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 Michael ffirs.tex V2 - 03/24/2008 4:19pm Page iii

®
Mastering UNIX Shell
Scripting

Bash, Bourne, and Korn Shell

Scripting for Programmers, System
Administrators, and UNIX Gurus
Second Edition

Randal K. Michael

Wiley Publishing, Inc.

Michael ffirs.tex V2 - 03/24/2008 4:19pm Page ii
 Michael ffirs.tex V2 - 03/24/2008 4:19pm Page i

Mastering UNIX®Shell
Download from Wow! eBook <www.wowebook.com>

Scripting
Second Edition
Michael ffirs.tex V2 - 03/24/2008 4:19pm Page ii
 Michael ffirs.tex V2 - 03/24/2008 4:19pm Page iii

®
Mastering UNIX Shell
Scripting

Bash, Bourne, and Korn Shell

Scripting for Programmers, System
Administrators, and UNIX Gurus
Second Edition

Randal K. Michael

Wiley Publishing, Inc.

 Michael ffirs.tex V2 - 03/24/2008 4:19pm Page iv

Mastering UNIX®Shell Scripting: Bash, Bourne, and Korn Shell Scripting for
Programmers, System Administrators, and UNIX Gurus, Second Edition
Published by
Wiley Publishing, Inc.
10475 Crosspoint Boulevard
Indianapolis, IN 46256
www.wiley.com
Copyright © 2008 by Randal K. Michael
Published by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Indianapolis, Indiana
Published simultaneously in Canada
ISBN: 978-0-470-18301-4
Manufactured in the United States of America
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted
in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning or
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Clearance Center, 222 Rosewood Drive, Danvers, MA 01923, (978) 750-8400, fax (978)
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Department, Wiley Publishing, Inc., 10475 Crosspoint Blvd., Indianapolis, IN 46256, (317)
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Limit of Liability/Disclaimer of Warranty: The publisher and the author make no
representations or warranties with respect to the accuracy or completeness of the contents
of this work and specifically disclaim all warranties, including without limitation
warranties of fitness for a particular purpose. No warranty may be created or extended by
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Neither the publisher nor the author shall be liable for damages arising herefrom. The fact
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Wiley also publishes its books in a variety of electronic formats. Some content that appears
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 Michael ffirs.tex V2 - 03/24/2008 4:19pm Page v

This book is dedicated to my wife Robin, the girls, Andrea and Ana, and
the grandchildren, Gavin, Jocelyn, and Julia — my true inspiration.
Michael ffirs.tex V2 - 03/24/2008 4:19pm Page vi
 Michael fabout.tex V1 - 03/24/2008 4:34pm Page vii

About the Author

Randal K. Michael is a UNIX Systems Administrator working as a contract consultant.

He teaches UNIX shell scripting in corporate settings, where he writes shell scripts to
address a variety of complex problems and tasks, ranging from monitoring systems to
replicating large databases. He has more than 30 years of experience in the industry
and 15 years of experience as a UNIX Systems Administrator, working on AIX, HP-UX,
Linux, OpenBSD, and Solaris.

vii
Michael fabout.tex V1 - 03/24/2008 4:34pm Page viii
 Michael fcre.tex V1 - 03/24/2008 4:35pm Page ix

Credits

Executive Editor Production Manager

Carol Long Tim Tate

Development Editor Vice President and Executive Group

John Sleeva Publisher
Richard Swadley
Technical Editor
Vice President and Executive Publisher
John Kennedy
Joseph B. Wikert
Production Editor
Project Coordinator, Cover
Dassi Zeidel Lynsey Stanford
Copy Editor Proofreader
Kim Cofer Candace English
Editorial Manager Indexer
Mary Beth Wakefield Robert Swanson

ix
Michael fcre.tex V1 - 03/24/2008 4:35pm Page x
 Michael ftoc.tex V3 - 03/24/2008 4:38pm Page xi

