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 Prefer a Will o' the Wisp's false light To Reason's lanthorn dear and bright; Heap follies upon follies till They overmaster mind and will, And, rendering us to reason blind, Perversity controls the mind; For truth pretend to yearn, but when She shows herself, avert our ken In mortal fear her gaze so stern Win all our weaknesses discern, And an the errors that we cherish 'Neath her too-piercing eyesight perish.

Soaring, alas! how soon we tire, To sink yet deeper in the mire, Yet from our deepest degradation, Ascend to heights of exaltation, For still there shines a spark within That's never wholly quenched by sin.

Look through a microscope and see The countless animalculæ That in a drop of water dwell:— Think you the creatures do not swell With self-importance at the thought That the whole universe was wrought Solely to give them such a home, With space so vast in which to roam? And who shall say they are not wise At a high rate themselves to prize? Since in Dame Nature's wondrous scheme, Where miracles on all sides teem,