Who can find a corner now, where none have bound the

sheaves?

So, other some may reap: I do but glean and gather: My sorry handful hath been culled after the ripe harvest of Society.

Of Solitude.

Who hath known his brother, or found him in his freedom unrestrained?

Even he, whose hidden glance hath watched his deepest

Solitude.

For we walk the world in domino, putting on characters and habits,

And wear a social Janus mask, while others stand

around:

I speak not of the hypocrite, nor dream of meant de

ceptions,

But of that quick unconscious change, whereof the best know most.

For mind hath its influence on mind; and no man is

free but when alone;

Yea, let a dog be watching thee, its eye will tend to thy restraint

Self-possession cannot be so perfect, with another intellect beside thee,

It is not as a natural result, but rather the educated pro

duce.

The presence of a second spirit must control thine

own,

And throw it off its equipoise of peace, to balance by an

effort.

The common minds of common men know of this but

little;

What then? they know nothing of themselves: I speak to those who know.

The consciousness that some are hearing, cometh as a

care,

The sense that some are watching near, bindeth thee to

caution;

And the tree of tender nerves shrinketh as a touched

mimosa,

Drooping like a plant in drought, with half its strength decayed.

There are antipathies warning from the many, and sympathies drawing to the few,

But merchant-minds have crushed the first, and cannot feel the latter:

Whereas to the quickened apprehension of a keen and spiritual intellect,

Antipathies are galling, and sympathies oppress, and solitude is quiet.

He that dwelleth mainly by himself, heedeth most of others,

But they that live in crowds, think chiefly of them

selves.

There is indeed a selfish seeming, where the anchorite

liveth alone,

I I

But probe his thoughts,-they travel far, dreaming for ever of the world:

And there is an apparent generosity, when a man mixeth freely with his fellows,

But prove his mind, by day and night, his thoughts are all of self:

The world, inciting him to pleasures, or relentlessly provoking him to toil,

Is full of anxious rivals, each with a difference of in

terest;

So must he plan and practise for himself, even as his own best friend;

And the gay soul of dissipation never had a thought un

selfish.

The hermit standeth out of strife, abiding in a contemplative calmness;

What shall he contemplate,—himself? a meagre theme for musing:

He hath cast off follies, and kept aloof from cares; a man of simple wants;

God and the soul, these are his excuse, a just excuse, for solitude:

But he carried with him to his cell the half-dead feelings of humanity:

There were they rested and refreshed; and he yearned

once more on men.

Where is the wise, or the learned, or the good, that sought not solitude for thinking,

And from seclusion's secret vale brought forth his precious fruits?

Forests of Aricia, your deep shade mellowed Numa's wisdom,

Peaceful gardens of Vaucluse, ye nourished Petrarch's

love;

Solitude made a Cincinnatus, ripening the hero and the

patriot,

And taught De Staël self-knowledge, even in the damp Bastile; (27)

It fostered the piety of Jerome, matured the labours of Augustine,

And gave imperial Charles religion for ambition:

That which Scipio praised, that which Alfred practised, Which fired Demosthenes to eloquence, and fed the mind of Milton,

Which quickened zeal, nurtured genius, found out the secret things of science,

Helped repentance, shamed folly, and comforted the good with peace,—

By all men just and wise, by all things pure and per

fect,

How truly, Solitude, art thou the fostering nurse of greatness!

Enough;-the theme is vast; sear me these necks of Hydra:

What shall drive away the thoughts flocking to this carcass?

Yea,—that all which man may think, hath long been said of Solitude:

For many wise have proved and preached its evils and

its good.

I cannot add,—I will not steal; enough, for all is

spoken:

Yet heed thou these for practice, and discernment among

men.

II 2