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, To improve and expand is ours, as well as to limit and defeat : The potter must have his clay, and the mason his quarry, Doth the soil generate herbs, or the torrid air breed flies, Or the water frame its monads, or the mist its swarming blight ?— Mediately, through thousand generations, having seeds within themserves, 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. A sharpening of the spiritual sight, to discern hidden aptitudes ; The shadowed profile on the wall helpeth the limner to his likeness: The strange skin garments cast upon the shore suggest another 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, followeth 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, (24) 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 the light sporules of the fern are dropt by the passing wind. rivulet; And the tall pine and hazel thicket shade the rambling hunter. Shall the rock boast of its fertility? shall it lift the head in pride ?— We yield an hundred-fold; but the great sower is Analogy. 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; Therefore it is wise in man to name all novelty invention : ; OF RIDICULE. SEAMS of thought for the sage's brow, and laughing lines for the fool's face; For all things 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, There is a grave-faced folly; and verily a laughter-loving wisdom; There is indeed an evil in excess, and a field may lie fallow too long; For that a true philosophy commandeth an innocent life, 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 triumphant in its gladness. And for your 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, 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. The laugh of a hooting world hath in it a notion of sublimity, But the tittering private circle stingeth as a hive of wasps. A droll conceit parrieth a thrust that should have hit the conscience, Neither can he long endure the searching gaze of wisdom. It is pleasanter to see a laughing cheek than a serious forehead, But common men are cowards, and dread an empty laugh. Fear a nettle, and touch it tenderly,-its poison shall burn 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 promise of praise from their Master; To tell thee the chords of thy heart are in tune with the choirs of heaven. 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 is spread; Praise a wise man, and speed him on his way; for he carrieth the ballast of humility, And is glad when his course is cheered by the sympathy of brethren ashore. The praise of a good man is good, for he holdeth up the mirror 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 better than a little. He that despiseth the outward appearance, despiseth the esteem of his fellows; And he that overmuch regardeth it, shall earn only their contempt: If it come, accept it and be thankful, and be thou humble in accepting; Can speed thy feathered arrow, or retard its flight? The child shooteth 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 hatn decayed, Like a plant in a crowded corner, for want of sunshine on its leaves: ment: For thou that dost so zealously commend, art acknowledging thine own inferiority, |