Contents

Acknowledgments xxv
Introduction xxvii

Part One The Basics of Shell Scripting

Chapter 1 Scripting Quick Start and Review 3
Case Sensitivity 3
UNIX Special Characters 3
Shells 4
Shell Scripts 4
Functions 4
Running a Shell Script 5
Declare the Shell in the Shell Script 6
Comments and Style in Shell Scripts 6
Control Structures 8
if . . . then statement 8
if . . . then . . . else statement 8
if . . . then . . . elif . . . (else) statement 9
for . . . in statement 9
while statement 9
until statement 9
case statement 10
Using break, continue, exit, and return 10
Here Document 11
Shell Script Commands 12
Symbol Commands 14
Variables 15
Command-Line Arguments 15
shift Command 16
Special Parameters $* and $@ 17
Special Parameter Definitions 17
Double Quotes, Forward Tics, and Back Tics 18

xi
 Michael ftoc.tex V3 - 03/24/2008 4:38pm Page xii

xii Contents

Using awk on Solaris 19

Using the echo Command Correctly 19
Math in a Shell Script 20
Operators 20
Built-In Mathematical Functions 21
File Permissions, suid and sgid Programs 21
chmod Command Syntax for Each Purpose 22
To Make a Script Executable 22
To Set a Program to Always Execute as the Owner 23
To Set a Program to Always Execute as a Member of the
File Owner’s Group 23
To Set a Program to Always Execute as Both the File
Owner and the File Owner’s Group 23
Running Commands on a Remote Host 23
Setting Traps 25
User-Information Commands 25
who Command 26
w Command 26
last Command 26
ps Command 27
Communicating with Users 27
Uppercase or Lowercase Text for Easy Testing 28
Check the Return Code 29
Time-Based Script Execution 30
Cron Tables 30
Cron Table Entry Syntax 31
at Command 31
Output Control 32
Silent Running 32
Using getopts to Parse Command-Line Arguments 33
Making a Co-Process with Background Function 34
Catching a Delayed Command Output 36
Fastest Ways to Process a File Line-by-Line 37
Using Command Output in a Loop 40
Mail Notification Techniques 41
Using the mail and mailx Commands 41
Using the sendmail Command to Send Outbound Mail 41
Creating a Progress Indicator 43
A Series of Dots 43
A Rotating Line 43
Elapsed Time 44
Working with Record Files 45
Working with Strings 46
Creating a Pseudo-Random Number 47
Using /dev/random and /dev/urandom 48
Checking for Stale Disk Partitions in AIX 48
 Michael ftoc.tex V3 - 03/24/2008 4:38pm Page xiii

Contents xiii

Automated Host Pinging 49

Highlighting Specific Text in a File 49
Keeping the Printers Printing 50
AIX ‘‘Classic’’ Printer Subsystem 50
System V and CUPS Printing 50
Automated FTP File Transfer 51
Using rsync to Replicate Data 51
Simple Generic rsync Shell Script 52
Capturing a List of Files Larger than $MEG 53
Capturing a User’s Keystrokes 53
Using the bc Utility for Floating-Point Math 54
Number Base Conversions 55
Using the typeset Command 55
Using the printf Command 55
Create a Menu with the select Command 56
Removing Repeated Lines in a File 58
Removing Blank Lines from a File 58
Testing for a Null Variable 58
Directly Access the Value of the Last Positional Parameter, $# 59
Remove the Column Headings in a Command Output 59
Arrays 60
Loading an Array 60
Testing a String 61
Summary 65
Chapter 2 24 Ways to Process a File Line-by-Line 67
Command Syntax 67
Using File Descriptors 68
Creating a Large File to Use in the Timing Test 68
24 Methods to Parse a File Line-by-Line 73
Method 1: cat while read LINE 74
Method 2: while read LINE bottom 75
Method 3: cat while LINE line 76
Method 4: while LINE line bottom 77
Method 5: cat while LINE line cmdsub2 78
Method 6: while LINE line bottom cmdsub2 79
Method 7: for LINE cat FILE 79
Method 8: for LINE cat FILE cmdsub2 80
Method 9: while line outfile 81
Method 10: while read LINE FD IN 81
Method 11: cat while read LINE FD OUT 83
Method 12: while read LINE bottom FD OUT 85
Method 13: while LINE line bottom FD OUT 86
Method 14: while LINE line bottom cmdsub2 FD OUT 87
Method 15: for LINE cat FILE FD OUT 87
Method 16: for LINE cat FILE cmdsub2 FD OUT 88
Method 17: while line outfile FD
 Michael ftoc.tex V3 - 03/24/2008 4:38pm Page xiv

