If a man hold fast to thy creed, and fit his thinkings to thy notions, Thou shalt take him for a man right-minded, yea, and excuse his evil: But seest thou not, O bigot, that thy zeal is but a hunting after praise, And the full pleasure of a proselyte lieth in the flattering of self? A man of many praises meeteth many welcomes, But he, who blameth often, shall not keep a friend; The velvet-coated apricot is one thing, and the spiked horse-chestnut is another, A handle of smooth amber is pleasanter than rough buck-horn. Show me a popular man; I can tell thee the secret of his power; He hath soothed them with glozing words, lulling their ears with flattery, The smile of seeming approbation is ever the companion of his presence, And courteous looks, and warm regards, earn him all their hearts. Nothing but may be better, and every better might be best; The blind may discern, and the simple prove, fault or want in all things; And a little mind looketh on the lily with a microscopic eye, Eager and glad to pry out specks on its robe of purity; But a great mind gazeth on the sun, glorying in his brightness, And taking large knowledge of his good, in the broad prairie of creation: What, though he hatch basilisks? what, though spots are on the sun? In fulness is his worth, in fulness be his praise! [Illustration] OF SELF-ACQUAINTANCE. [Illustration: "K"] Knowledge holdeth by the hilt, and heweth out a road to conquest; Ignorance graspeth the blade, and is wounded by its own good sword: Knowledge distilleth health from the virulence of opposite poisons; Ignorance mixeth wholesomes, unto the breeding of disease: Knowledge is leagued with the universe, and findeth a friend in all things; But ignorance is everywhere a stranger; unwelcome, ill at ease, and out of place. A man is helpless and unsafe up to the measure of his ignorance, For he lacketh perception of the aptitudes commending such a matter to his use, Clutching at the horn of danger, while he judgeth it the handle of security, Or casting his anchor so widely, that the granite reef is just within the tether. Untaught in science, he is but half alive, stupidly taking note of nothing, Or listening with dull wonder to the crafty saws of an empiric: Simple in the world, he trusteth unto knaves; and then to make amends for folly, Dealeth so shrewdly with the honest, they cannot but suspect him for a thief; With an unknown God, he maketh mock of reason, fathering contrivance on chance, Or doting with superstitious dread on some crooked image of his fancy: But ignorant of Self, he is weakness at heart; the key-stone crumbleth into sand, There is panic in the general's tent, the oak is hollow as hemlock; Though the warm sap creepeth up its bark, filling out the sheaf of leaves, Though knowledge of all things beside add proofs of seeming vigour,