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The Poetical Works of Ebenezer Elliott

Edited by his Son Edwin Elliott ... A New and Revised Edition: Two Volumes

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WRITTEN AFTER READING GOETHE'S FAUST.

Clothe truth in light, and men shall deem thee mad;
But give to thought a dream's profundities,
And learning's self, for worth they never had,
Shall praise thy pages, and pronounce thee wise:
Old readers still shall find thee new to them,
As o'er thy lines for hidden wealth they pore,
To prop the Ancient House of Fallacies:
At each old nothing wondering more and more;
Shouting, “Eureka,” as they turn it o'er;
Shall each discoverer laud his special gem!
For deep and safe the buried meaning lies
That never lived, and therefore never dies.