing through permitted woe, and teaching by the mystery 
 of sin. 
 
 O Christian, whose chastened curiosity loveth things mys- 
 terious, 
 
 Accounting them shadows and eclipses of Him the one great 
 light, 
 
 Look now, satisfied with faith, on minds that judge by sense, 
 And dull from contemplating matter, take small heed of spirit. 
 Toiling feebly upward, their argument tracketh from below, 
 They catch the latest consequent, and prove the nearest 
 cause : 
 
 What is this? that a seed produced a seed, and so for a 
 thousand seasons: 
 
 Ascend a thousand steps, thy ladder leaveth thee in air : 
 Thou canst not climb to God, and short of Him is nothing ; 
 
216 PROVERBIAL PHILOSOPHY. [series ii. 
 
 There is no cause for aught we see, but in his present will. 
 
 Begin from the Maker thou carriest down his attributes to 
 reptiles, 
 
 The sharded beetle and the lizard live and move in Him : 
 
 Begin from the creature, corruption and infirmity mar thy 
 foolish toil, 
 
 Heap Ossa on Olympus, — how much art thou nearer to the 
 stars ? 
 
 It is easy running from a mountain’s top down to the valleys 
 at its foot, 
 
 But difficult and steep the laborious ascent, and feebly shalt 
 thou reach it ; 
 
 Yet man, beginning from himself, that first deluding mystery, 
 
 Hopeth from the pit of lies to struggle up to truth ; 
 
 So, taxing knowledge to its strength, he pusheth one step 
 further, 
 
 And fancieth complacently that much is done by reaching a 
 remote effect : 
 
 Then he maketh answer to himself, as a silly nurse to her 
 little one, 
 
 Evading, in a mist of words, hard things he cannot solve ; 
 
 Till, like an ostrich in the desert, he burieth his head in 
 atoms, 
 
 Hoping that, if he is blind, no sun can shine in heaven. 
 
 Therefore cometh it to pass, that an atheist is ever the 
 most credulous, 
 
 Snatching at any foolish cause, that may dispel his doubts ; 
 
 And, even as it were for ridicule, a spectacle to men and an- 
 gels, 
 
 The captious and cautious unbeliever is of all men weakest 
 to believe : 
 
 Cut from the anchorage of God, his bark is a plaything of 
 the billows ; 
 
 The compass of his principle is broken, the rudder of his 
 faith unshipped : 
 
series ii.] OF MYSTERY. 217 
 
 Chance and Fate, in a stultified antagonism, govern all for 
 him ; 
 
 Truth sprang from the conflict of falsities, and the multitude 
 of accidents hath bred design ! 
 
 VvTiere is the imposture so gross that shall not entrap his 
 curiosity ? 
 
 What superstition is so abject that it doth not blanch his 
 cheek ? 
 
 Whereof can he be sure, with whom Chaos is substitute for 
 order 1 
 
 IIow should his silly structure stand, a pyramid built upon 
 its apex ? 
 
 Yea, I have seen grey-headed men, the bastard slips of sci- 
 ence, 
 
 Go for light to glowworms, while they scorn the sun at 
 noon ; 
 
 Men, who fear no God, trembling at a gipsy’s curse, 
 
 Men, who jest at revelation, clinging to a madman’s pro- 
 phecy ! 
 
 There is a pleasing dread in the fashion of all mysteries, 
 
 For hope is mixed therein and fear ; who shall divine their 
 issues ? 
 
 Even the orphan, wandering by night, lost on dreary moors, 
 
 Is sensible of some vague bliss amidst his shapeless terrors ; 
 
 The buoyancy of instant expectation, spurring on the mind to 
 venture, 
 
 Overbeareth, in its energy, the cramp and the chill of appre- 
 hension. 
 
 There is a solitary pride, when the heart, in new importance, 
 
 Writeth gladly on its archives, the secrets none other men 
 have seen ; 
 
 And there is a caged terror, evermore wrestling with the 
 mind, 
 
 When crime hath whispered his confession, and the secrets 
 are written there in blood 
 
 19 
 
218 PROVERBIAL PHILOSOPHY. [series ii. 
 
 The village maiden is elated at a tenderly confided tale ; 
 
 The bandit’s wife with sickening fear guessed the premedi- 
 tated murder ; 
 
 The sage, with triumph on his brow, hideth up his deep dis- 
 covery ; 
 
 The idlest clown shall delve all day to find a hidden treasure. 
 
 For mystery is man’s life ; we wake to the whisperings of 
 novelty : 
 
 And what, though we lie down disappointed ? we sleep, to 
 wake in hope. 
 
 The letter, or the news, tne chances and the changes, mat- 
 ters that may happen, 
 
 Sweeten or embitter daily life with the honey-gall of mys- 
 tery. 
 
 For we walk blindfold, — and a minute may be much, — a step 
 may reach the precipice ; 
 
 What earthly loss, what heavenly gain, may not this day 
 produce I 
 
 Levelled of Alps and Andes, without its valleys and ravines, 
 
 How dull the face of earth, unfeatured of both beauty and 
 sublimity : 
 
 And so, shorn of mystery, beggared in its hopes and fears, 
 
 How flat the prospect of existence, mapped by intuitive fore- 
 knowledge. 
 
 Praise God, creature of earth, for the mercies linked with 
 secresy, 
 
 That spices of uncertainty enrich thy cup of life : 
 
 Praise God, his hosts on high, for the mysteries that make 
 all Joy ; 
 
 What were intelligence, with nothing more to learn, or 
 heaven, in eternity of sameness 1 
 
 To number every mystery were to sum the sum of all things : 
 
 None can exhaust a theme, whereof God is example and 
 similitude. 
 
series 11 .J OF MYSTERY. 219 
 
 Nevertheless, take a garland from the garden, a handful from 
 the harvest, 
 
 Some scattered drops of spray from the ceaseless mighty 
 cataract. 
 
 Whence are we, — whither do we tend, — how do we feel and 
 reason 1 
 
 How strange a thing is man, a spirit saturating clay ! 
 
 When doth soul make embryos immortal, — how do they rank 
 hereafter,— 
 
 And will the unconscious idiot be quenched in death as 
 nothing 1 
 
 Its essence immaterial, are these minds, as it were thinking 
 machines 7 
 
 For, to understand may but rightly be to use a mechanism all 
 possess, 
 
 So that in reading or hearing of another, a man shall seem 
 unto himself 
 
 To be recollecting images or arguments, native and congenial 
 to his mind : 
 
 And yet, what shall we say, — who can arede the riddle 7 
 
 The brain may be clockwork, and mind its spring, mechanism 
 quickened by a spirit. 
 
 Who so shrewd as rightly to divide life, instinct, reason ; 
 
 Trees, zoophytes, creatures of the plaiq, and savage men 
 among them 7 
 
 Hath the mimosa instinct, — or the scallop more than life, — 
 
 Or the dog less than reason, — or the brute man more than 
 instinct 7 
 
 What is the cause of health, — and the gendering of disease 7 
 
 Why should arsenic kill, — and whence is the potency of an- 
 tidotes 7 
 
 Behold, a morsel, — eat and die ; the term of thy probation is 
 expired : 
 
 Behold, a potion, — drink and be alive ; the limit of thy trial 
 is enlarged. 
 
220 PROVERBIAL PHILOSOPHY. [series u. 
 
 Who can expound beauty ? or explain the character of na- 
 tions ? 
 
 Who will furnish n cause for the epidemic force of fashion ? 
 
 Is there a moral magnetism living in the light of example 1 
 
 Is practice electricity? — Yet all these are but names. 
 
 Doth normal Art imprison, in its works, spirit translated into 
 substance, 
 
 So that the statue, the picture, or the poem, are crystals of 
 the mind 1 
 
 And doth Philosophy with sublimating skill shred away the 
 matter, 
 
 Till ra rifled intelligence exudeth even cut of stocks and 
 stones 1 
 
 O mysteries, ye all are one, the mind of an inexplicable 
 Architect 
 
 Bwelleth alike in each, “quickening and moving in them 
 all. 
 
 Fields, and forests, and cities of men, their woes and wealth 
 and works, 
 
 And customs, and contrivances of life, with all we see and 
 know, 
 
 For a little way, a little while, ye hang dependent on each 
 other, 
 
 But all are held in one right hand, and by His will ye are. 
 
 Here is answer unto mystery, an unintelligible God, 
 
 This is the end and the beginning, it is reason that He be 
 not understood. 
 
 Therefore it were probable and just, even to a man’s weak 
 thinking, 
 
 To have one for God who always may be learnt, yet never 
 fully known, 
 
 That He, from whom all mysteries spring, in whom they all 
 converge, 
 
 Throned in his sublimity beyond the gravellings of lower in- 
 tellect, 
 
series ii. J OF GIFTS. 221 
 
 Should claim to be truer than man’s truest, the boasted cer- 
 tainty of numbers, 
 
 Should baffle his arithmetic, confound his demonstrations, 
 and paralyse the might of his necessity, 
 
 Standing supreme as the mystery of mysteries, everywhere, 
 yet impersonate, 
 
 Essential one in three, essential three in one ! 
 
 OF GIFTS. 
 
 1 had a seeming friend : — I gave him gifts and he was gone ; 
 I had an open enemy : — I gave him gifts and won him : 
 Common friendship standeth on equalities and cannot bear a 
 debt ; 
 
 But the very heart of hate melteth at a good man’s love : 
 
 Go to, then, thou that sayest, I will give and rivet the links : 
 For pride shall kick at obligation, and push the giver from 
 him. 
 
 The covetous spirit may rejoice, revelling in thy largess, 
 
 But chilling selfishness will mutter, — I must give again : 
 
 The vain heart may be glad, in this new proof of man’s 
 esteem, 
 
 But the same idolatry of self abhorreth thoughts of thanking. 
 
 Nevertheless, give ; for it shall be a discriminative test, 
 Separating honesty from falsehood, weeding insincerity 
 from friendship. 
 
 Give, it is like God ; thou weariest the bad with benefits : 
 Give, it is like God : thou gladdenest the good by gratitude. 
 Give to thy near of kin, for Providence hath stationed thee 
 his helper : 
 
 Y et see that he claim not as his right, thy freewill offering 
 of duty. 
 
 Give to the young, they love it ; neither hath the poison of 
 suspicion 
 
 19 * 
 
222 PROVERBIAL PHILOSOPHY. [series ii. 
 
 Spoilt the flavor of their thanks, to look for latent motives. 
 
 Give to merit, largely give ; his conscious heart will bless 
 thee : 
 
 It is not flattery, but love, — the sympathy of men his breth- 
 ren. 
 
 Give, for encouragement in good ; the weak desponding mind 
 
 Hath many foes, and much to do, and leaneth on its friends. 
 
 Yet heed thou wisely these ; give seldom to thy better ; 
 
 For such obtrusive boon shall savor of presumption ; 
 
 Or, if his courteous bearing greet thy proffered kindness, 
 
 Shall not thine independent honesty be vexed at the sem- 
 blance of a bribe? 
 
 Moreover, heed thou this ; give to thine equal charily, 
 
 The occasion fair and fitting, the gift well chosen and de- 
 sired : 
 
 Hath he been prosperous and blest ? a flower may show thy 
 gladness ; 
 
 Is he in need ? with liberal love tender him the well-filled 
 purse ; 
 
 Disease shall welcome friendly care in grapes and precious 
 unguents ; 
 
 And where a darling child hath died, give praise, and hope, 
 and sympathy : 
 
 Yet once more, heed thou this ; give to the poor discreetly, 
 
 Nor suffer idle sloth to lean upon thy charitable arm : 
 
 To diligence give, as to an equal, on just and fit occasion ; 
 
 Or he bartereth his hard-earned self-reliance for the casual 
 lottery of gifts. 
 
 } The timely loan hath added nerve, where easy liberality 
 would palsy ; 
 
 Work and wages make a light heart: but the mendicant ask- 
 ed with a heavy spirit. 
 
 A man’s own seli-respect is worth unto him more than 
 money, 
 
 And evil is the charity that huinbleth, and maketh man less 
 happy. 
 
SERIES II. J 
 
 OF GIFTS. 
 
 223 
 
 There are who sow liberalities, to reap the like again : 
 
 But men accept his boon, scorning the shallow usurer : 
 
 I have known many such a fisherman lose his golden baits : 
 And oftentimes the tame decoy escapeth with the flock.' 
 
 Yea, there are who give unto the poor, to gain large interest 
 of God : — 
 
 Fool, — to think His wealth is money, and not mind: 
 
 And haply after thine alms, thy calculated givings, 
 
 The hurricane shall blast thy crops, and sink the homeward 
 ship ; 
 
 Then shall thy worldly soul murmur that the balances were 
 false, 
 
 Thy trader’s-mind shall think of God, — lie stood not to his 
 bargain. 
 
 Give, saith the preacher, be large in liberality, yield to the 
 holy impulse, 
 
 Tarry not for cold consideration, but cheerfully and freely 
 scatter. 
 
 So, for complacency of conscience, in a gush of counterfeited 
 charity, 
 
 He that hath not wherewith to be just, selfishly presuineth 
 to be generous. 
 
 The debtor, and the rich by wrong, are known among the 
 band of the benevolent ; 
 
 And men extol the noble hearts, who rob that they may give. 
 
 Receivers are but little prone to challenge rights of giving, 
 
 Nor stop to test, for conscience-sake, the righteousness of 
 mammon : 
 
 And the zealot in a cause is a receiver, at the hand which 
 bettereth his cause ; 
 
 And thus an unsuspected bribe shall blind the good man’s 
 judgment : 
 
 It is easy to excuse greatness, and the rich are readily for- 
 given : 
 
224 PROVERBIAL PHILOSOPHY. [series ii. 
 
 What, if his gains were evil, sanctified by using them 
 aright ? 
 
 O shallow flatterer, self-interest is thy thought, 
 
 Hopeless of partaking in the like, thou too wouldest scorn 
 the giver. 
 
 Money hath its value ; and the scatterer thereof his thanks ; 
 
 Few men, drinking at a rivulet, stop to consider its source. 
 
 The hand that closeth on an aim, be it for necessities or 
 zeal, 
 
 Hath small scruple whence it came : Vespasian rejoiceth in 
 his tribute ; 
 
 Therefore have colleges and hospitals risen upon orphans’ 
 wrongs, 
 
 Chapels and cathedrals have thriven on the welcome wages 
 of iniquity, 
 
 And fraud, in evil compensation, hath salved his guilty con- 
 science, 
 
 Not by restoring to the cheated, but by ostentatious giving to 
 the grateful. 
 
 So, those who reap rejoice ; and reaping, bless the sower: 
 
 No one is eager to discover, where discovery tendeth unto 
 loss : 
 
 Yet, if knowledge of a theft make gainers thereby guilty, 
 
 Can he be altogether innocent who never asked the honesty 
 of gain? . 
 
 Therefore, O preacher, zealous for charity, temper thy warm 
 appeal, — 
 
 Warning the debtor and unjustly rich, they may not dare to 
 give : 
 
 To do good is a privilege and guerdon ; how shouldest thou 
 rejoice ? 
 
 If ill-got gifts of presumptuous fraud be offered on the altar? 
 
 The question is not of degrees ; unhallowed alms are evil: 
 
 Discourage and reject alike the obolus, or talent of iniquity. 
 
SERIES II.] 
 
 OF GIFTS. 
 
 !225 
 
 Yet more, be careful that, unworthily, thou gain not an 
 advantage over weakness, 
 
 Unstable souls, fervent and profuse, fluttered by the feeling 
 of the moment ; 
 
 For eloquence swayeth to its will the feeble and the con- 
 scious of defect : 
 
 Rashly give they, and afterward are sad, — a gift that doubly 
 erred. 
 
 It was the worldliness of priestcraft that accounted alms- 
 giving for charity ; 
 
 And many a father’s penitence hath steeped his son in 
 penury : 
 
 Yet, considered he lightly the guilt of a deathbed selfishness 
 
 That strove to take with him, for gain, the gold no longer his : 
 
 So he died in a false peace, and dying robbed his kindred ; 
 
 The cunning friar at his side having cheated both the living 
 and the dead. 
 
 Charity sitteth on a fair hill-top, blessing far and near, 
 
 But her garments drop ambrosia, chiefly on the violets around 
 her : 
 
 She gladdeneth indeed the map-like scene, stretchine to the 
 verge of the horizon, 
 
 For her angel face is lustrous and beloved, even as the moon 
 t in heaven. 
 
 Put the light of that beatific vision gloweth in serener con- 
 centration 
 
 The nearer to her heart, and nearer to her home, — that hill- 
 top where she sitteth : 
 
 Therefore is she kind unto her kin, yearning in affection on 
 her neighbors, * 
 
 Giving gifts to those around who know and love her well. 
 
 But the counterfeit of charity, an hypocrite of earth, not a 
 grace of heaven, 
 
 Seeketh not to bless at home, for her nearer aspect is ill- 
 favored * 
 
226 PROVERBIAL PHILOSOPHY. [series ii. 
 
 Therefore hideth she for shame, counting that pride humility, 
 
 And none of those around her hearth are gladdened by her 
 gifts : 
 
 Rather, with an overreaching zeal, flingeth she her bounty 
 to the stranger, 
 
 And scattered prodigalities abroad compensate for meanness 
 in her home : 
 
 For benefits showered on the distant shine in unmixed 
 beauty, 
 
 So then even she may reap their undiscerning praise : 
 
 Therefore native want hath pined, where foreign need was 
 fattened ; 
 
 Woman been crushed by the tyrannous hand that upheld the 
 flag of liberality ; 
 
 Poverty been prisoned up and starved by hearts that are 
 maudlin upon crime ; 
 
 And freeborn babes been manacled by men who liberate the 
 sturdy slave. 
 
 Policy counselleth a gift, given wisely and in season, 
 
 And policy afterward approveth it, for great is the influence 
 of gifts. 
 
 The lover, unsmiled upon before, is welcomed for his jewelled 
 bauble : 
 
 The righteous cause without a fee must yield to bounteous 
 guilt : 
 
 IIow fair is a man in thine esteem whose just discrimination 
 seeketh thee, 
 
 And so, discerning merit, honoreth it with gifts ! 
 
 Yea, let the cause appear sufficient, and the motive clear and 
 unsuspicious, 
 
 As given unto one who cannot help, or proving honest 
 * thanks, 
 
 There liveth not one among a million who is proof against 
 the charm of liberality, 
 
 And flattery, that boon of praise, hath power with the wisest. 
 
series ii. j OF BEAUTY. 227 
 
 Man is of three natures, craving all for charity ; 
 
 It is not enough to give him meats, withholding other comfort ; 
 
 For the mind starveth, and the soul is scorned, and so the 
 human animal 
 
 Eateth its unsatisfying pittance, a thankless, heartless pauper * 
 
 Yet would he bless thee and be grateful, didst thou feed his 
 spirit, 
 
 And teach him that thine almgivings are charities, are loves : 
 
 — I saw a beggar in the street, and another beggar pitied him ; 
 
 Sympathy sank into his soul, and the pitied one felt happier : 
 
 Anon passed by a cavalcade, children of wealth and gaiety ; 
 
 They laughed, and looked upon the beggar, and the gallants 
 flung him gold ; 
 
 He, poor spirit-humbled wretch, gathered up their givings 
 with a curse, 
 
 And went — to share it with his brother, the beggar who had 
 pitied him ' 
 
 OF BEAUTY 
 
 Thou mightier than Manoah’s son, whence is thy great 
 strength, 
 
 And wherein the secret of thy craft, O charmer charming 
 wisely 1 — 
 
 For thou art strong in weakness, and in artlessness well- 
 skilled, 
 
 Constant in the multitudes of change, and simple amidst in- 
 tricate complexity. 
 
 Folly’s shallow lip can ask the deepest question, 
 
 And many wise in many words should answer, what is 
 beauty 1 — 
 
 Who shall separate the hues that flicker on a dying dolphin, 
 
 Or analyse the jewelled lights that deck the peacock’s train, 
 
 Or shrewdly mix upon a palette the tints of an iridescent 
 spar, 
 
228 PROVERBIAL PHILOSOPHY. l series ii. 
 
 Or set in rank the wandering shades about a watered silk “? 
 
 For beauty is intangible, vague, ill to be defined: 
 
 She hath the coat of a chameleon, changing while we watch it, 
 
 Strangely woven is the web, disorderly yet harmonious, 
 
 A glistering robe of mingled mesh, that may not be unra- 
 velled. 
 
 It is shot with heaven’s blue, the soul of summer skies, 
 
 And twisted strings of light, the mind of noonday suns. 
 
 And ruddy gleams of life, that roll along the veins, 
 
 A coat of many colors, running curiously together. 
 
 There is threefold beauty for man; twofold beauty for the 
 animal ; 
 
 And the beauty of inanimates is single: body, temper, spirit. 
 
 Multiplied in endless combination, issue the changeable 
 results ; 
 
 Each class verging on the other twain, with imperceptible 
 gradation ; 
 
 And every individual in each having his propriety of differ- 
 ence, 
 
 So that the meanest of creation bringeth in a tribute of the 
 beautiful." 
 
 Yea, from the worst in favor shineth out a fitness of design, 
 
 The patent mark of beauty, its Maker’s name imprest. 
 
 For the great Creator’s seal is set to all his works ; 
 
 Its quarter! ngs are Attributes of praise, and all the shield is 
 beauty. 
 
 So, that heraldic blazon is Creation’s common signet; 
 
 And the universal family of life goeth in the colors of its 
 Lord ; 
 
 But each one, as a several son, shall bear those arms with a 
 difference : 
 
 Beauty, various in phase, and similar in seeming oppositions. 
 
 The coins of old Rome were struck with a diversity for 
 
 each, 
 
 Barely two be found alike in every Caesar’s image : 
 
OF BEAUTY. 
 
 229 
 
 SERIES II.] 
 
 So, note thou the seals, ranged around the charters of the 
 (Jni verse, 
 
 The finger of God is the stamp upon them all, but each hath 
 its separate variety. 
 
 Beauty, theme of innocence, how may guilt discourse thee? 
 
 Let holy angels sing thy praise, for man hath marred thy 
 
 visage. 
 
 Still, the maimed torso of a Theseus can gladden taste with 
 its proportions ; 
 
 Though sin hath shattered every limb, how comely are the 
 frag/nents ! 
 
 And music ieaveth on the ear a memory of sweet sounds ; 
 
 And broken arches charm the sight with hints of fair com- 
 pleteness. 
 
 So, while humbled at the ruin, be thou grateful for the relics ; 
 
 Go forth, and look qn all around with kind uncaplious eye : 
 
 Freely let us wander through these unfrequented ways, 
 
 And talk of glorious beauty filling all the world. 
 
 For beauty hideth everywhere, that Reason’s child may 
 seek her, 
 
 And having found the gem of price, may set it in God’s 
 crown. 
 
 Beauty nestleth in the rosebud, or walketh the firmament 
 with planets. 
 
 She is heard in the beetle’s evening hymn, and shouteth in 
 the matins of the sun ; 
 
 The cheek of the peach is glowing with her smile, hersplen- 
 dor blazeth in the lightning, 
 
 She is the dryad of the woods, the naiad of the streams ; 
 
 Her golden hair hath tapestried the silkworm’s silent cham- 
 ber, 
 
 And to her measured harmonies the wild waves beat in 
 time : 
 
 With twinkling feet at eventide she danceth in the meadow, 
 20 
 
230 PROVERBIAL PHILOSOPHY. [series ii. 
 
 Or, like a Titan, lieth stretched athwart the ridgy Alps 
 
 She is rising, in her veil of mist, a Venus from the waters, — 
 
 Men gaze upon the loveliness, — and lo, it is beautiful exceed- 
 ingly ; 
 
 She, with the might of a Briareus, is dragging down the 
 clouds upon the mountain, — 
 
 Men look upon the grandeur, — and lo, it is excellent in glory. 
 
 For I judge that beauty and sublimity be but the lesser and 
 the great, 
 
 Sublime, as magnified to giants, and beautiful, diminished 
 into fairies. 
 
 It were a false fancy to solve all beauty by desire, 
 
 It were a lowering thought to expound sublimity by dread. 
 
 Cowardly men with trembling hearts have feared the furious 
 storm, 
 
 Nor felt its thrilling beauty : but is it then not beautiful ? 
 
 And careless men, at summer’s eve, have loved the dimpled 
 waves ; 
 
 O that smile upon the seas,— hath it no sublimity ? 
 
 Dost thou nothing know of this, — to be awed at woman’s 
 beauty ? 
 
 Nor, with exhilarated heart, to hail the crashing thunder? 
 
 Thou hast much to learn, that never found a feajfulness in 
 flowers, 
 
 Thou hast missed of joy, that never basked in beauties of the 
 terrible. 
 
 Show me an enthusiast in aught ; he hath noted one thing 
 narrowly. 
 
 And lo, his keenness hath detected the one dear hiding-place 
 of beauty. 
 
 Then he boasteth, simple soul, flattered by discovery, 
 
 Fancying that no science else can show so fair and precious : 
 
 He hath found a ray of light, and cherisheth the treasure in 
 his closet, 
 
 Mocking at those larger minds, that bathe in floods of noon ; 
 
 
 
series ix.; OF BEAUTY. 231 
 
 Lo, what a jewel hath he gotten, — this is the monopolist of 
 beauty, — 
 
 And lightly heeding all beside, he poured his yearnings thi- 
 therward : 
 
 Be it for love, or for learning, habit, art, or nature, 
 
 Exclusive thought is all the cause of this particular zeal. 
 
 But the like intensity of fitness, kind and skilful beauty, 
 
 So pleasant to his mind in one thing, filleth all beside : 
 
 From the waking minute of a chrysalis, to the perfect cycle 
 of chronology, 
 
 From the centipede’s jointed armor to the mammoth’s fossil 
 ribs, 
 
 From the kingfisher’s shrill note, to the cataract’s thundering 
 bass, 
 
 From the greensward’s grateful hues, to the fascinating eye 
 of woman, 
 
 Beauty, various in all things, setteth up her home in each, 
 
 Shedding graciously around an omnipresent smile. 
 
 There is beauty in the rolling clouds, and placid shingle 
 beach, 
 
 In feathery snows, and whistling winds, and dun electric 
 skies : 
 
 There is beauty in the rounded woods, dank with heavy fo- 
 liage, 
 
 In laughing fields, and dinted hills, the valley and its 
 lake : 
 
 There is beauty in the gullies, beauty on the cliffs, beauty in 
 sun and shade, 
 
 In rocks and rivers, seas and plains, — the earth is drowned 
 in beauty. 
 
 Beauty coileth with the watersnake, and is cradled in the 
 shrewmouse’s nest, 
 
 She flitteth out with evening bats, and the soft mole hid her 
 in his tunnel ; 
 
232 PROVERBIAL PHILOSOPHY. [series ii. 
 
 The limpet is encamped upon the shore, and beauty not a 
 stranger to his tent : 
 
 The silvery dace and golden carp thread the rushes with 
 her : 
 
 She saileth into clouds with an eagle, she fluttereth into 
 tulips with a humming-bird ; 
 
 The pasturing kine are of her company, and she prowleth 
 with the leopard in his jungle. 
 
 Moreover, for the reasonable world, its words, and acts, and 
 speculation, 
 
 For frail and fallen manhood, in his every work and way, 
 
 Beauty, wrecked and stricken, lingereth still among us, 
 
 And morsels of that shattered sun are dropt upon the dark- 
 ness. 
 
 Yea, with savages and boors, the mean, the cruel and be- 
 sotted, 
 
 Ever in extenuating grace hide some relics of the beautiful. 
 
 Gleams of kindness, deeds of courage, patience, justice ge- 
 nerosity, 
 
 Truth welcomed, knowledge prized, rebukes taken ivith con- 
 trition, 
 
 All in various measure, have been blest with some of these, 
 
 And never yet hath lived the man utterly beggared of the 
 beautiful. 
 
 Beaut y is as crystal in the torchlight, sparkling on the poet’s 
 page; 
 
 Virgin honey of Hymettus, distilled from the lips of the orator ; 
 
 A savor of sweet spikenard, anointing the hands of liberality ; 
 
 A feast of angels’ food set upon the tables of religion. 
 
 She is seen in the tear of sorrow, and heard in the exube- 
 rance of mirth. 
 
 She goeth out early with the huntsman, and vvatcheth at the 
 pillow of disease. 
 
 Science in his secret laws hath found out latent beauty, 
 
series ii.] OF BEAUTY. 233 
 
 Sphere and square, and cone and curve, are fashioned by her 
 rules : 
 
 Mechanism met her in his forces, fancy caught her in its flit- 
 tings, 
 
 Day is lightened by her eyes, and her eyelids close upon the 
 night. 
 
 Beauty is dependence in the babe, a toothless tender nurs- 
 ling ; 
 
 Beauty is boldness in the boy, a curly rosy truant; 
 
 Beauty, is modesty and grace in fair retiring girlhood, 
 
 Beauty is openness and strength in pure high-minded youth; 
 
 Man, the noble and intelligent, gladdeneth earth in beauty, 
 
 And woman’s beauty sunneth him, as with a smile from 
 heaven. 
 
 There is none enchantment against beauty, Magician for all 
 time, * 
 
 Whose potent spells of sympathy have charmed the passive 
 world : 
 
 Verily she reigneth a Semiramis ; there is no might against 
 her; 
 
 The lords of every land are harnessed to her triumph. 
 
 Beauty is conqueror of all, nor ever yet was found among 
 the nations 
 
 That iron-moulded mind, full proof against her power. 
 
 Beauty, like a summer’s day, subduetli by sweet influences ; 
 
 Who can wrestle against Sleep 7 — yet is that giant very gen- 
 tleness. 
 
 Ajax may rout a phalanx, but beauty shall enslave him 
 single-handed, 
 
 Pericles ruled Athens, yet is he the servant of Aspasia ; 
 
 Light were the labor, and oftentold the tale, to count the vic- 
 tories of beauty, — 
 
 20 * 
 
234 PROVERBIAL PHILOSOPHY. [series ii. 
 
 Helen, and Judith, and Omphale, and Thais, many a trophied 
 name. 
 
 At a glance the misanthrope was softened, and repented of 
 his vows, 
 
 When beauty asked, he gave, and banned her — with a bless* 
 ing; 
 
 The cold ascetic loved the smile that lit his dismal cell, 
 
 And kindly stayed her step, and wept when she deputed; 
 
 The bigot abbess felt her heart gush with a mother’s feeling, 
 
 When looking on some lovely face beneath the cloister’s 
 shade ; 
 
 Usury freed her without ransom: the buccaneer was gentle 
 in her presence : 
 
 Madness kissed her on the cheek, and Idiotcy brightened at 
 her coming: 
 
 Yea, the very cattle in the field, and hungry prowlers of the 
 forest, 
 
 With fawning homage greeted.her, as beauty glided by. 
 
 A welcome guest unbidden, she is dear to every hearth ; 
 
 A glad spontaneous growth of friends is springing round her 
 rest ; 
 
 Learning sitteth at her feet, and Idleness laboreth to please 
 her, 
 
 Folly hath flung aside his bells, and leaden Dulness gloweth ; 
 
 Prudence is rash in her defence ; Frugality filleth her with 
 riches ; 
 
 Despair came to her for counsel ; and Bereavement was glad 
 when she consoled ; 
 
 Justice putteth up his sword at the tear of supplicating 
 beauty, 
 
 And Mercy, with indulgent haste, hath pardoned beauty’s 
 sin. 
 
 For beauty is the substitute for all things, satisfying every 
 absence, 
 
 The rich delirious cup, to make all else forgotten ; 
 
series ii. J OF BEAUTY. 235 
 
 She also is the zest unto all things, enhancing every pre- 
 sence, 
 
 The rare and precious ambergris, to quicken each perfume. 
 
 O beauty, thou art eloquent; yea, though slow of tongue, 
 Thy breast, fair Phryne, pleaded well before the dazzled 
 judge ; 
 
 O beauty, thou art wise; yea, though teaching falsely, 
 
 Sages listen, sweet Corinna, to commend thy lips; (6) 
 
 O beauty, thou art ruler; yea, though lowly as a slave, 
 Myrrha, that imperial brow is monarch of thy lord ; 
 
 O beauty, thou art winner ; yet, though halting in the race, 
 Hippodame, Camilla, Atalanta, — in gracefulness ye fascinate 
 your umpires ; 
 
 O beauty, thou art rich ; yea, though clad in russet, 
 
 A.talus cannot boast his gold against the wealth of beauty ; 
 
 O beauty, thou art noble : yea, though Esther be an exile, 
 Set her up on high, ye kings, and bow before the majesty of 
 beauty : 
 
 Friend and scholar, who, in charity, hast walked with me 
 thus far, 
 
 We have wa ndered in a wilderness of sweets, tracking beau- 
 ty’s footsteps : 
 
 And ever as we rambled on among the tangled thicket, 
 
 Many a startled thought hath tempted further roaming; 
 Passions, sympathetic influence, might of imaginary halos, — 
 Many the like would lure aside, to hunt their wayward 
 themes. 
 
 And, look you ! — from his ferny bed in yonder hazel coppice, 
 A dappled hart hath flung aside the boughs and broke 
 away ; 
 
 He is fleet and capricious as the zephyr, and with exulting 
 bounds 
 
 Hieth down a turfy lane between the sounding woods ; 
 
 His neck is garlanded with flowers, his antlers hung with 
 chaplets, 
 
236 PROVERBIAL PHILOSOPHY. [series ii. 
 
 And rainbow-colored ribbons stream adown his mottled 
 flanks : 
 
 Should we follow ? — foolish hunters, thus to chase afoot, — 
 Who can track the airy speed and doubling wiles of Taste 1 
 
 For the estimates of human beauty, dependent upon time 
 and clime, 
 
 Manifold and changeable, are multiplied the more by strange 
 gregarious fashion 
 
 And notable ensamples in the great turn to epidemics in the 
 lower, 
 
 So that a nation’s taste shall vary with its rulers. 
 
