XXIV.

Familiar use takes from the grand its spell—
The marvellous itself soon cloys the eye;
Yet here did praise and admiration dwell,

Our ploughman and his wife did not deny

To labour's increase every homage paid:

Their looks were grace of thanks, had none been said.

XXV.

Omniscience sees religion in the heart;

Mere human ken must judge from outward show: Without a witness Heaven makes crime to smart, On merit without proof does good bestow : At man's tribunal crime oft lurks concealed, And honest worth oft fails to be revealed.

XXVI.

Upright, or on his mother's lap reclined,

While hope upon his blooming cheek kissed fear,

Of some to bliss, of some to woe consigned,

The Boor, when but a child, oft loved to hear; Of good and bad, of heaven and hell conceived, First read his parent's look, and then believed.

XXVII.

He saw, in terrors of the midnight hour,
The deeds of villany on earth repaid:
In dire events, in man's malignant power,

He saw a father's chastening hand portrayed:
He learned life's woes with love to reconcile,
And make the falling tear run o'er a smile.

XXVIII.

Aloof from men his mind and morals grew :
Contagion banished, precept had its sway:
Ambition slept, or heaven was all it knew;
Abroad he thither strove to hold his way;

At home did aught kind monitors condemn,
His duteous love could harsh conviction stem.

XXIX.

The pious tear, or longing look of joy,

Upon their faith-tinged cheek with warmth expressed,

Would now amuse, and now torment the boy,

Unable still to see that banner blessed,

By which, at hallowed font his sponsors swore
He manfully should fight, and meek adore.

XXX.

So soon as duty's accents he could hear,

From tongue paternal mild instruction fell; Christ glorified, Heaven's frown lost half its fear, The grave its triumph, half its terror hell: The cross was made to bloom perennial spring, And 'mid its blossoms tones seraphic ring.

XXXI.

From altar's horns now wider branches

grow,

To guard the soul regenerate from sin: The memory arm when vice becomes its foe;

On pledge of honour man's best prize to win, Since infant conscience soiled by moral stains, Like negro's hue, and leopard's spots, remains.

XXXII.

From sacred fountains streams more copious flow; Their healing waters now become more clear; The blooms of virtue still more vigorous blow, Instruction's voice more sweetly charms the ear: On scripture's page new hopes are seen to rise; Faith claps her wings, and soars to purer skies.

XXXIII.

Hot in his veins the youth new ardour feels;
From tie sponsorial grateful would be free;
Against the shafts of hell his bosom steels,

And single courts the terms of Heaven's decree :
Church primitive confirms his fixed resolves,
And all his duty on himself devolves.

XXXIV.

While yet they lived, his parent's roof remained
The daily scene of holy vows discharged;

What gained the youth at first, still firm retained;
The tie the same, the field was but enlarged:
O'er God's bright record man's dim lamp was spent ;
By soaring Prophets was the mantle lent.

XXXV.

That home, we left the storm-struck Boor to find, His father's, grandsire's perch of earliest youth, From ill still guards his faith-established mind;

There he, an only child, still seeks the truth; When oft on neighbouring rick the rushy ray, From owl-crowned rock conceals destructive prey.

XXXVI.

Now on the board, where late his evening meal
Did all the wants of daily food supply,

The holy volume lies: unclasped its steel,

A thousand marks, and doubled edges vie, To give to hungry souls the bread of life— Relieve the heavy laden, banish strife.

XXXVII.

From sire to son the hallowed book had passed,

Through six score years, more valued as more old: Its owners' births, their names, and wives were classed In timely order, and their offspring told Upon the first fair leaf-unconscious plan Of blending love to God with love to man.

XXXVIII.

Did doubt e'er chill our peasant's opening heart
Against the dictates of the sacred page,

His filial love would memory's glow impart,
To melt the freezings of a sceptic age,
That lofty minds invest with Alpine light,
And shine around the soul's eternal night.