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 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 falcon 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 I 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 stored it in a reed; And bright the jewelled band that circleth an Ethiop's arm; I will rise to the noblest themes, for the soul hath an heritage of glory: The feverish shadows of time, and the mighty substance of eternity. COMMEND thy mind unto candour, and grudge not as though thou hadst a teacher, Nor scorn angelical Truth for the sake of her evil herald; Heed not him, but hear his words, and care not whence they come; Or the mind of pride conceive, and the mouth of folly speak them. 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: PROVERBIAL PHILOSOPHY. FIRST SERIES. THE WORDS OF WISDOM. FEW and precious are the words which the lips of wisdom utter: blessed, Which Thought carefully tendeth, in the kindly garden of the heart; YET more for the half is not said-of their might, and dignity, and value; For life-giving be they and glorious, redolent of sanctity and heaven; As the fumes of hallowed incense, that veil the throne of the Most High; 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 Wisdom utter. YET once again, loving student, suffer the praises of thy teacher, [their peers; Rising in sunny dust behind the chariot of God; [the skies; They be flashes of the dayspring from on high, shed from the windows of They be streams of living waters, fresh from the fountain of Intelligence; Such, and so precious, are the words which the lips of Wisdom utter. For these shall guide thee well, and guard thee on thy way; Thy good shall grow into ripeness, thine evil wither and decay, For thou hast a silken clew, to lead thee through the darkness; 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 and 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 serveth not some wholesome use; And the just man, enamoured of the right, is blinded by the speciousness of wrong, And the prudent, perceiving an advantage, is content to overlook the harm. On all things created, remaineth the half-effaced signature of God, Somewhat of fair and good, though blotted by the finger of corruption; * "And thine enfranchised fellows hail thy white victorious sails."] See the story of Theseus, as detailed in Dryden's translation of Plutarch, Life I. |