For these shall guide thee well, and guard thee on thy way; And wanting all beside, with these shalt thou be rich: Though all around be woe, these shall make thee happy; Though all within be pain, these shall bring thee health: Thy good shall grow into ripeness, thine evil wither and decay, And Wisdom's words shall sweetly charm thy doubtful into virtues: Meanness shall then be frugal care; where shame was, thou art modest; Cowardice riseth into caution, rashness is sobered into courage; The wrathful spirit, rendering a reason, standeth justified in anger; The idle hand hath fair excuse, propping the thoughtful forehead. Life shall have no labyrinth but thy steps can track it, For thou hast a silken clue, to lead thee through the darkness: The rampant Minotaur of ignorance shall perish at thy coming, And thine enfranchised fellows hail thy white victorious sails. Wherefore, friend and scholar, hear the words of Wisdom; Whether she speaketh to thy soul in the full chords of revelation; In the teaching earth, or air, or sea; in the still melodies of thought; Or, haply, in the humbler strains that would detain thee here. [Illustration] OF TRUTH IN THINGS FALSE. [Illustration: "E"] Error is a hardy plant; it flourisheth in every soil; In the heart of the wise and good, alike with the wicked and foolish. For there is no error so crooked, but it hath in it some lines of truth: Nor is any poison so deadly, that it serveth not some wholesome use: And the just man, enamoured of the right, is blinded by the speciousness of wrong; And the prudent, perceiving an advantage, is content to overlook the harm. On all things created remaineth the half-effaced signature of God, Somewhat of fair and good, though blotted by the finger of corruption: And if error cometh in like a flood, it mixeth with streams of truth; And the Adversary loveth to have it so, for thereby many are decoyed. Providence is dark in its permissions; yet one day, when all is known, The universe of reason shall acknowledge how just and good were they; For the wise man leaneth on his wisdom, and the righteous trusteth to his righteousness, And those, who thirst for independence, are suffered to drink of disappointment. Wherefore?--to prove and humble them; and to teach the idolaters of Truth, That it is but the ladder unto Him, on whom only they should trust.