xiv Contents

Method 18: while line outfile FD OUT 90

Method 19: while line outfile FD IN AND OUT 91
Method 20: while LINE line FD IN 92
Method 21: while LINE line cmdsub2 FD IN 93
Method 22: while read LINE FD IN AND OUT 94
Method 23: while LINE line FD IN AND OUT 96
Method 24: while LINE line cmdsub2 FD IN AND OUT 97
Timing Each Method 98
Timing Script 99
Timing Data for Each Method 117
Timing Command-Substitution Methods 127
What about Using Command Input Instead of File Input? 128
Summary 129
Lab Assignments 129
Chapter 3 Automated Event Notification 131
Basics of Automating Event Notification 131
Using the mail and mailx Commands 132
Setting Up a sendmail Alias 134
Problems with Outbound Mail 134
Creating a ‘‘Bounce’’ Account with a .forward File 136
Using the sendmail Command to Send Outbound Mail 137
Dial-Out Modem Software 139
SNMP Traps 139
Summary 140
Lab Assignments 141
Chapter 4 Progress Indicators Using a Series of Dots, a Rotating
Line, or Elapsed Time 143
Indicating Progress with a Series of Dots 143
Indicating Progress with a Rotating Line 145
Indicating Progress with Elapsed Time 148
Combining Feedback Methods 151
Other Options to Consider 153
Summary 153
Lab Assignments 154

Part Two Scripts for Programmers, Testers, and Analysts

Chapter 5 Working with Record Files 157
What Is a Record File? 157
Fixed-Length Record Files 158
Variable-Length Record Files 159
Processing the Record Files 160
Tasks for Records and Record Files 164
Tasks on Fixed-Length Record Files 164
Tasks on Variable-Length Record Files 166
The Merge Process 169
 Michael ftoc.tex V3 - 03/24/2008 4:38pm Page xv

Contents xv

Working with Strings 171

Putting It All Together 173
Other Things to Consider 183
Summary 184
Lab Assignments 184
Chapter 6 Automated FTP Stuff 187
Syntax 187
Automating File Transfers and Remote Directory Listings 190
Using FTP for Directory Listings on a Remote Machine 190
Getting One or More Files from a Remote System 192
Pre and Post Events 195
Script in Action 196
Uploading One or More Files to a Remote System 196
Replacing Hard-Coded Passwords with Variables 199
Example of Detecting Variables in a Script’s Environment 200
Modifying Our FTP Scripts to Use Password Variables 203
What about Encryption? 209
Creating Encryption Keys 210
Setting Up No-Password Secure Shell Access 210
Secure FTP and Secure Copy Syntax 211
Automating FTP with autoexpect and expect Scripts 212
Other Things to Consider 217
Use Command-Line Switches to Control Execution 217
Keep a Log of Activity 217
Add a Debug Mode to the Scripts 217
Reading a Password into a Shell Script 217
Summary 218
Lab Assignments 218
Chapter 7 Using rsync to Efficiently Replicate Data 219
Syntax 219
Generic rsync Shell Script 220
Replicating Multiple Directories with rsync 222
Replicating Multiple Filesystems with rsync 237
Replicating an Oracle Database with rsync 251
Filesystem Structures 252
rsync Copy Shell Script 254
Summary 289
Lab Assignments 289
Chapter 8 Automating Interactive Programs with Expect and
Autoexpect 291
Downloading and Installing Expect 291
The Basics of Talking to an Interactive Script or Program 293
Using autoexpect to Automatically Create an Expect Script 296
Working with Variables 304
What about Conditional Tests? 306
 Michael ftoc.tex V3 - 03/24/2008 4:38pm Page xvi

