III. THE DABCHICKS. 1 63 



But the fountain of woes, 



Philosophy, rose ; 

 And, what between reason and whim, 

 He has sphntered our rules 



Into sections and schools, 

 96 ^ So the world is made bitter, for him. 



But the birds, since on earth 



They discovered the worth 

 Of their souls, and resolved with a vow 

 No custom to change, 

 ^ For a new, or a strange, 



102 Have attained unto Paradise, now. 



'■> 



124. I could willingly enlarge on these last 

 two stanzas, but think my duty will be better 

 done to the poet if I quote, for conclusion, 

 two lighter pieces of his verse, which will 

 require no comment, and are closer to our 

 present purpose. The first, — the lament of 

 the French Cook in purgatory, — has, for once, 



92. Philosophy. The author should at least have given 

 a note or two to explain the sense in which he uses words so 

 wide as this. The philosophy which hegins in pride, and 

 concludes in malice, is indeed a fountain — though not the 

 fountain — of woes, to mankind. But true philosophy, such 

 as Fenelon's or Sir Thomas More's, is a well of peace. 



98. Worth. Again, it is not clearly told us what the 

 author means by the worth of a bird's soul, nor ho\^' the birds 

 learned it. The reader is left to discern, and collect for 

 himself — with patience such as not one in a thousand now- 

 a-days possesses, the opposition between the " fount of our 

 soul" (line 83) and fountain of philosophy. 



