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 childhood,

While the diligent youth strove hard to render his all unto

Cæsar;

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. (7)

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.

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? let small successes comfort his hope;

Is he obstinate and sanguine? let petty crosses accustom him to life.

Showeth he a sordid spirit? be quick, and teach him generosity;

Inclineth he to liberal excess? 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 hearest 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.

Consider the station of thy son, and breed him to his fortune

with judgment:

The rich may profit in much which would bring small advantage 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 keenness of perception,

Will find in strange disguise the precious truth he seeketh; 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 love.

There is no similitude in nature that owneth not also to a difference,

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 contention,

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 alway before thy fellows:

I say not, compromise the right, I would not have thee countenance 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.

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? seek out certainty: for now, by selfinflicted 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 suffrage 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;