xvi Contents

Expect’s Version of a case Statement 306

Expect’s Version of an if...then...else Loop 313
Expect’s Version of a while Loop 314
Expect’s Version of a for Loop 315
Expect’s Version of a Function 317
Using Expect Scripts with Sun Blade Chassis and JumpStart 318
Summary 323
Lab Assignments 324
Chapter 9 Finding Large Files and Files of a Specific Type 325
Syntax 326
Remember That File and Directory Permissions Thing 327
Don’t Be Shocked by the Size of the Files 327
Creating the Script 327
Narrowing Down the Search 333
Other Options to Consider 333
Summary 334
Lab Assignments 334
Chapter 10 Process Monitoring and Enabling Pre-Processing, Startup,
and Post-Processing Events 335
Syntax 336
Monitoring for a Process to Start 336
Monitoring for a Process to End 338
Monitor and Log as a Process Starts and Stops 342
Timed Execution for Process Monitoring, Showing Each PID,
and Timestamp with Event and Timing Capability 347
Other Options to Consider 367
Common Uses 367
Modifications to Consider 367
Summary 367
Lab Assignments 368
Chapter 11 Pseudo-Random Number and Data Generation 369
What Makes a Random Number? 369
The Methods 370
Method 1: Creating a Pseudo-Random Number Utilizing the
PID and the RANDOM Shell Variable 371
Method 2: Creating Numbers between 0 and 32,767 371
Method 3: Creating Numbers between 1 and a User-Defined
Maximum 372
Method 4: Creating Fixed-Length Numbers between 1 and a
User-Defined Maximum 373
Why Pad the Number with Zeros the Hard Way? 375
Method 5: Using the /dev/random and /dev/urandom
Character Special Files 376
Shell Script to Create Pseudo-Random Numbers 379
Creating Unique Filenames 384
 Michael ftoc.tex V3 - 03/24/2008 4:38pm Page xvii

Contents xvii

Creating a File Filled with Random Characters 392

Other Things to Consider 399
Summary 399
Lab Assignments 400

Chapter 12 Creating Pseudo-Random Passwords 401

Randomness 401
Creating Pseudo-Random Passwords 402
Syntax 403
Arrays 403
Loading an Array 403
Building the Password-Creation Script 405
Order of Appearance 405
Define Functions 406
Testing and Parsing Command-Line Arguments 414
Beginning of Main 418
Setting a Trap 418
Checking for the Keyboard File 419
Loading the KEYS Array 419
Building a New Pseudo-Random Password 420
Printing the Manager’s Password Report for Safekeeping 421
Other Options to Consider 431
Password Reports? 432
Which Password? 432
Other Uses? 432
Summary 432
Lab Assignments 432

Chapter 13 Floating-Point Math and the bc Utility 433

Syntax 433
Creating Some Shell Scripts Using bc 434
Creating the float add.ksh Shell Script 434
Testing for Integers and Floating-Point Numbers 440
Building a Math Statement for the bc Command 441
Using a Here Document 442
Creating the float subtract.ksh Shell Script 443
Using getopts to Parse the Command Line 449
Building a Math Statement String for bc 450
Here Document and Presenting the Result 451
Creating the float multiply.ksh Shell Script 452
Parsing the Command Line for Valid Numbers 458
Creating the float divide.ksh Shell Script 460
Creating the float average.ksh Shell Script 467
Other Options to Consider 472
Creating More Functions 472
Summary 473
Lab Assignments 473
 Michael ftoc.tex V3 - 03/24/2008 4:38pm Page xviii

