PROVERBIAL PHILOSOPHY.

FIRST SERIES.

PROVERBIAL PHILOSOPHY.

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 the lees of specu

lation;

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;
Pure are the grains of gold in the turbid stream of Ganges,
And fair the living flowers, that spring from the dull cold sod.
Wherefore, thou gentle student, bend thine ear to my speech,
For I also am as thou art; our hearts can commune together;
To meanest matters will I stoop, for mean is the lot of mortal;
I will rise to noblest themes, for the soul hath an heritage of glory: