FREEDOM is father of the honest, and sturdy Independence is his brother; These three, with heart and hand, dwell together in unity.
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 a one ashamed? where courtiers kneel, he stand-
I will indeed bow before the king, but knees were knit for God.
And many such there be, of a high and noble conscience,
Honourable, generous, and kind, though blessed with little light:
What should he barter for his freedom? some petty gain of gold?
Free of speech, and free in act, magnates honour him for boldness;
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!
YET, there be others, that will truckle to a lie, selling honesty for interest:
And do they gain? 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: [cringing;
From the buoyancy of upright faith, he is clothed in the heaviness of
For plain truth, where none could err, he hath chosen tortuous paths;
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
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?
Who can be altogether honest-dragging out the secresies of life,
And risking to be lashed and loathed for each unkind disclosure?
Who can be altogether honest-living in perpetual contentions,
And prying out the petty cheats that swell the social scheme?
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
[crite.
Shall he feel, and hide his feelings? that were the meanness of a hypo-
Still, O man, such hypocrisy is better than this bold honesty to sin:
Kill the feeling, or conceal it: let shame at least do the work of charity.
O CHARITY! 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 multitude,
And silence the condemning tongue, and wearisome exhortation.
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, enamoured 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 imperfections;
For many times the decent veil must hang on faults of nature,
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, [shade.
Prove wisdom; and the generous is glad to leave them unregarded in the
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 pygmies, thou shalt haply help the cranes.
Where to be blind was safety, Ovid had been wise for winking ;*
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 combatting with honesty:
In the cause of good, be wise; 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 before 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,
* "Ovid had been wise for winking."] 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."
But he might with greater justice have accused his tongue than his eyes.
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: [will be seen a malefactor. But if openness of speech be found with secresy of guilt, the martyr
THERE is a cunning scheme, to put on surface bluntness,
And cover still, deep water with the clamorous ripples of a shallow.
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 argument,
Boastful of honour and sincerity, and not to be put down by facts:
He is obstinate, and showeth it for firmness; he is rude, displaying it
[justice.
And glorieth in doggedness of temper, as if it were uncompromising
Be aware of such a man; his brawling covereth designs;
This specious show of honesty cometh as the herald of a thief:
His feint is made with awkward clashing on the buckler's boss,
But meanwhile doth his secret skill insure its fatal aim.
This is the hypocrite of honesty; ye may know him by an overacted
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 brave:
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 character for kindness.
FOR honesty hath many gains, and well the wise have known
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 labouring, [duty:
He hath suffered the bubbles of self-interest to float upon the stream of
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 honour;
And mingled well with prudence, honesty of purpose hath its praise.
Trust payeth homage unto truth, rewarding honesty of action;
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.
BETTER is the mass of men, Suspicion, than thy fears;
Kinder than thy thoughts, O chilling heart of Prudence;
Purer than thy judgments, ascetic tongue of Censure;
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
How many pleasant faces shed their light on every side! [than hateful.
How many angels unawares have crossed thy casual way!
How often, in thy journeyings, hast thou made thee instant friends,
Found, to be 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 a spot unsunned by human kindness:
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, sensual, 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,
Few and poor in friends, and well deserving of their poverty:
Yet, or ever thou hast harshly judged, and linked their presence to disgust,
Consider well the thousand things that made them all they are.
Thou hast not thought upon the causes, ranged in consecutive 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 justice:
Foolish education, thwarted opportunities, natural propensities 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 froward,
Thou shalt discern a few fair fruits even upon trees so withered, [them.
Thou shalt understand how some may praise, and some be found to love
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
And there is an enemy within thee; either to palliate their sin, [vice.
Until, for surface sweetness, thou too art drawn adown the vortex;
Or, even unto fatal pride, to glorify thy purity by contrast,
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
But chiefly be thou ware of this, an unforgiving spirit.
[battle;
Many are the dangers and temptations compassing a bad man's presence:
The upas hath a poisonous shade, and who would slumber there?
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 coming,
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;
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