 Stern Egypt, humbled to the Greek, fancied softer idols, 
 Greece, the Roman province, nigh forgat her classic sculpture, 
 Rome, crushed beneath the Goth, loved his barbarian habits, 
 And Ahric, with his ruffian horde, is tamed by silken 
 Rome, 
 
 Columbia’s flattened head, and China’s crumpled feet, — 
 
 The civilized tapering waist, — and the pendulous ears of the 
 savage, — 
 
 The swollen throat among the mountains, and an ebon skin 
 beneath the tropics, — 
 
 These shall all be reckoned beauty; and for weighty cause: 
 First, for the latter ; Providence in mercy tempereth taste by 
 circumstance, 
 
 So that Nature’s must shall hit her creatures’ liking ; 
 
 Second, for the middle ; though the foolishness of vanity 
 seek to mar proportion, 
 
 Still, defects in those we love shall soon be counted praise ; 
 Third, for the first ; a chief and a princess, maimed or dis- 
 torted from the cradle, 
 
 Shall coax the flattery of slaves to imitate the great in their 
 deformity ; 
 
 Hence groweth habit; and habits make a taste, 
 
 And so shall servile zeal deface the types of beauty. 
 
 Whiles Alexander conquered, crookedness was comely ; 
 
series m. J OF BEAUTY. 237 
 
 And followers learn to praise the scars upon their leader’s brow. 
 
 Youth hath sought to flatter Age by mimicking grey hairs; 
 
 Age plastereth her wrinkles, and is painted in the ruddiness 
 of Youth. 
 
 Fashion, the parasite of Rank, apeth faults and failings, 
 
 Until the general Taste depraved hath warped its sense of 
 beauty. 
 
 Each man hath a measure for himself, yet all shall coincide 
 in much; 
 
 A perfect form of human grace would captivate the world ; 
 
 Be it manhood’s lustre, or the loveliness of woman, all would 
 own its beauty, 
 
 The CafiVe and Circassian, Russians and Hindoos, the Briton, 
 the Turk and Japanese. 
 
 Not all alike, nor all at once, but each* in proportion to intelli- 
 gence, 
 
 His purer state in morals, and a lesser grade in guilt: 
 
 For the h’gh-standird of the beautiful is fixed in Reason’s 
 Forum, 
 
 And sins, and customs, and caprice, have failed to break it 
 down : 
 
 And reason’s standard for the creature pointeth three perfec- 
 tions, 
 
 Frame, knowledge, and the feeling heart, well and kindly 
 mingled : 
 
 A fair dwelling, furnished wisely, with a gentle tenant in it, — 
 
 This is the glory of humanity : thou hast seen it seldom. 
 
 There is a beauty for the body; the superficial polish of a 
 statue, 
 
 The symmetry of form and feature, delicately carved and 
 painted. 
 
 How bright in early bloom the Georgian sittetliat her lattice, 
 
 How softened off in graceful curves her young and gentle 
 shape ; 
 
238 PROVERBIAL PHILOSOPHY. [series ii. 
 
 Those dark eyes, lit by curiosity, flash beneath the lashes, 
 And still her velvet cheek is dimpled with a smile. 
 
 Dost thou count her beautiful 1 — even as a mere fair figure, 
 A plastic image, little more, the outer garb of woman : 
 
 Yea, — and thus far it is well; but Reason’s hopes are 
 higher, — 
 
 Can he sate his soul on a scantling third of beauty ? 
 
 Yet is this the pleasing trickery, that cheateth half the 
 world, 
 
 Nature’s wise deceit to make up waste in life : 
 
 And few be they that rest uncaught, for many a twig is 
 limed ; 
 
 Where is the wise among a million, that took not form for 
 beauty 1 
 
 But watch it well ; for vanity and sin, malice, hate, suspi- 
 cion, 
 
 Lowering as clouds upon the countenance, will disenchant 
 its charms. 
 
 The needful complexity of beauty claimeth mind and soul, 
 Though many coins of foul alloy pass current for the true : 
 And albeit fairness in the creature shall often co-exist with 
 excellence, 
 
 Yet hath many an angel shape been tenanted by fiends. 
 
 A man, spiritually keen, shall detect in surface beauty 
 Those marring specks of evil, which the sensual cannot see ; 
 Therefore is he proof against a face, unlovely to his likings, 
 And common minds shall scorn the taste, that shrunk from 
 sin’s distortion. 
 
 There is a beauty of the reason: grandly independent of 
 externals, 
 
 It looketh from the windows of the house, shining in the 
 man triumphant. 
 
 1 have seen the broad blank f-yce of some misshapen dwarf 
 Lit on a sudden as with glory, the brilliant light of mind: 
 
239 
 
 series ii. J OF BEAUTY. 
 
 Who then imagined him deformed 7 intelligence is blazing 
 on his forehead, 
 
 There is empire in his eye, and sweetness on his lip, and his 
 brown cheek glittereth with beauty 
 And I have known some Nireus of the camp, a varnished 
 paragon of chamberers,(7) 
 
 Fine, elegant, and shapely, moulded as the master-piece of 
 Phidias, — 
 
 Such an one, with intellects abased, have I noted crouching 
 to the dwarf, 
 
 Whilst his lovers scorn the fool whose beauty hath departed ! 
 
 And there is a beauty for the spirit ; mind in its perfect 
 flowering, 
 
 Fragrant, expanded into soul, full of love and blessed. 
 
 Go to some squalid couch, some famishing deathbed of the 
 poor; 
 
 He is shrunken, cadaverous, diseased ; there is here no 
 beauty of the body : 
 
 Never hath he fed on knowledge, nor drank at the streams 
 of science, 
 
 He is of the common herd, illiterate ; — there is here no beauty 
 of the reason. 
 
 Butlo ! his filming eye is bright with love from heaven, 
 
 In every look it beameth praise, as worshipping with 
 seraphs ; 
 
 What honeycomb is hived upon his lips, eloquent of grati- 
 tude and prayer, — 
 
 What triumph shrined serene upon that clammy brow, 
 
 What glory flickering transparent under those thin cheeks, — 
 What beauty in his face . — Is it not the face of an angel 7 
 
 Now, of these three, infinitely mingled and combined 
 Consisteth human beauty, in all the marvels of its mightiness : 
 And forth from human beauty springeth the intensity of 
 Love ; 
 
240 PROVERBIAL PHILOSOPHY. [series ii. 
 
 Feeling, thought, desire, the three deep fountains of alfectjon. 
 
 Son of Adam, or daughter of Eve, art thou trapped by nature, 
 
 And is thy young eye dazzled with the pleasant form of 
 beauty 1 
 
 This is but a lower love ; still it hath its honor ; 
 
 What God hath made and meant to charm, let not man de- 
 spise. 
 
 Nevertheless, as reason’s child, look thou wisely further, 
 
 For age, disease, and care, and sin, shall tarnish all the sur- 
 face ; 
 
 Reach a loftier love ; be lured by the comeliness of mind, — 
 
 Gentle, kind, and calm, or lustrous in the livery of know- 
 ledge. 
 
 And mere there is a higher grade ; force the mind to its per 
 fection, — 
 
 Win those golden trophies of consummate love : 
 
 Add unto riches of the reason, and a beauty moulded to thy 
 liking, 
 
 The precious things of nobler grace that well adorn a soul ; 
 
 Thus, be thou owner of a treasure, great in earth and hea- 
 ven, 
 
 Beauty, wisdom, goodness, — in a creature like its God. 
 
 So then, draw we to an end ; with feeble step and faltering, 
 
 I follow beauty through the universe, and find her home 
 Ubiquity : 
 
 In all that God hath made, in all that man hath marred, 
 
 Lingereth beauty or its wreck, a broken mould and castings. 
 
 And now, having wandered long time, freely and with de- 
 sultory feet, 
 
 To gather in the garden of the world a. few fair sample flow- 
 ers, 
 
 With patient scrutinizing care let us cull the conclusion of 
 their essence, 
 
 And answer to the riddle of Zorobabel, Whence the might of 
 beauty 1 ( fi ) 
 
SERIES II.] 
 
 OF BEAUTY. 
 
 241 
 
 Ugliness is native unto nothin?, blit possible abstract evil : 
 In everything created, at its worst, lurk the dregs of loveli- 
 ness. 
 
 We be fallen into utter depths, yet once we stood sublime, 
 For man was made in perfect praise, his Maker’s comely 
 image : 
 
 And so his new-born ill is spiced with older good, 
 
 He carrieth with him, yea, to crime, the withered limbs of 
 beauty. 
 
 Passions may be crooked generosities ; the robber stealeth for 
 his children ; 
 
 Murder was avenger of the innocent, or wiped out shame 
 with blood. 
 
 Many virtues, weighted by excess, sink among the vices, 
 Many vices, amicably buoyed, float among the virtues. 
 
 For, albeit sin is hate, a foul and bitter turpitude, 
 
 As hurling back against the Giver all his gifts with insult, 
 Still, when concrete in the sinner, it will seem to partake of 
 his attractions, 
 
 And in seductive masquerade shall cloak its leprous skin ; 
 
 His broken lights of beauty shall illume its utter black, 
 
 And those Refracted rays glitter on the hunch of its deformity. 
 
 Verily the fancy may be false, yet hath it met me in my 
 musings 
 
 (As expounding the pleasantness of pleasure, but no ways ex- 
 tenuating license), 
 
 That even those yearnings after beauty, in wayward wanton 
 youth, 
 
 When guileless of ulterior end, it craveth but to look upon 
 the lovely, 
 
 Seem like struggles of the soul, dimly remembering pre-exist- 
 ence, 
 
 And feeling in its blindness for a long-lost god, to satisfy its 
 longing ; 
 
 As if the sucking babe, tenderly mindful of his mother, 
 
 21 
 
242 PROVERBIAL PHILOSOPHY. [series ii. 
 
 Should pull a dragon’s dugs, and drain the teats of poison. 
 
 Our primal source was beauty, and we pant for it ever and 
 again ; 
 
 But sin hath stopped the way with thorns ; we turn aside, 
 wander, and are lost. 
 
 God, the undiluted good, is root and stock of beauty, 
 
 And every child of reason drew his essence from that stem. 
 
 Therefore, it is of intuition, an innate hankering for home, 
 
 A sweet returning to the well, from which our spirit flowed, 
 
 That we, unconscious of a cause, should bask these darkened 
 souls 
 
 In some poor relics of the light that blazed in primal beauty, 
 
 And, even like as exiles of idolatry, should quaff from the 
 cisterns of creation 
 
 Stagnant draughts, for those fresh springs that rise in the 
 Creator. 
 
 Only, being burdened with the body, spiritual appetite is 
 warped, 
 
 And sensual man, with taste corrupted, drinketh of pollu- 
 tions ; 
 
 Impulse is left, but indiscriminate ; his hunger feasteth upon 
 carrion ; 
 
 His natural love of beauty doateth over beauty in decay. 
 
 He still thirsteth for the beautiful ; but his delicate ideal 
 hath grown gross, 
 
 And the very sense of thirst hath been fevered from affection 
 into passion. 
 
 He remem bereth the blessedness of light, but it is with an 
 old man’s memory, 
 
 A blind old man from infancy, that once hath seen the sun, 
 
 Whom long experience of night hath darkened in his cradle 
 recollections, 
 
 Until his brightest thought of noon is but a shade of black. 
 
 This then is thy charm, O beauty, all pervading; 
 
OF FAME. 
 
 243 
 
 SEUIES II.] 
 
 And this thy wondrous strength, O beauty, conqueror of all : 
 
 The outline of our shadowy best, the pure and comely crea- 
 ture, 
 
 That Winneth on the conscience with a saddening admira- 
 tion : 
 
 And some untutored thirst for God, the root of every pleasure, 
 
 Native to creatures, yea in ruin, and dating from the birth- 
 day of the soul. 
 
 For God sealeth up the sum, confirmed exemplar of propor- 
 tions, 
 
 Rich in love, full of wisdom, and perfect in the plenitude of 
 Beauty, (9) 
 
 OF FAME. 
 
 Blow the trumpet, spread the wing, fling thy scroll upon the 
 sky, 
 
 Rouse the slumbering world, O Fame, and fill the sphere 
 with echo : — 
 
 Beneath tby blast they wake, and murmurs come hoarsely 
 on the wind, 
 
 And flashing eyes and bristling hands proclaim they hear 
 thy message: 
 
 Rolling and surging as a sea, that upturned flood of faces 
 
 Hasteneth with its million tongues to spread the wondrous 
 tale , ‘ 
 
 The hum of added voices groweth to the roaring of a cata- 
 ract, 
 
 And rapidly from wave to wave is tossed that exaggerated 
 story, 
 
 Until those stunning clamors, gradually diluted in the dis- 
 tance, 
 
 Sink ashamed, and shrink afraid of noise, and die away. 
 
 Then brooding Silence, forth from his hollow caverns, 
 
244 PROVERBIAL PHILOSOPHY. [series n. 
 
 Cloaked and cowled, and gliding along, a cold and stealthy- 
 shadow, 
 
 Once more is mingled with the multitude, whispering as he 
 walketh, 
 
 And hushing all their eager ears to hear some newer Fame. 
 
 So all is still again ; but nothing of the past hath been for- 
 gotten ; 
 
 A stirring recollection of the trumpet ringeth in the hearts of 
 men ; 
 
 And each one, either envious or admiring, hath wished the 
 chance were his 
 
 To fill as thus the startled wmrld with fame, or fear, or won- 
 der. 
 
 This lit thy torch of sacrilege, Ephesian Eratostratu# ; ( 10 ) 
 
 This dug thy living grave, Pythagoras, the traveller from 
 Hades ; 
 
 For this, dived Empedocles into .Etna’s fiery whirlpool ; 
 
 For this conquerors, regicides, and rebels, have dared their 
 perilous crimes. 
 
 In all men, from the monarch to the menial, lurketh lust of 
 fame ; 
 
 The savage and the sage alike regard their labors proudly : 
 
 Yea, in death, the glazing eye is illumined by the hope of 
 reputation, 
 
 And the stricken warrior is glad, that his wounds are salved 
 with glory. 
 
 For fame is a sweet self-homage, an offering grateful to the 
 idol, 
 
 A spiritual nectar for the spiritual thirst, a mental food for 
 mind, 
 
 A pregnant evidence to all of an after immaterial existence, 
 
 A proof that soul is scatheless, when its dwelling is dissolved. 
 
 And the manifold pleasures of fame are sought by the guilty 
 and the good ; 
 
SERIES II.] 
 
 OF FAME. 
 
 245 
 
 Pleasures, various in kind, and spiced to every palate ; 
 
 The thoughtful loveth fame as an earnest of better immor- 
 tality, 
 
 The industrious and deserving, as a symbol of jusi appre- 
 ciation, 
 
 The sellish, as a promise of advancement, at least to a man’s 
 own kin, 
 
 And common minds as a flattering fact that men have been 
 told of their existence. 
 
 There is a blameless love of famp, springing from desire of 
 justice, 
 
 When a man hath fently won and fairly claimed his honors : 
 
 And then fame cometh as encouragement to the inward con- 
 sciousness of merit, 
 
 Gladdenid^by the kindliness and thanks, wherewithal his 
 labors are rewarded. 
 
 But there is a sordid imitation, a feverish thirst for notoriety, 
 
 Waiting upon vanity and sloth, and utterly regardless of de- 
 serving : 
 
 And then fame cometh as a curse : the fire-damp is gathered 
 in the mine : 
 
 The soul is swelled with poisonous air, and a spark of temp- 
 tation shall explode it. 
 
 Idle causes, noised awhile, shall yield most active conse- 
 quents, 
 
 And therefore it were ill upon occasion, to scorn the voice of 
 rumor. 
 
 Ye have seen the chemist in his art mingle invisible gases ; 
 
 And lo, the product is a substance, a heavy dark precipitate; 
 
 Even so fame, hurtling on the quiet with many meeting 
 tongues, 
 
 Can out of nothing bring forth fruits, and blossom on a nou- 
 rishment of air. 
 
 For many have earned honor, and thereby rank and riches, 
 21 * 
 
24S PROVERBIAL PHILOSOPHY. [series ii. 
 
 From false and fleeting tales, some casual mere mistake ; 
 
 And many have been wrecked upon disgrace, and have strug- 
 gled with poverty and scorn, 
 
 From envious hints and ill reports, the slanders cast on inno- 
 cence. 
 
 Whom may not scandal hit ? those shafts are shot at a ven- 
 ture : 
 
 Who standeth not in danger of suspicion? that net hath 
 caught the noblest. 
 
 Caesar’s wife was spotless, but a martyr to false fame ; ( n ) 
 
 And Rumor, in temporary, things, is gigantic as a ruin or a 
 remedy. 
 
 Many poor and many rich have testified its popular omnipo- 
 tence, 
 
 And many a panic-stricken army hath perished with the host 
 of the Assyrians. # 
 
 Nevertheless, if opportunity be naught, let a man bide his 
 time ; 
 
 So the matter be not merchandise ner conquest, fear thou less 
 for character. 
 
 If a liar accuseth thee of evil, be not swift to answer; 
 
 Yea, rather give him license for a while : it shall help thine 
 honor afterward ; 
 
 Never yet was calumny engendered, but good men speedily 
 discerned it, 
 
 And innocence hath burst from its injustice, as the green 
 world rolling out of Chaos. 
 
 What though still the wicked scoff, this also turneth to his 
 praise ; 
 
 Did ye never hear that censure of the bad is buttress to a 
 good man’s glory 1 
 
 What, if the ignorant still hold out, obstinate in unkind judg- 
 ment, — 
 
 Ignorance and calumny are paired ; we affirm by two nega- 
 tions ; 
 
SERIES II.] 
 
 OF FAME. 
 
 247 
 
 Let them stand round about, pushing at the column in a circle, 
 For all their toil and wasted strength, the foolish do but prop it. 
 And note thou this ; in the secret of their hearts, they feel 
 the taunt is false, 
 
 And cannot help but reverence the courage that walketli 
 amid calumnies unanswering: 
 
 He stasdeth as a gallant chief, unheeding shot or shell ; 
 lie trusted in God his Judge ; neither arrows nor the pesti- 
 lence shall harm him. 
 
 A high heart is a sacrifice to heaven ; should it stoop among 
 the creepers in the dust, 
 
 To tell them that what God approved is worthy of their 
 praise ? 
 
 Never shall-it heed the thought; but fiaming on in triumph 
 to the skies, ' 
 
 And quite forgetting fame, shall find it added as a trophy. 
 
 A great mind is an altar on a hill ; should the priest descend 
 from his altitude 
 
 To canvass offerings and worship from dwellers on the plain "? 
 
 Rather with m :jestic perseverance, will he minister in soli- 
 tary grandeur, 
 
 Confident the time will come when pilgrims shall be flocking 
 to the shrine. 
 
 For fame is the birthright of genius ; and he recketh not how 
 long it be delayed : 
 
 The heir need not hasten to his heritage, when he knoweth 
 that his tenure is eternal. 
 
 The careless poet of Avon, was he troubled for his fame, 
 
 Or the deep-mouthed chronicler of Paradise, heeded he the 
 suffrage of his equals 1 
 
 Maeonides took no thought, committing all his honors to the 
 future, 
 
 And Fiaccus, standing on his watch-tower, spied the praise 
 of ages. ( 12 ) 
 
248 PROVERBIAL PHILOSOPHY. [series ii. 
 
 Smoking flax will breed a flame, and the flame may illumi- 
 nate a world ; 
 
 Where is he who scorned that smoke as foul and murky 
 vapor 1 
 
 The village stream swelled to a river, and the river was a 
 kingdom’s wealth, 
 
 Where is he who boasted he could step across that stream 1 
 
 Such are the beginnings of the famous; little in the judg- 
 ment of their peers, 
 
 The juster verdict of posterity shall fix them in the orbits of 
 the Great. 
 
 Therefore dull Zoilus, clamoring ascendant of the hour, 
 
 Will soon be fain to hide his hate, and bury up his bitter- 
 ness for shame : 
 
 Therefore mocking Momus, offended at the steps of Beau- 
 ty, ( l3 ) 
 
 Shall win the prize of his presumption, and be hooted from 
 his throne among the stars. 
 
 For, as the shadow of a mountain lengtheneth before the 
 setting sun, 
 
 Until that screening Alpjmve darkened all the Canton, — 
 
 So, Fame groweth to its great ones ; their images loom larger 
 in departing; 
 
 But the shadow of mind is light, and earth is filled with its 
 glory. 
 
 And thou, student of the truth, commended to the praise of 
 God, 
 
 Wouldst thou find applause with men? — seek it not, nor 
 shun it ; 
 
 Ancient fame is roofed in cedar, and her walls are marble ; 
 
 Modern fame lodgeth in a hut, a slight and temporary dwel- 
 ling : 
 
 Lay not up the treasures of thy soul within so damp a cham- 
 ber, 
 
series ii.J OF FAME. 249 
 
 For the moth of detraction shall fret thy robe, at >1 drop its 
 eggs upon thy motive; 
 
 Or the rust of disheartening reserve shall spoil the ustre of 
 thy gold, 
 
 Until its burnished beauty shall be dim as tarnished brass; 
 
 Or thieves, breaking through to steal, shall claim thy jew- 
 elled thoughts, 
 
 And turn to charge the theft on thee, a pilferer from them ! 
 
 There isja magnanimity in recklessness of fame, so fame be 
 well deserving, 
 
 That rusheth on in fearless might, the conscious sense of 
 merit ; 
 
 And there is a littleness in jealousy of fame, looking as aware 
 of weakness, 
 
 That creepeth cautiously along, afraid that its title will be 
 challenged. 
 
 The wild boar, full of beechmast, flingeth him down among 
 the brambles ; 
 
 Secure in bristly strength, without a watch he sleepeth: 
 
 But the hare, afraid to feed, croucheth in its own soft form ; 
 
 Wakefully with timid eyes, and quivering ears, he listeneth. 
 
 Even so, a giant’s might is bound up in the soul of Genius, 
 
 His neck is strong with confidence, and he goeth tusked with 
 power : 
 
 Sturdily he roaineth in the forest, or sunneth him in fen and 
 field, 
 
 And scare th from his marshy lair a host of fearful foes. 
 
 But there is a mimic Talent, whose safety lielh in its quick- 
 ness, 
 
 A timorous thing of doubling guile, that scarce can face a 
 friend : 
 
 This one is captious of reproof, provident to snatch occasion, 
 
 Greedy of applause, and vext to lose one tittle of the glory. 
 
 He is a poor warder of his fame, who is ever on the watch to 
 keep it spotless ; 
 
250 PROVERBIAL PHILOSOPHY. [series ii. 
 
 Such care arguefh debility, a garrison relying on its sentinel. 
 Passive s’ ength shall scorn excuses, patiently waiting a re- 
 ac on, 
 
 He wottoth well that truth is great, and must prevail at 
 last : 
 
 But fretful weakness hasteth to explain, anxiously dreading 
 prejudice, 
 
 And ignorant that perishable falsehood dieth as a branch cut 
 
 off. 
 
 Purity of motive and nobility of mind shall rarely conde- 
 scend 
 
 To prove its rights, and prate of wrongs, or evidence its worth 
 to others. 
 
 And it shall be small care to the high and happy conscience 
 What jealous friends, or envious foes, or common fools may 
 judge. 
 
 Should the lion turn and rend every snarling jackal, 
 
 Or an eagle be stopt in his career to punish the petulance of 
 sparrows ? 
 
 Should the palm tree bend his crown to chide the briar at his 
 feet, 
 
 Nor kindly help its climbing, if it hope, and be ambitious? 
 Should the nightingale account it worth her pains to vindi- 
 cate her music, 
 
 Before some sorry finches, that affect to judge of song? 
 
 No: many an injustice, many a sneer, and slur, 
 
 Is passed aside with noble scorn by lovers of true fame : 
 
 For well they wot that glory shall be tinctured good or evil, 
 By the character of those who give it, as wine is flavored by 
 the wineskin : 
 
 So that worthy Fame floweth only from a worthy fountain, 
 But from an ill-conditioned troop, the best report is worth- 
 less. 
 
 And if the sensibility of genius count his injuries in secret, 
 Wisely will he hide the pains a hardened herd would mock; 
 
OF FAME. 
 
 SERIES II. J 
 
 251 
 
 For the great mind well may be sad to note such littleness in 
 brethren, 
 
 The while he is comforted and happy in the firmest assur- 
 ance of desert. 
 
 Cease awhile, gentle scholar; — seek other thoughts and 
 themes ; 
 
 Or dazzling Fame with wildfire light will lure us on for 
 ever. 
 
 For look*_all subjects of the mind may range beneath its 
 banner, 
 
 And time would fail and patience droop, to count that nume- 
 rous host. 
 
 The mine is deep, and branching wide, — and who can work 
 it out ? 
 
 Years of thought would leave untold the boundless topic, 
 Fame. 
 
 Every matter in the universe is linked in suchwise unto 
 others, 
 
 That a deep full treatise upon one thing might reach to the 
 history of all things : 
 
 And before some single thesis had been followed out in all 
 its branches, 
 
 The wandering thinker would be lost in the pathless forest of 
 existence. 
 
 What were the matter or the spirit, that hath no part in 
 
 Fame ? 
 
 Where were the fact irrelevant, or the fancy out of place? 
 
 For the handling of that mighty theme should stretch from 
 past to future, 
 
 Catching up the present on its way, as a traveller burdened 
 with time. 
 
 All manner of men, their deeds, hopes, fortunes, and ambi- 
 tions, 
 
 All manner of events and things, climate, circumstance, and 
 custom, 
 
252 PROVERBIAL PHILOSOPHY. [series n. 
 
 Wealth and war, fear and hope, contentment, jealousy, devo- 
 tion, 
 
 Skill and learning, truth, falsehood, knowledge of things gone 
 and things to come, 
 
 Pride and praise, honor and dishonor, warnings, ensamples, 
 emulations, 
 
 The excellent in virtues, and the reprobate in vice, with the 
 cloud of indifteret spectators, - 
 
 Wave on wave with flooding force throng the shoals of 
 thought, 
 
 Filling that immeasurable theme, the height and depth of 
 Fame. 
 
 With soul unsatisfied and mind dismayed, my feet have 
 touched the threshold, 
 
 Fain to pour these flowers and fruits an offering on that altar: 
 
 Lo, how vast the temple, — there are clouds within the dome ! 
 
 Yet might the huge expanse be filled with volumes writ on 
 Fame. 
 
 OF FLATTERY. 
 
 Mnsio is commended of the deaf: — but is that praise des- 
 pised I 
 
 l trow not: with flattered soul, the musician heard him 
 gladly. 
 
 Beauty is commended of the blind ; but is that compliment 
 misl iking ? 
 
 I trow not ; though false and insincere, woman listened 
 greedily. 
 
 Vacant Folly talketh high of Learning’s deepest reason : 
 
 Is she hated for her hollowness? — learning held her wiser 
 for the nonce. 
 
 The worldly and the sensual, to gain some end, did homage 
 to religion ; 
 
OF FLATTERY. 
 
 SERIES II.] 
 
 253 
 
 And the good man gave thanks as for a convert, where others 
 saw the hypocrite. 
 
 Yet none of these were cheated at the heart, nor steadily 
 believed those flatteries ; 
 
 They feared the core was rotten, while they hoped the skin 
 was sound : 
 
 But the fruits have so sweet fragrance, and arc verily so 
 pleasant to the eyes, 
 
 It were atv ungracious disenchantment to find them apples 
 of Sodom. 
 
 So they labored to think all honest, winking hard with both 
 their eyes ; 
 
 And hushed up every whisper that could prove that praise 
 absurd ; 
 
 They willingly regard not the infirmities that make such 
 worship vain, 
 
 And palliate to their own fond hearts the faults they will not 
 
 see. 
 
 For the idol rejoiceth in his incense, and loveth not to shame 
 his suppliants, 
 
 Should he seek to find them false, his honors die with theirs ; 
 
 A, r u offering is welcome for its own sake, set aside the giver, 
 
 And praise is precious to a man, though uttered by the parrot 
 or the mocking-bird 
 
 The world is full of fools; and sycophancy liveth on the 
 foolish : 
 
 So he groweth great and rich, that fawning subtle parasite. 
 
 Sometimes he boweth like a reed, cringing to the pompous- 
 ness of pride, 
 
 Sometimes he strutteth as a gallant, pampering the fickleness 
 of vanity : 
 
 I have known him listen with the humble, enacting silent 
 marveller, 
 
 22 
 
254 PROVERBIAL PHILOSOPHY. [series ii. 
 
 To hear some purse-proud dunce expound his poverty of 
 mind ; 
 
 I have heard him wrangle with the obstinate, vowing that 
 he will not be convinced, 
 
 When some weak youth had wisely feared the chance of 
 ill-success : 
 
 Now, he will barely be a winner, — to magnify thy triumphs 
 afterward : 
 
 Now, he will hardly be a loser, — but cannot cease to wonder 
 at thy skill : 
 
 He laudeth his own worth, that the leader may have glory 
 in his follower ; 
 
 He meekly confesseth his unworthiness, that the leader may 
 have glory in himself. 
 
 Many wiles hath he, and many modes of catching, 
 
 But every trap is selfishness, and every bait is praise. 
 
 Come, I would forewarn thee, and forearm thee; for keen 
 are the weapons of his warfare ; 
 
 And while my soul hath scorned him, I have watched his 
 skill from far. 
 
 His thoughts are full of guile, deceitfully combining contrarie- 
 ties, 
 
 And when he doeth battle in a man, he is leagued with 
 traitorous Self-love ; 
 
 Strange things have I noted, and opposite to common fancy ; 
 
 We leave the open surface, and would plumb the secret 
 depths. 
 
 For he will magnify a lover even to disparaging his mistress ; 
 
 So much wisdom, goodness, grace, and all to be enslaved 1 
 
 Till the Narcissus, self-enamored, whelmed in floods of flat- 
 tery, 
 
 cheated from the constancy and fervency of love by friend- 
 ship’s subtle praise. 
 
 Moreover, he will glorify a parent, even to the censure of his 
 child, — 
 
series ii.] OF FLATTERY. 255 
 
 O degenerate scion, of a stock so excellent and noble ! 
 
 Scant will be in well-earned praise of a son before his father ; 
 
 And rarely commendeth to a mother her daughter’s budding 
 beauty : 
 
 Yet shall he extol the daughter to her father, and be warm 
 about the son before his mother : 
 
 Knowing that self-love entereth not, to resist applause with 
 jealousies. 
 
 Wisely is he sparing of hyperbole where vehemence of praise 
 would humble, 
 
 For many a father liketh ill to be counted second to his son : 
 
 And shrewdly the flatterer hath reckoned on a self still lurk- 
 ing in the mother, 
 
 When his tongue was slow to speak of graces in the daughter. 
 
 But, if he descend a generation, to the grandsire his talk is of 
 the grandson, 
 
 Because in such high praise he hideth the honors of the son ; 
 
 And the daughter of a daughter may well exceed, in beauty, 
 love, and learning, 
 
 For unconsciously old age perceived — she cannot be my 
 
 , rival. 
 
 These are of the deep things of flattery and many a shallow 
 sycophant 
 
 Hath marvelled ill that praise of children seldom won their 
 parents. 
 
 This therefore note, unto detection; flattery can sneer as 
 well as smile ; 
 
 And a master in the craft wotteth well that his oblique thrust 
 is surest. 
 
 Flattery sticketh like a burr, holding to the soil with an- 
 chors, 
 
 A vital, natural, subtle seed, everywhere hardy and indige- 
 nous. 
 
 Go to the storehouse of thy memory and take what is readi- 
 est to thy hand, — 
 
256 PROVERBIAL PHILOSOPHY. [series n. 
 
 The noble deed, the clever phrase, for which thy pride was 
 flattered : 
 
 Oh, it hath been dwelt upon in solitude, and comforted tliy 
 heart in crowds, 
 
 It hath made thee walk as in a dream, and lifted the head 
 above thy fellows ; 
 
 It hath compensated months of gloom, that minute of sweet 
 sunshine, 
 
 Drying up the pools of apathy, and kindling the Are of ambi- 
 tion : 
 
 Yea, the flavor of that spice, mingled in the cup of life, 
 
 Shall linger even to the dregs, and still be tasted with a wel- 
 come ; 
 
 The dame shall tell her grandchild of her coy and courted 
 youth, 
 
 And the greybeard prateth of a stranger, who praised his task 
 at school. 
 
 Ofttimes to the sluggard and the dull, flattery hath done 
 good service, 
 
 Quickening the mind to emulation, and encouraging the 
 heart that failed. 
 
 Even so, a stimulating poison, wisely tendered by the leech. 
 
 Shall speed the pulse, and rally life, and cheat astonished 
 death. 
 
 For, as a timid swimmer venture th afloat with bladders, 
 
 Until self-confidence and growth of skill have made him 
 spurn their aid, 
 
 Thus commendation may be prudent, where a child hath ill 
 deserved it ; 
 
 But praise unmerited is flattery, and the curse will bring its 
 cares : 
 
 For thy son may find thee out, and thou shalt rue the remedy : 
 
 Yea rather, where thou canst not praise, be honest in re- 
 buke. 
 
OF FLATTERY. 
 
 SERIES II. J 
 
 257 
 
 I have seen the object of a flatterer mirrored clearly on the 
 surface, 
 
 Where self love scattereth praise to gather praise again. 
 
 This is a commodity of merchandise, words put out at inte- 
 rest ; 
 
 A scheme for canvassing opinions, and tinging them all with 
 partiality. 
 
 He is but a harmless fool ; humor him with pitiful good-na- 
 ture : 
 
 If a poetaster quote thy song, be thou tender to his poem: 
 
 Did the painter praise thy sketch 7 be kind, commend his 
 picture, 
 
 He looketh for a like return ; then thank him with thy 
 praise. 
 
 In these small things with these small minds count thou the 
 sycophant a courtier, 
 
 And pay back, as blindly as ye may, the too transparent 
 honor. 
 
 Also, where the flattery is delicate, coming unobtrusive and 
 in season, 
 
 Though thou be suspicious of its truth, be generous at least 
 to its gentility. 
 
