(For all would wiser be, and every one
Has faculties for wiser-better-growing):
See, then, your only conflict is with men,
And your sole strife is to defend and teach
The unillumined, who, without such care,
Must dwindle. Every unenlightened man
Commends himself to you, even as your child.
How easily for him and for yourself

Life's burdens may be lightened, by your words
Opening the spring of truth in his own breast,
And cleansing out the root of all his errors;
Destroying, even with a single word,
A coming harvest of injurious weeds!
If, then, the Better never must grow weary,
But always think of better, and fulfil it,
How shall the Wise be weary of his task

To show the right, and for the truth contend?
How shall the heart of the good man grow weary,
Though hand and tongue are worn out in his work?
And how can gentleness be ever weary?

(For all true love is gentle, falling on
Men's souls as gentle rains upon the earth).
How can you e'er grow weary of the truth?
Weary of gentleness and genuine love?
Be firm and happy, therefore, in the strife!
And keep love in your heart all life's day long,
Till, like the eternal stars, its beams are spread.

Thomas Parnell.

1679-1717.

THE HERMIT.*

FAR in a wild, unknown to public view,
From youth to age, a reverend hermit grew;
The moss his bed, the cave his humble cell,
His food the fruits, his drink the crystal well;
Remote from men, with God he passed his days,
Prayer all his business, all his pleasure praise.
A life so sacred, such serene repose,
Seemed heaven itself, till one suggestion rose
That vice should triumph, virtue, vice obey;
This sprung some doubt of Providence's sway;

* The doctrine of an overruling Providence, so consistent with that of the disciplinary object of life and the beneficent intentions of the Creator towards man, here and hereafter, is happily illustrated in this poem. Indeed, it is impossible to reconcile the notion of a special Providence, here set forth, with the creed, which would make the Almighty consign any human soul to everlasting perdition.

18*

(209)

His hopes no more a certain prospect boast,
And all the tenor of his soul is lost.

So when a smooth expanse receives impressed
Calm nature's image on its watery breast,
Down bend the banks, the trees depending grow,
And skies beneath with answering colors glow;
But, if a stone the gentle sea divide,
Swift ruffling circles curl on every side,
And glimmering fragments of a broken sun,
Banks, trees and skies, in thick disorder run.

To clear this doubt, to know the world by sight, To find if books, or swains, report it right, For yet by swains alone the world he knew, Whose feet came wandering o'er the nightly dew, He quits his cell; the pilgrim staff he bore, And fixed the scallop in his hat before; Then, with the sun a rising journey went, Sedate to think, and watching each event.

The morn was wasted in the pathless grass, And long and lonesome was the wild to pass ; But when the southern sun had warmed the day, A youth came posting o'er a crossing way. His raiment decent, his complexion fair, And soft in graceful ringlets waved his hair. Then, near approaching, “Father, hail!” he cried; And, “Hail, my son!" the reverend sire replied. Words followed words, from question answer flowed, And talk, of various kind, deceived the road; Till, each with other pleased, and loath to part, While in their age they differ, join in heart.

Thus stands an aged elm, in ivy bound,
Thus youthful ivy clasps an elm around.

Now sank the sun; the closing hour of day
Came onward, mantled o'er with sober gray;
Nature in silence bade the world repose,

When, near the road, a stately palace rose.

There, by the moon, through ranks of trees they pass,
Whose verdure crowned their sloping sides of grass.
It chanced the noble master of the dome

Still made his house the wandering stranger's home;
Yet still the kindness, from a thirst of praise,
Proved the vain flourish of expensive ease.
The pair arrive; the liveried servants wait;
Their lord receives them at the pompous gate;
The table groans with costly piles of food,
And all is more than hospitably good.
Then led to rest, the day's long toil they drown,
Deep sunk in sleep, and silk, and heaps of down.

At length 'tis morn, and at the dawn of day,
Along the wide canals the zephyrs play;
Fresh o'er the gay parterres the breezes creep,
And shake the neighboring wood, to banish sleep.
Up rise the guests, obedient to the call,
An early banquet decked the splendid hall;
Rich, luscious wine a golden goblet graced,
Which the kind master forced the guests to taste.
Then, pleased and thankful, from the porch they go,
And, but the landlord, none had cause for woe;
His cup was vanished; for, in secret guise,
The younger guest purloined the glittering prize.

As one who spies a serpent in his way, Glistening and basking in the summer ray, Disordered stops to shun the danger near,

Then walks with faintness on, and looks with fear; So seemed the sire, when, far upon the road,

The shining spoil his wily partner showed.

He stopped with silence, walked with trembling heart,
And much he wished, but durst not ask, to part;
Murmuring, he lifts his eyes, and thinks it hard,
That generous actions meet a base reward.

While thus they pass, the sun his glory shrouds,
The changing skies hang out their sable clouds;
A sound in air presaged approaching rain,
And beasts to covert scud across the plain.
Warned by the signs, the wandering pair retreat,
To seek for shelter at a neighboring seat.
'Twas built with turrets on a rising ground,
And strong, and large, and unimproved around;
Its owner's temper, timorous and severe,
Unkind and griping, caused a desert there.

As near the miser's heavy door they drew,
Fierce rising gusts with sudden fury blew ;
The nimble lightning, mixed with showers, began,
And o'er their heads loud rolling thunders ran.
Here long they knock, but knock or call in vain,
Driven by the wind, and battered by the rain.
At length some pity warmed the master's breast,
'Twas then his threshold first received a guest;
Slow creaking turns the door with jealous care,
And half he welcomes in the shivering pair;