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4.

Now a metal is iron as hard as nails,
Practical, patient, not easily bored:
But ideas it hates, and against them prevails,
As we often have seen, at the point of the sword.
118

Whilst the Balance uphung 'twixt the earth and the sky,
And by nature responsive to every vibration,
Hovers vague in a realm insubstantial and high
Which seems made for the purpose of pure speculation.
So that when “sixteen ounces of snuff are a poundweight,”
The Weights cried below to the Balance above,
Tho' he knew not, as we do, that this was unsound weight,
He replied, with a shrug, “Well, and what does that prove?”
Then, convinced that he had by this interrogation
Their materialist insolence sternly put down,
He return'd with a tremor of self-admiration
To the point out of which the discussion had grown.
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