 The skilful thief of Lacedaemon had praise before his judges, 
 
 And many caitiffs win applause for genius in their calling. 
 
 Moreover, his meaning may be kind, — and thou art a debtor 
 to his tongue ; 
 
 Hasten well to pay the debt, with charity and shrewdness : 
 
 He must not think thee caught, nor feel himself discovered, 
 
 Nor find thine answering compliment as hollow as his own. 
 
 Though he be a smiling enemy, let him heed thee as the 
 fearless and the friendly ; 
 
 A searching look, a poignant word, may prove thou art 
 aware : 
 
 Still, with compassion to the frail, though keen to see his 
 soul, 
 
 oo* 
 
258 PROVERBIAL PHILOSOPHY. [series il 
 
 Let him not fear for thy discretion : see thou keep his se- 
 cret, and thine own. 
 
 However, where the flattery is gross, a falsehood clear and 
 fulsome, 
 
 Crush the venomous toad, and spare not for a jewel in his 
 head. 
 
 Tell the presumptuous in flattery, that or ever he bespatter 
 thee with praise, 
 
 It might be well to stop and ask how little it were worth : 
 
 Thou hast not solicited his suffrage, — let him not force thee 
 to refuse it ; 
 
 Look to it, man, thy fence is foiled, — and thus we spoil the plot. 
 
 Self-knowledge goeth armed, girt with many weapons, 
 
 But carrieth whips for flattery, to lash it like a slave : 
 
 But the dunce in that great science goeth as a greedy tunny, 
 
 To gorge both bait and hook, unheeding all but appetite : 
 
 He smelleth praise and swalloweth, — yea though it be palpa- 
 ble and plain ; 
 
 Say unto him, Folly thou art Wisdom, — he will bless thee 
 for thy lie. 
 
 Flatterer, thou shall rue thy trade, though it have many 
 present gains ; 
 
 Those varnished wares may sell apace, yet shall they spoil 
 thy credit. 
 
 Thine is the intoxicating cup, which whoso drinketh it shall 
 nauseate ; 
 
 Thine is trickery and cheating ; but deception never pleased 
 for long. 
 
 And though while fresh, thy fragrance seemed even as the 
 dews of charity, 
 
 Yet afterwards it fouled thy censer, as with savor of stale 
 smoke. 
 
 For the great mind detected thee at once, answering thine 
 emptiness with pity, 
 
series ii.j OF FLATTERY. 259 
 
 He saw thy self-interested zeal, and was* not cozened by vain- 
 glory : 
 
 And the little mind is bloated with the praise, scorning him 
 who gave it, 
 
 A fool shall turn to be thy tyrant, an thou hast dubbed him 
 great : 
 
 And the medium mind of common men, loving first, thy music, 
 
 After, when the harmonies are done, shall feel small comfort 
 in their echoes ; 
 
 For either he shall know thee false, conscious of contrary 
 deservings, 
 
 And, hating thee for falsehood, soon wall scorn himself for 
 truth ; 
 
 Or, if in aught to toilsome merit honest praise be due, 
 
 Though for a season, belike, his weakness hath been raptured 
 at thy witching, 
 
 Shall he not speedily perceive, to the vexing of his disap- 
 pointed spirit, 
 
 That thine exaggerative tongue hath robbed him of fair fame ? 
 
 Thou hast paid in forgers’ coins, and he had earned true 
 money . 
 
 For the substance of just praise thou hast put him off with 
 shadows of the sycophant, 
 
 Thou art all things to all men, for ends false and selfish, 
 
 Therefore shalt be nothing unto any one, when those thine 
 ends are seen 
 
 Turn aside, young scholar, turn from the song of Flattery ! 
 
 She hath the Siren’s musical voice, to ravish and betray. 
 
 Her longue droppeth honey, but it is the honey of Anticyra ; 
 
 H?r face is a mask of fascination, but there hideth deformity 
 behind; 
 
 Her coming is the presence of a queen, heralded by courtesy 
 and beauty, 
 
 But, going away, her train is held by the hideous dwarf, 
 Disgust. 
 
260 PROVERBIAL PHILOSOPHY. [series ii. 
 
 Know thyself, thy evil as thy good, and flattery shall not 
 harm thee : 
 
 Yea, her speech shall be a warning, an humbling, and a guide. 
 
 For wherein thou lackest most, there chiefly will the syco- 
 phant commend thee, 
 
 And then most warmly will congratulate, when a man hath 
 least deserved. 
 
 Behold, she is doubly a traitor ; and will underrate her vic- 
 tim’s best, 
 
 That, to the comforting of conscience, she may plead his 
 worse for better. 
 
 Therefore is she dangerous, — as every lie is dangerous: 
 
 Believe her tales and perish ; if thou act upon such counsel. 
 
 Her aims are thine, not thee, thy wealth and not thy welfare, 
 
 Thy suffrage not thy safety, thine aid and not thine honor. 
 
 Moreover, with those aims insured, ceaseth all her glozing; 
 
 She hath used thee as a handle, — but her hand was wise to 
 turn it. 
 
 Thus will she glorify her skill, that it deftly caught thy kind- 
 ness, 
 
 Thus will she scorn thy kindness, so pliable and easy to her 
 skill. 
 
 And then, the flatterer will turn to be thy foe, the bitterest 
 and hottest 
 
 Because he oweth thee much hate to pay off many hum- 
 blings. 
 
 Thinkest thou now he is high, he loveth the remembrance of 
 his lowliness^ 
 
 The servile manner, the dependent smile, the conscience 
 self-abased ? 
 
 No, this hour is his own, and the flatterer will be found a busy 
 mocker ; 
 
 He that hath salved thee with his tongue shall now gnash 
 upon thee with his teeth, 
 
series ii.J OF FLATTERY. 251 
 
 Yea, he will be leader in the laugh, — silly one, to listen to 
 thy loss, 
 
 We scarce had hoped to lime and take another of the fools 
 of flattery. 
 
 At the last ; have charity, young scholar, — yea to the syco 
 phant convicted ; 
 
 Be not a Brutus to thyself, nor stern in thine own cause. 
 
 Pardon exaggerated praise ; for there is a natural impulse 
 
 Spurring~«n the nobler mind, to color facts by feelings : 
 
 Take an indulgent view of each man’s interest in self, 
 
 Be large and liberal in excuses ; is not that infirmity thine 
 own ? 
 
 Search thy soul and be humble ; and mercy abideth with 
 humility ; 
 
 So that, yea, the insincere, may find thee pitiful, and love 
 thee. 
 
 Mildly put aside, without rudeness of repulse, the pampering 
 hand of flattery, 
 
 For courtesy and kindness have gone beneath its guise, and 
 ill shouldst thou rebuke them. 
 
 Thou art incapable of theft : but flowers in the garden of a 
 friend 
 
 Are thine to pluck with confidence, and it were unfriendli- 
 ness to hesitate : 
 
 Thou abhorrest flattery : but a generous excess in praise 
 
 Is thine to yield with honest heart, and false were the cha- 
 rity to doubt it: 
 
 The difference lieth in thine aim ; kindliness and good are 
 of charity, 
 
 But selfish harmful, vile, and bad, is flattery’s evil end. 
 
262 
 
 PROVERBIAL PHILOSOPHY. [series n. 
 
 OF NEGLECT. 
 
 Generous and righteous is thy grief, slighted child of sensi- 
 bility ; 
 
 For kindliness enkindleth love, but the waters of indifference 
 quench it ; 
 
 Thy soul is athirst for sympathy, and hungereth to find affec- 
 tion, 
 
 The tender scions of thy heart yearn for the sunshine of good 
 feeling, 
 
 And it is an evil thing and bitter, when the cheerful face of 
 Charity, 
 
 Going forth gaily in the morning to woo the world with 
 smi les, 
 
 Is met by those wayfaring men with coldness, suspicion, and 
 repulse. 
 
 And turneth into hard dead stone at the Gorgon visage of 
 Neglect. 
 
 0 brother, warm and young, covetous of others’ favor, 
 
 1 see thee checked and chilled sorrowing for censure or for- 
 
 getfulness. 
 
 Let coarse and common minds despise— that wounding of 
 thy vanity, 
 
 Alas, I note a sorer cause, the blighting of thy love ; 
 
 Let the callous sensual deride thee, disappointed of thy 
 praise, 
 
 Alas, thou hast a juster grief, defrauded of their kindness : 
 
 It is a theme for tears to feel the soft heart hardening, 
 
 The frozen breath of apathy sealing up the fountain of af- 
 fection ; 
 
 It is a pang keen only to the best, to be injured well-deserv- 
 ing, 
 
 And slumbering Neglect is injury, — could ye not watch one 
 hour 'l 
 
OF NEGLECT. 
 
 263 
 
 SERIES II.] 
 
 When God himself complained, it was that none regarded, 
 And indifference bowed to rebuke, Thou gavest Me no kiss 
 when I came in. 
 
 Moreover, praise is good , honor is a treasure to be hoard- 
 ed ; 
 
 A good man’s praise foreshadoweth God’s and his smile is 
 heaven : 
 
 But men walk on in hardihood, steeling their sinfulness to 
 censure, 
 
 And where rebuke is ridiculed, the love of praise were an 
 infirmity ; 
 
 The judge thou heedest not in fear, cannot have deep ho- 
 mage of thy hope, 
 
 And who then is the wise of this world, that will own he 
 trembleth at his fellows ? 
 
 Calm, careless, and insensible, he mocketh blame or calumny, 
 Neither should his dignity be humbled to some pittance of 
 their praise : 
 
 The rather, let false pride affect to trample on the treasure 
 Which evermore in secret strength unconquered Nature priz- 
 eth ; 
 
 Rather, shall he stifle now the rising bliss of triumph, 
 
 Lest after, in the world's Neglect, he must acknowledge bit- 
 terness. 
 
 For lo, that world is wide, a huge and crowded continent, 
 
 Its brazen sun is mammon, and its iron soil is care, 
 
 A world full of men where each man clingeth to his idol ; 
 
 A world full of men, where each man cherisheth his sor- 
 row ; 
 
 A world full of men, multitude shoaling upon multitude, 
 
 A surging sea, where every wave is burdened with an argosy 
 of self, 
 
 A boundless beach, where every stone is a separate micro- 
 scopic world, 
 
2G4 PROVERBIAL PHILOSOPHY. [series ii. 
 
 A forest of innumerable trees, where every root is indepen- 
 dent. 
 
 Wiiat then is the marvel or the shame, if units be lost 
 among the million, 
 
 Canst thou reasonably murmur, if a leaf drop off unnoticed ? 
 
 Wondrous in architecture, intricate and beautiful, delicately 
 tinged and scented, 
 
 Exquisite of feeling and mysterious in life, none cared for its 
 growth, or its decay: 
 
 None 1 yea, — no one of its fellows, — nor cedar, palm, nor 
 bramble, — 
 
 None ? its twinborn brother scarcely missed it from the 
 spray : 
 
 None ? — if none indeed, then man’s neglect were bitterness ; 
 
 And life a land without a sun, a globe without a God! 
 
 Yea, flowers in the desert, there be that love your beauty, 
 
 Yea, jewels in the sea, there be that prize your brightness : 
 
 Children of unmerited oblivion, there be that watch and woo 
 you, 
 
 ! And many tend your sweets, with gentle ministering care : 
 
 Thronging spirits of the happy, and the everpresent Good 
 One, 
 
 Yearning seek those precious things man hath not heart to 
 love, 
 
 Gems of the humblest or the highest, pure and patient in 
 their kind, 
 
 The souls unhardened by ill-usage, and uncorrupt by luxury. 
 
 And ye, poor desolates unsunned, toilers in the dark damp 
 mine, 
 
 Wearied daughters of oppression, crushed beneath the car 
 of avarice, 
 
 There be that count your tears, — He hath numbered the hairs 
 of thy head, — 
 
 There lie that can forgive you ill with kind considerate pity : 
 
SERIES II.] 
 
 OF NEGLECT. 
 
 2G5 
 
 Count ye this for comfort, Justice hath her balances, 
 
 And yet another world can compensate for all : 
 
 The daily martyrdom of pa tience shall not be wanting of re- 
 ward ; 
 
 Duty is a prickly shrub, but its flower will be happiness and 
 glory. 
 
 Ye too, the friendless, yet dependent, that find nor home nor j 
 lover, 
 
 Sad imprisnned hearts, captive to the net of circumstance. — 
 
 And ye, too harshly judged, noble unappreciated intellects, 
 
 Who, capable of highest, lowlier fix your just ambition in 
 content, 
 
 And chiefest, ye, famished infants of the poor, toiling for 
 your parents’ bread, 
 
 Tired, and sore, and uncomforted the while, for want of lovo 
 and learning, 
 
 Who struggle with the pitiless machine in dull continuous 
 conflict, 
 
 Tasked by iron men, who care for nothing but your labor, — 
 
 Be ye long suffering and courageous ; abide the will of Hea- 
 ven ; 
 
 God is on your side ; all things are tenderly remembered: 
 
 Ilis servants here shall help you ; and where those fail you 
 through Neglect, 
 
 His kingdom still hath time and space for ample discrimina- 
 tive Justice : 
 
 Yea, though utterly on this bad earth ye lose both right and 
 mercy, 
 
 The tears that we forgat to note our God shall wipe away, 
 
 Nevertheless kind spirit, susceptible and guileless, — 
 Meek uncherished dove, in a carrion flock of fowls, 
 
 Sensitive mimosa, shrinking from the winds that help to 
 root the fir, 
 
 L 
 
 23 
 
266 PROVERBIAL PHILOSOPHY. [series ii. 
 
 Fragile nautilus, shipwrecked in the gale whereat the conch 
 is glad, 
 
 Thy sharp peculiar grief is uncomforted by hope of compen- 
 sation, 
 
 For it is a delicate and spiritual wound, which the probe of 
 pity bruiseth ; 
 
 Yet hear how many thoughts extenuate its pain ; 
 
 Even while a kindred heart can sorrow for its presence. 
 
 For the sting of neglect is in this, — that such as we are, all 
 forget us, 
 
 That men and women, kith and kin, so lightly heed of 
 other : 
 
 Sympathy is lacking from the guilty such as we, even where 
 angels minister, 
 
 And souls of fine accord mu«t prize a fellow-sinner’s love : 
 
 For the worst love those who love them, and the best claim 
 heart for heart, 
 
 And it is a holy thirst to long for love’s requital : 
 
 Hard it will be, hard and sad, to love and be unloved, 
 
 And many a thorn is thrust into the side of him that is for- 
 gotten. 
 
 The oppressive silence of reserve, the frost of failing friend- 
 ship, 
 
 Affection blighted by repulse, or chilled by shallow courtesy, 
 
 The unaided struggle, the unconsidered grief, the unesteemed 
 self-sacrifice. 
 
 The gift, dear evidence of kindness, long due, but never 
 offered, 
 
 The glance estranged, the letter flung aside, the greeting ill 
 received, 
 
 The services of unobtrusive care unthanked, perchance 
 unheeded, 
 
 These things, which hard men mock at, rend the feelings of 
 the tender, 
 
 For the delicate tissue of a spiritual mind is torn by those 
 sharp barbs j 
 
SERIES II.J 
 
 OF NEGLECT. 
 
 2G7 
 
 The coldness of a trusted friend, a plenitude ending in 
 vacuity, 
 
 Is as if the stable world had burst a hollow bubble. 
 
 But, consider, child of sensibility ; the lot of man is labor, 
 
 Labor for the mouth, or labor in the spirit, labor stern and 
 individual. 
 
 * Worldly cares and worldly hopes exact the thoughts of all, 
 
 And there is a necessary selfishness rooted in each mortal 
 breugt. 
 
 The plans of prudence, or the whisperings of pride, or all- 
 absorbing reveries of love, 
 
 Ambition, grief, or fear, or joy, set each man for himself: 
 
 Therefore, the centre of a cycle, whereunto all the universe 
 convergeth, 
 
 Is seen in fallen solitude, the naked selfish heart : 
 
 Stripped of conventional deceptions, untrammelled from the 
 harness of society, 
 
 We all may read one little word engraved on all we do; 
 
 Other men, what are they unto us 7 the age, the mass, the 
 million, — 
 
 We segregate, distinct from generalities, that isolated particle, 
 a self : 
 
 It is the very law of our life, a law for soul and body, 
 
 An earthly law for earthly men, toiling in responsible proba- 
 tion. 
 
 For each is the all unto himself, disguise it as we may. 
 
 Each infinite, each most precious : yet even as a nothing to 
 his neighbor. 
 
 O consider, we be crowding up an avenue, trapped in the 
 decoy of time, 
 
 Behind us the irrevocable past, before us the illimitable fu- 
 ture. 
 
 What u mder is there, if the traveller, wayworn, hopeful, 
 fea 'fill, 
 
 Burdened himself, so lightly heed the burden of his brother 7 
 
268 
 
 PROVERBIAL PHILOSOPHY. [series ii. 
 
 How shouldst thou marvel and be sad that the pilgrims trou- 
 ble not to learn thee, 
 
 When each hath to master for himself the lessons of life and 
 immortality ? 
 
 Moreover, what art thou, — so vainly impatient of Neglect? 
 
 Where then is thy worthiness, that so thou claimest honor? ^ 
 
 Let the true judgment of humility reckon up thine ill deserts, 
 
 How little is there to be loved, how much to stir up scorn ? 
 
 The double heart, the bitter tongue, the rash and erring 
 spirit, 
 
 Be these, ye purest among men, your passports into favor ? 
 
 It is mercy in the Merciful, and justice in the Just, to be 
 jealous of his creature’s love, 
 
 But how should evil or duplicity arrogate affection to itself? 
 
 Where love is happiness and duty, to be jealous of that love 
 is godlike. 
 
 But who can reverence the guilty ? who findeth pleasure in 
 the mean ? 
 
 Check the presumption of thy hopes : thankfully take refuge 
 in obscurity, 
 
 Or, if thou claimest merit, thy sin shall be proclaimed upon 
 the housetops. 
 
 Yet again : consider them of old, the good, the great, the 
 learned, 
 
 Who have blessed the world by wisdom, and glorified their 
 God by purity. 
 
 Did those speed in favor? were they the loved and the 
 admired ? 
 
 Was every prophet had in honor ? and every deserving one 
 remembered to his praise ? 
 
 What shall I say of yonder band, a glorious cloud of wit- 
 nesses, 
 
 The scorned, defamed, insulted, — but the excellent of 
 earth ? 
 
OF NEGLECT. 
 
 SERIES II.] 
 
 269 
 
 It were weariness to count up noble names, neglected in 
 their lives, 
 
 Whom none esteemed, nor cared to love, till death had 
 sealed them his. 
 
 For good men are the health of the world, valued only when 
 it perisheth, 
 
 Like water, light, and air, all precious in their absence. 
 
 Who hath considered the blessing of his breath, till the poi- 
 son of an asthma struck him ? 
 
 Who h; stir regarded the just pulses of his heart, till spasm or 
 paralysis have stopped them ? 
 
 Even thus, an unobserved routine of daily grace and wis- 
 dom, 
 
 When no more here, had worship of a world, whose peni- 
 tence atoned for its neglect, 
 
 And living genius is seen among infirmities, wherefrom the 
 commoner are free ; 
 
 And other rival men of mind crowd this arena of contention; 
 
 And there be many cares ; and a man knoweth little of his 
 brother ; 
 
 Feebly we appreciate a motive, and slowly keep pace with a 
 feeling; 
 
 And social difference is much ; and experience teacheth 
 sadly, 
 
 How gre it the treachery of friends, how dangerous the cour- 
 tesy of enemies. 
 
 So, the sum of all these things operate th largely upon all 
 men, 
 
 Hedging us about with thorns, to cramp our yearning sym- 
 pathies, 
 
 And we grow materialized in mind, forgetting what we see 
 not, 
 
 But, immersed in perceptions of the present, keep things 
 absent out of thought . 
 
 Thus, where ingr ititude, and guilt, and laoor, and selfishness 
 would harden, 
 
 23 * 
 
270 PROVERBIAL PHILOSOPHY. [series ii. 
 
 Humbly will the good man bow, unmurmuring, to Neglect. 
 
 Yet once more, griever at neglect, hear me to thy comfort, 
 or rebuke ; 
 
 For, after all thy just complaint, the world is full of love. 
 
 O heart of childhood, tender, trusting, and affectionate, 
 
 O youth, warm youth, full of generous attentions, 
 
 O woman, self-forgetting woman, poetry of human life, 
 
 And not less thou, O man, so often the disinterested brother, 
 Many a smile of love, many a tear of pity, 
 
 Many a word of comfort, many a deed of magnanimity, 
 
 Many a stream of milk and honey pour ye freely on the 
 earth, 
 
 And many a rosebud of love rejoiceth in the dew of your 
 affection. 
 
 Neglect? O liberal world, for thine are many prizes. 
 Neglect? O charitable world, where thousands feed on 
 bounty ; 
 
 Neglect ? O just world, for thy judgments err not often ; 
 Neglect ? O libel on a world, where half that world is wo- 
 man ! 
 
 Where is the afflicted, whose voice, once heard, stirreth not 
 a host of comforters ? 
 
 Where is the sick untended, or in prison, and they visited 
 him not? 
 
 The hungry is fed, and the thirsty satisfied, till ability set 
 limits to the will, 
 
 And those who did it unto them, have done it unto God ! 
 
 For human benevolence is large, though many matters 
 dwarf it, 
 
 Prudence, ignorance, imposture, and the straitenings of cir- 
 cumstance and time. 
 
 And if to the body, so to the mind, the mass of men are 
 generous ; • 
 
 Their estimate who know us best, is seldom seen to err: 
 
 Be sure the fault is thine, as pride, or shallowness, or vanity, 
 
SERIES II.J 
 
 OF CONTENTMENT. 
 
 271 
 
 If ail around thee, good and bnd, neglect thy seeming merit : 
 
 No man yet deserved, who found not some to love him ; 
 
 And he that never kept a friend need only blame himself: 
 
 Many for un worthiness will droop and die, but all are not 
 unworthy ; 
 
 It must indeed be cold clay soil that killeth every seed. 
 
 Therefore examine thy state, O self-accounted martyr of 
 Neglect, 
 
 It may be, thy merit is a cubit, and thy measure thereof a 
 furlong : 
 
 But grant it greater than thy thoughts, and grant that men 
 thy fellows, 
 
 For pleasure, business, or interest, misuse, forget, neglect 
 thee, — 
 
 Sun be thou conqueror in this, the consciousness of high 
 deservings ; 
 
 Let it suffice thee to be worthy ; faint not thou for pra'^e ; 
 
 For that thou art, be grateful ; go humbly even in thy confi- 
 dence ; 
 
 And set thy foot upon the neck of an enemy so harmless as 
 Neglect 
 
 OF CONTENTMENT. 
 
 Godlinfss with Contentment, — these be the pillars of feli- 
 city, 
 
 Jachin, wherewithal it is established, and Boaz, in the which 
 is strength; (H) 
 
 And upon their capitals is lily-work, the lotus fruit and 
 flower, 
 
 Those ftir and fragrant types of holiness, innocence, and 
 beauty ; 
 
 Great gain pertaineth to the pillars, nets and chains of 
 wreathen gold, 
 
272 PROVERBIAL PHILOSOPHY. [series ii. 
 
 And they stand up straight in the temple porch, the house 
 where Glory dwelleth. 
 
 The body craveth meats, and the spirit is athirst for peace- 
 fulness ; 
 
 He that hath these, hath enough ; for all beyond is vanity. 
 
 Surfeit vaulteth over pleasure, to light upon the hither side 
 of pain ; 
 
 And great store is great care, the rather if it mightily in- 
 creaseth. 
 
 Albeit too little is a trouble, yet too much shall swell into an 
 evil, 
 
 If wisdom stand not nigh to moderate the wishes : 
 
 For covetousness never had enough, but moaneth at its wants 
 for ever, 
 
 And rich men have commonly more need to be taught con- 
 tentment than the poor. 
 
 That hungry chasm in their market-place gapeth still un- 
 satisfied, 
 
 Yea, fling in all the wealth of Rome, — it asketh higher vic- 
 tims ; 
 
 So, when the miser’s gold cannot fill the measure of his lust, 
 
 Curtius must leap into the pit, and avarice shall close upon 
 his life. (*5) 
 
 Behold Independence in his rags, all too easily contented, 
 
 Careful for nothing, thankful for much, and uncomplaining 
 in his poverty: 
 
 Such an one have I somewhile seen earn his crust with 
 gladness ; 
 
 He is a gatherer of simples, culling wild herbs upon the hills : 
 
 And now, as he sitteth on the beach, with his motherless 
 child beside him, 
 
 To rest them in the cheerful sun, and sort their mints and 
 horeliound, — 
 
series ii.] OF CONTENTMENT. 273 
 
 Tell me, can ye find upon his forehead the cloud of covetous 
 anxiety, 
 
 Or note the dull unkindled eyes of sated sons of pleasure ? — 
 
 For there *is more joy of life with that poor picker of the 
 ditches, 
 
 Than among the multitude of wealthy who wed their gains 
 to discontent. 
 
 I have seen many rich, burdened with the fear of poverty, 
 
 I have seen many poor buoy ed with all the carelessness of 
 wealth ; 
 
 For the rich had the spirit of a pauper, and the moneyless a 
 liberal heart; 
 
 The first enjoyeth not for having, and the latter hath nothing 
 but enjoyment. 
 
 None is poor but the mean in mind, the timorous, the weak, 
 and unbelieving ; 
 
 None is wealthy but the affluent in soul, who is satisfied and 
 floweth over. 
 
 The poor-rich is attenuate for fears, the rich-poor is fattened 
 upon hopes ; 
 
 Cheerfulness is one man’s welcome, and the other warneth 
 him by his gloom. 
 
 Many poor have the pleasures of the rich, even in their own 
 possessions ; 
 
 And many rich miss the poor man’s comforts, and yet feel 
 all his cares. 
 
 Liberty is affluence, and the Helots of anxiety never can be 
 counted wealthy; 
 
 But he that is disenthralled from fear, goeth for the time a 
 king; 
 
 He is royal, great, and opulent, living free of fortune, 
 
 And looking on the world as owner of its good, the Maker’s 
 child and heir : 
 
 Whereas the covetous is slavish, a very Midas in his avarice, 
 
 Full of dismal dreams, and starved amongst his treasures : 
 
274 
 
 PROVERBIAL PHILOSOPHY. [series ii. 
 
 The ceaseless spur of discontent goaded him with instant 
 apprehension, 
 
 And his thirst for gold could never be quenched, for he drank 
 with the throat of Crassus. (16) 
 
 Vanity and dreary disappointment, care, and weariness, and 
 envy : 
 
 Vanity is graven upon all things ; wisely spake the preacher. 
 
 For ambition is a burning mountain, thrown up amid the 
 turbid sea, 
 
 A Strom boli in sullen pride above the hissing waves; 
 
 And the statesman climbing there, forgetful of his patriot in- 
 tentions, 
 
 Shall hate the strife of each rough step, or ever he hath toiled 
 midway : 
 
 And every truant from his home, the happy home of duty, 
 
 Shall live to loathe his eminence of cares, that seething 
 smoke and lava. 
 
 Contentment is the temperate repast, flowing with milk and 
 honey ; 
 
 Ambition is the drunken orgy, fed by liquid fhimes : 
 
 A black and bitter frown is stamped upon the forehead of 
 Ambition, 
 
 But fair Contentment’s angel-face is rayed with winning 
 smiles. 
 
 There was in Tyre a merchant, the favorite child of fortune, 
 
 An opulent man with many ships, to trade in many climes; 
 
 And he rose up early to his merchandise, after feverish 
 dreaming, 
 
 And lay down late to his hot unrest, overwhelmed with cal- 
 culated cares. 
 
 So, day by day, and month by month, and year by year, he 
 gained ; 
 
 And grew grey, and waxed great ; for money brought him 
 all things. 
 
 All things 1 — verily not all ; the kernel of the nut is lacking, — 
 
series ii.] OF CONTENTMENT. 275 
 
 His mind was a stranger to content, and as for peace he knew 
 her not: 
 
 Luxuries p i lied upon his palate and his eyes were satiate 
 with purple ; 
 
 He could coin much gold, but buy no happiness with it. 
 
 And on a day, a day of dread, in the heat of inordinate am- 
 bition, 
 
 When he threw with a gambler’s hand, to lose or to double 
 
 his possessions, 
 
 The chance hit him, — he had speculated ill, — and men began 
 to whisper ; — 
 
 Those he trusted, failed ; and their usuries had bribed him 
 deeply : 
 
 One ship foundered out at se t, — and another met the pirate, — 
 
 And so, with broken fortunes, men discreetly shunned him. 
 
 He was a stricken stag, and went to hide away in solitude, 
 
 And there in humility, he thought, — he resolved, and 
 promptly acted : 
 
 From the wreck of all his splendors, from the dregs of the 
 goblet of affluence, 
 
 He saved with management a morsel and a drop, for his 
 daily cup and platter: 
 
 And lo, that little was enough and in enough was competence : 
 
 His cares were gone, — he slept by night, and lived at peace 
 by day ; 
 
 Cured of his guilty selfishness, — money’s love, envy, compe- 
 tition, — 
 
 He lived to be thankful in a cottage that he had lost a palace : 
 
 For he found in his abasement, what he had vainly sought in 
 high estate, 
 
 Both mind and body well at ease, though robed in the russet 
 of the lowly. 
 
 Once more , a certain priest, happy in his high vocation, 
 
 With faith, and hope, and charily well served his village 
 altar; 
 
276 PROVERBIAL PHILOSOPHY. [series ji. 
 
 As men count riches, he was poor; but great were his trea- 
 sures in heaven, 
 
 And great his joys on earth, for God’s sake doing good : 
 
 He had few cares and many consolations, one of the welcome 
 everywhere ; 
 
 The laborer accounted him his friend, and magnates did him 
 honor at their table : 
 
 With a large heart and little means he still made many 
 grateful, 
 
 And felt as the centre of a circle, of calmness, and content. 
 
 But on a weaker sabbath, — for he preached both well and 
 wisely, — 
 
 Some casual hearer loudly praised his great neglected talents : 
 
 Why should he be buried in obscurity, and throw these 
 pearls to swine 1 
 
 Could he not still be doing good, — the whilst he pushed his 
 fortunes 7 
 
 Then came temptation, even on the spark of discontent ; 
 
 The neighboring town had a pulpit to be filled : hotly did he 
 canvass and won it : 
 
 Now was he popular and courted and listened to the spell of 
 admiration, 
 
 And toiled to please the taste, rather than to pierce the con- 
 science 
 
 Greedily he sought, and seeking found, the patronizing notice 
 of the great; 
 
 He thirsted for emoluments and honors, and counted rich 
 men happy : 
 
 So he fla ttered, so he preached ; and gold and fame flowed in ; 
 
 They flowed in, — he was reaping his reward, — and felt him- 
 self a fool. 
 
 Alas, what a shadow was he following, — how precious was 
 the substance he had left ! 
 
 Man for God, gold for good, this was his miserable bargain, 
 
 The village church, its humble flock, and humbler parish 
 priest, 
 
SERIES II.] 
 
 OF LIFE. 
 
 277 
 
 Zeal, devotion, and approving heaven, — his books and simple 
 life, 
 
 His little firm and dower beds, — his recreative rambles with 
 a friend, 
 
 And haply at eventide the leaping trout3, to help their hum- 
 ble fire, — 
 
 All these wretchedly exchanged for what the world called 
 fortune, 
 
 With the harrowing conscience of a state relapsed to vain 
 ambitions. 
 
 Thenj-^Tor God was gracious to his soul, his better thoughts 
 returned, 
 
 .And better aims with better thoughts, his holy walk of old. 
 
 Sickened of style, and ostentation, and the dissipative fash- 
 ions of society. 
 
 He deserted from the ranks of Mammon, and renewed his 
 allegiance to God : 
 
 For he found that the praises of men, and all that gold can 
 give, 
 
 A.re not worthy to be named against godliness and calm 
 contentment. 
 
 OF LIFE. 
 
 A child w r as playing in a garden, a merry little child, 
 
 Bounding with triumphant health and full of happy fancies; 
 
 His kite was floating in the sunshine, — but he tied the string 
 to a twig, 
 
 And ran among the roses to catch a new-born butterfly ; 
 
 His horn-book lay upon a bank, but the pretty truant hid it 
 
 Buried up in gathered grass, and moss, and sweet wild- 
 thyme ; 
 
 He launched a paper boat upon the fountain, — then wayward 
 turned aside, 
 
 24 
 
278 PROVERBIAL PHILOSOPHY. [series ii. 
 
 To twine some vagrant jessamines about the dripping mar- 
 ble : 
 
 So, in various pastime, shadowing the schemes of manhood, 
 That curly-headed boy consumed the golden hours : 
 
 And I blessed his glowing face, envying the merry little child, 
 As he shouted with the ecstasy of being, clapping his hands 
 for joyfulness : 
 
 For I said, Surely, O Life, thy name is happiness and hope, 
 Thy days are bright, thy flowers are sweet, and pleasure the 
 condition of thy gift. 
 
 A youth was walking in the moonlight, walking not alone, 
 For a fair and gentle maid leant on his trembling arm : 
 
 Their whispering was still of beauty, and the light of love 
 was in their eyes, 
 
 Their twin young hearts had not a thought unvowed to love 
 and beauty : 
 
 The stars, and the sleeping world, and the guardian eye of 
 God, 
 
 The murmur of the distant waterfall, and nightingales war- 
 bling in the thicket, 
 
 Sweet speech of years to come, and promises of fondest hope, 
 And more, a present gladness in each other’s trust ; 
 
 All these fed their souls with the hidden manna of affection, 
 While their faces shone beatified in the radiance of reflected 
 Eden : 
 
 I gazed on that fond youth, and coveted his heart, 
 
 Attuned to holiest symphonies, with music in its strings ; 
 
 For I said, Surely, O Life, thy name is love and beauty, 
 
 Thy joys are full, thy looks most fair, thy feelings pure and 
 sensitive. 
 
 A man sat beside his merchandise, a careworn altered man, 
 His waking hope, his nightly fear, were money and its 
 losses : 
 
 Rarely was the laugh upon his cheek, except in bitter scorn, 
 
series ii.] OF LTFE. 279 
 
 For his foolishness of heart, and the lie of its romance, 
 counting Love a treasure. 
 
 His talk is of stern Reality, chilling, unimaginative facts, 
 
 The dull material accidents of thus sensual body ; 
 
 Lucreless honor were contemptible, impoverished affection 
 but a pauper’s riches, 
 
 Duty, struggling unrewarded, the bargain of a cheated fool ; 
 
 The market value of a fancy must be measured by the gain 
 it bringeth, 
 
 No manJs fed or clothed by fame, or love, or duty : — 
 
 So toiled he day by day, that cold and joyless man ; 
 
 I gazed upon his haggard face and sorrowed for the change : 
 
 For I said, Surely, O Life, thy name is care and weariness, 
 
 Thy soil is parched, thy winds are fierce, and the suns above 
 thee hardening. 
 
 A withered elder lay upon his bed, a desolate man and 
 feeble ; 
 
 His thoughts were of the past, the early past, the bygone 
 days of youth : 
 
 Bitterly repented he the years stolen by the god of this 
 world : 
 
 Remembering the maiden of his love, and the heart-stricken 
 wife of his selfishness. 
 
 For the sunshiny morning of life came again to him a vivid 
 truth, 
 
 But the years of toil as a long dim dream, a cloudy blighted 
 noon : 
 
 He saw the nutting schoolboy, but forgat the speculative 
 merchant ; 
 
 The callous, calculating husband was shamed by the gene- 
 rous lover ; 
 
 He knew that the weeds of worldliness, and the smoky 
 breath of Mammon, 
 
 Had choked and killed those tender shoots, his yearnings 
 after honor and affection : 
 
280 PROVERBIAL PHILOSOPHY. [series n. 
 
 So was he sick at heart., and my pity strove to cheer him, 
 
 But a deep and dismal gulf lay between comfort and his 
 soul. 
 
 Then I said, Surely, O Life, thy name is vanity and sorrow, 
 
 Thy storms at noon are many, and thine eventide is clouded 
 by remorse. 
 
 Now, when I thought upon these things, my heart was 
 grieved within me : 
 
 I wept with bitterness of speech, and these were the words 
 of my complaining : 
 
 “ Wherefore then must happiness and love wither into care 
 and vanity, — 
 
 Wherefore is the bud so beautiful, but flower and fruit so 
 blighted ? 
 
 Hard is the lot of man ; to he lured by the meteor of romance, 
 
 Only to be snared, and to sink, in the turbid mudpool of 
 reality.” 
 
 Suddenly, a light,— and a rushing presence, — and a con- 
 sciousness of something near me, — 
 
 I trembled, and listened, and prayed : then I knew the Angel 
 of Lite : 
 
 Vague, and dimly visible, mine eye could not behold him, 
 
 As, calmly unimpassioned, he looked upon an erring crea- 
 ture : 
 
 Unseen, my spirit apprehended him ; though he spake not, 
 yet I heard ; 
 
 For a sympathetic communing with him flashed upon my 
 mind electric. 
 
 Pensioner of God, be grateful ; the gift of Life is good . 
 
 The life of heart, and life of soul, mingled with life for the 
 body. 
 
 Gladness »nd beauty are its just inheritance, — the beauty 
 thou hast counted for romance : 
 
OF LIFE. 
 
 I 
 
 SERIES II. J 
 
 5231 
 
 And guardian spirits weep that selfishness and sorrow should 
 destroy it. 
 
 Thou hast seen the natural blessing marred into a curse by 
 man ; 
 
 Come then, in favor will I show thee the proper excellence 
 of life. 
 
 Keep thou purity, and watch against suspicion, — love shall 
 never perish ; 
 
 Guard thine innocency spotless, and the buoyancy of child- 
 hood shall remain. 
 
 Sweet ideals feed the soul, thoughts of loveliness delight it, 
 
 The chivalrous afFection of uncalculating youth lacketh not 
 honorable wisdom. 
 
 Charge not folly on invisibles, that render thee happier and 
 purer, 
 
 The fair frail visions of Romance have a use beyond the 
 maxims, of the Real. 
 
 Behold, a patriarch of years, who leaneth on the staff of 
 religion ; 
 
 His heart is fresh, quick to feel, a bursting fount of generosity ; 
 
 He, playful in his wisdom, is gladdened in his children’s 
 gladness. 
 
 He, pure in his experience, loveth in his son’s first love : 
 
 Lofty aspirations, deep affections, holy hopes are his delight; 
 
 His abhorrence is to strip from Life its charitable garment of 
 Ideal. 
 
 The cold and callous sneerer, who heedeth of the merely 
 practical, 
 
 And mocketh at good uses in imaginary things, that man is 
 his scorn : 
 
 The hard unsympathizing modern, filled with facts and 
 figures, 
 
 Cautious, and coarse, and materialized in mind, that man is 
 his pity. 
 
 Passionate thirst for gain never hath burnt within his bosom, 
 24 * 
 
282 PROVERBIAL PHILOSOPHY. [series 11. 
 
 The leaden chains of that dull lust have not bound him 
 prisoner : 
 
 The shrewd world laughed at him for honesty, the vain 
 world mouthed at him for honor, 
 
 The false world hated him for truth, the cold world despised 
 him for affection : 
 
 Still, he kept his treasure, the warm and noble heart, 
 
 And in that happy wise old man survive the child and lover. 
 
 For human life is as Chian wine, flavored unto him who 
 drinketh it, 
 
 Delicate fragrance comforting the soul, as needful substance 
 for the body : 
 
 Therefore, see thou art pure and guileless ; so shall thy Reali- 
 ties of Life 
 
 Be s'veetoned, and tempered, and gladdened by the whole- 
 some spirit of Romance. 
 
 Dost thou live, man, dost thou liVe, — or only breathe and 
 labor 1 
 
 Art thou free, or enslaved to a routine, the daily machinery 
 of habit ? 
 
 For one man is quickened into Life, where thousands exist 
 as in a torpor, 
 
 Feeding, toiling, sleeping, an insensate weary round: 
 
 The plough, or the ledger, or the trade, with animal cares 
 and indolence, 
 
 Make the mass of vital years a heavy lump unleavened, 
 
 Drowsily lie down in thy dullness, fettered with the irons of 
 circumstance, 
 
 Thou wilt not wake to think and feel a minute in a month. 
 
 The epitome of common life is seen in the common epitaph, 
 
 Born on such a day, and dead on such another, with an 
 interval of threescore years. 
 
 For time hath been wasted on the senses, to the hourly 
 diminishing of spirit ; 
 
r 
 
 series ii. J OF LIFE. 283 
 
 Lean is the soul and pineth, in the midst of ab mdance for 
 »he body: 
 
 He forg it the worlds to which he tended, and a creature’s true 
 nobility, 
 
 Nor wished that hope and wholesome fear should rtir him 
 from his hardened satisfaction. 
 
 And this is death in life; to be sunk beneath the wate.s of 
 the Actual, 
 
 Without one feebly-struggling sense of an airier spiritual 
 realm : 
 
 Affection, fancy, feeling — dead ; in agination, conscience, 
 faith. 
 
 All wilfully expunged, till they leave he man mere carcase. 
 
 See thou livest, whiles thou art : fo. heart must live, and 
 soul, 
 
 But care .and sloth and sin and self, combine to kill that life. 
 
 A man will grow to an automaton, an appendage to the 
 counter or the desk, 
 
 mind and spirit be not roused to raise the plodding gro- 
 veller. 
 
 Thv^ praise God for sabbaths, for books, and dreams, and 
 pains, 
 
 For the recreative face of nature, and the kindling charities 
 of home : 
 
 And remember, thou that laborest, — thy leisure is not loss, 
 
 If it help to expose and undermine that solid falsehood, the 
 Material. 
 
 Life is a strange avenue of various trees and flowers ; 
 
 Lightsome at commencement, but darkening to its end in a 
 distant mass$ portal. 
 
 It beginneth as a little path, edged with the violet and prim- 
 rose, 
 
 A little path of lawny grass, and soft to tiny feet: 
 
 Soon, spring thistles in the way, those early griefs of school, 
 
 And fruit-trees ranged on either hand show holiday delights : 
 
284 PROVERBIAL PHILOSOPHY. [series ii. 
 
 Anon, the ose and the mimosa hint at sensitive affection, 
 And vipers hide among the grass, and briars are woven in 
 the hedges : 
 
 Shortly, staked along in order, stand the slender saplings, 
 While hollow hemlock and tall ferns fill the frequent inter- 
 val : 
 
 So advancing, quaintly mixed, majestic line the way 
 Sturdy oaks, and vigorous elms, the beech and forest-pine : 
 And here the road is rough with rocks, wide, and scant of 
 herbage, 
 
 The sun is hot in heaven, and the ground is cleft and 
 parched : 
 
 A nd many-times a hoi 1 >w-trunk, decayed or lightning scathed, 
 Or in its deadly solitu e, the melancholy upas : 
 
 But soon, with closer ranks, are set the sentinel trees, 
 
 And darker shadows hover amongst Autumn’s mellow tints : 
 Ever and anon, a holly, — junipers, and cypresses, and yews ; 
 The soil is damp : the air is chiil ; night cometh on apace : 
 Speed to the portal, traveller, — lo, there is a moon, 
 
 With smiling light to guide thee safely through the dreadful 
 shade : 
 
 Hark, — that hollow knock, — behold, the warder openeth, 
 
 The gate is gaping, and for thee ; — those are the jaws of 
 Death i 
 
 OF DEATH. 
 
 Keep silence, daughter of frivolity, — for Death is in that 
 chamber ! 
 
 Startle not with echoing sound the strangely solemn peace, 
 Death is here in spirit, watcher of a marble corpse, — 
 
 That eye is fixed, that heart is still, — how dreadful in its 
 stillness ! 
 
 Death, new tenant of the house, pervadeth all the fabric ; 
 
series ii.] OF DEATH. 285 
 
 He waiteth at the head, and he standeth at the feet, and 
 hideth in the caverns of the breast: 
 
 Death, subtle leech, hath anatomized soul from body, 
 Dissecting well in every nerve its spirit from its substance; 
 Death, rigid lord, hath claimed the heriot clay, 
 
 While joyously the youthful soul hath gone to take his 
 heritage ; 
 
 Death, cold usurer, hath seized his bonded debtor; 
 
 Death, savage despot, hath caught his forfeit serf; 
 
 Death, blind foe, wreaketh petty vengeance on the flesh ; 
 Death, fell cannibal, gloateth on his victim, 
 
 And carrieth it with him to the grave, that dismal banquet- 
 hall, 
 
 Where in foul state the Royal Ghoul holdeth secret orgies. 
 
 Hide it up, hide it up, draw the decent curtain : 
 
 Hence! curious fool, and pry not on corruption: 
 
 For the fearful mysteries of change are being there enacted, 
 And many actors play their part on that small stage, the 
 tomb. 
 
 Leave the clay, that leprous thing, touch not the fleshly gar- 
 ment : 
 
 Dust to dust, it mingleth well among the sacred soil : 
 
 It is scattered by the winds, it is wafted by the waves, it 
 mixeth with herbs and cattle, 
 
 But God hath watched those morsels, and hath guided them 
 in care : 
 
 Each waiting soul must claim his own, when the archangel 
 soundeth, 
 
 And all the fields, and all the hills, shall move a mass of life; 
 Bodies numberless, crowding on the land, and covering the 
 trampled sea, 
 
 Darkening the air precipitate, and gathered scatheless froza 
 the fire ; 
 
 The Himalayan peaks shall yield their charge, and the deso- 
 late steppes of Siberia, 
 
286 PROVERBIAL PHILOSOPHY. [series n. 
 
 The Maelstrom disengulf its spoil, and the iceberg manumit 
 its captive : 
 
 All shall teem with life, the converging fragments of human- 
 ity, 
 
 Till every conscious essence greet his individual frame; 
 
 For in some dignified similitude, alike, yet different in glory, 
 This body shall be shaped anew, fit dwelling for the soul : 
 The hovel hath grown to a palace, the bulb hath burst into 
 the flower, 
 
 Matter hath put on incorruption, and is at peace with spirit. 
 
 Amen, — and so it shall be : — but now the scene is drear, — 
 Yea, though promises and hope strive to cheat its sadness ; 
 Full of grief, though faith herself is strong to speed the soul, 
 For the partner of its toil is left behind to endure an ordeal 
 of change. 
 
 Dear partner, dear and frail, my loved though humble 
 home, 
 
 Should I cast thee off without a pang, as a garment flung 
 aside 1 
 
 Many years, 'or joy and sorrow, have I dwelt in thee, 
 
 How shall I be reckless of thy weal, nor hope for thy per 
 fection ? 
 
 This also, He that lent thee for my uses in mortality, 
 
 Shall well fulfil with boundless praise on that returning day: 
 Behold, thou shalt be glorified ; thou, mine abject friend, — 
 And should I meanly scorn thy state, until it rise to great- 
 ness ? 
 
 Far be it, O my soul, from thine expectant essence, 
 
 To be heedless, if indignity or folly desecrate those thine 
 ashes : 
 
 Keep them safe with careful love ; and let the mound be 
 holy ; 
 
 And, thou that passest by, revere the waiting dead. 
 
 Naples sitteth by the sea, keystone of an arch of azure, 
 
SERIES II.] 
 
 OF DEATH. 
 
 287 
 
 Crowned by consenting nations peerless queen of gaiety : 
 
 She laugheth at the wrath of Ocean, she rnocketh the fury 
 of Vesuvius, 
 
 She spurneth disease and misery and famine, that crowd her 
 sunny streets : 
 
 The giddy dance, the merry song, the festal glad procession. 
 The noonday slumber and the midnight serenade, — all these 
 make up her Life : 
 
 Her Life ? — and what her Death 7 — look we to the end of 
 life,— 
 
 Solon, and Tellus the Athenian, wisely have ye pointed to 
 the grave, 
 
 For behold yon dreary precinct, — those hundreds of stone 
 wells, — ( 17 ) 
 
 A pit for a day, a pit for a day, — a pit to be sealed for a year: 
 And in the gloom of night they raise the year-closed lid, — 
 Look in, — for gnawing lime hath half consumed the carcases i 
 Thus, they hurl the daily dead into that horrible pit, 
 
 The dead that only died this day, — an unconsidered offal ! 
 There, a stark white heap, unwept, unloved, uncared for. 
 
 Old men and maidens, young men and infants, mingle in 
 hideous corruption : 
 
 Fling in the gnawing lime, — seal up the charnel for a year ; 
 For lo, a morrow’s dawn hath tinged the mountain summit. 
 O fair false city, thou gay and gilded harlot, 
 
 Woe, for thy wanton heart, woe, for thy wicked hardness ! 
 Woe unto thee, that, the lightsomeness of Life, beneath 
 Italian suns, 
 
 Should meet the solemnity of Death, in a sepulchre so foul 
 and fearful. 
 
 For that, even to the best, the wise and pure and pious, 
 Death, repulsive king, thine iron rule is terrible : 
 
 Yea, and even at the best, in company of buried kindred, 
 With hallowing rites, and friendly tears, and the dear old 
 country church, 
 
£88 PROVERBIAL PHILOSOPHY. [series n. 
 
 Death, cold and lonely, thy frigid face is hateful, 
 
 The bravest look on thee with dread, the humblest curse thy 
 coining. 
 
 Still, ye unwise among mankind, your foolishness hath added 
 fears ; 
 
 The crowded cemetery, the catacomb of bones, the pestilen- 
 tial vault, 
 
 With fancy’s gliding ghost at eve, her moans and flaky foot- 
 falls, 
 
 And the gibbering train of terror to fright your coward hearts. 
 We speak not here of sin, nor the phantoms of a bloody con- 
 science, 
 
 Nor of solaces, and merciful pardon ; we heed but the inevi 
 table grave ; 
 
 The grave, that wage of guilt, that due return to dust, 
 
 Tne grave, that goal of earth, and starting post for heaven. 
 
 Plant it with la ’:«as, sprinkle it set it upon yon* 
 
 der dewy hill 
 
 Midst holy prayers, and generous grief, and consecrating 
 blessings : 
 
 Let Sophocles sleep among his ivy, green perennial gar- ■ 
 lands, ('«) 
 
 Let olives shade their Virgil, and roses bloom above Co- 
 rinne ; 
 
 To his foster-mother, Ocean, intrust the mariner in hope, 
 
 The warrior’s spirit, let it rise on high, from the flaming fra- 
 grant pyre. 
 
 But help not codins and corruption to infect the mass of 
 li ving, 
 
 Nor steal trom odious realities the charitable poetry’ of Death : 
 
 It is wise to gild uncomeliness, it is wise to mask necessity, 
 
 It is wise from cheerful sights and sounds to draw their gen- 
 tle uses ; 
 
 Hide the facts, the bitter facts, the foul and fearful facts, 
 
 Tend the body well in hope, this were praise and wisdom. 
 
series ii.] OF DEATH. 289 
 
 But to plunge in gloom the parting soul, that hath loved its 
 clay tenement so long, 
 
 This were vanity and folly, the counsel of inoroseness and 
 despair. 
 
 Not thus, the Scythian of old time welcomed Death with 
 songs ; 
 
 Not thus, the shrewd Egyptian decorated Death with bra- 
 veries : 
 
 Not thus on his funeral tower sleepeth the sun worshipping 
 Parsee ; 
 
 Not thus the Moslem saint lieth in his arabesque mauso- 
 leum ; 
 
 Not thus, the wild red Indian, hunter of the far Missouri, 
 
 In flowering trees hath nested up his forest-loving ances- 
 try ; (i9) 
 
 Not thus, the Switzer mountaineer scattereth ribboned gar- 
 lands 
 
 About the rustic cross that halloweth the bed of his .eloved ; 
 
 Not thus, the village maiden wisheth she may die in spring, 
 
 With store of violets and cowslips to be sprinkled on her 
 snow-white shroud ; 
 
 Not thus, the dying poet asketh a cheerful grave, — 
 
 Lay him in the sunshine, friends, nor sorrow that a Christian 
 hath departed ! 
 
 Yea, it is the poetry of Death, an Orpheus gladdening Hades, 
 
 To care with mindful love for all so dear — and dead ; 
 
 To tnink of them in hope, to look for them injuy, and — but 
 for its simple vanity, — 
 
 To pray with all the earnestness of nature for souls who 
 cannot change. 
 
 For the tree is felled, and houghed, and bare, and the Measu- 
 rer standoth with his line : 
 
 The chance is gone for ever, and is past the reach of prayer : 
 
 For men and angels, good and ill, have rendered all their 
 witness ; 
 
 14 
 
290 PROVERBIAL PHILOSOPHY. [series n. 
 
 The trial is over, the jury are gone in, and none can now be 
 heard ; 
 
 Well they are agreed upon the verdict, just, and fixt, and 
 final, 
 
 And the sentence showeth clear before the judge hath 
 spoken : 
 
 Now — while resting matter is at peace within the tomb, 
 
 The conscious spirit watcheth in unspeakable suspense ; 
 
 Racked with a fearful looking forward, or blissfully feeding 
 on the foretaste, 
 
 Waiting souls in eager expectation pass the solemn interval: 
 
 They slumber not at death, but awaken, quickened to the 
 terror of the judgment ; 
 
 They lie not insensate among darkness, but exult, looking to 
 the light. 
 
 Id'otcy, brightening on the instant, when that veil is torn, 
 
 Is gK *eful that his torpor here hath left him as an innocent ; 
 
 The young child, stricken as he played, and guileless babes 
 unborn. 
 
 Freed from fetters of the flesh, burst into mind immediate : 
 
 Madness judgeth wisely, and the visions of the lunatic are 
 gone, 
 
 And each hasteneth to praise the mercy that made him irre- 
 sponsible. 
 
 For soul is one, though manifold in act, working the ma- 
 chinery of brain, 
 
 Reason, fancy, conscience, passion, are but varying phases ; 
 
 If, in God’s wise purpose, the machine were shattered or 
 confused, 
 
 Still is soul the same, though it exhibit with a difference ; 
 
 Therefore, dissipate the brain, and set its inmate free, 
 
 Behold, the maniacs and embryos stand in their place intelli- 
 gent. 
 
 That solvent eateth away all dross, leaving the gold intact : 
 
 Matter lingereth in the retort, spirit hath flown to the re- 
 ceiver : 
 
SERIES II.] 
 
 OF DEATH. 
 
 291 
 
 And lo, that recipient of the spirits, it is some aerial world, 
 An oasis midway on the desert space, separating earth from 
 heaven, 
 
 A prison-house for essences incorporate, a limbus vague and 
 wild, 
 
 Tartarus for evil, and Paradise for good, that intermediate 
 Hades. 
 
 O Death, what art thou 7 a Lawgiver that never altereth, 
 Fixing the consummating seal, whereby the deeds of life 
 become established ; 
 
 O Death, what art thou 7 a stern and silent usher, 
 
 Leading to the judgment for Eternity, after the trial scene of 
 Time ; 
 
 O Death, what art thou 7 an husbandman that reape th al- 
 ways, 
 
 Out of season, as in season, with the sickle in his hand : 
 
 O Death, what art thou 7 the shadow unto every substance, 
 In the bower as in the battle, haunting night and day. 
 
 O Death, what art thou 7 nurse of dreamless slumbers, 
 Freshening the fevered flesh to a wakefulness eternal : 
 
 O Death, what art thou 7 strange and solemn alchymist, 
 Elaborating life’s elixir from these clayey crucibles : 
 
 O Death what art thou 7 antitype of nature’s marvels, 
 
 The seed and dormant chrysalis bursting into energy and 
 glory. 
 
 Thou calm safe anchorage for the shattered hulls of men, — 
 Thou spot of gelid shade, after the hot-breathed desert, — 
 Thou silent waiting hall, where Adam meeteth with his 
 children, — 
 
 How full of dread, how full of hope loometh inevitable 
 Death : 
 
 Of dread, for all have sinne 1 ; of hope, for One hath saved : 
 The dread is drowned in joy, the hope is filled with immor- 
 tality ! 
 
 — Pass along, pilgrim of life, go to thy grave unfearing, 
 
292 PROVERBIAL PHILOSOPHY. [series II. 
 
 The terrors are but shadows now that haunt the vale of 
 Death. 
 
 OF IMMORTALITY. 
 
 Gird up thy mind to contemplation, trembling inhabitant of 
 earth ; 
 
 Tenant of a hovel for a day, — thou art heir of the universe 
 for ever ! 
 
 For, neither congealing of the grave, nor gulfing waters of the 
 firmament, 
 
 Nor expansive airs of heaven, nor dissipative fires of Ge- 
 henna, 
 
 Nor rust of rest, nor wear, nor waste, ncr loss, nor chance, 
 nor change, 
 
 Shall avail to quench or overwhelm the spark of soul within 
 thee ! 
 
 Thou art an imperishable leaf on the evergreen bay-tree of 
 Existence ; 
 
 A word from Wisdom’s mouth, that cannot be unspoken; 
 
 A ray of Love’s own light; a drop in Mercy’s sea: 
 
 A creature, marvellous and fearful, begotten by the fiat of 
 Omnipotence. 
 
 I, that speak in weakness, and ye, that hear in charity, 
 
 Shall not cease to live and feel, though flesh must see cor 
 ruption : 
 
 For the prison-gates of matter shall be broken, and the shack- 
 led soul go free, 
 
 Free for good or ill, to satisfy its appetence for ever: 
 
 For evil, — dreadful doom, to be hurried on eternally to evil, — 
 
 For ever, happy fate, to ripen into perfectness — for ever ! 
 
 And is there a thought within thy heart, O slave of sin and 
 fear, 
 
series ii. J OF IMMORTALITY. 293 
 
 A black and harmful hope, that erring spirit dieth ? 
 
 That primal disobedience hath ensured the death of soul, 
 
 And separate evil sealed it thine — thy curse Annihilation 1 
 
 Heed thou this ; there is a Sacrifice ; the Maker is Redeemer 
 of his creature ; 
 
 Freely unto each, universally to all, is restored the privilege 
 of essence : 
 
 Whether unto grace or guilt, all must live through Him, 
 
 Live in vital joy, or live in dying woe : 
 
 Death in Adam, life in Christ ; the curse hung upon the 
 cross : 
 
 Who art thou that heedest of redemption, as narrower than 
 the fall ? 
 
 All were dead, — He died for all ; that living, they might love ; 
 
 If living souls withhold their love, — still, He hath died for 
 them. 
 
 Eve stole the knowledge ; Christ gave the life ; 
 
 Knowledge and life are the perquisites of soul, the privilege 
 of man : 
 
 Mercy stepped between, and stayed the double theft ; 
 
 God gave ; and giving, bought ; and buying, asketh love : 
 
 And in such asking rendereth bliss, to all that hear and 
 answer, 
 
 For love with life is heaven ; and life unloving, hell. 
 
 Creature of God, his will is for thy weal, eternally pro- 
 gressing , 
 
 Fear not to trust a Maker’s love, nor a Saviour’s ransom : 
 
 He drank for all, — for thee, and me, — the poison of our 
 deeds : 
 
 We shall not die, but live, — and, of his grace, we love ! 
 
 For, in the mysteries of Mercy, the One fore-knowing Spirit 
 Outstrippeth Reason’s halting choice, and winneth men to 
 Him : 
 
 Who shall sound the depths 1 .who shall reach the heights ? 
 
294 PROVERBIAL PHILOSOPHY. [series ii. 
 
 Freedom, in the gyves of fate ; and sovereignty, reconciled 
 with justice. 
 
 If then, as annihilate by sin, the soul was ever forfeit, 
 Godhead paid the mighty price, the pledge hath been re- 
 deemed : 
 
 He, from the waters of Oblivion raised the drowning race, 
 Lifting them even to Himself, the baseless Rock of Ages. 
 None can escape from Adam’s guilt, or second Adam’s 
 guerdon : 
 
 Sin and death are thine ; thine also is interminable being : 
 Let it be even as thou wilt, still are we ransomed from 
 nonentity. 
 
 The worlds of bliss and woe are peopled with immortals : 
 And ruin is thy blame ; for thou, the worst, are free 
 To take from Heaven the grace of love, as the gift of life : 
 Yet is not remedy thy praise ; for thou, the best, art bound 
 In self, and sin, and darkling sloth, until He break the chain: 
 None can tell, without a struggle, if that chain be broken ; 
 Strive to-day, — one effort more may prove that thou art free ! 
 Here is faith and prayer, here is the Grace and the Atone- 
 ment, 
 
 Here is the creature feeling for its God, and the prodigal re- 
 turning to his Father. 
 
 But, behold, His reasonable children, standing in just pro- 
 bation, 
 
 With ears to hear, neglect ; with eyes to see, refuse : 
 
 They will not have the blessing with the life, the blessing 
 that enricheth immortality ; 
 
 And look for pleasures out of God, for heaven in life alone : 
 So, they snatch that awful prize, existence void of love, 
 
 Aid in their darkening exile make a needful hell of self. 
 
 Therefore fear, thou sinner, lest the huge blessing Immor- 
 tality, 
 
SERIES II. J 
 
 OF IMMORTALITY. 
 
 295 
 
 Bb blighted in thine evil to a curse, — it were better he had 
 not been born ; 
 
 Therefore hope, thou saint, for the gift of immortality is 
 free ; 
 
 Take and live, and live and love; fear not, thou art re- 
 deemed ! 
 
 The happy life, that height of hope, the knowledge of all 
 good, 
 
 This is the blessing on obedience, obedience the child of 
 faith : 
 
 The miserable life, that depth of all despair, the knowledge 
 of all evil, 
 
 This is the curse upon impenitence, impenitence that sprung 
 of unbelief. 
 
 God, from a beautiful necessity, is Love in all he doeth, 
 
 Love, a brilliant fire, to gladden or consume : 
 
 The wicked work their woe by looking upon love, and hating 
 it : 
 
 The righteous find their joys in yearning on its loveliness for 
 ever. ♦ 
 
 Who shall imagine Immortality, or picture its illimitable 
 prospect ? 
 
 How feebly can a faltering tongue express the vast idea ! 
 
 For consider the primeval woods that bristle over broad 
 Australia, 
 
 And count their autumn leaves, millions multiplied by mil- 
 lions ; 
 
 Thence look up to a moonless sky from a sleeping isle of the 
 ASgce in, 
 
 And add to those leaves yon starry host, sparkling on the 
 midnight numberless ; 
 
 Thence traverse an Arabia, some continent of eddying sand, 
 
 Gather each grain, let none escape, add them to the leaves 
 and to the stars : 
 
298 PROVERBIAL PHILOSOPHY. [series ii. 
 
 Afterwards gaze upon the sea, the thousand leagues of an 
 Atlantic, 
 
 Take drop by drop, and add their sum to the grains, and 
 leaves, and stars ; 
 
 The drops of ocean, the desert sands, the leaves, and stars 
 innumerable. 
 
 (Albeit, in that multitude of multitudes, each small unit 
 were an age,) 
 
 All might reckon for an instant, a transient flash of Time, 
 Compared with this intolerable blaze, the measureless endur- 
 ing of Eternity ! 
 
 O grandest gift of the Creator, — O largess worthy of a God, 
 Who shall grasp that thrilling thought, life and joy for 
 ever 1 
 
 For the sun in heaven’s heaven is Love that cannot change, 
 And the shining of that sun is life, to all beneath its beams : 
 Who shall arrest it in the firmament, — or drag it from its 
 sphere 1 
 
 Or bid its beauty smile no more, but be extinct for ever 1 
 Yea, where God hath given, none shall take away, 
 
 Nor build up limits to his love, nor bid his bounty cease ; 
 Wide, as space is peopled, endless as the empire of heaven, 
 The river of the water of life floweth on in majesty for 
 ever 1 
 
 Why should it seem a thing impossible to thee, O man of 
 many doubts, 
 
 That God shall wake the dead, and give this mortal immor- 
 tality 1 •» 
 
 Is it that such riches are unsearchable, the bounty too pro- 
 fuse ? 
 
 And yet what gift, to cease or change, is worthy of the King 
 Almighty ? 
 
 For remember the moment thou art not, thou mightest as 
 well not have been ; 
 
SERIES II.] 
 
 OF IMMORTALITY. 
 
 297 
 
 A millennium and an hour are equal in the gulf of that deso- 
 late abyss, annihilation: 
 
 If Adam had existed till to-day, and to-day had perished ut- 
 terly, 
 
 What were his gain in length of a life, that hath passed 
 away for ever 1 
 
 No tribute of thanks can exhale from the empty censer of 
 nonentity ; 
 
 The Giver with his gift reclaimed, is mulcted of all praise. 
 
 Tell me, ye that strive in vain to cramp and dwarf the 
 soul, 
 
 Wherefore should it cease to be, and when shall essence 
 die 1 
 
 It is, — and therefore shall be, — till just obstacle opposeth : 
 
 Show no cause for change, and reason leuneth to continu- 
 ance. 
 
 The body verily shall change ; this curious house we live in 
 
 Never had continuing stay, but changeth every instant: 
 
 But the spiritual tenant of the house abideth in unalterable 
 consciousness, 
 
 He may fly to many lands, but cannot free himself : 
 
 The soil wherein ye drop the seed, by suns or rains may 
 vary ; 
 
 But the seed is the same ; and soul is the seed ; and flesh 
 but its anchorage to earth. 
 
 The machine may be broken, and rust corrode the springs : 
 but can rust feed on motion ? 
 
 Worms may batten on the brain: but can worms gnaw the 
 mind 1 
 
 Dynamics are, and dwell apart, though matter be not made ; 
 
 Spirit is, and can be separate, though a body were not: 
 
 Power is one, be it lever, screw, or wedge ; but it needeth 
 these for illustration : 
 
 Mind is one, be it causal or ideal ; but it is shown in these. 
 
 14 * 
 
298 PROVERBIAL PHILOSOPHY [series ii. 
 
 The creature is constructed individual, for trial of his reason- 
 able will. 
 
 Clay and soul, commingled wisely, mingled not confused : 
 
 As power is not in the spring, till somewhat give it action, 
 
 So, until spirit be infused, the organism iieth inergetic. 
 
 Or shalt thou say that mind is the delicate offspring of mat- 
 ter, 
 
 The bright consummate flower that must perish with its 
 leaf? 
 
 Goto: doth weight breed lightness? is freedom the atmo- 
 sphere of prisons ? 
 
 When did the body elevate, expand, and bud the mind ? 
 
 Lo, a red hot cinder flung from the furnaces of rEtna, — 
 
 There is fire in that ash ; but did the pumice m ike it? 
 
 Nay, cold clod, never canst thou generate a flame, 
 
 Nay, most exquisite machinery, nevermore elaborate a mind ; 
 
 Rather do ye battle, and contend, opposite the one to the 
 other ; 
 
 Till God shall stop the strife, and call the body colleague. 
 
 Garment of flesh, and art thou then a vest, so tinged with 
 subtle poison 
 
 (Maddening tunic of the centaur) as to kill the soul ? 
 
 Not so: fruit of disobedience, rot in dissolution, as thou 
 must, — 
 
 The seed is in the core, its germ is safe, and life is in that 
 germ : 
 
 Moreover Marah shall be sweetened; and a Good Physician 
 
 Yet shall heal those gangrene wounds, the spotted plague of 
 sin : 
 
 He, through worldly trials, and the separative cleansing of 
 the grave, 
 
 Shall change its corruptible to glory, and wash that garment 
 white. 
 
SERIES II.] 
 
 OF IMMORTALITY. 
 
 299 
 
 Still, is the whisper in thy heart, that oftenest the bed of 
 death 
 
 Seemeth but a sluggish ebb, of sinking soul and body ? 
 
