Page images
PDF
EPUB

Upon the plan that pleased his boyish thought: Whose high endeavours are an inward light

That makes the path before him always bright:
Who, with a natural instinct to discern

What knowledge can perform, is diligent to learn;
Abides by this resolve, and stops not there,
But makes his moral being his prime care;
Who, doom'd to go in company with Pain,
And Fear, and Bloodshed, miserable train !
Turns his necessity to glorious gain;

In face of these doth exercise a power
Which is our human nature's highest dower;
Controls them and subdues, transmutes, bereaves
Of their bad influence, and their good receives:
By objects, which might force the soul to abate
Her feeling, render'd more compassionate;
Is placable-because occasions rise

So often that demand such sacrifice;

More skilful in self-knowledge, even more pure,
As tempted more; more able to endure,
As more exposed to suffering and distress;
Thence, also, more alive to tenderness.

-'Tis he whose law is reason; who depends
Upon that law as on the best of friends;
Whence, in a state where men are tempted still
To evil for a guard against worse ill,
And what in quality or act is best
Doth seldom on a right foundation rest,
He labours good on good to fix, and owes
To virtue every triumph that he knows :
-Who, if he rise to station of command,
Rises by open means; and there will stand
On honourable terms, or else retire,
And in himself possess his own desire :
Who comprehends his trust, and to the same

Keeps faithful with a singleness of aim;

And therefore does not stoop, nor lie in wait
For wealth, or honours, or for worldly state:
Whom they must follow; on whose head must fall,
Like showers of manna, if they come at all:
Whose powers shed round him in the common strife,
Or mild concerns of ordinary life,

A constant influence, a peculiar grace;

But who, if he be call'd upon to face

Some awful moment to which Heaven has join'd
Great issues, good or bad for human kind,

Is happy as a Lover; and attired

With sudden brightness, like a Man inspired;
And, through the heat of conflict, keeps the law
In calmness made, and sees what he foresaw ;
Or if an unexpected call succeed,

Come when it will, is equal to the need:
-He who, though thus endued as with a sense
And faculty for storm and turbulence,

Is yet a Soul whose master-bias leans

To homefelt pleasures and to gentle scenes;
Sweet images! which, wheresoe'er he be,
Are at his heart; and such fidelity

It is his darling passion to approve;

More brave for this, that he hath much to love :-
"Tis, finally, the Man, who, lifted high,
Conspicuous object in a Nation's eye,
Or left unthought-of in obscurity,-
Who, with a toward or untoward lot,
Prosperous or adverse, to his wish or not-
Plays, in the many games of life, that one
Where what he most doth value must be won :
Whom neither shape of danger can dismay,
Nor thought of tender happiness betray:
Who, not content that former worth stand fast,
Looks forward, persevering to the last,
From well to better, daily self-surpass'd;

Who, whether praise of him must walk, the earth and to noble deeds give birth,

For ever,

Or he must fall, to sleep without his fame,
And leave a dead unprofitable name-
Finds comfort in himself and in his cause;
And, while the mortal mist is gathering, draws
His breath in confidence of Heaven's applause :

This is the happy Warrior; this is He That every Man in arms should wish to be.

219

Maxims

Wordsworth, 1805.

By all means use sometimes to be alone.
Salute thyself; see what thy soul doth wear.
Dare to look in thy chest, for 'tis thine own;
And tumble up and down what thou find'st there.
Who cannot rest till he good fellows find,

He breaks up house, turns out of doors his mind.

Be thrifty, but not covetous; therefore give
Thy need, thine honour, and thy friend his due.
Never was scraper brave man. Get to live;
Then live, and use it: else it is not true

That thou hast gotten. Surely Use alone
Makes money not a cóntemptible stone.

Yet in thy thriving still misdoubt some evil;
Lest gaining gain on thee, and make thee dim
To all things else. Wealth is the conjurer's devil;
Whom when he thinks he hath, the devil hath him.
Gold thou mayst safely touch; but if it stick
Unto thy hands, it woundeth to the quick,

What skills it, if a bag of stones or gold

About thy neck do drown thee? Raise thy head; Take stars for money; stars not to be told

By any art, yet to be purchased.

None is so wasteful as the scraping dame :

She loseth three for one; her soul, rest, fame.

:

Laugh not too much the witty man laughs least;
For wit is news only to ignorance.

Less at thine own things laugh; lest in the jest
Thy person share, and the conceit advance :
Make not thy sport abuses; for the fly
That feeds on dung is colourèd thereby.

Pick out of mirth, like stones out of thy ground,
Profaneness, filthiness, abusiveness.

These are the scum with which coarse wits abound;
The fine may spare these well, yet not go less.
All things are big with jest: nothing that 's plain
But may
be witty, if thou hast the vein.

Envy not greatness; for thou mak'st thereby
Thyself the worse, and so the distance greater :
Be not thine own worm: yet such jealousy,
As hurts not others but may make thee better,
Is a good spur. Correct thy passion's spite;
Then may the beasts draw thee to happy light.

Be calm in arguing; for fierceness makes
Error a fault, and truth discourtesy.
Why should I feel another man's mistakes
More than his sicknesses or poverty?

In love I should: but anger is not love,
Nor wisdom neither; therefore gently move.

Be useful where thou livest, that they may
Both want and wish thy pleasing presence still
Kindness, good parts, great places are the way
To compass this. Find out men's wants and will,
And meet them there. All worldly joys go less
To the one joy of doing kindnesses.

Sum up at night what thou hast done by day ;
And in the morning, what thou hast to do.
Dress and undress thy soul: mark the decay
And growth of it: if with thy watch, that too
Be down, then wind up both. Since we shall be
Most surely judged, make thy accounts agree.

In brief, acquit thee bravely; play the man.
Look not on pleasures as they come, but
go.
Defer not the least virtue : life's poor span
Make not an ell by trifling in thy woe.

If thou do ill, the joy fades, not the pains:
If well, the pain doth fade, the joy remains.

Herbert.

« ՆախորդըՇարունակել »