Proverbial Philosophy.

(SECOND SERIES.)

Entroductory.

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 greenwood 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.

B

Behold, I would count thee for a brother, and commune with thy charitable soul;

Though wrapt 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?

The grafted stock,-should that be proud of apples not its own?

Into the bubbling brook I dip my hermit shell;
Man receiveth as a cup, but Wisdom is the river.

Moreover, for this fillagree 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 steaming on my sight, and thronging my reluctant mind;

The memories of studious culling, and multiplied analogies of nature,

Fresh feelings unrepressed, welling from the heart

spontaneous,

Facts, and comparisons, and meditative atoms, gathered on the heap of combination,

Mingle 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,

But thoughts fly swift to my decoy, eager to be

caught;

I 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,

But hunt with Aureng-zebe, and spear surrounded thousands! (')

What then,-count ye this a boast ?-sweet charity, think it other,

For the dog-fish and poisonous ray are captured in the mullet-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 colour in staid hues of fact the changing vest of falsehood?

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.