 Mind, dwelling long-time sensual in the chambers of the 
 flesh, 
 
 May slumber on in conscious sloth, and wilfully be dulled : 
 
 But is it therefore nigh to dissolution, even as the body of 
 this death 1 
 
 Ask the stricken conscience, gasping out its terrors ; 
 
 Ask the dying miser, loth to leave his gold ; 
 
 Ask the widowed poor, confiding her fatherless to strangers ; 
 
 Ask the martyr-maid, a broken reed so strong, 
 
 That weak and tortured frame, with triumph on its brow ! — 
 
 O thou gainsayer, the finger of disease may seem to reach 
 the soul, 
 
 But it is a spiritual touch, sympathy with that which aileth: 
 
 Pain or fear may dislocate and shatter this delicate machinery 
 of nerves ; 
 
 But madness proveth mind : the fault is in the engine, not 
 the impetus : 
 
 Dissipate the mists of matter, lo, the soul is clear : 
 
 Timour’s cage bowed it in the dust ; but now it goeth forth 
 a freedman. 
 
 Yet more, there is reason in moralities, that the soul must 
 live ; 
 
 If God be king in heaven, or have care for earth, 
 
 Can wickedness have triumphed with impunity, or virtue 
 toiled unseen 1 
 
 Shall cruelty torture unavenged, and the innocent complain 
 unheard 7 
 
 Is there no recompense for woe, — must there be no other 
 world for justice, — 
 
 No hope in setting suns of good, nor terror for the evil at its 
 zenith 7 
 
300 PROVERBIAL PHILOSOPHY. [series u. 
 
 How shall ye make answer unto this ; a just God prospering 
 iniquity, 
 
 Wisdom encouraging the foolish, and Goodness abetting the 
 depraved ? 
 
 Yet again; mine erring brother, pardon this abundance of 
 my speech, 
 
 Yield me thy candor and thy charity, listening with a wel- 
 come : 
 
 For, even now, a thousand thoughts are trooping to my 
 theme ; 
 
 O mighty theme, O feeble thoughts ! Alas, who is suffi- 
 cient? 
 
 Judge not so high a cause by these poor words alone, 
 
 For Io, the advocate hath little skill : pardon, and pass on : 
 
 Certify thyself with surer proofs ; fledge thine own mind for 
 flight; 
 
 Think, and pray; those better proofs shall follow on with 
 holy aspiration. 
 
 Yet, in my humbler grade to help thy weal and comfort, 
 
 Phy weal for this and higher worlds, and comfort in thy 
 sickness, 
 
 Suffer the multitude of fancies, walking with me still in 
 love ; 
 
 But tread in fear, it is holy ground, — remember Immortality ! 
 
 Wilt thou argue from infirmities, thine abject evil state ? 
 
 As how should stricken wretched man indeed exist for ever: 
 
 The brutal and besotted, the savage and the slave, the suck- 
 ing infant and the idiot, 
 
 The mass of mean and common minds, and all to be immor- 
 tal ? 
 
 Consider every beginning, how small it is and feeble: 
 
 Ganges, and the rolling Mississippi, sprung of brooks among 
 the mountains ; 
 
 That yew-tree of a thousand years was once a little seed : 
 
series ii. 1 OF IMMORTALITY. 301 
 
 And Nero’s marble Rome, a shepherd’s rrmdbuilt hovel ; 
 
 A speck is on the tropic sky, and it groweth to the terrible 
 tornado ; 
 
 An apple, all too fair to see. destroyed a world of souls: 
 
 A tender babe is born,— it is Attila, scourge of the nations ! 
 
 A seeming malefactor dieth, — it is Jesus, the Saviour of 
 men ! 
 
 And hive not in thy thoughts the vain and wordy notion 
 
 That nothing which was born in time, can tire out the foot- 
 steps of Infinity: 
 
 Reckon up a sum in numbers ; where shall progression stop ? 
 
 The starting-post is definite and fixed, but what is the goal 
 of numeration ? 
 
 So, begin upon a moment, and when shall being end 7 
 
 Souls emanate from God, to travel with him equally forever. 
 
 Moreover, thou that objectest the unenterable circle of eter- 
 nity, 
 
 That none but He from everlasting can endure, as to a future 
 everlasting, 
 
 Consider, may it be impossible that creatures were counted 
 in their Maker, 
 
 And so that the confines of eternity are filled by God 
 alone 7 
 
 Trust not thy soul upon a fancy : who would freight a bub- 
 ble with a diamond, 
 
 And launch that priceless gem on the boiling rapids of a cata- 
 ract! 
 
 If then we perish not at death, but walk in spirit through 
 the darkness, 
 
 Waiting for a mansion incorruptible, whereof this body is 
 the seed, 
 
 Tell me, when shall be the period 7 time and its ordeals are 
 done ; 
 
302 PROVERBIAL PHILOSOPHY. f series ii. 
 
 The storms are passed, the night is at an end, behold the 
 Sabbath morning. 
 
 Is Death to be conqueror again, and claim once more the 
 victory, — 
 
 Can the enemy’s corpse awaken into life, and bruise the 
 Champion’s head ? 
 
 Evil, terrible ensample, that foil to the attributes of Good, 
 
 Is banished to its own black world, weeded out of earth and 
 heaven : 
 
 Shall that great gulf be passed, and sin be sown again? — 
 
 We know but this, the book of truth proclaimeth gladly, 
 Never ! 
 
 There remai noth the will of our God: when he repenteth 
 of his creature 
 
 Made by self-suggested mercy, ransomed by Self-sacrificing 
 justice, — 
 
 When Truth, that swore unto his neighbor, disappointeth 
 him, and cleave th to a lie, — 
 
 When the counsels of Wisdom are confounded, and Love 
 warreth with itself, 
 
 When the Unchangeable is changed, and the arm of Omni- 
 potence is broken, — 
 
 Then, — thy quenchless soul shall have reached the goal of 
 its existence. 
 
 But it seemeth to thy notions of the merciful and just, a 
 false and fearful thing, 
 
 To lay such a burden upon time, that eternity be built on its 
 foundation : 
 
 As if so casual good or ill should color all the future, 
 
 And the vanity of accident, or sternness of necessity, save or 
 wreck a soul. 
 
 Were it casual, vain, or stern, this might pass for truth: 
 
 But all things are mars ha* led by Design, and carefully tended 
 by Benevolence. 
 
SERIES II.] 
 
 OF IMMORTALITY. 
 
 303 
 
 O man, thy judge is righteous, — noting, remembering, and 
 weighing ; 
 
 Want, ignorance, diversities of state, are cast into the bal- 
 ance of advantage : 
 
 The poisonous example of a parent asketh for allowance in 
 a child ; 
 
 Care, diseases, toils, and frailties, — all things are considered. 
 
 And again, a mysterious Omniscience knoweth the spirits 
 that are His, 
 
 While the delicate tissues of Event are woven by the fin- 
 gers of Ubiquity. 
 
 Should Providence be taken by surprise from the possible im- 
 pinging of an accident, 
 
 One fortuitous grain might dislocate the banded universe: 
 
 The merest seeming trifle is ordered as the morning light ; 
 
 And he that rideth on the hurricane, is pilot of the bubble on 
 the breaker. 
 
 Once more, consider Matter, — how small a thing is father 
 to the greatest: 
 
 Thou that lightly hast regarded the results of so called acci- 
 dent. 
 
 A blade of grass took fire in the sun, — and the prairies are 
 burnt to the horizon : 
 
 A grain of sand may blind the eye, and madden the brain to 
 murder ; 
 
 A careful fly deposited its egg in the swelling bud of an 
 acorn, — 
 
 The sapling grew, — cankrous and gnarled, — it is yonder hol- 
 ’ow oak : 
 
 A child touched a spring, and the spring closed a valve, and 
 the laboring engine burst, — 
 
 A thousand lives were in that ship, — wrecked by an infant’s 
 finger ! 
 
 Shall nature preach in vain ? — thy casualty, guided in its 
 orbit, 
 
 L 
 
304 PROVERBIAL PHILOSOPHY. [series ii. 
 
 Though less than a mote upont he sunbeam, saileth in a fleet 
 of worlds ; 
 
 That trivial cause, watered and observed of the Husband- 
 man day by day, 
 
 In calm undeviating strength doth work its large effect. 
 
 Thus, in the pettiness of life note thou seeds of grandeur, 
 
 And watch the hour-glass of Time with the eyes of an heir 
 of Immortality. 
 
 There still be clouds of witnesses, — if thou art not weary of 
 my speech, — 
 
 Flocks of thoughts adding lustre to the light, and pointing on 
 to Life. 
 
 For reflect how Truth and Goodness, well and wisely put, 
 
 Commend themselves to every mind with wondrous intui- 
 tion : 
 
 What is this ? the recognition of a standard, unwritten, natu- 
 ral, uniform ; 
 
 Telling of one common source, the root of Good and True. 
 
 And if thus present soul can trace descent from Deity, 
 
 Being, as it standeth, individual, a separate reasonable thing, 
 
 What should hinder that its hope may not trace gladly for- 
 ward, 
 
 And, in astounding parallel, like Enoch walk with God? 
 
 Yea, the genealogy of soul, that vivifying breath of a Crea- 
 tor, 
 
 Breath, no transient air, but essence, energy, and reason, 
 
 Is looming on the past, and shadowing the future, sublimely 
 as Melchisedek of old, 
 
 Having not beginning, nor end of days, but present in the 
 majesty of Peace ! 
 
 O false scholar, credulous in vanities, and only sceptical of 
 truth, 
 
 Wherefore toil to cheat thy soul of its birthright, Immortali- 
 ty ? 
 
series ii.] OF IMMORTALITY. 305 
 
 Is it for thy guilt? He pardoneth : is*it for thy frailty ? He 
 will help : 
 
 Though thou fearest, He is love ; and Mercy shall be deeper 
 thsn Despair. 
 
 Even for thy fall-blown pride, is it much to be receiver of a 
 God ? 
 
 And lo, thy rights, He made thee ; thy claims, He hath re- 
 deemed. 
 
 Hath the fair aspect of affection no beauty that thou shouldst 
 desire it? 
 
 And are those sorrows nothing to thee that passest by ? 
 
 For it is Fact, immutable, that God hath dwelt in Min ; 
 
 With gentle generous love ennobling while He bought us. 
 
 What, though thou art false, ignorant, weak, and u iring, — 
 
 Can the sun be quenched in heaven — or only Belisarius be 
 blind ? 
 
 But, even stooping to thy Tolly, grant all these hopes are 
 vain ; 
 
 Stultify reason, wrestle against conscience, and wither up 
 the heart, 
 
 Where is thy vast advantage ? — I have all that thou hast, 
 
 The buoyancy of life as strong, and term of diys no shorter; 
 
 My cup is full with gladness, — my griefs are not more galling; 
 
 And thus, we walk together, even to the gates of death ; 
 
 There (if not also on my journey, blessing every step, 
 
 Gladdening with light, and quickening with love, and killing 
 all my cares), 
 
 There, — while thou art quailing, or sullenly expecting to be 
 nothing, — 
 
 There, — is found my gain, — I triumph, where thou tremblest. 
 
 Grant all my solace is a lie, yet it is a fountain of delight, 
 
 A spice in every pleasure, and a balm for every pain ; 
 
 O precious wise delusion, scattering both misery and sin, — 
 
 O vile and silly truth, depraving while it curseth ! 
 
306 PROVERBIAL PHILOSOPHY. [series ii. 
 
 Darkling child of knowledge, commune with Socrates and 
 Cicero, 
 
 They had no prejudice of birth, no dull parental warpings ; 
 See, those lustrous minds anticipate the dawning day, — 
 Whilst thou, poor mole, art burrowing back to darkness from 
 the light. 
 
 T will not urge a revelation, mercies, miracles, and martyrs, 
 But, after twice a thousand years, go, learn thou of the pa- 
 gan : 
 
 It were happier and wiser even among fools, to cling to the 
 shadow of a hope, 
 
 Than, in the company of sages, to win the substance of de- 
 spair : 
 
 But here, the sages hope; — despair is with the fools, 
 
 The base bad hearts, the stolid heads, the sensual, and the 
 seifish. 
 
 And wilt thou, sorry scorner, mock the phrase, despair? 
 Despair for those who die and live, — for me, I live and die : 
 Wha t have I to do with dread ? my taper must go out ; — 
 
 I nurse no silly hopes, and therefore feel no fears : 
 
 I am hastening to an End. — O false and feeble answer : 
 
 For hope is in thee still, and fear, — a racking deep anxiety. 
 Erring brother, listen : and take thine answer from the an- 
 cients : 
 
 Consider every end, that it is but the end of a beginning. 
 
 All things work in circles : weariness induceth un' rest, 
 Rest invigorateth labor, and labor causeth wea* /ss : 
 
 War produceth peace, and peace is wanton unio war; 
 
 Light dieth into darkness, and night dawneth into day: 
 
 The rotting jungle reeds scatter fertility around ; 
 
 The buffilo’s dead carcase hath quickened life in millions; 
 The end of toil is gain, the end of gain is pleasure, 
 
 Pleasure tendeth unto waste, and waste commandeth toil. 
 
 So, is death an end, — but it breeds an infinite beginning ; 
 
series ii. J OF IMMORTALITY. 307 
 
 Limits are for time, and death killed time ; Eternity’s begin- 
 ning is for ever. 
 
 Ambition, hath it any goal indeed ? is not all fruition, disap- 
 pointment ? 
 
 A step upon the ladder, and another, and another, — we start 
 from every end : 
 
 Look to the eras of mortality ; babe, student, man, 
 
 The husband, the father, the deathbed of a saint,— and is it 
 then an end ? 
 
 That common climax, Death, shall it lead to nothing ? 
 
 How strong a root of causes, flowering a consequence of va- 
 por: 
 
 That solid chain of facts, is it snapped for ever ? 
 
 How stout a show of figures, weakly summing to nonentity. 
 
 Or haply, Death, in the doublings of thy thought, shall seem 
 continuous ending : 
 
 A dull eternal slumber, not an end abrupt. 
 
 O most futile chrysalis, wherefore dost thou sleep ? 
 
 Dreamless, unconscious, never to awake, — what object in 
 such slumber? 
 
 If thou art still to live, it may as well be wakefully as sleep- 
 ing : 
 
 How grovelling must that spirit be, to need eternal sleep : 
 
 Ur was indeed the toil of life so heavy and so long, 
 
 That nevermore can rest refresh thine overburdened soul ; 
 
 Sleep is a recreance to body, but when was mind asleep? 
 
 Even in a swoon it dreameth, though all be forgotten after- 
 ward : 
 
 The muscles seek relaxing, and the irritable nerves ask 
 peace : 
 
 But life is a constant force, spirit an unquietable impetus : 
 
 The eye may wear out as a telescope, and the brain work 
 slow as a machine, 
 
 But soul unwearied, and forever, is capable of effort unim- 
 paired. 
 
■— 
 
 308 PROVERBIAL FHILOSOPHY. [series ii. 
 
 I live, move, am conscious : wliat shall bar my being ? 
 
 Where is the rude hand, to rend this tissue of existence? 
 
 Not thine, shadowy Death, what art thou out a phantom ? 
 
 Not thine, foul Corruption, what art thou but a fear ? 
 
 For death is merely absent life, as darkness absent light ; 
 
 | Not even a suspension, for the life hath sailed away steering 
 gladly somewhere. 
 
 And corruption closely noted, is but a dissolving of the parts, 
 
 The parts remain and nothing lost, to build a better whole. 
 
 Moreover, mind is unity, however versatile and rapid ; 
 
 Thou canst not entertain two coincident ideas, although 
 they quickly follow ; 
 
 And Unity hath no parts, so that there is nothing to dissolve ; 
 
 The element is still unchanged in every searching solvent. 
 
 Who then shall bid me be annulled, — He that gave me be^ 
 ing ? 
 
 Amen, if God so will ; I know that will is love : 
 
 But love hath promised life, and therefore I shall live ; 
 
 So long as he is God, I shall be his Creature ! 
 
 I And here, shrewd reasoner, so eager to prove that thou must 
 perish, 
 
 ( I note a. sneer upon thy lip, and ridicule is haply on thy 
 tongue : 
 
 How, said he, — creature of a God, — and are not all his crea- 
 tures, — 
 
 The lion, and the gnat, — yea the mushroom and the crystal, 
 — have all these a soul ? 
 
 Thy fancies tend to prove too much and overshoot the mark: 
 
 If I die not with brutes, ihen brutes must live with me? — 
 
 I dare not tell thee that they will, for the word is notin my 
 commission : 
 
 But of the twain it is the likelier; continuance is the 
 chance : 
 
 Men, dying in their sins, are likened unto beasts that perish: 
 
series ii. J OF IMMORTALITY. 309 
 
 They are dark, animal, insensate, but have they not a lurk- 
 ing soul 1 
 
 The spirit of a man goeth upward, reasonable, apprehending 
 God; 
 
 The spirit of a beast goeth downward, sensual, doting on the 
 creature . 
 
 Who told thee that they die at dissolution ? boldly think it 
 out, — 
 
 The multitude of flies and the multitude of herbs, the world 
 with all its beings : 
 
 Is Infinity too narrow, Omnipotence too weak, and Love so 
 anxious to destroy 1 
 
 Doth Wisdom change its plan, and a Maker cancel his creat- 
 ed 1 
 
 God’s will may compass all things, to fashion and to nullify 
 at pleasure : 
 
 Yet are there many thoughts of hope, that all which are 
 shall live. 
 
 True, there is no conscience in the brute, beyond some edu- 
 cated habit, 
 
 They lay them down without a fear, and wake without a 
 hope : 
 
 Hunger and pain is of the animal : but when did they reckon 
 or compare I 
 
 They live, idealess, in instinct ; and while they breathe 
 they gain : 
 
 The master is an idol to his dog, who cannot rise beyond 
 him : 
 
 And void of capability for God, there would seem small 
 cause for an infinity. 
 
 Therefore, caviller, my poor thoughts dare not grant they 
 live : 
 
 But is it not a great thing to assume their annihilation — and 
 thine own 1 
 
 Would it be much if a speck on space, this globe with all 
 its millions, 
 
310 PROVERBIAL PHILOSOPHY. [series ii. 
 
 Verily, after its pollution, were suffered to exist in purity ? 
 
 Or much, if guiltless creatures, that were cruelly entreated 
 upon earth, 
 
 Found some commensurate reward in lower joys hereafter? 
 
 Or, much, if a Creator, prodigal of life, and filled with the 
 profundity of love, 
 
 Rejoice in all creatures of his skill, and lead them to perfec- 
 tion in their kind ? 
 
 O man, there are many marvels *. yet life is more mystery 
 than death : 
 
 For death may be some stagnant life, — but life is present 
 God! 
 
 Many are the lurking holes of evil ; who shall search them 
 out ? 
 
 Who so skilled to cut away the cancer with its fibres? 
 
 For wily minds with sinuous ease escape from lie to lie ; 
 
 And cowards driven from the trench steal back to hide again. 
 
 Vain were tbe battle, if a warrior, having slain his foes, 
 
 Shall turn and find them vital still, unarmed, yea un- 
 ashamed : 
 
 For Error, dark magician, daily cast cut killed, 
 
 Quickeneth animate anew beneath the midnight moon: 
 
 Once and again, once and again, hath reason answered 
 •wisely ; 
 
 But not the less with brazen front doth folly urge her ques- 
 tions. 
 
 It were but unprofitable toil, a stand-up fight with unbelief: 
 
 When was there candor in a caviller, and who can satisfy 
 the faithless ? 
 
 Too long, O truant from the fold, have I tracked thy devious 
 paths : 
 
 Too long, treacherous deserter, fought thee as a noble foe- 
 man . 
 
 Haply, my small art, and an arm too weakly for it’s weapon, 
 
OF IMMORTALITY. 
 
 SERIES II. J 
 
 311 
 
 Hath failed to pierce thine iron coat, and reach thy stricken 
 soul : 
 
 Ilaply, the fervor of my speech, and too patient sifting of thy 
 fancies, 
 
 Shall tend to make thee prize them more, as worthier and 
 wiser : 
 
 Go to : be mine the gain : we measure swords no more : 
 
 Go, — and a word go with thee, — Man, thou art Immortal ! 
 
 Child of light, and student in the truth, too long have I for- 
 gotten thee : 
 
 Lo, after parley with an alien, let me hold sweet converse 
 . with a brother. 
 
 Glorious hopes, and ineffable imaginings, crowd our holy 
 theme, 
 
 Fear hath been slaughtered on the portal, and Doubt driven 
 back to darkness : 
 
 For Christ hath died, and we in Him ; by faith His all is 
 ours, — 
 
 Cross and crown, and love, and life ; and we shall reign in 
 Him ! 
 
 Yea, there is a fitness and a beauty in ascribing immortality 
 to mind, 
 
 That its energies and . lofty aspirations may have scope for 
 indefinite expansion. 
 
 To learn all things is privilege of reason, and that with a 
 growing capability, 
 
 But in this age of toil and time we scarce attain to alphabets : 
 
 How hardly in the midst of our hurry, and jostled by the 
 cares of life, 
 
 Shall a man turn and stop to consider mighty secrets ; 
 
 With barely hours, and barely powers, to fill up daily duties 
 
 Iiovv small the glimpse of knowledge his wondering eye can 
 catch. 
 
 And knowledge is a noting of the order wherein God’s attri- 
 butes evolve, 
 
312 
 
 PROVERBIAL PHILOSOPHY. [series ii. 
 
 Therefore worthy of the creature, worthy of an angel’s 
 seeking ; 
 
 Yea, and human knowledge, meagre though the harvest, 
 Hath its roots, both deep and strong ; but the plants are exotic 
 to the climate ; 
 
 All we seem to know demand a longer learning, 
 
 History, and science, and prophecy, and art, are workings all 
 of God : 
 
 And there are galaxies of globes, millions of unimagined 
 beings, 
 
 Other senses, wondrous sounds, and thoughts of thrilling 
 fire. 
 
 Powers of strange might, quickening unknown elements, 
 
 And attributes and energies of God which man may never 
 guess. 
 
 Not in vain, O brother, hath soul the spurs of enterprise, 
 Nor aimlessly panteth for adventure, waiting at the cave of 
 mystery ; 
 
 Net in vain the cup of curiosity, sweet and richly spiced, 
 
 Is ruby to the sight, and ambrosia to the taste, and redolent 
 with all fragrance : 
 
 Thou shalt drink, and deeply, filling the mind with marvels ; 
 Thou shalt watch no more, lingering, disappointed of thy 
 hope : 
 
 Thou shalt roam where road is none, a traveller untram- 
 melled, 
 
 Speeding at a wish, emancipate, to where the stars are suns ! 
 
 Count, count your hopes, heirs of immortality and love ; 
 
 And hear my kindred faith, and turn again to bless me. 
 
 For lo, my trust is strong to dwell in many worlds, 
 
 And cull of many brethren there, sweet knowledge ever new: 
 I yearn for realms where fancy shall be filled, and the ecs- 
 tasies of freedom shall be felt, 
 
 And the soul reign gloriously, risen to its royal destinies : 
 
series ii.] OF IMMORTALITY. 313 
 
 I look to recognise again, through the beautiful mask of their 
 perfection, 
 
 The dear familiar faces I have soinevvhile loved on earth : 
 
 I long to talk with grateful tongue of storms and perils past. 
 And praise the mighty Pilot that hath steered u» through the 
 rapids : 
 
 He shall be the focus of it all, the very heart of gladness, — 
 My soul is athirst for God, the God who dwelt in Man ! 
 Prophet, priest, and king, the sacrifice, the substitute, the 
 Saviour, 
 
 Rapture of the blessed in the hunted one of earth, the par- 
 doner in the victim : 
 
 How many centuries of joy concentrate in that theme, 
 
 How often a Methusaleh might count his thousand years, 
 and leave it unexhausted. 
 
 And lo the heavenly Jerusalem, with all its gates one pearl, 
 That pearl of countless price, the door by which we enter- 
 ed, — 
 
 Come, tread the golden streets, and join that glorious throng, 
 The happy ones of heaven and earth, ten thousand times ten 
 thousand : 
 
 Hark, they sing that song, and cast their crowns before Him ; 
 Their souls alight with Love, — Glory, and Praise, and Im- 
 mortality ! 
 
 Veil thine eyes : no son of time may see that holy vision, 
 And even the seraph at thy side hath covered his face with 
 wings. 
 
 Doth he not speak parables 7 — each one goeth on his way, 
 Ye that hear, and I that counsel, go on our ways forgetful. 
 For the terrible realities whereto we tend, are hidden from 
 our eyes, 
 
 We know but heed them not, and walk as if the temporal 
 were all things. 
 
 Vanities buzzing on the ear, fill its drowsy chambers, 
 
 15 
 
314 PROVERBIAL PHILOSOPHY. [series ii. 
 
 Slow to dread those coming fears, the thunder and the trum- 
 pet ; 
 
 Motes steaming on the sight, dim our purblind eyes, 
 
 Dark to see the ponderous orb of nearing immortality : 
 Hemmed in by hostile foes, the trifler is busied on an epi- 
 gram ; ( 20 ) 
 
 The dull ox, driven to slaughter, careth but for pasture by 
 the way. 
 
 Alas, that the precious things of truth, and the everlasting 
 hills, 
 
 The mighty hopes we spake of, and the consciousness we 
 feel, — 
 
 Alas, that all the future, and its adamantine facts, 
 
 Clouded by the present with intoxicating fumes, — 
 
 Should seem even to us, the great expectant heirs, 
 
 To us, the responsible and free, fearful sons of reason, 
 
 Only as a lovely song, sweet sounds of solemn music, 
 
 A pleasant voice, and nothing more, — doth he not speak pa- 
 rables 7 
 
 Loos to thy soul, O man, for none can be surety for his bro- 
 ther : 
 
 Behold, for heaven — or for heli, — thou canst not escape from 
 Immortality * 
 
 OF IDEAS. 
 
 Mind is like a volatile essence, flitting hither and thither, 
 
 A solitary sentinel of the fortress body, to show himself 
 everywhere by turns : 
 
 Mind is indivisible and instant, with neither parts nor or- 
 gans, 
 
 That itdoeth, it doth quickly, but the whole mind doth it: 
 An active versatile agent, untiring in the principle of energy, 
 
series ii. J OF IDEAS. 315 
 
 Nor space, nor time, nor rest, nor toil, can affect the tenant 
 of the brain ; 
 
 His dwelling may verily be shattered, and the furniture 
 thereof be disarranged, 
 
 But the particle of Deity in man slumbereth not, neither can 
 be wearied : 
 
 However swift to change, even as the field of a kaleidoscope, 
 
 It taketh in but one idea at oifce, moulded for the moment to 
 its likeness ; 
 
 Mind is as the quicksilver, which, poured from vessel to ves- 
 sel, 
 
 Instantly seizeth on a shape, and as instantly again discard- 
 eth it ; 
 
 For it is an apprehensive power, closing on the properties of 
 Matter, 
 
 Expanding to enwrap a world, collapsing to prison up an 
 atom : 
 
 As, by night, thine irritable eyes may have seen strange 
 changing figures, 
 
 Now a wheel, now suddenly a point, a line, a curve, a zig- 
 zag, 
 
 A maze ever altering, as the dance of gnats upon a sun- 
 beam, 
 
 Swift, intricate, neither to be prophesied, nor to be remem- 
 bered in succession, 
 
 So the mind of a man, single, and perpetually moving, 
 
 Flickereth about from thought to thought, changed with each 
 idea, 
 
 For the passing second metamorphosed to the image of that 
 within its ken, 
 
 And throwing its immediate perceptions into each cause of 
 contemplation. 
 
 It shall regard a tree ; and unconsciously, in separate re- 
 view. 
 
 Embrace its color, shape, and use, whole and individual con- 
 ceptions : 
 
316 PROVERBIAL PHILOSOPHY. ^series ii. 
 
 It shall read or hear of crime, and cast itself into the com- 
 mission ; 
 
 It shall note a generous deed, and glow for a moment as the 
 doer; 
 
 It shall imagine pride or pleasure, treading on the edges of 
 temptation ; 
 
 Or heed of God and of his Christ, and grow transformed to 
 glory. 
 
 Wherefore, it is wise and well to guide the mind aright, 
 
 That its aptness may be sensitive to good, and shrink with 
 antipathy from evil : 
 
 For use will mould and mark it, or nonusage dull and blunt 
 it ; — 
 
 So to talk of spirit by analogy with substance ; 
 
 And analogy is a truer guide, than many teachers tell of, 
 
 Similitudes are scattered round, to help us, not to hurt us ; 
 
 Moses, in his every type, and the Greater than a Moses, in 
 his parables, 
 
 Preach, in terms that all may learn, the philosophic lessons of 
 analogy ; 
 
 And here, in a topic immaterial, the likeness of analogy is 
 just ; 
 
 By habits, knit the nerves of mind, and train the gladiator 
 shrewdly : 
 
 For thought shall strengthen thinking, and imagery speed 
 imagination, 
 
 Until thy spiritual inmate shall have swelled to the giant of 
 Otranto. 
 
 Nevertheless, heed well, that this Athlete, growing in thy 
 brain, 
 
 Be a wholesome Genius, not a cursed Afrite : 
 
 And see thou discipline his strength, and point his aim dis- 
 creetly ; 
 
series ii.] OF IDEAS. 317 
 
 Feed him on humility and holy things, weaned from covet- 
 ous desires ; 
 
 Hour by hour and day by day, ply him with ideas of excel 
 lence, 
 
 Dragging forth the evil but to loathe, as a Spartan’s drunken 
 Helot : 
 
 And win, by gradual allurements, the still expanding soul, 
 
 To rise from a contemplated universe, even to the Hand that 
 made it. 
 
 A common mind psrceiveth not beyond his eyes and ears : 
 
 The palings of the park of sense enthral this captured roe- 
 buck: 
 
 And still, though fettered in the flesh, he doth not feel his 
 chains, 
 
 Externals are the world to him, and circumstance his atmo- 
 sphere. 
 
 Therefore, tangible pleasures are enough for the animal- 
 man ; 
 
 He is swift to speak and slow to think, dreading his own dim 
 conscience ; 
 
 And solitude is terrible, and exile worse than death ; 
 
 He cannot dwell apart, nor breathe at a distance from the 
 crowd. 
 
 But minds of nobler stamp, and chiefest the mint-marked of 
 heaven, 
 
 Walk independent by themselves, freely manumitted of ex- 
 ternals : 
 
 They carry viands with them, and need no refreshment by 
 the way, 
 
 Nor drink of other wells than their own inner fountain. 
 
 Strange shall it seem how little such a man will lean upon 
 the accidents of life. 
 
 He is winged, and needeth not a staff ; if it break, he shall 
 not fall 
 
313 
 
 PROVERBIAL PHILOSOPHY. [series ii. 
 
 
 And lightly perchance doth he remember the stale trivialities 
 around him, 
 
 He liveth in the realm of thought, beyond the world of 
 things . 
 
 These are but transient Matter, and himself enduring Spirit : 
 
 And worldliness will laugh to scorn that sublimated wisdom* 
 
 His eyes may open on a prison-cell, but the bare walls glow 
 with imagery ; 
 
 His ears may be filled with execration, but are listening to 
 music of sweet thoughts; 
 
 He may dwell in a hovel with a hero’s heart, and canopy his 
 penury with peace, 
 
 For mind is a kingdom to the man, who gathereth his plea- 
 sure from Ideas 
 
 OF NAMES. 
 
 Adam gave the name when the Lord had made his creature, 
 
 For God led them in review to see what mail would call 
 them : 
 
 As they struck his senses, he proclaimed their sounds, 
 
 A name for the distinguishing of each, a numeral by which 
 it should be known : 
 
 He specified the partridge by her cry, ( 2l ) and the forest 
 prowler by his roaring, 
 
 The tree by its use, and the flower by its beauty, and every 
 thing according to its truth. 
 
 There is an arbitrary name; whereunto the idea attacheth; 
 
 And there is a reasonable name, linking its fitness to idea : 
 
 Yet shall these twain run in parallel courses, 
 
 Neither shalt thou readily discern the habit from the nature. 
 
 For mind Is apt and quick to wed ideas and names together, 
 
 Nor stoppeth its perception to be curious of priorities . 
 
OF NAMES. 
 
 SERIES II. J 
 
 319 
 
 And there is but little in the sound, as some have vainly fjgi- 
 cied, 
 
 The same tone in different tongues shall be suitable to oppo- 
 site ideas : 
 
 Yea, take an ensample in thine own : consider similar 
 words : 
 
 How various and contrary the thoughts those kindred names 
 produce : 
 
 A house shall seem a fitting word to call a roomy dwelling, 
 
 Yet there is a like propriety in the small smooth sound, a 
 mouse : 
 
 Mountain, as if of a necessity, is a word both mighty and 
 majestic, — 
 
 What heed ye then of fountain? — flowing silver in the sun. 
 
 Many a Fair flower is burdened with preposterous appella- 
 tives, 
 
 Which the wiser simplicity of rustics entitled by its beau- 
 ties: 
 
 And often the conceit of science, loving to be thought cos- 
 mopolite, 
 
 Shall mingle names of every clime, alike obscure to each. 
 
 There is wisdom in calling a thing fitly ; name should note 
 particulars 
 
 Through a character obvious to all men, and worthy of their 
 instant acceptation. 
 
 The herbalist had a simple cause for every word upon his 
 catalogue, 
 
 But now the mouth of Botany is filled with empty sound; 
 
 And mahy a peasant hath an answer on his tongue, concern- 
 ing some vexed flower, 
 
 Shrewder than the centipede phrase wherewithal philoso- 
 phers invest it. 
 
 For that, the foolishness of pride, and flatteries of cringing 
 nomage. 
 
