54 LECTURE I. 



effect upon sound or naturally defended 

 surfaces; some point must be exposed, or 

 morbidly susceptible, ere they can occasion 

 either pain or irritation. If, however the 

 Sceptics had even the power to injure 

 me, still I should not fear them ; because 

 I place between us the undisguised truth, 

 which they can neither conquer nor con- 

 front. For truth possesses a power which 

 poets have represented by symbols; like the 

 iEgis of Minerva, or the spear of Ithuriel, it 

 has the power, not only of protecting and 

 maintaining what is right, but of revealing, 

 abashing, and appalling, what is wrong. 



