DUTY.

I asked of mine own heart, if it were so?
And, as he said, the living instinct there
Answered, and owned the truth.

It OUGHT to be

SOUTHEY.

The world's wide circuit round,

No tongue exists, no language of mankind,

Ancient or modern, savage or refined,

Wherein this thought exists not.

How profound

The sense of right and moral duty found

In this brief phrase, It SHOULD be done! The mind Feels here the strongest motive that can bind The Will to moral action, else unbound,

And free to move, as fancy leads the way,
As passion prompts, or selfish interests sway.
Not so with Duty: she, as in a tower

Of strength impregnable, above the play
Of adverse passions, knows but to obey
The voice of Conscience and the Moral Power.

CONSCIENCE.

I.

And I will place within them, as a guide,
My umpire Conscience. MILTON.

Of man's mixed nature an essential part
Is Conscience, seated in the human heart,
Life to direct, and over all preside.
Good to the virtuous, to the evil pain,

Is hers to give, who never gives in vain.

In error's paths, when mortals wander wide, Her voice corrective calls their steps again

To virtue back. Tis passion that misleads The native rectitude of human thought,

Else seldom erring. In God's image wrought,

And fashioned to his will, man's thoughts and deeds, Though weak and wavering oft, are virtuous still, If duty sway, and conscience rule the will: Nor other guide he needs, so ruled and taught.

II.

Life of our life, our monitor and judge. SOUTHEY.

Conscience is Thought and Feeling, fused entire :
Thought, piercing, clear of sight, discerning sure
The true from false; and Feeling, earnest, pure,
By selfish aim unmoved, and low desire;

The union just of man's whole moral frame,
Harmonious mingling here, like fire and flame;
Bright as the flame, and warming like the fire.
Reason is cold, till passion touch the pile,
And thought explodes in action: rank and file
To range the thoughts, in forms of seemly art,
Is reason's task; but in the heart reside
The springs of action: be it then thy part,
So to direct the issues of the heart,

That virtuous feeling may be still thy guide.

III.

This light and darkness in our chaos joined,
Who shall divide? The God within the mind.

POPE.

The right of conscience over human minds
Is paramount and sovereign: had she power,
As she has right, the world would be her dower :
But strength too oft is wanting: Interest blinds,
Hope's meteors dazzle, Sophistry refines,

And Passion urges with impetuous sway,

Till Conscience, overborne, at times gives way :
Yet rallying soon, she ne'er the strife resigns,
But, in the moment of their triumph, flings,
Like barbed arrows on her foes infixed,

Remorse and Guilt's immedicable stings.
Hope may be theirs, with guilty terrors mixed,
And impious joys; but peace is never known,
Till right returns, and conscience rules alone.

IV.

What nothing earthly gives, or can destroy,
The soul's calm sunshine, and the heartfelt joy.

POPE.

Yet was not Conscience given to scourge mankind: Her noblest office is when man attains

The height of strenuous duty; and thence gains That crown of glory, which the virtuous find

In her approving smile. Life's sharpest pains Pass soon, if in the tented wound remains No sting of evil thought, to goad the mind: Else will its venom gangrene to the core, Festering, and self-inflamed, and burning more, The longer borne. Guilt's scorching pain

Nor charm can soothe, nor anodyne allay : Roused once to strife, it never sleeps again, Till Conscience re-asserts her rightful reign, And life reformed takes fear with guilt away.

VIRTU E.

I.

O fool and hypocrite! that seek'st to hide
From man, from God! what yet thine evil heart,
No, not one hour, e'en from itself can veil,
Thy false and hollow seeming!

Heaven's grace in vain by outward act is sought: The smoke of sacrifices cannot blind,

Nor rich oblations move th' all seeing mind: 'Tis honest purpose, following earnest thought, Habitual virtue, into action wrought,

That wins his favour; offerings else are vain, Penance, or prayer, his favour to obtain. Semblance of worth, profession, the mock phrase Of false lip service, these may wonder raise,

In men, short sighted, and their plaudit gain ; But HE whose eyes the inmost feelings scan, Turns with contempt, in pity from such sight: With him, 'tis truth alone, and conscious right, Virtue, and worth, that sanctify the man.

II.

For not in humble, nor in brief delights,
Not in the fading echoes of renown,

Power's purple robes, nor pleasure's flowery lap,
The soul can find contentment.

AKENSIDE.

That is not virtue, to which fear inclines,

Or hope of the reward: the fear of hell,
The hope of heaven, in mortal breasts may dwell,
As motives suited to imperfect minds;

But love of virtue, when her seat she finds
In manly hearts, will selfish aims repel,
And sordid fears; till rising to the height
Of justice, duty, innate sense of right,

No meaner powers the free born soul can quell.
Self sinks abashed, and coward fears take flight,
At virtue's call; while generous thoughts impel
To noblest deeds, that do themselves requite,
Nor other guerdon asks; proud to regard
Life's sternest duty as its best reward.

KNOWLEDGE.

Fortune may frown, and fickle friends depart,
But truth remains, and knowledge cheers the heart.

Though rough the entrance, and the guide austere, Thy paths, O Knowledge! have been still to me The paths of pleasantness and peace not free

From toilsome march, and prospects wild and drear,