Wisdom his tower, and conscience is his shield, His peace all inward, and his joys his own. Now my ambition swells, my wishes soar, This be my kingdom: sit above the globe My rising soul, and dress thyself around And shine in virtue's armour, climb the height Of wisdom's lofty castle, there reside
Safe from the smiling and the frowning world. Yet once a day drop down a gentle look On the great mole-hill, and with pitying eye Survey the busy emmets round the heap, Crowding and bustling in a thousand forms Of strife and toil, to purchase wealth and fame, A bubble or a dust: then call thy thoughts Up to thyself to feed on joys unknown, Rich without gold, and great without renown.
HONOUR demands my song. Forget the ground, My generous Muse, and sit amongst the stars! There sing the soul, that, conscious of her birth, Lives like a native of the vital world,
Amongst these dying clods, and bears her state Just to herself: how nobly she maintains Her character, superior to the flesh,
She wields her passions, like her limbs, and knows The brutal powers were only born to' obey.
This is the man whom storms could never make Meanly complain; nor can a flattering gale Make him talk proudly; he hath no desire To read his secret fate; yet unconcern'd And calin, could meet his unborn destiny, In all its charming or its frightful shapes.
He that unshrinking, and without a groan, Bears the first wound, may finish all the war With mere courageous silence, and come off Conqueror: for the man that wells conceals The heavy strokes of fate, he bears them well. He, though the' Atlantic and the Midland seas With adverse surges meet, and rise on high Suspended 'twixt the winds, then rush amain, Mingled with flames, upon his single head, And clouds, and stars, and thunder; firm he stands, Secure of his best life; unhurt, unmov'd; And drops his lower nature, born for death. Then from the lofty castle of his mind Sublime looks down, exulting, and surveys The ruins of creation; (souls alone
Are heirs of dying worlds;) a piercing glance Shoots upward from between his closing lids, To reach his birth-place, and without a sigh He bids his batter'd flesh lie gently down Amongst his native rubbish; whilst the spirit Breathes and flies upward, an undoubted guest Of the third Heaven, the' unruinable sky.
Thither, when fate has brought our willing souls, No matter whether 'twas a sharp disease,
Or a sharp sword, that help'd the travellers on, And push'd us to our home. Bear up, my friend, Serenely, and break through the stormy brine With steady prow; know, we shall once arrive At the fair haven of eternal bliss.
To which we ever steer; whether as kings Of wide command we've spread the spacious sea With a broad painted fleet, or row'd along In a thin cock-boat with a little oar.
There let my native plank shift me to land, And I'll be happy: Thus I'll leap ashore Joyful and fearless on the' immortal coast, Since all I leave is mortal, and it must be lost.
THE DIRECTOR OF MY YOUTHFUL STUDIES.
CUSTOM, that tyranness of fools,
That leads the learned round the schools, In magic chains of forms and rules!
My genius storms her throne:
No more, ye slaves, with awe profound
Beat the dull track, nor dance the round: Loose hands, and quit the' enchanted ground: Knowledge invites us each alone.
I hate these shackles of the mind, Forg'd by the haughty wise; Souls were not born to be confin'd, And led, like Sampson, blind and bound; Though when his native strength he found He well aveng'd his eyes.
I love thy gentle influence, Rowe; Thy gentle influence, like the sun, Only dissolves the frozen snow,
Then bids our thoughts like rivers flow,
And choose the channels where they run.
Thoughts should be free as fire or wind; The pinions of a single mind
Will through all nature fly: But who can drag up to the poles Long fetter'd ranks of leaden souls? A genius, which no chain controls, Roves with delight; or deep, or high: Swift I survey the globe around, Dive to the centre through the solid ground, Or travel o'er the sky.
THE WAY OF THE MULTITUDE.
ROWE, if we make the crowd our guide Through life's uncertain road,
Mean is the chase; and wandering wide We miss the' immortal good;
Yet if my thoughts could be confin'd To follow any leader-mind,
I'd mark thy steps, and tread the same : Dress'd in thy notions I'd appear
Not like a soul of mortal frame, Nor with a vulgar air.
Men live at random and by chance, Bright Reason never leads the dance; Whilst in the broad and beaten way O'er dales and hills from Truth we stray.
To ruin we descend, to ruin we advance. Wisdom retires; she hates the crowd, And with a decent scorn
Aloof she climbs her steepy seat, Where nor the grave nor giddy feet, Of the learn'd vulgar or the rude, Have e'er a passage worn.
Mere hazard first began the track, Where custom leads her thousands blind In willing chains and strong;
There's scarce one bold, one noble mind, Dares tread the fatal error back; But hand in hand ourselves we bind, And drag the age along.
Mortals, a savage herd, and loud As billows on a noisy flood,
In rapid order roll;
Example makes the mischief good: With jocund heel we beat the road, Unheedful of the goal.
Me let Ithuriel's* friendly wing
Snatch from the crowd, and bear sublime To Wisdom's lofty tower,
Thence to survey that wretched thing, Mankind; and in exalted rhyme
Bless the delivering power.
* The name of an angel in Milton's Paradise Lost.
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