PHILOSOPHY.

Philosophy consists not In airy schemes, or idle speculation; The rule and conduct of all social life Is her great province. Not in lonely cells Obscure she lurks; but holds her heavenly light To senates and to kings, to guide their councils, And teach them to reform and bless mankind. All policy but her’s is false and rotten; All valour not conducted by her precepts Is a destroying fury sent from hell, To plague unhappy man, and ruin nations. Thomson.

What is an high-praised philosophy, But books of poesy in prose compil’d, Far more delightful than they fruitful be, Witty appearance, guile that is beguil’d; Corrupting minds much rather than directing, Th’ alloy of duty, and our pride’s erecting. For, as among physicians, what they call Word magic, never helpeth the disease, Which drugs and diet ought to deal withal, And by their real working give us ease; So these word-sellers have no power to cure The passions which corrupted lives endure. Sir Falke Greville.

In its sublime research, philosophy May measure out the ocean deep—may count The sands or the sun’s rays—but God! for Thee There is no weight nor measure:—none can mount Up to Thy mysteries: Reason’s brightest spark, Though kindled at Thy light, in vain would try To trace Thy counsels, infinite and dark And thought is lost ere thought can soar so high, Even like past moments in eternity. From the Russian.

With thee, serene Philosophy, with thee And thy bright garland, let me crown my song! Effusive source of evidence and truth! A lustre shedding o’er the ennobled mind Stronger than summer noon; and pure as that Whose mild vibrations soothe the parted soul, New to the dawning of celestial day. Hence through her nourished powers, enlarged by thee She springs aloft, with elevated pride, Above the tangling mass of low desires That bind the fluttering crowd; and, angel-winged, The heights of science and of virtue gains, Where all is calm and clear; with nature round, Or in the starry regions, or the abyss, To reason and to fancy’s eye displayed: The first up-tracing from the dreary void, The chain of causes and effects to Him, The world-producing Essence, who alone Possesses being; while the last receives The whole magnificence of Heaven and earth, And every beauty, delicate or bold, Obvious or more remote, with livelier sense, Diffusive painted on the rapid mind. Thomson.

Survey the magnet’s sympathetic love, That woos the yielding needle; contemplate Th’ attractive amber’s power, invisible Ev’n to the mental eye; or when the blow Sent from th’ electric sphere assaults thy frame, Show me the hand that dealt it!—Baffled here By His Omnipotence, Philosophy Slowly her thoughts inadequate revolves, And stands with all His circling wonders round her, Like heavy Saturn, in th’ ethereal space Begirt with an inexplicable ring. Smart.

Sublime Philosophy! Thou are the patriarch’s ladder, reaching heaven, And bright with beckoning angels; but, alas! We see thee, like the patriarch, but in dreams, By the first step, dull slumbering on the earth. Bulwer.