320 PROVERBIAL PHILOSOPHY. [series n. 
 
 Straw with chaff the threshing floors of science ; names 
 perplex them all ; 
 
 The entomologist, who hath pried upon an insect, straight- 
 way shall endow it with his name ; 
 
 It had many qualities and marks of note, — but in chief, a 
 vain observer : 
 
 The geographer shall journey to the pole, through biting 
 frost and desolation, 
 
 And, for some simple patron’s sake, shall name that land, the 
 happy ; 
 
 The fossilist hath found a bone, the rib of some huge lizard, 
 
 And forthwith standeth to it sponsor, to tack himself on rep- 
 tile immortalities : 
 
 The sportsman, hunting at the Cape, found some strange- 
 horned antelope, 
 
 The spots are new, the fame is cheap, and so his name is 
 added. 
 
 Thus, obscurities encumber knowledge, even by the vanity 
 of men 
 
 Who play into each other’s hand the game of giving names. 
 
 Various are the names of men, and drawn from different 
 wells ; 
 
 Aspects of body, or characters of mind, the creature’s first 
 idea: 
 
 And some have sprung of trades, and some of dignities or 
 office ; 
 
 Other some added to a father’s, and yet more growing from a 
 place . 
 
 Animal creation, with sciences and things, — their composites, 
 and near associations, 
 
 Contributed their symbollings of old, wherewith to title men: 
 
 And heraldry set upon its cresture the figured attributes as 
 ensigns 
 
 By which, as by a name concrete, its bearer should be known. 
 
series ii. J OF NAMES. 321 
 
 Egypt opened on the theme, dressing up her gods in quali- 
 ties ; 
 
 Horns of power, feathers of the swift, mitres of catholic do- 
 minion, 
 
 The sovereign asp, the circle everlasting, the crook and 
 thong of justice, 
 
 By many mystic shapes and sounds displayed the idol’s 
 name. 
 
 Thereafter, high-plumed warriors, the chieftains of Etruria 
 and Troy, 
 
 And Xerxes, urging on his millions to the tomb of pride, Ther- 
 mopylae, 
 
 And Iliero with his bounding ships all figured at the prow, 
 
 And Rome’s Praetorian standards, piled with strange devices, 
 
 And stout crusaders pressing to the battle, locked in shining 
 steel, — 
 
 These all in their speaking symbols, earned, or wore, a name. 
 
 Eve, the mother of all living, and Abraham, father of a mul- 
 titude, 
 
 Jacob, the supplanter, and David the beloved, and all the 
 worthies of old time, 
 
 Noah, who came for consolation, and Benoni, son of sorrow, 
 
 Kings and prophets, children of the East, owned each his 
 title of significance, 
 
 There be names of high descent, and thereby storied honors ; 
 
 Names of fair renown, and therein characters of merit: 
 
 But to lend the lowborn noble names, is to shed upon them 
 ridicule and evil ; 
 
 Yea, many weeds run rank in pride, if men have dubbed 
 them cedars. 
 
 And to herald common mediocrity with the noisy notes of 
 fame, 
 
 Tendeth to its deeper scorn : as if it were to call the mole a 
 mammoth. 
 
 15 * 
 
 L 
 
322 PROVERBIAL PHILOSOPHY. [series ii. 
 
 Yet shall ye find the trader’s babe dignified with sounding 
 titles, 
 
 And little hath the father guessed the harm he did his child : 
 
 For either may they breed him discontent, a peevish repining 
 at his station, 
 
 Or point the finger of despite at the mule in the trappings of 
 an elephant: 
 
 And it is a kind of theft to filch appellations from the famous, 
 
 A soiling of the shrines of praise with folly’s vulgar herd. 
 
 Prudence hath often gone ashamed for the name they added 
 to his father’s, 
 
 If minds of mark and great achievements bore it well before ; 
 
 For he walketh as the jay in the fable, though not by his 
 own folly, 
 
 Another’s fault hath compassed his misfortune, making him 
 a martyr to his name. 
 
 Who would call the tench a whale, or style a torch, Orion 7 
 
 Yet many a silly parent hath dealt likewise with his nurs- 
 ling. 
 
 Give thy child a fit distinguishment, making him sole tenant 
 of a name, 
 
 For it were a sore hindrance to hold it in common with a 
 hundred ; 
 
 In the Babel of confused identities fame is little. feasible, 
 
 The felon shall detract from the philanthropist, and the sage 
 share honors with the simple: 
 
 Still, in thy title of distinguishment, fall not into arrogant as- 
 sumption, 
 
 Steering from caprice and affectations ; and for all thou doest, 
 have a reason. 
 
 He that is ambitious for his son, should give him untried 
 names, 
 
 For those that have served other men, haply may injure ly 
 their evils ; 
 
SERIES II. J 
 
 OF NAMES. 
 
 323 
 
 Or otherwise may hinder by their glories ; therefore set him 
 by himself, 
 
 To win for his individual name some clear specific praise. 
 
 There were nine Homers, all goodly sons of song; but where 
 is any record of the eight? 
 
 One grew to fame, an Aaron’s rod, and swallowed up his 
 brethren \{p) 
 
 Who knoweth ? more distinctly titled, those dead eight had 
 lived ; 
 
 But the censers were ranged in a circle, to mingle their 
 sweets without a difference. 
 
 Art thou named of a common crowd, and sensible of high 
 asp’rings 1 
 
 It is hard for thee to rise, — yet strive : thou mayest be among 
 them a Musceus. 
 
 Art thou named of a family, the same in successive genera- 
 tions ? 
 
 It is open to thee still to earn for epithets, such an one, the 
 good or great. 
 
 Art thou named foolishly 1 show that thou art wiser than 
 thy fathers, 
 
 Live to shame their vanity or sin by dutiful devotion to thy 
 sphere. 
 
 Art thou named discreetly 7 it is well, the course is free ; 
 
 No competitor shall claim thy colors, neither fix his faults 
 upon thee : 
 
 Hasten to the goal of fame between the posts of duty, 
 
 And win a blessing from the world, that men may love thy 
 name ; 
 
 Yea, that the unction of its praise, in fragrance well deserv- 
 ing, 
 
 May float adown the stream of time, like ambergris at sea; 
 
 So thy sons may tell their sons, and those may teach their 
 children, 
 
 He died in goodness, as he lived ; — and left us his good name. 
 
324 PROVERBIAL PHILOSOPHY. [series n. 
 
 And more than these : there is a roll whereon thy name is 
 written ; 
 
 See that, on the book of Doom, that name is fixed in light; 
 
 Then, safe within a better home, where time and its titles 
 are not found, 
 
 God will give thee his new Name, and write it on thy heart : 
 
 A Name, better than of sons, a Name dearer than of daugh- 
 ters, 
 
 A Name of union, peace and praise, as numbered in thy God. 
 
 OF THINGS. 
 
 Abstracted from all substance, and flying with the feath 
 ered flock of thoughts, 
 
 The idea of a thing hath the nature of its Soul, a separate 
 seeming essence : 
 
 Intimately linked to the idea, suggesting many qualities, 
 
 The name of a thing hath the nature of its Mind, an intel- 
 lectual recorder: 
 
 And the matter of a thing, concrete, is a Body to the perfect 
 creature, 
 
 Compacted three in one, as all things else within the Uni- 
 verse. 
 
 Nothing canst thou add to them, and nothing take away, for 
 all have these proportions, 
 
 The thought, the word, the form, combining in the Thing: 
 
 All separate, yet harmonizing weil, and mingled each with 
 other, 
 
 One whole in several parts, yet each part spreading to a 
 whole : 
 
 The idea is a whole, and the meaning phrase that spake 
 idea, a whole, 
 
 And the matter, as ye see it, is a whole ; the mystery of true 
 triunity : 
 
series n.] OF THINGS. 325 
 
 Yea, there is even a deeper my^ery,— which none, I wot, 
 can fathom, 
 
 Matter, different from properties whereby the solid substance 
 is described. 
 
 For, size and weight, cohesion and the like, live distinct from 
 matter, 
 
 Yet who can imagine matter, unendowed with size and 
 weight"? 
 
 As in the spiritual, so in the material, man must rest with 
 patience, 
 
 And wait for other eyes wherewith to read the books of God. 
 
 Men have talked learnedly of atoms, as if matter could be 
 ever indivisible, 
 
 They talk, but ill are skilled to teach, and darken truth by 
 fancies : 
 
 An atom by our grosser sense was never yet conceived. 
 
 And nothing can be thought so suu\ll, as not to be divided: 
 
 For an atom runfteth to infinity, and never shall be caught in 
 space, 
 
 And a molecule is no more indivisible than Saturn’s belted 
 orb. 
 
 Things intangible, multiplied by multitudes, never will amass 
 to substance, 
 
 Neither can a thing which may be touched, be made of im- 
 palpable proportions : 
 
 The sum of indivisibles must needs be indivisible, as adding 
 many nothings, 
 
 And the building up of atoms into matter is but a silly- 
 sophism ; 
 
 Lucretius, and keen Anaximander, and many that have fol- 
 lowed m their thoughts 
 
 (For error hath a long black shadow, dimming light for ages), 
 
 In the foolishness of men without a God fancied to fashion 
 Matter 
 
326 PROVERBIAL PHILOSOPHY. [series ii. 
 
 Of intangibles, and therefore uncohering, indivisibles, and 
 therefore Spirit. 
 
 Things breed thoughts ; therefore at Thebes and Heliopolis, 
 
 In hieroglyphic sculptures are the priestly secrets written ; 
 
 Things breed thoughts ; therefore was the Athens of idolatry 
 
 Set with carved images, frequent as the trees of Academus ; 
 
 Things breed thoughts ; therefore the Brahmin and the Bur- 
 man 
 
 With mythologic shapes adorn their coarse pantheon; 
 
 Things breed thoughts ; therefore the statue and the picture, 
 
 Relics, rosaries, and miracles in act, quicken the Papist in 
 his worship : 
 
 Things breed thoughts ; therefore the lovers at their parting, 
 
 Interchanged with tearful smiles the dear reminding tokens ; 
 
 Things breed thoughts ; therefore, when the clansman met 
 his foe, 
 
 The blood-stained claymore in his hand revived the memo- 
 ries of vengeance. 
 
 Things teach with double force; through the animal eye, 
 and through the mind, 
 
 And the eye catcheth in an instant, what the ear shall not 
 learn within an hour. 
 
 Thence is the potency of travel, the precious might of its 
 advantages 
 
 To compensate its dissipative harm, its toil and cost and 
 danger. 
 
 Ulysses, wandering to many shores, lived in many cities, (®) 
 
 And thereby learnt the minds of men, and stored his own 
 more richly : 
 
 Herodotus, the accurate and kindly, spake of that he saw, 
 
 And reaped his knowledge on the spot, in fertile fields of 
 Egypt: 
 
 Lycurgus culled from every clime the golden fruits of jus- 
 tice , 
 
series ii. J OF THINGS. 327 
 
 And Plato roamed through foreign lands, to feed on truth in 
 all. 
 
 For travel, conversant with Things, bringeth them in con- 
 tact with the mind ; 
 
 We breathe the wholesome atmosphere about ungarbled 
 truth : • # 
 
 Pictures of fact are painted on the eye, to decorate the house 
 of intellect 
 
 Rather than visions of fancy, filling all the chambers with a 
 vapor. 
 
 For in Ideas, the great mind will exaggerate, and the lesser 
 extenuate truth : 
 
 Butin Things the one is chastened, and the other quickened, 
 to equality : 
 
 And in Names,— though a property be told, rather than 
 some arbitrary accident, 
 
 Still shall the thought be vague or false, if none hath seen 
 the Thing ; 
 
 For in Things the property with accident standeth in a mass 
 concrete, 
 
 These cannot cheat the sense, nor elude the vigilance of 
 spirit. 
 
 Travel is a ceaseless fount of surface education, 
 
 But its wisdom will be simply superficial, if thou add not 
 thoughts to things : 
 
 Yet, aided by the varnish of society, things may serve for 
 thoughts, 
 
 Till many dullards that have seen the world shall pass for 
 scholars : 
 
 Because one single glance will conquer all descripti 'ns, 
 
 Though graphic, these left some unsaid, though true, these 
 tended to some error, 
 
 And the most witless eye that saw had a juster notion of its 
 object, 
 
 Than the shrewdest mind that heard and shaped its gathered 
 thoughts of Things. 
 
PROVERBIAL PHILOSOPHY. [series ii 
 
 OF FAITH. 
 
 Confidence was the bearer of the palm ; for it looked like 
 conviction of desert: 
 
 And where the strong is well assured, the weaker soon allow 
 it. 
 
 Majesty and beauty are commingled, in moving with im- 
 mutable decision, 
 
 And well may charm the coward hearts that turn and hide 
 for fear. 
 
 Faith, firmness, confidence, consistency, — these are well al- 
 lied ; 
 
 Yea, let a man press on in aught, he shall not lack of honor: 
 
 For such an one seemeth as superior to the native instability 
 of creatures : 
 
 That he doeth, he doeth as a god, and men will marvel at 
 his courage. 
 
 Even in crimes, a partial praise cannot be denied to daring, 
 
 And many fearless chiefs have won the friendship of a foe. 
 
 Confidence is conqueror of men ; victorious both over them 
 and in them ; 
 
 The iron will of one stout heart shall make a thousand 
 quail : 
 
 A feeble dwarf, dauntlessly resolved, will turn the tide of 
 battle, 
 
 And rally to a nobler strife the giants that had fled: 
 
 The tenderest child, unconscious of a fear, will shame the 
 man to danger, 
 
 And when he dared it, danger died, and faith had vanquished 
 fear. 
 
 Boldness is akin to power : yea, because ignorance is weak- 
 ness, 
 
series ii.J OF FAITH. 329 
 
 Knowledge with unshrinking might will nerve the vigorous 
 hand : 
 
 Boldness hath a startling strength : the mouse may fright a 
 lion, 
 
 And oftentimes the horned herd is scared by some brave cur 
 Courage hath analogy with faith, for it standeth both in 
 animal and moral ; 
 
 The true is mindful of a God, the false is stout in self: 
 
 But true or false, the twain are faith ; and faith worketh 
 wonders : 
 
 Never was a marvel done upon the earth, but it had sprung 
 of faith : 
 
 Nothing noble, generous, or great, but faith was the root of 
 the achievement ; 
 
 Nothing comely, nothing famous, but its praise is faith. 
 Leonidas fought in human faith, as Joshua in divine: 
 Xenophon trusted to his skill, and the sons of Mattathias to 
 their cause : ( n ) 
 
 In faith Columbus found a pith across those untried waters: 
 The heroines of Arc and Saragossa fought in earthly faith : 
 Tell was strong, and Alfred great, and Luther wise, by faith ; 
 Margaret by faith was valiant for her son, and Wallace 
 mighty for his people : 
 
 Faith in his reason made Socrates sublime, as faith in his 
 science, Galileo : 
 
 Ambassadors in faith are bold, and unreproved for boldness : 
 Faith urged Fabius to delays, and sent forth Hannibal to 
 Cannae * 
 
 Caesar at the Rubicon, Miltiades at Marathon : both were 
 sped by faith. 
 
 I set not all in equal spheres : I number not the martyr with 
 the patriot ; 
 
 I class not the hero with his horse, because the twain have 
 courage ; 
 
 But only for ensample and instruction, that all things stand 
 by faith ; 
 
T30 PROVERBIAL PHILOSOPHY. [series ii. 
 
 Albeit faith of divers kinds, and varying in degrees. 
 
 There is a faith towards men, and there is a faith towards 
 God ; 
 
 The latter is the gold and the former is the brass ; but both 
 are sturdy metal : 
 
 And the brass mingled with the gold floweth into rich Co- 
 rinthian ; 
 
 A substance bright and hard and keen, to point Achilles’ 
 spear: 
 
 So shalt thou stop the way against the foes that hem thee ; 
 
 Trust in God, to strengthen man ; — be bold, for He doth help. 
 
 Yet more: for confidence in man, even to the worst and 
 meanest, 
 
 Hath power to overcome his ill, by charitable good. 
 
 Fling thine unreserving trust even on the conscience of a 
 culprit, 
 
 Soon wilt thou shame him by thy faith, and he will melt 
 and mend : 
 
 The nest of thieves will harm thee not, if thou dost bear thee 
 boldly ; 
 
 Boldly, yea and kindly, as relying on their honor : 
 
 For the hand so stout against aggression, is quite disarmed 
 by charity ; 
 
 And that warm sun will thaw the heart casehardened by 
 long frost. 
 
 Treat men gently, trust them strongly, if thou wish their 
 weal ; 
 
 Or cautious doubt and bitter thoughts will tempt the best to 
 foil thee. 
 
 Believe the well in sanguine hope, and thou shalt reap the 
 better; 
 
 But if thou deal with men so ill, thy dealings make them 
 worse. 
 
 Despair not of some gleams of good still lingering in the 
 darkest, 
 
OF FAITII. 
 
 SERIES II. J 
 
 331 
 
 And among: veterans in crime, plead thou as with their chil- 
 dren : 
 
 So astonied at Humanities, the bad heart long: estranged, 
 Shall even weep to feel himself so little worth thy love ; 
 
 In wholesome sorrow will he bless thee ; yea, and in that 
 spirit may repent; 
 
 Thus, wilt thou gain a soul, in mercy given to thy faith. 
 
 Look aside to lack of faith, the mass of ills it bringeth ; 
 
 All things treacherous, base, and vile, dissolving the bro- 
 therhood of men. 
 
 Bonds break; the cement hath losjt its hold; and each is 
 separate from other ; 
 
 That which should be neighborly and good, is cankered into 
 bitterness and evil. 
 
 O thou serpent, fell Suspicion, coiling coldly round the 
 heart, — 
 
 O thou asp of subtle Jealousy, stinging hotly to the soul, — 
 
 O distrust, reserved, and doubt, — what reptile shapes are 
 here, 
 
 Poisoning the garden of a world with death among its flow- 
 ers! 
 
 No need of many words, the tale is easy to be told : 
 
 A point will touch the truth, a line suggest the picture. 
 
 For if in thine own home, a cautious man and captious, 
 
 Thou hintest at suspicion of a servant, thou soon wilt make 
 a thief ; 
 
 Or if too keen in care, thou dost evidently disbelieve thy 
 child, 
 
 Thou hast injured the texture of his honor, and smoothed to 
 him the way of lying : 
 
 Or if thou observest upon friends, as seeking thee selfishly 
 i for interest, 
 
 Thou hast hurt their kindliness to thee, and shalt be paid 
 with scorn : 
 
 Or if, O silly ones of marriage, your foul and foolish thoughts. 
 
332 PROVERBIAL PHILOSOPHY. [series n. 
 
 Harshly misinterpreting in each the levity of innocence for 
 sin, 
 
 Shall pour upon the lap of home pain where once was plea- 
 sure, 
 
 And mix contentions in the cup, that mantled once with 
 comforts. 
 
 Bitterly and justly shall ye rue the punishment due to unbe- 
 lief ; 
 
 Ye trust not each the other, nor the mutual vows of God; 
 
 Take heed, for the pit may now be near, a pit of your own 
 digging, — 
 
 Faith abused tempteth unto crime, and doubt may make its 
 monster. 
 
 Man verily is vile, but more in capability than action ; 
 
 His sinfulness is deep, but his transgressions may be few, 
 even from the absence of temptation : 
 
 He is hanging in a gulf midway, but the air is breathable 
 about him : 
 
 Thrust him not from that slight hold, to perish in the vapors 
 underneath, 
 
 For, God pleadeth with the deaf, as having ears to hear, 
 
 Christ speaketh to the dead, as those that are capable of 
 living ; 
 
 And an evil teacher is that man, a tempter to much sin, 
 
 Who looketh on his hearers with distrust, and hath no con- 
 fidence in brethren. 
 
 All mriy mend; and sympathies are healing; and reason 
 hath its influence with the worst; 
 
 And in those worst is ample hope, if only thou have charity, 
 and faith. 
 
 Somewhiles have I watched a man exchanging the sobriety 
 of faith, 
 
 Old lamps for new, — even for fanatical excitements. 
 
 He gained surface, but lost solidity ; heat, in lieu of health; 
 
SERIES II.] 
 
 OF FAITH. 
 
 333 
 
 And still with swelling words and thoughts he scorned his 
 ancient coldness : 
 
 But, his strength was shorn as Samson’s; he walked he 
 knew not whither ; 
 
 Doubt was on his daily path ; and duties showed not cer- 
 tain. 
 
 Until, in an hour of enthusiasm, stung with secret fears, 
 
 He pinned the safety of his soul on some false prophet’s 
 sleeve. 
 
 And then, that sure word failed ; and with it, failed his 
 faith. 
 
 It failed, and fell ; O deep and dreadful was his fall in faith. 
 
 He could not stop, with reason’s rein, his coursers on the 
 slope, 
 
 And so they dashed him down the cliff of hardened unbe- 
 lief. 
 
 With overreaching grasp he had strained for visionary trea- 
 sures, 
 
 But a fiend had cheated his presumption, and hurled him to 
 despair. 
 
 So he lay in his blood, the victim of a credulous false faith, 
 
 And many nights, and night-like days, he dwelt in outer 
 darkness. 
 
 But, within a while, his variable mind caught a new im- 
 pression, 
 
 A new impression of the good old stamp, that sealed him 
 when a child , 
 
 He was softened, and abjured his infidelity ; he was wiser, 
 and despised his credulity ; 
 
 And turned again to simple faith more simply than before. 
 
 Experience had declared too well his mind was built of 
 water, 
 
 And so renouncing strength in self, he fixed his faith in God, 
 
 It is not for me to stipulate for creeds ; Bible, Churcn, and 
 Reason, 
 
334 
 
 PROVERBIAL PHILOSOPHY. [series ii. 
 
 These three shall lead the mind, if any can, to truth. 
 
 But l must stipulate for faith ; both God and man demand it: 
 
 Trust is great in either world, if any would be well. 
 
 Verily, the sceptical propensity is an universal foe ; 
 
 Sneering Pyrrho never found, nor cared to find, a friend : 
 
 How could he trust another 1 and himself, whom would he 
 not deceive ? 
 
 His proper gains were all his aim, and interests clash with 
 kindness. 
 
 So, the Bedouin gocth armed, an enemy to all, 
 
 The spear is stuck beside his couch, the dagger hid beneath 
 his pillow. 
 
 For society, void of mutual trust, of credit, and of faith, 
 
 Would fall asunder as a waterspout, snapped from the cloud’s 
 attraction. 
 
 Faith may rise into miracles of might, as some few wise 
 have shown : 
 
 Faith may sink into credulities of weakness, as the mass of 
 fools have witnessed. 
 
 Therefore, in the first, saints and martyrs have fulfilled their 
 mission, 
 
 Conquering dangers, courting deaths, and triumphing in all. 
 
 Therefore, in the last, the magician and the witch, victims 
 of their own delusion, 
 
 Have gained the bitter wages of impracticable sins. 
 
 They believed in allegiance with Satan ; they worked in 
 that belief, 
 
 And thereby earned the loss and harm of guilt that might not 
 be. 
 
 For, faith hath two hands ; with the one it addeth virtue to 
 indifferents ; 
 
 Yea, it sanctified a Judith and a Jael, for what otherwise 
 were treachery aud murder : 
 
 With the other hand it heapeth crime even on impossible* 
 or simples, 
 
OF FAITH. 
 
 335 
 
 SERIES II.] 
 
 And mr»ny a wizard well deserved the faggot for his faith : 
 
 He trusted in his intercourse with evil, he sacrificed heartily 
 to fiends, 
 
 He withered up with curses to the limit of his will, and was 
 vile, because he thought himself a villain. 
 
 A great mind is ready to believe, for he hungereth to feed 
 on facts, 
 
 And the gnawing stomach of his ignorance craveth unceas- 
 ing to be filled : 
 
 A little mind is boastful and incredulous, for he fancieth all 
 knowledge is his own, 
 
 So will he cavil at a truth ; how should it be true, and he 
 not know it ? — 
 
 There is an easy scheme, to solve all riddles by the sensual, 
 
 And thus, despising mysteries, to feel the more sufficient: 
 
 For it comforteth the foul hard heart, to reject the pure un- 
 seen, 
 
 And relieveth the dull soft head, to hinder one from gazing 
 upon vacancy. 
 
 True wisdom, laboring to expound, heareth others readily ; 
 
 False wisdom, sturdy to deny, closeth up her mind to argu- 
 ment. 
 
 The sum of certainties is found so small, their field so wide 
 an universe, 
 
 That many things may truly be, which man hath not con- 
 ceived : 
 
 The characters revealed of God are a strong mind’s sole 
 assurance 
 
 That any strangeness may not stand a sober theme for faith. 
 
 Ignorance being light denied, this ought to show the stronger 
 in its view, 
 
 But ignorance is commonly a double negative, both of light 
 and morals : 
 
 So, adding vanity to blindness, for ease it taketh refuge in a 
 doubt, 
 
336 
 
 PROVERBIAL PHILOSOPHY. [series ii. 
 
 And aching soon with ceaseless doubt, it finisheth the strife 
 by misbelieving. 
 
 Faith, by its very nature, shall embrace both credence and 
 
 obedience : 
 
 Yea, the word for both is one, and cannot be divided. ( 25 ) 
 
 For, work .void of faith, wherein can it be counted for a duty ; 
 
 And faith not seen in work, — whereby can the doctrine be 
 discovered 7 
 
 Faith in religion is an instrument ; a handle, and the hand 
 to turn it ; 
 
 Less a condition than a mean, and more an operation than a 
 virtue. 
 
 A moral sickness, like to sin, must have a moral cure ; 
 
 And faith alone can heal the mind, whose malady is sense. 
 
 Ye are told of God’s deep love ; they that believe will love 
 him ; 
 
 They that love him, will obey ; and obedience hath its bles- 
 sing. 
 
 Ye are taught of the soul’s great price : they that believe 
 will prize it. 
 
 And, prizing soul, will cherish well the hopes that make it 
 happy. 
 
 Effects spring from feelings : and feelings grow of faith : 
 
 If a man conceive himself insulted, will not his anger smite 1 
 
 Thus, let a soul believe his state, his danger, destiny, re- 
 demption, 
 
 Will he not feel eager to be safe, like him that kept the 
 prison at Philippi 7 
 
 A mother had an only son, and sent him out to sea : 
 
 She was a widow, and in penury ; and he must seek his 
 fortunes. 
 
 How often in the wintry nights, when winds and waves 
 were howling, 
 
series ii. J OF HONESTY. 337 
 
 Her heart was torn with sickening dread, and bled to see her 
 boy. 
 
 And on cne sunny morn, when all around was comfort, 
 
 News came, that weeks agone, the vessel had been wrecked ; 
 
 Yea, wrecked, and he was dead ! they had seen him perish 
 in his agony : 
 
 Oh then, what agony was like to hers, — for she believed the 
 tale ! 
 
 She was bowed and broken down with sorrow, and uncom- 
 
 . furled in prayer ; 
 
 Many nights she mourned, and pined, and had no hope but 
 death. 
 
 But on a day, w'hile sorely she was weeping, a stranger 
 broke upon her loneliness,— 
 
 He had news to tell, that weather-beaten man, and must not 
 be denied : 
 
 And what w T ere the wonder-working words that made this 
 mourner joyous, 
 
 That swept her heaviness away, and filled her world with 
 praise 7 
 
 Her son was saved, — is alive, — is near ! — O did she stop to 
 question 1 
 
 No, rushing in the force of faith, she met him at the door ! 
 
 OF HONESTY. 
 
 All is vanity which is not honesty ; — thus is it graven on 
 the tomb ; — 
 
 And there is no wisdom blit in piety; so the dead man 
 preacheth : 
 
 For, in a simple village church, among those classic shades 
 
 Which sylvan livelyn loved to rear (his praise and my de- 
 light), 
 
 These the words of truth, are writ upon his sepulchre, 
 
 1G 
 
338 PROVERBIAL PHILOSOPHY. 'series ii. 
 
 Who learnt much lore, and knew all trees from the cedar to 
 the hyssop on the wall. 
 
 A just conjunction, godliness and honesty, ministering to 
 both worlds, 
 
 Well wed, and ill to be divided, a pair that God hath joined 
 together. 
 
 I touch not now the vulgar thought, as of tricks and cheate- 
 ries in tr.ide ; 
 
 1 speak not of honest purpose, character, speech, and action : 
 
 For an honest man hath special need of charity and pru- 
 dence, 
 
 Of a deep and humbling self-acquaintance, and of blessed 
 commerce with his God, 
 
 So that the keennesses of truth may be freed from asperities 
 of censure, 
 
 And the just but vacillating mind be not made the pendulum 
 of arguments : 
 
 For a fi ilse reason, shrewdly put, can often not be answered 
 on the instant, 
 
 And prudence looketh unto faith, content to wait solutions ; 
 
 Yea, it looketh, yea, it waiteth, still holding honesty in 
 leash, 
 
 Lest, as a hot young hound, it track not game, but vermin. 
 
 Many a man of honest heart, but ignorant of self and God, 
 
 Hath followed the marsh-fires of pestilence, esteeming th* - .n 
 the lights of truth : 
 
 He heard a cause, which he had not skill to solve, and so 
 received it gladly. 
 
 And that cause brought its consequence, of harm to an un- 
 stable soul. 
 
 Prudence, for man’s own sake, never should be separate from 
 honesty ; 
 
 And charity, for others’ good and his, must still be joined 
 therewith. 
 
 For the harshly chiding tongue hath neither pleasuring nor 
 profit, 
 
SERIES II. J 
 
 OF HONESTY. 
 
 333 
 
 And the cold unsympathizihg heart never gained a good. 
 
 Sin is a sore, and folly is a fever ; touch them tenderly for 
 healing : 
 
 The bad chirurgeon’s awkward knife liarmeth spite of hon- 
 esty. 
 
 S ill, a rough diamond is better than the polished pa^te, — 
 
 That courteous flattering fool, who spake of vice as virtue : 
 
 And honesty even by though m iking many adversaries 
 
 Whom prudence might have set aside, or charity have soft- 
 ened, 
 
 Evermore will prosper at the last, and gain a man great 
 honor 
 
 By giving others many goods, to his own cost and hinder- 
 ance. 
 
 Freedom is father of the honest, and sturdy Independence is 
 his brother ; 
 
 These three, with heart and hand dwell together in unityi 
 
 The blunt yeoman, stout and true, will speak unto princes 
 unabashed : 
 
 His mind is loyal, just, and free, a crystal in its plain integrity ; 
 
 What should make such an one ashamed ? where courtiers 
 kneel, he standeth ; — 
 
 I will indeed bow before the king, but knees were knit for 
 God. 
 
 And many such there be of a high and noble conscience, 
 
 Honorable, generous, and kind, though blessed with little 
 light: 
 
 What should he barter for his freedom ? some petty gain of 
 gold 7 
 
 Free of speech and free in act, magnates honor him for bold- 
 ness : 
 
 Long may he flourish in his peace, and a stalwart race around 
 him, 
 
 Rooted in the soil like oaks, and hardy as the pine upon the 
 mountains ! 
 
340 PROVERBIAL PHILOSOPHY. [series ii. 
 
 Yet, there he others, that will truckle to a lie, selling honesty 
 for interest : 
 
 And do they gain 7 — they gain but loss . a little cash, with 
 scorn. 
 
 Behold, the sorrowful change wrought upon a fallen nature : 
 
 He hath lost his own esteem, and other men’s respect ; 
 
 For the buoyancy of upright faith, he is clothed in the heavi- 
 ness of cringing ; 
 
 For plain truth where none could err, he had chosen tortuous 
 pa ths ; 
 
 In lieu of his majesty of countenance — the timorous glances 
 of servility. 
 
 Instead of Freedom’s honest pride, — the spirit of a slave. 
 
 Nevertheless, there is somewhat to be pleaded, even for a 
 necessary guile, 
 
 Whilst the world and all that is therein, lieth deep in evil. 
 
 Who can be altogether honest, — a champion never out of 
 mail, 
 
 Ready to break a lance for truth with every crowding error 1 
 
 Who can be altogether honest, — dragging out the secresies 
 of life, 
 
 And risking to be lashed and loathed for each unkind disclo- 
 sure 7 
 
 Who can be altogether honest, — living in perpetual conten- 
 tions, 
 
 And prying out the petty cheats that swell the social scheme 7 
 
 For he must speak his instant mind, — a mind corrupt and 
 sinful, 
 
 Exhibiting to other men’s disgust its undisguised deformities ; 
 
 He must utter all the hatred of his heart, and add to it the 
 venom of his tongue ; 
 
 Shall he feel and hide his feelings 7 that were the meanness 
 of a hypocrite. — 
 
 Still, O man, such hypocrisy is better than this bold honesty 
 to sin : 
 
series n.J OF HONESTY. 341 
 
 Kill tho feeling, or conceal it: let shame at least do the work 
 of charity. 
 
 O Chari rv, thou livest not in warnings, meddling among 
 men, 
 
 Rebuking every foolish word, and censuring small sins; 
 
 This is not thy secret, — rather wilt thou hide their multi- 
 tude, 
 
 And silence the condemning tongue, and wearisome exhor- 
 tation, 
 
 But for thee, thy strength and zeal shine in encouragement 
 to good, 
 
 Lifting up the lantern of ensample, that wanderers may find 
 the way : 
 
 That lantern is not lit to gaze on all the hatefulness of evil, 
 
 But set on high for life and light, the loveliness of good. 
 
 The hard censorious mind sitteth as a keen anatomist 
 
 Tracking up the fibres in corruption, and prying on a fearful 
 corpse : 
 
 But the charitable soul is a young lover, enamored little 
 wisely, 
 
 That saw no fault in her he loved, and sought to see one 
 less, 
 
 So, in his kind and genial light, she grew more worthy of 
 his love ; 
 
 Won to good by gentle suns and not by frowning tempest. 
 
 Verily, infirm thyself,— be slow to chide a brother’s imper- 
 fections. 
 
 For many times the decent veil must hang on faults of na- 
 ture. 
 
 And the rude hands, that rend it, offend against the modesty 
 of right, 
 
 While seeming zeal, and its effort to do good, is only feigned 
 self-praise : 
 
 Often will the meannesses of life, hidden away in corners, 
 
342 PROVERBIAL PHILOSOPHY. [series ii. 
 
 Prove wisdom ; and the generous is glad to leave them unre- 
 garded in the shade. 
 
