* * * * *

THE IMITATOR

  Good out of good—­that art is known to all—­
  But Genius from the bad the good can call;
  Then, Mimic, not from leading-strings escaped,
  Work’st but the matter that’s already shaped
  The already-shaped a nobler hand awaits—­
  All matter asks a Spirit that creates!

* * * * *

CORRECTNESS

(FREE TRANSLATION)

  The calm correctness, where no fault we see,
  Attests Art’s loftiest or its least degree;
  Alike the smoothness of the surface shows
  The Pool’s dull stagner—­the great Sea’s repose.

* * * * *

THE MASTER

  The herd of scribes, by what they tell us,
  Show all in which their wits excel us;
  But the True Master we behold,
  In what his art leaves—­just untold.

* * * * *

EXPECTATION AND FULFILLMENT

  O’er Ocean, with a thousand masts, sails forth the stripling bold—­
  One boat, hard rescued from the deep, draws into port the old!

* * * * *

THE PROSELYTE MAKER

  “A little earth from out the Earth-and I
  The Earth will move:”  so spake the Sage divine. 
  Out of myself one little moment—­try
  Myself to take:—­succeed, and I am thine!

* * * * *

THE CONNECTING MEDIUM

  What to cement the lofty and the mean
  Does Nature?—­What?—­Place vanity between?

* * * * *

THE MORAL POET

[This is an Epigram on Lavater’s work, called “Pontius Pilatus, oder der Mensch in Allen Gestalten,” etc.—­TRANSLATOR.]

  “How poor a thing is man!” Alas, ’tis true
  I’d half forgot it—­when I chanced on you!

* * * * *

THE SUBLIME THEME

[Also on Lavater, and alluding to the “Jesus Messias, oder die Evangelien und Apostelgeschichte in Gesaengen.”—­TRANSLATOR.]

  How God compassionates Mankind, thy muse, my friend, rehearses—­
  Compassion for the sins of Man!—­What comfort for thy verses!

* * * * *

SCIENCE

  To some she is the Goddess great, to some the milch-cow of the field;
  Their care is but to calculate—­what butter she will yield.

* * * * *

KANT AND HIS COMMENTATORS

  How many starvelings one rich man can nourish! 
  When monarchs build, the rubbish-carriers flourish.