INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER. XX111 



Through all the years of this our life, to lead 



From joy to joy, for she can so inform 



The mind that is within us, so impress 



With quietness and beauty, and so feed 



With lofty thoughts, that neither evil tongues, 



Rash judgments, nor the sneers of selfish men, 



Nor greetings where no kindness is, nor all 



The dreary intercourse of common life 



Shall e'er prevail against us, or disturb 



Our cheerful faith that all that we behold 



Is full of blessings. Therefore let the moon 



Shine on thee in thy solitary walk ; 



And let the misty mountain winds be free 



To blow against thee ; and in after years, 



When these wild ecstacies shall be matured 



Into a sober pleasure ; when thy mind 



Shall be a mansion for all lovely forms, 



Thy memory be a dwelling-place 



For all sweet sounds and harmonies, oh ! then. 



If solitude, or fear, or pain, or grief, 



Should be thy portion, with what healing thoughts 



Of tender joy wilt thou remember me, 



And these my benedictions. 



Such is the united testimony of three of our 

 greatest poetical minds ; and such is my firm 

 faith, that God has not only implanted in the 

 depths of our hearts a pure and quick moral 

 sense of his goodness, and of the excellency of 