 The follies none are found to praise, let them die unblamed : 
 
 Thine honest strife will only tend to make some think them 
 wise : 
 
 And small conventional deceits, let them live uncensured : 
 
 Or if thou war with pigmies, thou shalt haply help the 
 cranes. 
 
 Where to be blind was safety, Ovid had been wise for wink- 
 ing : ( 2fi ) 
 
 And when a tell-tale might do harm, be sure it is prudent to 
 be dumb : 
 
 That which is just and fit is often found combating with 
 honesty : 
 
 In the cause of good, be w T ise ; and in a case indifferent, keep 
 silence 
 
 Let honesty’s unblushing face be shaded by the mantle of 
 humility, 
 
 So shall it shine a lamp of love, and not the torch of strife : 
 
 Otherwise the lantern of Diogenes, presumptuously thrust be- 
 fore the face, 
 
 If it never find an honest man, shall often make an angered. 
 
 Let honesty be companied by charity of heart, lest it walk 
 unwelcome, 
 
 Or the mouthing censor of others and himself, soon shall 
 sink to scorn. 
 
 Let honesty be added unto innocence of life : then a man may 
 only be its martyr: 
 
 But if openness of speech be found with secresy of guilt, the 
 martyr will be seen a malefactor. 
 
 There is a cunning scheme, to put on surface bluntness, 
 
 And cover still deep water, with the clamorous ripples of a 
 shallow. 
 
SERIES II. J 
 
 OF HONESTY. 
 
 343 
 
 For a man, to gain his selfish ends, will make a stalking 
 horse of honesty ; 
 
 And hide his poaching limbs behind, that he may cheat the 
 quicker. 
 
 Such a one is loud and ostentatious, full of oaths for argu- 
 ment, 
 
 Boastful of honor and sincerity, and not to be put down by 
 facts : 
 
 He is obstinate, and showeth it for firmness ; he is rude, dis- 
 playing it for truth ; 
 
 And glorieth in doggedness of temper, as if it were uncom- 
 promising justice. 
 
 Be aware of such a man; his brawling covereth designs ; 
 
 This specious show of honesty coineth as the herald of a 
 thief : 
 
 His feint is made with awkward clashing on the buckler’s boss, 
 
 But meanwhile doth his secret skill ensure its fatal aim. 
 
 This is the hypocrite of honesty ; ye may know him by an 
 overacted part ; 
 
 Taking pains to turn and twist, where other men walk 
 straight ; 
 
 Or walking straight, he will not step aside to let another pass, 
 
 But roughly pusheth on, provoking opposition on the way ; 
 
 He is full of disquietude for calmness, full of intriguing for 
 simplicity, 
 
 Valorous with those who cannot fight, and humble to the 
 bra ve : 
 
 Where brotherly advice were good, this man rudely blameth, 
 
 And on some small occasion, flattereth with coarse praise. 
 
 The craven in a lion’s skin hath conquered by his character 
 for courage ; 
 
 Sheep’s clothing helped the wolf, till he slew by his cha- 
 racter for kindness. 
 
 For honesty hath many gains, and well the wise have 
 known 
 
I 
 
 344 PROVERBIAL PHILOSOPHY. [series ii. 
 
 This will prosper to the end, and fill their house with gold. 
 The phosphorus of cheatery will fade, and all its profit perish, 
 While honesty with growing light endureth as the moon. 
 Yea, it would be wise in a world of thieves, where cheating 
 were a virtue. 
 
 To dare the vice of honesty, if any would be rich. 
 
 For that which by the laws of God is heightened into duty, 
 Ever, in the practice of a man, will be seen both policy and 
 privilege. 
 
 Thank God, ye toilers for your bread, in that, daily laboring, 
 He hath suffered the bubbles of self-interest to float upon the 
 stream of duty : 
 
 For honesty, of every kind, approved by God and man, 
 
 Of wealth and better weal is found the richest cornucopia. 
 Tempered by humbleness and charity, honesty of speech 
 hath honor ; 
 
 And mingled well with prudence, honesty of purpose hath 
 its praise ; 
 
 Trust payeth homage unto truth, rewarding honesty of ac- 
 tion ; 
 
 And all men love to lean on him, who never failed nor fainted. 
 Freedom gloweth in his eyes and nobleness of nature at 
 his heart, 
 
 And Independence took a crown and fixed it on his head : 
 
 So, he stood in his integrity, just and firm of purpose, 
 
 Aiding many, fearing none, a spectacle to angels and to men : 
 Yea, — when the shattered globe shall rock in the throes of 
 dissolution, , 
 
 Still, will he stand in his integrity, sublime — an honest man. 
 
 OF SOCIETY. 
 
 Better is the mass of men, SuspLdon, than thy fears, 
 Kinder than thy thoughts, O chilling heart of Prudence, 
 Purer than thy judgments, ascetic tongue of censure, 
 24* 
 
SERIES II.] 
 
 OF SOCIETY. 
 
 345 
 
 In all things worthier to love, if not also wiser to esteem. 
 
 Yea, let the moralist condemn, there be large extenuations 
 of his verdict, 
 
 Let the misanthrope shun men, and abjure, the most are 
 rather lovable than hateful. 
 
 How many pleasant faces shed their light on every side, 
 
 How mr’' ^ngels unawares have crossed thy casual way ! 
 
 How otiei m thy journeyings, hast thou made thee instant 
 ft brute, 
 
 Found ic t-e loved a little while, and lost, to meet no more ; 
 
 Friends of happy reminiscence, although so transient in their 
 converse, 
 
 Liberal, cheerful, and sincere, a crowd of kindly traits. 
 
 I have sped by land and sea, and mingled with much people, 
 
 But never yet could find the spot unsunned by human kind- 
 ness ; 
 
 Some more, and some less, — but, truly, all can claim a little; 
 
 And a man may travel through the world, and sow it thick 
 with friendships. 
 
 There be indeed, to say it in all sorrow, bad apostate souls, 
 
 Deserted of their ministering angels, and given up to liberty 
 of sin, — 
 
 And other some, the miserly and mean, whose eyes are keen 
 and greedy, 
 
 With stony hearts, and iron fists, to filch, and scrape, and 
 clutch, — 
 
 And others yet again, the coarse in mind, selfish, sdnsual, 
 brutish, 
 
 Seeming as incapable of softer thoughts, and dead to better 
 deeds, 
 
 Such, no lover of the good, no follower of the generous and 
 gentle, 
 
 Can nearer grow to love, than may consist with pity. 
 
 Few verily are these among the mass, and cast in fouler 
 moulds, 
 
 16 * 
 
346 PROVERBIAL PHILOSOPHY. [series ii. 
 
 Few and poor in friends, and well-deserving of their poverty: 
 
 Yet, or ever thon hast harshly judged, and linked their pre- 
 sence to disgust. 
 
 Consider well the thousand things that made them all they 
 are. 
 
 Thou hast not thought upon the causes, ranged in consecu- 
 tive necessity, 
 
 Which tended long to these effects, with sure constraining 
 power. 
 
 For each of those unlovely ones, if thou couldst hear his 
 story, 
 
 Hath much to urge of just excuse, at least as men count jus- 
 tice : 
 
 Foolish education, thwarted opportunities, natural propensi- 
 ties unchecked, — 
 
 Thus were they discouraged from all good, and pampered in 
 their evil : 
 
 And if thou wilt apprehend them well, tenderly looking on 
 temptations, 
 
 Bearing the base indulgently, and liberally dealing with the 
 fro ward, 
 
 Thou shalt discern a few fair fruits even upon trees so 
 withered, 
 
 Thou shalt understand ho\y some may praise, and some be 
 found to love them. 
 
 Nevertheless for these, my counsel is, Avoid them if thou 
 canst ; 
 
 For the finer edges of thy virtues will be dulled by attrition 
 with their vice. 
 
 And there is an enemy within thee ; either to palliate their 
 sin, 
 
 Until, for surface sweetness, thou too art drawn adown the 
 vortex ; 
 
 Or, even unto fatal pride, to glorify thy purity by contrast, 
 
SERIES II. J 
 
 OF SOCIETY. 
 
 347 
 
 Until the publican and harlot stand nearer heaven than the 
 Pharisee : 
 
 Or daily strife against their ill, in subtleness may irritate thy 
 soul, 
 
 And in that struggle thou shalt fail, even through infirmity 
 of goodness ; 
 
 Or, callous by continuance of injuries, thou wilt cease to 
 pardon, 
 
 Cease to feel, and cease to care, a cold Case-hardened man. 
 
 Beware of their example, — and thine own; beware the 
 hazards of the battle : 
 
 But chiefly be thou ware of this, an unforgiving spirit. 
 
 Many are the dangers and temptations compassing a bad 
 man’s presence : 
 
 The upas hath a poisonous shade, and who would slumber 
 there 1 
 
 Wherefore, avoid them if thou canst ; only, under providence 
 and duty. 
 
 If thy lot be cast with Kedar, patiently and silently live to 
 their rebuke. 
 
 How beautiful thy feet, and full of grace thy coining, 
 
 O better kind companion, that art well for either world ! 
 
 There is an atmosphere of happiness floating round that 
 man, 
 
 Love is throned upon his heart, and light is found within 
 his dwelling. 
 
 His eyes are rayed with peacefulness, and wisdom waiteth 
 on his tongue ; 
 
 Seek him out, cherish him well, walking in the halo of his 
 influence ; 
 
 For he shall be fragrance to thy soul, as a garden of sweet 
 lilies, 
 
 Hedged and apart from the outer world, an island of the blest 
 among the seas. 
 
 There is an outer world, and there is an inner centre ; 
 
348 PROVERBIAL PHILOSOPHY. [series ii. 
 
 And many varying rings concentric round the self. 
 
 For, first, about a man, — after his communion with heaven, — 
 
 Is found the helpmate even as himself, the wife of his vows 
 and his affections : 
 
 See then that ye love in faith, scorning petty jealousies, 
 
 For Satan spoileth too much love, by souring it w r ith doubts ; 
 
 See that intimacy die not to indifference, nor anxiety sink 
 into moroseness, 
 
 And tend ye well the mutual minds bound in a copaj tner- 
 ship for life. 
 
 Next of those concentric circles, radiating widely in circum- 
 ference, 
 
 Wheel in wheel, and wmrld in world, — come the band of 
 children : 
 
 A tender nest of soft young hearts, each to be separately stu- 
 died, 
 
 A curious eager flock of minds, to be severally tamed and 
 tutored. 
 
 And a man, blest with these, hath made his own society, 
 
 He is independent of the world, hanging on his friends more 
 loosely. 
 
 For the little faces around his hearth are friends enow for 
 him, 
 
 If he seek others, it is for sake of these, and less for his ow r n 
 pleasure. 
 
 What companionship so sw'eet, yea, who can teach so well 
 
 As these pure budding intellects, and bright unsullied hearts ? 
 
 What voice so musical as theirs, what visions of elegance so 
 comely, 
 
 What thoughts and hopes and holy prayers, can others cause 
 like these 1 
 
 If ye count society for pastime, — what happier recreation 
 than a nursling, 
 
 Its winning ways, its prattling tongue, its innocence and 
 mirth 1 
 
SERIES II. J 
 
 OF SOCIETY. 
 
 349 
 
 1 
 
 Tf ye count society for good, — how fair a field is here, 
 
 To guide these souls to God, and multiply thyself for heaven ! 
 
 And this sweet social commerce with thy children, growetli 
 as their growth, 
 
 Unless thou fail of duty, or have weaned them by* thine 
 absence. 
 
 Keep them near thee, rear them well, guide, correct, instruct 
 them : 
 
 And be the playmate of their games, the judge in their com- 
 plainings. 
 
 So shall the maiden and the youth love thee as their sympa- 
 thizing friend, 
 
 And bring their joys to share with thee, their sorrows for 
 consoling: 
 
 Yea, their inmost hopes shall yearn to thee for counsel, 
 
 They will not hide their very loves if thou hast won their 
 trust ; 
 
 But, even as man and woman, shall they gladly seek their 
 father, 
 
 Feeling yet as children feel, though void of fear in honor: 
 
 And thou shalt be a Nestor in the camp, the just and good 
 old man, 
 
 Hearty still, though full of years, and held the friend of all ; 
 
 No secret shall be kept from thee ; for if ill, thy wisdom may 
 repair it : 
 
 If well, thy praise is precious ; and they would not miss that 
 prize. 
 
 O the blessing of a home, where old and young mix kindly, 
 
 The young unawed, the old unchilled, in unreserved com- 
 munion ! 
 
 O that refuge from the world, when a stricken son or 
 daughter 
 
 May seek with confidence of love, a father’s hearth and 
 heart ; 
 
350 
 
 PROVERBIAL PHILOSOPHY. [series ii. 
 
 Sure of a welcome, though others cast them out ; of kind- 
 ness, though men scorn them ; 
 
 And finding there the last to blame, the earliest to commend. 
 
 Come unto me, my son, if sin shall have tempted thee astray, 
 
 I will not chide thee like the rest, but help thee to return ; 
 
 Come unto me, my son, if men rebuke and mock thee, 
 
 There always shall be one to bless, — for 1 am on thy side ! 
 
 Alas, — and bitter is their loss, the parents and the children, 
 
 Who, loving up and down the world, have missed each 
 other’s friendship. 
 
 Haply, it had grown of careless life, for years go swiftly by ; 
 
 Or sprang of too much carefulness, that drank up all the 
 streams : 
 
 Haply, sullen disappointment came and quenched the fire; 
 
 Haply, sternness or misrule, crushed or warped the feelings. 
 
 Then, ill-combined in tempers, they learnt not each the 
 other ; 
 
 The growing child grew out of love, and drew the breath of 
 fear ; 
 
 The youth ill-trained renounced his fears, and made a league 
 with cunning ; 
 
 And so those hardened men were foes, that should have been 
 chief friends. 
 
 Where was the cause, the mutual cause 1 O hunt it out to 
 kill it: 
 
 And what the cure, the simple cure 1 — A mutual flash of love. 
 
 For dull estrangement’s daily air froze up those early sym- 
 pathies 
 
 By cold continuance in apathy, or cutting winds of censure ; 
 
 It was a slow process, which any fleeting hour could have 
 melted ; 
 
 But every hour duly came and passed without the sun. 
 
 Caution, care, and dry distrust, obscured each other’s mind, 
 
 Till both those gardens rich to yield, were rank with many 
 weeds : 
 
SERIES II.] 
 
 OF SOCIETY. 
 
 351 
 
 And doubt, a hidden worm, gnawed at the root of their So- 
 ciety, 
 
 They lacked of mutual confidence, and lived in mutual 
 dread. 
 
 Judge me, many fathers ; and hearken to my counsel, many 
 sons ; 
 
 I come with good in either hand, to reconcile contentions : 
 
 For better friends can no man have, than those whom God 
 hath given, 
 
 And he that hath despised the gift, thought ill of that he 
 knew not. 
 
 But be ye wiser — (I speak unto the sons), — and win paternal 
 friendships, 
 
 Cultivate their kindness, seek them out with honor, and be 
 the screening Japheth to their failings : 
 
 And be ye wiser — (I speak unto the fathers), — gain those 
 filial comrades, 
 
 Cherish their reasonable converse, and look not with cold- 
 ness on your children. 
 
 For the friendship of a child is the brightest gem set upon 
 the circlet of Society, 
 
 A jewel worth a world of pains, — a jewel seldom seen. 
 
 The third cycle on the waters, another of those rings upon 
 the onyx, 
 
 A further definite broad zone, holdeth kith and kin : 
 
 A motley band of many tribes, and under various banners ; 
 
 The intimate and strangers, the known and loved, or only 
 seen for loathing : 
 
 Some, dear for their deserts, shall honor and have honor of 
 relationship, 
 
 Some, despising duties, will add to it both burden and dis- 
 grace. 
 
 A man’s nearest kin are oftentimes far other than his dearest, 
 
 Yet in the season of atliiction those will haste to help him. 
 
352 PROVERBIAL PHILOSOPHY. [series ii. 
 
 For, note thou this, the providence of God hath bound up 
 families together. 
 
 To mutual aid and patient trial ; yea, those ties are strong. 
 
 Friends are ever dearer in thy wealth, but relations to be 
 trusted in thy need, 
 
 For these are God’s appointed way, and those the choice 
 of man. 
 
 There is lower warmth in kin, but smaller truth in friends, 
 
 The latter show more surface, and the first have more of 
 depth. 
 
 Relations rally to the rescue, even in estrangement and ne- 
 glect, 
 
 Where friends will have fled at thy defeat, even after promi- 
 ses and kindness. 
 
 For friends come and go, the whim that bound may loose 
 them, 
 
 But none can dissever a relationship, and Fate hath tied the 
 knot. 
 
 Wide, and edged with shadowy bounds, a distant boulevard 
 to the city 
 
 The common crowd of social life is buzzing round about: 
 That is as the outer court, with all defences levelled, 
 
 Ranged around a man’s own fortress, and his father’s house. 
 For many friends go in and out, and praise thee finding pas- 
 ture, 
 
 And some are honey-comb to-day who turn to gall to-mor- 
 row : 
 
 And many a garrulous acquaintance with his frequent visit 
 Will spend his leisure to thy cost selling dullness dearly : 
 
 For the idle call is a heavy tax, where time is counted gold, 
 And even in the day of relaxation, haply he may spare his 
 presence, — 
 
 He found himself alone, and came to talk, — till they that 
 hear are tired : 
 
SERIES II.J 
 
 OF SOCIETY. 
 
 353 
 
 Let the man bethink him of an errand : that his face be not 
 unwelcome. 
 
 But many friends there be both well and wisely greeted, 
 
 Gladly are they hailed upon the hills, and are chidden that 
 they come so seldom. 
 
 Of such are the eariy recollections, school friendships that 
 have thriven to grey hairs, 
 
 And veteran men are young once more, and talk of boyish 
 pranks ; 
 
 And such, yet older on the list, are those who loved thy 
 father, 
 
 Thy father’s friend, and thine, who tendereth thee tried love : 
 
 Such also, many gentle hearts, whom thou hast known too 
 lately, 
 
 Hastening now to learn their worth, and chary of those 
 minutes ; 
 
 And such thy faithful pastor, coming to thy home with 
 peace ; — 
 
 Greet the good man heartily, — and bid thy children bless 
 him ! 
 
 Many thoughts, many thoughts, — who can catch them all ? 
 
 The best are ever swiftest winged, the duller lag behind : 
 
 For behold in these vast themes, my mind is as a forest of 
 the West, 
 
 And flocking pigeons come in clouds, and bend the groaning 
 branches ; 
 
 Here for a rest, then off and away, — they have sped to other 
 climes, 
 
 And leave me to my peace once more, a holiday from thoughts. 
 
 I dare not lure them back, for the mighty subject of Society 
 
 Would tempt to many a hackneyed note in many a weary 
 key ; 
 
 Sage warnings, stout advice, experiences ever to be learned. 
 
 The foolish floatiness of vanity, and solemn trumperies of 
 pride, — 
 
 30 * 
 
354 
 
 PROVERBIAL PHILOSOPHY. [series ii. 
 
 Economy, the poor man’s mint, — extravagance, the rich 
 man’s pitfall, 
 
 Harmful copings with the better, and empty-headed apings 
 of the worse, 
 
 Circumstance and custom, sympathies, antipathies, diverse 
 kinds of conversation, 
 
 Vapid pleasures, the weariness of gaiety, the strife and bustle 
 of the world, 
 
 Home comforts, the miseries of style, the cobweb lines of 
 etiquette, 
 
 The hollowness of courtesies and substance of deceits, — 
 idleness, business, and pastime, — 
 
 The multitude of matters to be done, the when, and where, 
 and how, 
 
 And varying shades of characters, to do, undo, or miss them, — 
 
 All these, and many more alike, thick converging fancies, 
 
 Flit in throngs about my theme, as honey-bees at even to 
 their hive. 
 
 Find an end or make one : these seeds are dragon’s teeth : 
 
 Sown thoughts grow to things, and fill that field, the world: 
 
 Many wise have gone before, and used the sickle well ; 
 
 Who can find a corner now, where none have bound the 
 sheaves 'l 
 
 So, other some may reap : I do but glean and gather : 
 
 My sorry handful hath been culled after the ripe harvest of 
 Society. 
 
 OF SOLITUDE. 
 
 Who hath known his brother, or found him in his freedom 
 unrestrained 1 
 
 Even he whose hidden glance hath watched his deepest Soli- 
 tude. 
 
 For we walk the world in domino, putting on characters and 
 habits, 
 
r 
 
 series ii.] OF SOLITUDE. 355 
 
 And wear a social Janus mask, while others stand around, 
 
 I speak not of the hypocrite, nor dream of meant deceptions 
 But of that quick unconscious change, whereof the best 
 know most. 
 
 For mind hath its influence on mind ; and no man is free but 
 when alone ; 
 
 Yea, let a dog be watching thee, its eye will tend to thy 
 restraint. 
 
 Self-possession cannot be so perfect, with another intellect 
 beside thee, 
 
 It is not as a natural result, but rather the educated produce. 
 The presence of a second spirit must control thine own. 
 
 And throw it off its equipoise of peace, to balance by an effort. 
 The common minds of common men know of this but little, 
 What then ? they know nothing of themselves : I speak to 
 those who know. 
 
 The consciousness that some are hearing, cometh as a care, 
 The sense that some are watching near, bindeth thee to 
 caution ; 
 
 And the tree of tender nerves shrinketh as a touched mi- 
 mosa. 
 
 Drooping like a plant in drought, with half its strength de- 
 cayed. 
 
 There are antipathies warning from the many, and sympa- 
 thies drawing to the some, 
 
 But merchant-minds have crushed the first, and cannot feel 
 the latter: 
 
 Whereas to the quickened apprehension of a keen and spi- 
 ritual intellect, 
 
 Antipathies are galling, and sympathies oppress, and solitude 
 is quiet. 
 
 He that dwelleth mainly by himself, heedeth most of others, 
 But they that live in crowds, think chiefly of themselves, 
 There is indeed a selfish seeming, where the anchorite liveth 
 alone, 
 
 , 
 
356 PROVERBIAL PHILOSOPHY. [series ii. 
 
 But probe his thoughts, — they travel far, dreaming for ever 
 of the world : 
 
 And there is an apparent generosity, when a man mixeth 
 freely with his fellows, 
 
 But prove his mind by day and night, his thoughts are all of 
 self: 
 
 The world, inciting him to pleasures, or relentlessly provok- 
 ing him to toil, 
 
 Is full of anxious rivals, each with a difference of interest; 
 
 So must he plan and practise for himself, even as his own 
 best friend ; 
 
 And the gay soul of dissipation never had a thought un- 
 selfish. 
 
 The hermit standeth out of strife, abiding in a contemplative 
 calmness ; 
 
 What shall he contemplate, — himself? a meagre theme for 
 musing : 
 
 He hath cast off follies, and kept aloof from cares ; a man of 
 simple wants ; 
 
 God and his soul, these are his excuse, a just excuse for soli- 
 tude. 
 
 But he carried with him to his cell the half-dead feelings of 
 humanity ; 
 
 There were they rested and refreshed ; and he yearned 
 once more on men. 
 
 Where is the wise, or the learned, or the good, that sought 
 not solitude for thinking, 
 
 And from seclusion’s secret vale brought forth his precious 
 fruits ?— 
 
 Forests of Aricia, your deep shade mellowed Numa’s wis- 
 dom, 
 
 Peaceful gardens of Vaucluse, ye nourished Petrarch’s love ; 
 
 Solitude made a Cincinnatus, ripening the hero and the pa- 
 triot, 
 
series ii.J OF SOLITUDE. 357 
 
 And taught De Stael self-knowledge, even in the damp Bas- 
 tile ; (27) 
 
 It fostered the piety of Jerome, matured the labors of Augus- 
 tine, 
 
 And gave imperial Charles religion for ambition : 
 
 That which Scipio praised, that which Alfred practised, 
 Which fired Demosthenes to eloquence, and fed the mind of 
 Milton, 
 
 Which quickened zeal, nurtured genius, found out the secret 
 things of science, 
 
 Helped repentance, shamed folly, and comforted the good 
 with peace, — 
 
 By all men just and wise, by all things pure and perfect, 
 
 How truly, Solitude, art thou the fostering nurse of great- 
 ness ! 
 
 Enough ; the theme is vast ; sear me these necks of Hydra: 
 What shall drive away the thoughts flocking to this carcass ! 
 Yea, — that all which man may think, hath long been said of 
 Solitude ; 
 
 For many wise have proved and preached its evils and its 
 good. 
 
 I cannot add, — I will not steal ; enough, for all is spoken : 
 
 Yet heed thou these for practice and discernment among 
 men. 
 
 There are pompous talkers, solemn, oracular, and dull : 
 Track them from society to solitude ; and there ye find them 
 fools. 
 
 There are light-hearted jesters, taking up with company for 
 pastime; 
 
 IIow speed they when alone ? — serious, wise, and thoughtful. 
 And wherefore 1 both are actors, saving when in solitude, 
 There they live their truest life, ar.d ail things show sincere: 
 But the fool by pomposity of speech striveth to be counted 
 wise, 
 
358 PROVERBIAL PHILOSOPHY. [series n. 
 
 And the wise for holiday and pleas? nee, playeth with the 
 fool’s best bauble. 
 
 The solemn seemer, as a ru.3, will be found more ignorant 
 and shallow 
 
 Than those who laugh both oud and long, content to hide 
 their knowledge. 
 
 For thee ; seek thou Solitude, but neither in excess, nor mo- 
 rosely ; 
 
 Seek her for her precious things, and not of thine own pride. 
 
 For there, separate from a crowd, the still small voice will 
 talk with thee, 
 
 Truth’s whisper, heard and echoed by responding conscience ; 
 
 There, shalt thou gather up the ravelled skeins of feeling, 
 
 And mend the nets of usefulness, and rest awhile for duties; 
 
 There, shalt thou hive thy lore, and eat the fruits of study, 
 
 For Solitude delighteth well to feed on many thoughts; 
 
 There as thou sittest peaceful, communing with fancy, 
 
 The precious poetry of life shall gild its leaden cares ; 
 
 There, as thou walkest by the sea, beneath the gentle stars, 
 
 Many kindling seeds of good will sprout within thy soul ; 
 
 Thou shalt weep in Solitude, — thou shalt pray in Solitude, 
 
 Thou shalt sing for joy of heart, and praise the grace of Soli- 
 tude. 
 
 Pass on, pass on ! — for this is the path of Wisdom : 
 
 God make thee prosper on the way: I leave thee well with 
 Solitude. 
 
 THE END. 
 
 Every beginning is shrouded in a mist, those vague ideas 
 beyond, 
 
 And the traveller setteth on his journey, oppressed with 
 many thoughts, 
 
series ii. J THE END. 359 
 
 Balancing his hopes and fears, and looking for some order in 
 the chaos, 
 
 Some secret path between the cliffs, that seem to fear his 
 way : 
 
 So he commenceth at a clue, unravelling its tangled skein, 
 
 And boldly speedeth on to thread the labyrinth before him. 
 
 Then as he gropeth in the darkness, light is attendant on his 
 steps, 
 
 He walketh straight in fervent faith, and difficulties vanish 
 at his presence, 
 
 The very flashing of his sword scattereth those shadowy 
 foes ; 
 
 Confident and sanguine of success, he goeth forth conqueriug 
 and to conquer. 
 
 Every middle is burdened with a weariness, — to have to go 
 as far again, — 
 
 And Diligence is sick at heart, and Enterprise foot-sore : 
 
 That which began in zeal, bursting as a fresh-dug spring, 
 
 Goeth on doggedly in toil, and hath no help of nature : 
 
 Then, is need of moral might, to wrestle with the animal re- 
 action, 
 
 Still to fight, with few men left, and still though faint pur- 
 suing. 
 
 The middle is a marshy flat, whereon the wheels go heavily, 
 
 With clouds of doubt above, and ruts of discouragement be- 
 low : 
 
 Press on, sturdy traveller, yet a league, and yet a league ! 
 
 While every step is binding wings on thy victorious feet. 
 
 Every end is happiness, the glorious consummation of de- 
 sign,. 
 
 The perils past, the fears annulled, the journey at its close: 
 
 And the traveller resteth in complacency, home-returned at 
 last : 
 
360 PROVERBIAL PHILOSOPHY. [series m. 
 
 Work done may claim its wages, the goal gained hath won 
 its prize. 
 
 While the labor lasted, while the race was running, 
 
 Many-times the sinews ached, and half-refused the struggle ; 
 
 But now, all is quietness, a pleasant hour given to repose ; 
 
 Calmness in the retrospect of good, and calmness in the 
 prospect of a blessing. 
 
 Hope was glad in the beginning, and fear was sad midway, 
 
 But sweet fruition cometh in the end, a harvest safe and sure. 
 
 That which is, can never not have been : facts are solid as 
 the pyramids : 
 
 A thing done is written in the rock, yea, with a pen of iron. 
 
 Uncertainty no more can scare, the proof is seen complete, 
 
 Nor accident render unaccomplished, for the deed is finished. 
 
 Thus the end shall crown the work, with grace, unto the 
 tops tone, 
 
 And the work shall triumph in its crown, with peace, peace, 
 unto the builder. 
 
 I have written, as other some of old, in quaint and meaning 
 phrase, 
 
 Of many things for either world, a crowd of facts and fan- 
 cies : 
 
 And will ye judge me, men of mind ?— judge in kindly calm- 
 ness ; 
 
 For bitter words of haste or hate have often been repented. 
 
 Deep dreaming upon surface reading : imagery crowded over 
 argument ; 
 
 Order less considered in the multitude of thoughts : this wit- 
 nessing is just ; 
 
 Scripture gave the holier themes, the well turned words, and 
 wisdom ; 
 
 While Fancy on her swallow’s wing skimmed those deeper 
 waters. 
 
 And wilt thou say with shrewdness, — He hath burnished up 
 old truths, 
 
SERIES II. J 
 
 THE END. 
 
 361 
 
 But where he seemed to fashion new, the novelty was false ? 
 
 Alas, for us in these last days, our elders reaped the harvest; 
 
 Alas, for all men in all times, who glean so many tares ! 
 
 That which is true, how should it be new ; for 1 am young 
 in wisdom. 
 
 Nevertheless, I have spoken at my best, according to the 
 mercies given me, 
 
 Of high, and deep, and famous things, of Evil, or of Good.(2s) 
 
 I have told of Errors near akin to Truth, and wholesomes 
 linked with poison ; 
 
 Of subtle Uses in the humblest, and the deep-laid plots of 
 Pride : 
 
 I have praised Wisdom, comforted thy Hope, and proved to 
 thee the folly of complainings; 
 
 Hinted at the hazard of an influence, and turned thee from 
 the terrors of Ambition. 
 
 I have shown thee thy captivity to Law ; yet bade thee hide 
 Humilities ; 
 
 I have lil ted the curtains of Memory ; and smoothed the soft 
 pillow of Rest. 
 
 Experience had his sober hour ; and Character its keen ap- 
 preciation ; 
 
 And holy Anger stood sublime, where Hatred fell condemned. 
 
 Prayer spake the mind of God, even in his own good words ; 
 
 And Zeal, with kindness warmly mixt, allied him to Discre- 
 tion. 
 
 I taught thee that nothing is a Trifle, even to the laugh of 
 Recreation : 
 
 I led thee with the Train of Religion, to be dazzled at the 
 name of the Triune. 
 
 Thought confessed his unseen fears ; and Speech declared 
 his triumphs: 
 
 I sang the blessedness of books; and commended the pru- 
 dence of a letter ; 
 
 Riches found their room, either unto honor — or despising ; 
 
 31 
 
362 PROVERBIAL PHILOSOPHY. [series ii. 
 
 Inventions took their lower place, for all things come of God. 
 
 I scorned Ridicule ; nor would humble me for Praise ; for I 
 had gained Self-knowledge : 
 
 And pleaded fervently for Brutes, who suffer for man’s sin. 
 
 Then, I rose to Friendship ; and bathed in all the tenderness 
 of Love ; p . 
 
 Knew the purity of Marriage : and blessed the face of Chil- 
 dren. 
 
 And whereas by petulance or pride, I had haplv said some 
 evil, 
 
 Mine after-thought was Tolerance, to bear the faults of all : 
 
 Many faults, ill to hear, bred the theme of Sorrow ; 
 
 Many virtues, dear to see, induced the gush of Joy. 
 
 Thus, for a while, as leaving thee in joy, was I loath to break 
 that spell ; 
 
 I roamed to other things and thoughts, and fashioned other 
 books. 
 
 But in a season of reflection, after many days, 
 
 A thought stood before me in its garment of the past, — and 
 lo, a legion with it ! 
 
 They came in thronging bands, — I could not fight nor fly 
 them, — 
 
 And so they took me to their tent, the prisoner of thoughts. 
 
 Then, I bade thee greet me well, and heed my cheerful 
 counsels ; 
 
 For every day we have a Friend, who changeth not with 
 time. 
 
 Gladly did I speak of my commission, for I felt it graven on 
 my heart, 
 
 And could not hold my wiser peace, but magnified mine 
 office. 
 
 Mystery had left her echoes in my mind, and I discoursed 
 Iier secret : 
 
series ii.] THE END. 363 
 
 And thence I turned aside to Man, and judged him for his 
 Gifts. 
 
 Beauty, noble thesis, had a world of sweets to sing of, 
 
 And dated all her praise from God, the birthday of the soul. 
 
 Thence grew Fame ; and Flattery came like Agag; 
 
 But this was as the nauseous dregs of that inspiring cup; 
 
 Forth from Flattery sprang in opposition harsh and dull 
 Neglect ; 
 
 And kind Contentment’s gentle face to smile away the sad- 
 ness. 
 
 Life, all buoyancy and light, and Death, that sullen silence, 
 
 Sped the soul to Immortality, the final home of man. 
 
