University of Virginia Library

TRUE GREATNESS.

The truly Great, is great in all Things; there
Is nothing little unto Him, for He
In small Things sees great Principles-most free
From Pomp, most grand-a Statue massive, bare,
From Nature's Quarry hewn; for his works are,
Like God's, enduring, and his Eye can see
No Littleness, where aught that lives may be
Made happier, nor aught beneath his Care,
Tho' but the worm beneath his Feet. His Mind
Is Catholic; his Eye is single, clear,
Like God's, and when therein thou seest a Tear,
'Tis as if Christ himself wept for Mankind;
His views are large; no Partyfeelings blind,
No names delude him; far too wide his sphere
For these; for allembracing is his Heart,
And in it éen the least Thing has a Part,
Yea! éen his Enemies; He loves them all,
And would be ready at his Master's call
To shed his Blood for them; his Sympathies
Are comprehensive; from the Household Hearth,
Their surest Cradle, they embrace all Earth,
But thither still return for fresh Supplies;
For He who loves not his own Home, how should
He love the State? who has not grown a good
Man there, how can He be a noble or
Good Citizen? or how observe the Law
Of Man, who that of God observes not, nor
Has learnt to read it, in his own Heart, by
The Light of Love-Here is the great Man still
More great, for he has Duties to fulfill,
Without which He could not be éen a Man;
First in his Home he grows all that He can
Become, of great and Godlike, thro' his wife
And Children, conscious first of what this Life
May be wrought into, and of what He owes
To God and Man, for his Sake and for theirs,
Who gave this Life its nobler Hopes and Cares.
Go! Seek him there then; haply at the Plough,
Like Cincinnatus, you may find him now,
Neath God's own open Sky, and like it free
And Sublime in man's naked Majesty,
Heart, Ear, and Eye, familiar with the Sights
And Sounds of Nature; to her loftiest Heights
Ascending, easy as the Eagleswing
Unto the Mountaintops, scarce conscious of
His Grandeur, without Effort, far above
Ambition's Ken; yet with the meanest Thing
Still sympathizing; comprehending it
In its own kind, and turning it to fit-
-Est use and Service; still extracting Good,
Like God, from Evil, by that sublime Mood,
Which thinking that whatever is, is right,
At length can make it so, in selfdespite!
This is the man to rule a State, whose Soul,
Epitomizes in itself, the whole!
Who grasps both Great and small—in small Things great,
For small Things make up greatest-Yea! the state
Itself, is made of these, and He who is
Not great therein-true Greatness still must miss!
For grand occasions He lies by, that men
May point their Fingers at Him, and the Pen
Of Fame, bepraise Him; meanwhile, scorn'd as nought,
Full many thousand small Events have wrought
Out mightiest Issues, 'neath the watchful Eye
Of Wisdom, toiling for Humanity!
Yea! mightier, far mightier, than those
He seeks, tho far less noisy-Lo! the Rose
Has climbed meanwhile round many a Cottagedoor,
And Nature helps to humanize the Poor;
The barren Field now laughs, and many a Nook
Rejoices, where Ambition could not brook
To stoop his Eye; Art unto Nature lends
Her Hand, with her toils to sublimer Ends;
Hallows familiar Things to higher Use,
And opens Hearts impervious to the Muse
Till now, by means despised, unthought of-yea!
These, these are Triomphs, like the Light of Day,
Beneficent and universal-these
The Trulygreat prefers to crowned Ease,
Or Cesar's Laurels; He toils for Mankind
And like God, his best Recompence will find
In his own Heart; a Nation's Joy is his,
And who can come more near to God than this?
He is à Perfect Man, for Millions blend
Their Hearts with his, to that most sublime End;
He has exalted and perfected thro'
His Laws, Mankind; and Mankind, as is due,
Has perfected him also; for the one
Man, thro' all, grows a perfect Man alone!