GEORGE FOX AND HIS COADJUTORS.
were again and again renewed with the boldest effrontery. The conduct of some of the visionary sects which arose about the same time, was unjustly imputed to them, and every advantage that could be taken, was eagerly embraced to prejudice their religious profession. Harrassed by this unchristian conduct, and at the same time smarting under a cruel persecution, they must have been more than human, if the weakness of nature had never betrayed them into an unguarded, or intemperate expression. A comparison, however, with other controversialists of the times, will show that they were not peculiar in this respect. It should be recollected too, that language, as well as the regulations of decorum towards opponents, have undergone a great change since that time. Expressions which sound harsh and offensive to modern ears, were then considered strictly within the limits of propriety, and appear to have given no offence to those who were the objects of them. This license of the tongue and pen, is found also in the parliamentary debates, and appears to have characterized those times of excitement and recrimination.
* If the wood designed for the building were to chose, very likely no iron instrument would come upon it: but in this case it would never be fit for the building. So we, if left to chose, might prefer to be without sorrow: but should we then, unhumbled and full of earthly prosperity, be fit for Heaven?
Che Philosopher's Scales.
IN days of yore, as Gothic fable tells,
When learning dimly gleamed from grated cells,
When wild Astrology's distorted eye,
Shunned the fair field of true philosophy,
And wandering thro' the depths of mental night.
Sought dark predictions mid the worlds of light:
When curious Alchemy, with puzzled brow,
Attempted things which science laughs at now—
Losing the useful purpose she consults,
In vain chimeras and unknown results-
In those grey times there lived a reverend Sage,
Whose wisdom shed its light on that dark age:
A monk he was, immured in cloistered walls,
Where now the ivy'd ruin crumbling falls ;
'T was a profound seclusion that he chose,
The noisy world disturbed not that repose-
The flow of murmuring waters day by day,
The whistling winds that forced their tardy way
Thro' reverend trees, of ages growth, that made
Around the pile, a deep monastic shade,
The chanted psalm or solitary prayer,
Such were the sounds that broke the silence there.
'Twas here, when his rites sacerdotal were o'er,
In the depths of his cell, with its stone covered floor,
Resigning to thought his chimerical brain,
He formed the contrivance we now shall explain ;
But whether by magic's, or Alchemy's powers,
We know not-indeed 'tis no business of ours,-
Perhaps it was only by patience and care,
THE PHILOSOPHER'S SCALES.
At last that he brought his invention to bear.
In youth 't was projected, but years stole away,
And e'er 't was complete, he was wrinkled and grey;
But success is secure unless energy fails,
And at last he produced the Philosopher's Scales!
What were they, you ask-you shall presently see-
These scales were not made to weigh sugar and tea :-
Oh no-for such properties wondrous had they,
That qualities, feelings and thoughts they could weigh;
Together with articles small and immense,
From mountains or planets to atoms of sense-
Naught was there so bulky but there it could lay,
And naught so etherial but there it could stay,
And naught so reluctant, but in it must go-
All which some examples more clearly will show.
The first thing he weighed was the head of Voltaire,
Which retained all the wit that had ever been there;
As a weight he threw in a torn scrap of a leaf,
Containing the Prayer of the Penitent Thief-
When the skull rose aloft with so sudden a spell,
That it bounced, like a ball, on the roof of the cell.
One time he put in Alexander the Great,
With a garment that Dorcas had made, for a weight—
And though clad in armour from sandal to crown,
The Hero rose up and the Garment went down.
A long row of Almshouses, amply endowed.
By a well esteemed Pharisee, busy and proud,
Next loaded one scale-in the other was prest
By those mites the poor widow dropped into the chest-
Up flew the endowment not weighing an ounce,
And down, down the farthing's worth came with a bounce!
THE PHILOSOPHER'S SCALES.
Again he performed an experiment rare
A Monk, with austerities bleeding and bare,
Climbed into his scale-in the other was laid
The heart of our Howard, now partly decayed
When he found with surprise that the whole of his brother Weighed less, by some pounds, than this bit of the other?
By further experiments, (no matter how,)
He found that ten Chariots weighed less than one Plough;
A sword with gilt trappings rose up in the scale,
Though balanced by only a ten-penny Nail :
A Shield and a Helmet, a Buckler and Spear,
Weighed less than a widow's uncrystalized tear.
A Lord and a Lady went up at full sail,
When a Bee chanced to light on the opposite scale.
Ten Doctors, ten Lawyers, two Courtiers, one Earl,
Ten Counsellors' wigs full of powder and curl,
All heaped in one balance and swinging from thence,
Weighed less than a few grains of Candour and Sense:
A first water Diamond, with brilliants begirt,
Than one good Potato just washed from the dirt:
Yet, not mountains of silver and gold would suffice,
One pearl to outweigh-'t was the Pearl of Great Price!
Last of all, the whole world was bowled in at the grate,
With the Soul of a beggar to serve for a weight:
When the former sprang up with so strong a rebuff,
That it made a vast rent, and escaped at the roof—
When balanced in air, it ascended on high,
And sailed up aloft, a balloon in the sky-
While the scale with the soul in, so mightily fell,
That it jerked the Philosopher out of his cell!
Dear reader, if e'er self-deception prevails,
We pray you to try the Philosopher's Scales:
216 STAND AS AN ANVIL, WHEN IT IS BEATEN UPON.
But if they are lost in the ruins around,
Perhaps a good substitute thus may be found:
Let Judgment and Conscience in circles be cut,
To which strings of Thought may be carefully put :
Let these strings be made even, with caution extreme,
And Impartiality serve for a beam—
Then bring those good actions which pride over-rates,
And tear up your Motives in bits for the weights.
"Stand as an Anvil, when it is beaten upon."
"Stand like an anvil," when the stroke
Of stalwart men falls fierce and fast :
Storms but more deeply root the oak,
Whose brawny arms embrace the blast.
"Stand like an anvil," when the sparks
Fly far and wide, a fiery shower:
Virtue and truth must still be marks,
Where malice proves its want of power.
"Stand like an anvil," when the bar
Lies, red and glowing, on its breast:
Duty shall be life's leading star,
And conscious innocence, its rest.
"Stand like an anvil," when the sound
Of ponderous hammers pains the ear:
Thine but the still and stern rebound
Of the great heart that cannot fear.
"Stand like an anvil," noise and heat
Are born of earth and die with time.
The soul, like God, its source and seat,
Is solemn, still, serene, sublime.
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