 Then, in metaphysical review, passed a triple troop, 
 
 Swift Ideas, sounding Names, and heavily armed Things; 
 
 Faith spake of her achievements even among men her 
 brethren ; 
 
 And Honesty, with open mouth, would vindicate himself; 
 
 The retrospect of social life had many truths to tell of, 
 
 And then I left thee to thy Solitude, learning there of Wis- 
 dom. 
 
 Friend and scholar, lover of the right, mine equal kind com- 
 panion, — 
 
 I prize indeed thy favor, and these sympathies are dear: 
 
 Still, if thy heart be little with me, wot thou well, my 
 brother, 
 
 I canvass not the smile of praise, nor dread the frowns of 
 censure. 
 
 Through many themes in many thoughts, have we held 
 sweet converse ; 
 
 But God alone be praised for mind ! He only is sufficient. 
 
 And every thought in every theme by prayer had been estab- 
 lished ; 
 
 Who then should fear the face of man, when God hath 
 answered prayer? 
 
 I speak it not in arrogance of heart, but humbly, as of justice, 
 
364 PROVERBIAL PHILOSOPHY. [series ii. 
 
 I think it not in vanity of soul, but tenderly, for gratitude, — 
 
 God hath blessed my mind, and taught it many truths; 
 
 And I have echoed some to thee, in weakness, yet sincerely : 
 
 Yea, though ignorance and error shall have marred those 
 lessons of His teaching. 
 
 I stand in mine own Master’s praise, or fall to His reproof. 
 
 If thou lovest, help me with thy blessing ; if otherwise, 
 mine shall be for thee ; 
 
 If thou appro vest, heed my words; if otherwise, in kind- 
 ness be my teacher. 
 
 Many mingled thoughts for self have warped my better aim, 
 
 Many motives tempted still, to toil for pride or praise ; 
 
 Alas, I have loved pride and praise, like others worse or 
 worthier ; 
 
 But hate and fear them now T , as snakes that fastened on my 
 hand : 
 
 Scaevola burnt both hand and crime ! but Paul flung the 
 viper on the fire : 
 
 He shook it off, and felt no harm : so be it ! — I renounce 
 them. 
 
 Rebuke then, if thou wilt rebuke, — but neither hastily nor 
 harshly; 
 
 Or, if thou wilt commend, be it honestly, of right; I vvor t k 
 for God and Good. 
 
NOTES. 
 
 FIRST SERIES. 
 
 O) “ And thine enfranchised fellows hail thy white victorious 
 sails.” Page 11. 
 
 See the story of Theseus, as detailed in Dryden’s transla- 
 tion of Plutarch, Life I. 
 
 ( 2 ) “ Who hath companied a vision from the horn or ivory 
 gate ?” Page 14. 
 
 Virg., iEn.VL, 894-897. 
 
 “Sunt genii nae somni portie ; quarum altera fertur 
 Cornea ; qua veris facilis datur exitus umbris ; 
 
 Altera candenti perfecta nitens elephanto ; 
 
 Sed falsa ad ccelum mittunt insomnia Manes.” 
 
 ( 3 ) “ The seawort floating on the waves,” &rc. Page 17. 
 
 The common sea weeds on the shores of Europe, the alg© 
 and fuci, after having, for ages, been considered as synony- 
 mous with everything vile and worthless, have, in modern 
 times, been found to be abundant in iodine, the only known 
 cure for scrofula, and kelp, so useful for many manufactures. 
 Horace has signalized his ignorance of this fact in Od. III. 
 31 * 
 
366 PROVERBIAL PHILOSOPHY. [series i. 
 
 17, 10, “alga inutili,” &c. ; and, in II. Sat. 5, 8, ironically 
 
 saying, that “ virtus, nisi cum re, vilior algft est.” 
 
 Virgil also has put into the mouth of Thyrsis, in Eel. VH., 
 42. 
 
 “ Projecta vilior alga.” 
 
 ( 4 ) “ Hath the crocus yielded up its bulb ?" &rc. Page 18. 
 
 The autumnal crocus, or coiehicum, which consists of 
 little more than a deep bulbous root, and a delicate lilac 
 flower (see page 152), produces a substance which is called 
 veratrin, and has been used with signal success in the cure 
 of gout and similar diseases. A few lines lower down, with 
 reference to the elm, I would remark, that no use has yet 
 been discovered in the principle called “ulmine.” 
 
 “The boon of far Peru” is the potatoe. 
 
 (5) “ When acorns give out fragrant drink," &,-c. Page 18. 
 
 At a meeting of the Medico-Botanical Society (in 1837), 
 the President introduced to the notice of the members a new 
 beverage which very much resembled coffee, and was made 
 from acorns peeled, chopped, and roasted. Bread made from 
 sawdust, is certainly not very palatable, but no one can 
 doubt that it is far more sweet and wholesome than “ no 
 bread in a famine, this discovery, which has passed almost 
 sub silentio, would prove to be of the highest importance. 
 The darnel, it may be observed in passing, is highly poison- 
 ous, and a proper opposite to the lotus. 
 
 ( 6 ) “ He, who seeming old in youth," 6rc. Page 26. 
 
 Compare Isa. lii., 14, “ His visage was so marred more than 
 any man, and his form more than the sons of men,” with 
 the idea implied in the observation, John viii, 57, “Thou art 
 not yet fifty years old, and hast thou seen Abraham 1" Our 
 Lord was then thirty-three, or, according to some chronolo- 
 gists, even younger. 
 
r 
 
 series i.] NOTES. 3G7 
 
 ( 7 ) “ A sentence hath formed a character , and a character 
 subdued a kingdom .” Page 31. 
 
 A better instance of this could scarcely be found than in 
 the late Lord Exmouth, who first directed his thoughts to 
 the sea from a casual remark made by a groom. See his 
 Life. 
 
 ( e ) “ That small cavern ,” &c. Page 33. 
 
 The pineal gland, a small oval about the size of a pea, 
 situated nearly in the centre of the brain, and generally 
 found to contain, even in children, some particles of gravel. 
 Galen, and after him, Des Cartes, imagined it the seat of the 
 soul. 
 
 ( 9 ) “ The Greek hath , surnamed , order.” Page 41. 
 
 K dffjxog : The Latins also, who rarely can show a beauti- 
 ful idea which they have not borrowed from Greece, have 
 made a similar application of the term “mundus” to the 
 fabric of the world. 
 
 (10) “ To this our day, the Rechabite wanteth not a man,” Src. 
 
 Page 5U. 
 
 I have heard itrelated of Wolfe, the missionary, that when 
 in Arabia, he fell in with a small wandering tribe who re- 
 fused to drink wine, not on Mohammedan principles, but 
 because it had in old time been “ forbidden by Jonadab, the 
 son of Rech ib, their father.” Compare Jeremiah xxxv., 19, 
 “ Jonadab, the son of Rechab, shall not want a man to stand 
 before me for ever.” It will be found in Mr. Wolfe’s 
 Journal. 
 
 (11) “ Of Rest.” Page 50. 
 
 A very obvious objection to the views of Rest here given 
 has probably occurred to more than one religious reader of 
 
368 PROVERBIAL PHILOSOPHY. [series h. 
 
 the English Bible i “ there remaineth a rest for the people of 
 God doubtless intending the heavenly inheritance. If the 
 Greek Testament is referred to (Heb iv., 9) the word translat- 
 ed “rest” will be found to be cra/3 Parian 6s ; a sabbatism, 
 or perpetual sabbath, a rest indeed from evil, but very far 
 from being a rest from good : an eternal act of ecstatic intel- 
 lectual worship, or temporary acts in infinite series. It is 
 true that another word, KaTaxavais, implying complete ces- 
 sation, occurs in the context ; but this is used of the earthly 
 image, Joshua’s rest in Canaan ; the material rest of earth 
 becomes in the skies a spiritual sabbath ; although I am 
 ready to admit that the apostle goes on to argue from the 
 word of the type. In passing, let us observe, by way of 
 showing the uncertainty of trusting to any isolated expres- 
 sion of the present scriptural version, that there are no less 
 than six several words of various meaning which in our 
 New Testament are all indifferently rendered rest; as in 
 Matt, xii., 43, dva-rravcis : in John xi., 13, koi prims • in Heb. 
 iii., 11, Kardnavais : in Acts ix., 31, ctpfji/rj : in 2 Thess. i., 7, 
 avcaig : and in Heb. iv., 9, aaftfiaTiapos. The Ko'iprja c s is, I 
 apprehend, what is generally meant by rest; so wishes 
 Byron’s Giaour to “sleep without the dream of what he 
 was;” so he who in life “loathed the languor of repose,” 
 avows that he “ would not, if he might, be blest, and sought 
 no paradise but Rest.” Such, at least, is not the Christian’s 
 sabbath, which indeed fully agrees, as might be expected, 
 with metaphysical inquiries: a good spirit cannot rest from 
 activity in good, nor an evil one from activity in evil. Rest, 
 in its common slothful acceptation, is not possible, or is at 
 any rate very improbable, in the case of spiritual creatures. 
 
 ( 1? ) “ Calm night that breedeth thoughts .” Page 50. 
 
 TLv<pp6vrj. Another delicate example of the Greek elegance 
 in mind and language 
 
series i.J NOTES. 369 
 
 (13) “ Proteus ,” <§*c. Page 59. 
 
 Compare Virgil, Geor. IV., 406, 412. 
 
 “ Turn variae eludent species atque ora ferarum. 
 
 Fiet enitn subito sus horridus, atraque tigris, 
 Squunosusque draco, et fulva cervice leama; 
 
 Aut acrem flammae sonitum dabit, atque ita vinclis 
 Excidet; aut in aquas tenues dilapsus abibit. 
 
 Sed, quanto ille magis formas se vertet in omnes, 
 
 Tanto, nate, magis contende tenacia vincla.” 
 
 (14) “ We wait, like the sage of Salamis, to see what the end 
 
 will bey Page 63. 
 
 In allusion to the well-known anecdote of Solon at the 
 court of Croesus. 
 
 (15) “ Crowned with a rainbow of emerald , the green memorial 
 
 of earthy Page 84. 
 
 See Rev. iv., 3, “There was a rainbow round about the 
 throne, ki sight like unto an emerald it may be a fanciful, 
 but it is a pleasing idea, that this emerald rainbow was, as it 
 were, a reflection of the earth, which “God so loved,” and 
 whose universal robe is green. 
 
 ( 16 ) “ Like the Parthiany Page 94. 
 
 Compare Horace, Od. I., 19, 12, “ Versis animosum equis 
 Parthum,” and Virg., Geo. III., 31, “Parthus fidens fuga, ver- 
 sisque sagittis,” with Psalm lxxviii., 9, “ The children of 
 Ephraim carrying bows, who turned themselves back in the 
 day of battle.’.’ 
 
 (17) “ The giant king of palms y Page 95. 
 
 The magnificent Talipat palm, the column of which fre- 
 quently exceeds one hundred feet in height, whose leaves 
 are each thirty feet in breadth, and whose single crop of 
 fruit feasts a whole country. 
 
370 
 
 PROVERBIAL PHILOSOPHY. [series i. 
 
 ( 19 ) “ It is only the hand of the redeemed who can tell thee the 
 fullness of that name.” Page 100. 
 
 Strictly speaking, only a fallen being is capable of re-ligion , 
 a bringing or binding hack of the affections to their proper 
 object. An angel, or other pure intelligence, can have no 
 sympathies with the fallen, as such, and therefore can know 
 nothing of re-ligion, as such, his worship is allegiance or 
 ligeance. 
 
 ( 19 ) “ Of a Trinity .” Page 100. 
 
 The candid reader who dissents from the doctrine of the 
 Trinity, will have the goodness to remember, that the ques- 
 tion itself stands on far other and higher grounds than those 
 of mere analogy ; this observation is made in case the slight 
 argument here urged should seem weak and unsatisfactory 
 to a reflective mind : it is nothing more than an addition pro 
 lucro. It does not at all affect the argument that the three 
 elements of all things should be now unknown or unsus- 
 pected. The idea thrown out may one day be found to be 
 correct ; and in fact it will be very difficult to prove the 
 contrary, inasmuch as to an assertion of its falsity, “ready 
 answer cometh,” — wait until we know more. 
 
 (ao) “ The noonday light is a compound, the triune shadow of 
 Jehovah ,” Page 103. 
 
 The rainbow, which is light analysed, is but three colors, 
 blue, yellow, and red, with their intermediate shades. I 
 think no one of these can be mixed or made of others, and 
 in their union they produce colorless light. 
 
 (21) “ Upon whose lips the mystic bee,” &rc. Page 115. 
 
 The classical reader will not need to be reminded of the 
 omen that happened to the infant Pindar. 
 
series i.J NOTES. 371 
 
 (as) “ Let another Omar burn the full library of knowledge ." 
 Page 118. 
 
 The Alexandrian library, compiled by Ptolemy Euergetes, 
 contained 700,000 manuscripts, all of which were burnt by 
 the fanatical calif Omar. 
 
 ( 23 ) “ The strange skin garments cast upon the shore suggest 
 another hemisphere .” Page 129. 
 
 An anecdote I have somewhere heard of Columbus, who, 
 haring sailed as far as Flores, one of the western islands, 
 was induced to proceed further from hearing that savage 
 robes and weapons had been cast up by the sea, after the 
 prevalence of westerly gales. It will probably be met with 
 in Washington Irving’s Life of Columbus. 
 
 (24) “ The lichen . . . dying diggeth its own grave." 
 
 Page 129. 
 
 One of the great uses of these pioneers of vegetation is to 
 corrode and fret the smooth surface of the rocks, by an acid 
 which they generate during decomposition. 
 
 ( 25 ) “ Ridicule — the test of truth." Page 132. 
 
 One of the weakest points in the Shaftesbury philosophy, 
 which would weigh principles against puns. 
 
 ( 26 ) “ ji n d being but men , as men , ye own to all the sympathies 
 of manhood." Page 150. 
 
 The noble and masculine sentiment of Terence, which of 
 old electrified the whole theatre : 
 
 “ Homo sum, humani nihil a me alienum puto.” (**) 
 
 (**) “ Oanesa." Page 177. 
 
 The Elephant-headed god of prudence, who is invoked on 
 
r 
 
 372 PROVERBIAL PHILOSOPHY. [series i. 
 
 every occasion by the Hindoos. Kali, called also Durga, is a 
 destroying power. Kamala signifies “ lotus-like,” a type of 
 beauty, and one of the names of Lakshmi. Vishnu is the 
 great Preserver in the Brahmin triad : his incarnations are 
 called avatars. 
 
 ( 29 ) “ Q 0( i W M no t i ove thee less , because men love thee more.” 
 Page 176. 
 
 It may be scarcely necessary to remark, that the gist of the 
 argument in Matt, v., 11, “Blessed are ye, when men shall 
 revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of 
 evil against you,” lies in the “ falsely for my sake.” This 
 verse has all the characteristics of an epigram, — paradox, 
 brevity, and final satisfaction. 
 
 J 
 
NOTES 
 
 SECOND SERIES. 
 
 (i; “ Hunt with Aurengzcbe ,” <£e. Page 187. 
 
 The great Mogul ; who reigned in the seventeenth cen- 
 tury ; and was famous, amongst other things, for having all 
 but exterminated wild beasts from the region of Ilindoostnn ; 
 he effected this by surrounding the whole country with his 
 army, and then drawing to a focus with the animals in the 
 centre. Somerville, in the end of Book ii. of the Chase, 
 gives a spirited account of that mighty hunting: 
 
 “Now the loud trumpet sounds a charge. The shouts 
 Of eager hosts, through all the circling line, 
 
 And the wild howlings of the beasts within 
 Rend wide the welkin ; flights of arrows, winged 
 With death, and javelins launched from every arm, 
 
 Gall sore the brutal bands, with many a wound 
 Go*ed through and through.*' 
 
 (a) Tage 188. 
 
 Heraclitus and Democritus are severally known as the 
 crying and laughing philosophers : they tyj ify opposite seek- 
 ers after wisdom ; both being prejudiced Oy excess. Our age 
 of the world seems to have fallen upon the latter, which, 
 32 
 
374 PROVERBIAL PHILOSOPHY. [series ii. 
 
 with a protest against abuse, is certainly the wiser of the 
 two. “ The house of mourning is better than the house of 
 feasting,” for this influence, along with others of more 
 weight; viz. that it tends to a cheerful and calm reaction, 
 rather than to feelings of dullness and satiety. A few lines 
 further, “ the luxury of Capuan holidays,” alludes to Han- 
 nibal’s fatal rest after the battle of Cann®. 
 
 (3) Revelation xxi., 8. Page 189. 
 
 “ But the fearful, and the unbelieving, and the abominable, 
 and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idol- 
 a f 3rs, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake that 
 burneth with fire.” 
 
 ( 4 ) “ Deucalion flinging back the pebble in his flight fyc. 
 
 Page 197. 
 
 Descendunt ; velantque caput, tunicasque recingunt ; 
 
 Et jussos lapides sua post vestigia mittunt. 
 
 Saxa (quis hoc credat, nisi sit pro teste vetustas 1) 
 
 Ponere duritiein ccepere, suumque rigorem: &c. &c. 
 
 Inque brevi spatio, superorum munere, saxa 
 
 Missa viri inanibus faciem traxfhe virilem. 
 
 Ovid. Met ., lib. i. 
 
 (s) “ Copan and Palenque” &rc. Page 206. 
 
 The remains of these ancient cities, buried in the forests 
 of central America, have been recently made known to our 
 wonder in the entertaining Travels of Mr. J. L. Stephens. 
 A brief and apt quotation, to illustrate the line, occurs in 
 vol. i., p. 103. “* * Some fragments w’ith most elegant 
 designs, and some in workmanship equal to the finest monu- 
 ments of the Egyptians : one, displaced from its pedestal by 
 enormous roots : another locked in the close embrace of 
 branches of trees, and almost lifted out of the earth; an- 
 other, hurled to the ground, and bound down by huge vines 
 
series ii. J NOTES. 375 
 
 and creepers ; and one standing, with its altar before it, in a 
 grove of trees which grew around, seemingly to shade and 
 shroud it, as a sacred thing; in the solemn stillness of the 
 woods, it seemed a divinity mourning over a fallen people.” 
 
 ( 6 ) Page 235. 
 
 Corinna, a Theban lady, was once adjudged to have over- 
 come in verse her countryman, the deep-mouthed Pindar; 
 but she is credibly believed to have owed her success in 
 great measure to her beauty. Phryne (not the too celebrated 
 courtezan of Athens, but a Phryne of fairer fame) is men- 
 tioned as having been accused, like Socrates, of impiety 
 against heathenism, and like him also condemned to die: 
 however, the fairer witness of truth was fortunate enough to 
 escape martyrdom by unveiling her bosom to the judges, and 
 thereby influencing their sentence. Quintilian, Orat. lib. ii., c. 
 15, has this passage to our purpose. “ Et Phrynen * * * con- 
 spectu corporis, quod ilia, speciosissimum alioqui, diducta nu- 
 daverat tunica, putant periculo liberatam.” And Athenams, 
 xiii. 590, tells us that it was by the address and counsel of 
 Hyperides her advocate, that Trpoayay!bv avriiv e!g to! pcpavlg, 
 Kdl rspip pv.^ag rovg %iTwu!cKovg, yvpva re r. i ar!pva 
 7 roitjcag, he influenced the judges of the Areopagus to acquit 
 her. “Ionian Myrrha” is a character finely drawn by Byron 
 in his tragedy of Sardanapalus. 
 
 ( 7 ) “ Some Nircus of the camp ,” <$-c. Page 239. 
 
 Homer disposes very summarily of a personage who has 
 nothing to recommend him but his beauty. Nireus is men- 
 tioned only in one passage of the Iliad : lib. ii., G73. N pevg, 
 og KaWiGTog avrjp , &c. ; and it is significantly Added, 
 ’AAX’aXarradi/oj crjv : an epithet of double intention power- 
 less in troops, and imbecile in mind. 
 
376 PROVERBIAL PHILOSOPHY. [series ii. 
 
 ( 8 ) 1 Esdras iv , 13, et seg. Page 240. 
 
 Zorobabel holds argument before Darius, that “ Woman is 
 more powerful than wine or the king, but that Truth beareth 
 off the victory from woman.” He sets up beauty above all 
 earthly things, v., 32, “ O ye men, how can it be but women 
 should be strong, seeing they do thus 1” and it is small dis- 
 paragement, that Truth should overcome her; for ‘‘Great is 
 truth, and mighty above all things.” v., 41. 
 
 ( 9 ) Ezekiel xxviii., 12. Page 243. 
 
 “Thou sealest up the sum,” (otherwise to be rendered, 
 “ Thou art the standard of measures,”) “ full of wisdom, 
 and perfect in beauty.” It is quite fair, and according to 
 scriptural usage (compare Hosea xi., with Matt, ii., 15), to 
 take such a passage as this out of its context, as primarily 
 referable to a king of Tyrus, but in a higher sense applicable 
 to the King of Heaven. 
 
 (io) Page 244. 
 
 Eratostratus fired the temple of Diana at Ephesus, solely 
 to make himself a name : the incendiary certainly succeeded, 
 for he has come down to our times, famous (if in no other 
 way) at least for his criminal and foolish love of notoriety. 
 Pythagoras induced the vulgar to believe in his supernatural 
 qualifications, by immuring himself in a cavernous pit for 
 months, whence, returning with a ghastly aspect, he gave 
 out that he had been a visitor in Hades. As foi Empedocles* 
 few cannot have heard, that he leaped into Etna to make the 
 world imagine that he had vanished from its surface as a 
 god: unluckily, however, the volcano disgorged one of the 
 philosopher’s sandals, and proved at once the manner of his 
 death, and the quality of his mind ; ex pede Herculem. 
 
 ( n ) “ Ccesar's wife.” Page 246. 
 
 Pompeia, third wife of Julius Caesar, and divorced from 
 
SERIES II. J 
 
 NOTES. 
 
 377 
 
 him, according to Plutarch (see Langhorne’s fourth edition, 
 iv., 368), solely because “ he would have the chastity of 
 Caesar’s wife free even from suspicion ” 
 
 (12) Page 247. 
 
 The noble ode of Horace, lib. iii., 30, is a prophecy which 
 now can never fail. Ovid, also, in the Epilogue to his Meta- 
 morphoses, has a similar burst of assurance in fame. 
 
 Jamque opus exegi ; quod nec Jovis ira, nec ignes, 
 
 Nec poterit ferruin, nec edax abolere vetustas ; 
 
 Cum volet ilia dies, quae nil nisi corporis hujus 
 Jus habet, incerti spatium mihi fmiat revi: 
 
 Parte tamen meliore mei super alta perennis 
 Astra ferar: nomenque erit indelebile nostrum. 
 
 Cluaque patet domitis Romana potentia terris, 
 
 Ore legar populi ; perque omnia soecula fama 
 Si quid habent veri vatum priesagia vivam. 
 
 ( 13 ) Page 248. 
 
 Momus, a typification of the force of ridicule, was once 
 counted among the hierarchs of heathen mythology : but, as 
 he made game of everyone, he never found a friend ; and 
 when at length, in a gush of hypercriticism, lie presumed to 
 censure the peerless Mother of Beauty for awkwardness in 
 walking, the enraged celestials flung him from their sphere, 
 and sent the fallen spirit down to men. 
 
 ( 14 ; 1 Kings vii., 21. Page 271. 
 
 “He set the pillars in the porch of the temple; and he set 
 up the right pillar, and called the name theref Jachin [He 
 shall establish] : and he set up the left pillar ; and called the 
 name thereof Boaz [in it is strength]: and upon the top of 
 the pillars was lily-work.” 
 
 32* 
 
378 PROVERBIAL PHILOSOPHY. [series ii. 
 
 ( I5 ) Page 272. 
 
 An application of the story of Curtins (as given by Livy, 
 lib. vii., C), who leaped into a gulf, in the forum, because the 
 Aruspices had declared that it should never close until the 
 * most precious thing in Rome, “the strength of the city,” had 
 been flung into it. We are told that “equo, quain poterat 
 maxim6 ornato, insidentem, armatum se in specum imrni- 
 sisse.” 
 
 (i«) Page 274. 
 
 To drink with the throat of Crassus, may well be thought 
 to have passed into a proverb for inordinate lust of wealth : 
 for Orodes the Parthian, having overthrown him in battle, 
 cut off his head, and then, to satirize the insatiable nature 
 of his avarice, poured melted gold down iiis throat. The 
 evil dreams of Midas are as famous as his other well-earned 
 punishments ; and we are told that he died, in consequence 
 of taking too violent a remedy for delivering himself from 
 those nightly torments. 
 
 ( 17 ) Page 287. 
 
 Mr. Willis, in “Pencillings by the Way,” vol. i., p. 115, 
 gives a graphic account of the public burial-ground of 
 Naples. * * * “ There are three hundred and sixty-five 
 pits in this place, one of which is opened every day for the 
 dead of the city. They are thrown in without shroud or 
 c ffin, and the pit is sealed up at night for a year.” * * * 
 
 “ A d thus are flung into this noisome pit, like beasts, the 
 greater part of the population of this vast city, — the young 
 and old, the vicious and the virtuous together, without the 
 decency even of a rag, to keep up the distinctions of life! 
 Can human beings thus be thrown away ? men like ourselves, 
 women, children, like our sisters and brothers ? I never was 
 so humiliated in my life as by this horrid spectacle. I did 
 not think a man — a felon even, or a leper, — what you will, 
 
SERIES II. J 
 
 NOTES. 
 
 379 
 
 that is guilty or debased, — I did not think anything that had 
 been human could be so recklessly abandoned. Pah! It 
 makes one sick at heart! God grant I may never die at 
 Naples !” 
 
 Truly, this would seem to spoil the proverb, Verdi Napoli, 
 poi mori. 
 
 (18) Page 288. 
 
 Sophocles lived to be nearly a hundred years old, and to 
 typify the perpetual fame of their “ sweet Attic bee;” the 
 Athenians used to decorate his tomb with festoons of flower- 
 ing ivy. 
 
 The “dernier chant de Corinne” of Mad. de Stag! (p. 303) 
 has this passage : “O vous qui me survivrez ! quand le prin- 
 temps reviendra, souvenez vous combien j’aimais sa beaut6 ; 
 que de fois j’ai vantg son air et ses parfums ? Rappellez- 
 vous quelquefois mes vers, mon Arne y est empreinte,” &c. 
 Her musical spirit desired to “greet the angel of death with 
 his white wings, undismayed and gladly;” she would go 
 forth to meet him in a garden of roses. 
 
 So Fidele’s grave, in Shakspeare, is to be “ sweetened with 
 fairest flowers “ the pale primrose, the azure harebell, and 
 furred moss.” 
 
 (19) Page 289. 
 
 Mr. Catlin, in his interesting work on the North American 
 tribes, vol. ii., p. 10, alludes to “ the usual mode of the Oma- 
 has, of depositing their dead in the crotches, and on the 
 branches of trees, enveloped in skins,” &c. 
 
 Herodotus, Terps. iv., mentions the Thracians also, as 
 rejoicing at a death, and mourning at a birth. ToV fiiv 
 yev'pevov TTtpu^'ptvot ol TrpoaiiKWTSS d\o<p''povTai , rdvtf 
 drtoytv^pevov nal^ovr'g re kcll lid 'ipevot, yrj Kp' tcto oi t 
 eniXeyovreg otfwv kclkwv i^airaWa^dels lari Iv irdffTi 
 
380 
 
 PROVERBIAL PHILOSOPHY. (series II. 
 
 eviaipovly. A very enlightened thought for a race other- 
 wise represented to be sunk in barbarism. 
 
 In Walton’s Angler, chap, iv., p. 79, the hearty old man 
 says, “I now see it was not without cause, that our good 
 Queen Elizabeth did so often wish herself a milkmaid ail 
 the month of May, because they are not troubled with fears 
 and cares, but sing sweetly all the day, and sleep securely all 
 the night: and without doubt, honest, innocent, pretty Maud- 
 lin does so too. I’ll bestow Sir Thomas Overbury’s Milk- 
 maid’s wish upon her, ‘That she may die in the spring, and, 
 being dead, may have good store of flowers stuck round 
 about her winding sheet.’ ” Pretty and pastoral, but more 
 for Bion’s age of the world than our’s, even if in those old 
 times Arcadia was not more lovely in idea than in reality. 
 
 ( 20 ) “ Hemmed in by hostile foes, the trifler is busied on an 
 epigram .” Page 314. 
 
 Even in matters temporal, a literal instance of this occurs 
 in the history of Frederick the Great of Prussia, who, during 
 the mortal struggles of the seven years’ war, frequently occu- 
 pied the eve before a battle in the studious composition of 
 profane jests, and bad poetry. 
 
 (21) “ He specified the partridge by her cry,” &rc. Page 318. 
 
 The Hebrew tongue is known to have many sounds which 
 are considered to accord well with their significations , a 
 
 familiar instance of this is the word fcOp koray , partridge, 
 meaning “ caller,” and expressive alike of the bird’s nature, 
 and of the cry it utters. layelah, night, is another 
 
 instance supposed to be imitative of the nocturnal howling 
 of hyenas. 
 
 The whole subject, Names, as indeed many that have pre- 
 ceded it, would admit of lengthy annotation, a practice 
 
SERIES II. J 
 
 NOTES. 
 
 381 
 
 perhaps little praiseworthy; indeed notes of any kind are in 
 the nature of an intrusion, and so far demand apology ; it is 
 more becoming to be as brief as possible, and trust to the 
 intellect of readers : three words only shall be added. An 
 example of the “arbitrary name,” is Dahlia, so called from a 
 Swedish botanist; of the “reasonable name,” Sunflower: 
 while such an obvious case as Rafflesia Arnold i (named more 
 wisely by the Javanese in their own tongue, Ambun Amboon, 
 to be Englished, “ the flower of flowers, or the giant flower”), 
 will serve to exemplify the vanity of men, and their super- 
 added obstacles to science. 
 
 ( 22 ) “ Nine Homers ,” &rc. Page 323. 
 
 It is true that seven of these have so perished from me- 
 mory, that we know nothing of their works ; we only know 
 they lived : an eighth, however, he of Ilierapolis and one of 
 the poetic Pleiades of the age of Philadelphus, is reported to 
 have written no less than five-and- forty plays. 
 
 Musaius, a little lower down, is Virgil’s tall prophet in the 
 Elysian fields, mentioned A2n. vi., 607. 
 
 “Musauun ante omnes ; medium nam plurima turba 
 II unc habet, atque huineris extantem suspicit altis.” 
 
 ( 23 ) “ Ulysses ,” £c. Page 326. 
 jroXXcov avOpcoiruv iSev aarca, nal v6ov eyvo). 
 
 Herodotus frequently makes a distinction between the cer- 
 tainty of things which he saw, and thing* *e merely heard 
 of. Roth he and Plato (as well probably as Lycurgus also, 
 for he was a renowned traveller) dwelt some time at Helio- 
 polis mentioned above, and traversed Asia. 
 
 Fine instances of the atmosphere of ungarbled truth being 
 necessarily breathed around the wonders of nature or art by 
 a person on the spot, are furnished, almost passim, in the 
 published works of Lieutenant Ilolman, the blind traveller. 
 
382 PROVERBIAL PHILOSOPHY. [series h . 
 
 ( 24 ) “ Sons of MattathiaSy ” 4-c. Page 329. 
 
 John, Simon, Judas, Eleazar, and Jonathan, who liberated 
 Israel from the domination of the Greeks, about b . c . 160 : 
 and who were known by the general name of the Maccabees, 
 from the initial Hebrew letters of the first four words from 
 Ex. xv., 1J, being inscribed upon their standard. 
 
 Margaret of Anjou has obtained a just name for heroism 
 in history, and was the mainstay of the house of Lancaster 
 until the barbarous murders of her son and imbecile husband, 
 Henry VI. 
 
 A few lines further, it may be necessary to state that the 
 seeming anachronism in speaking of Corinthian brass in the 
 same breath with Achilles’ spear, is one only in appearance : 
 for, although that mixt metal is said to have resulted acci- 
 dentally from the conflagration of Corinth by the Romans, 
 circ. a . c., 150, still, there is better reason to believe that the 
 true Corinthian was a mixture of the highest antiquity, and 
 analogous to, if not the same thing as the metal called 
 Aurichalcum. 
 
 ( 25 ) “ Th e word for both is one,” &rc. Page 336. 
 
 iriartf, a derivative from 7 rei'Oojicu, will almost as readily 
 bear the sense of obedience, as of persuasion, and of cre- 
 dence. I know not whether a similar latent sympathy may 
 be thought to exist between our own old English word “ faith,” 
 and the Norman “fait,” factum, a deed ; at any rate, the 
 coincidence is worth a passing notice. 
 
 ( 26 ) Ovid had been wise for winking . Page 342. 
 
 The poet Ovid was exiled for life to the shores of the 
 Black Sea for having seen, and indiscreetly divulged, some 
 intrigue in the family of Augustus. He complains frequently 
 of this hard lot ; for example, 
 
 “Inscia quod crimen viderunt lumina plector 
 Peccatumque oculos est habuisse meum.” 
 
SERIES II. J 
 
 NOTES. 
 
 383 
 
 But he might with greater justice have accused his tongue 
 than his eyes. 
 
 (27) Page 357. 
 
 Madame de Stael somewhere uses these words : “ To enjoy 
 ourselves, we must seek solitude. It was in the Bastile that 
 I first became acquainted with myself.” 
 
 Scipio is reported to have originated the popular sayings, 
 “ I am never less idle than when I have most leisure,” and 
 “ I am never less alone than when alone.” 
 
 The Emperor Charles V., with the example of Diocletia* 
 before him, resigned his crown : and retired from the world 
 to the monastery of St. Just at Plazencia in Spain : where, 
 as Robertson says, “ he buried in solitude and silence his 
 grandeur and his ambition.” 
 
 (28) Page 361. 
 
 It maybe necessary to acquaint the reader that this section 
 takes a retrospective glance at my former series of subjects 
 treated in the proverbial style ; a brief recapitulation of the 
 present volume follows, finishing the work. 
 
 THE END. 
 


UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS-URBANA 
 
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