xviii Contents

Chapter 14 Number Base Conversions 475

Syntax 475
Example 1: Converting from Base 10 to Base 16 476
Example 2: Converting from Base 8 to Base 16 476
Example 3: Converting Base 10 to Octal 477
Example 4: Converting Base 10 to Hexadecimal 477
Scripting the Solution 477
Base 2 (Binary) to Base 16 (Hexadecimal) Shell Script 478
Base 10 (Decimal) to Base 16 (Hexadecimal) Shell Script 481
Script to Create a Software Key Based on the Hexadecimal
Representation of an IP Address 485
Script to Translate between Any Number Base 490
Using getopts to Parse the Command Line 495
Example 5: Correct Usage of the equate any base.ksh
Shell Script 495
Example 6: Incorrect Usage of the equate any base.ksh
Shell Script 495
Continuing with the Script 497
Beginning of Main 498
An Easy, Interactive Script to Convert Between Bases 500
Using the bc Utility for Number Base Conversions 506
Other Options to Consider 512
Software Key Shell Script 512
Summary 512
Lab Assignments 513
Chapter 15 hgrep: Highlighted grep Script 515
Reverse Video Control 516
Building the hgrep.Bash Shell Script 517
Other Options to Consider 524
Other Options for the tput Command 524
Summary 525
Lab Assignments 525
Chapter 16 Monitoring Processes and Applications 527
Monitoring Local Processes 527
Remote Monitoring with Secure Shell and Remote Shell 530
Checking for Active Oracle Databases 536
Using autoexpect to Create an expect Script 539
Checking if the HTTP Server/Application Is Working 545
What about Waiting for Something to Complete Executing? 546
Other Things to Consider 547
Proper echo Usage 548
Application APIs and SNMP Traps 548
Summary 548
Lab Assignments 549
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From the greensward's grateful hues, to the fascinating eye of
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Beauty, various in all things, setteth up her home in each,
Shedding graciously around an omnipresent smile.

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In feathery snows, and whistling winds, and dun electric skies;
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Beauty coileth with the watersnake, and is cradled in the

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The silvery dace and golden carp thread the rushes with her:
She saileth into clouds with an eagle, she fluttereth into tulips with a
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leopard in his jungle.

Moreover, for the reasonable world, its words, and acts, and
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For frail and fallen manhood, in his every work and way,
Beauty, wrecked and stricken, lingereth still among us,
And morsels of that shattered sun are dropt upon the darkness.
Yea, with savages and boors, the mean, the cruel, and besotted,
Ever in extenuating grace hide some relics of the beautiful.
Gleams of kindness, deeds of courage, patience, justice, generosity,
Truth welcomed, knowledge prized, rebukes taken with contrition,
All, in various measure, have been blest with some of these,
And never yet hath lived the man, utterly beggared of the beautiful.

Beauty is as crystal in the torchlight, sparkling on the poet's page;

Virgin honey of Hymettus, distilled from the lips of the orator;
A savour of sweet spikenard, anointing the hands of liberality;
A feast of angels' food set upon the tables of religion.
She is seen in the tear of sorrow, and heard in the exuberance of
mirth;
She goeth out early with the huntsman, and watcheth at the pillow
of disease.
Science in his secret laws hath found out latent beauty,
Sphere and square, and cone and curve, are fashioned by her rules:
Mechanism met her in his forces, fancy caught her in its flittings,
Day is lightened by her eyes, and her eyelids close upon the night.
Beauty is dependence in the babe, a toothless tender nurseling;
Beauty is boldness in the boy, a curly rosy truant;
Beauty is modesty and grace in fair retiring girlhood;
Beauty is openness and strength in pure high-minded youth:
Man, the noble and intelligent, gladdeneth earth with beauty,
And woman's beauty sunneth him, as with a smile from heaven.

There is none enchantment against beauty, Magician for all time,

Whose potent spells of sympathy have charmed the passive world:
Verily, she reigneth a Semiramis; there is no might against her;
The lords of every land are harnessed to her triumph.
Beauty is conqueror of all, nor ever yet was found among the nations
That iron-moulded mind, full proof against her power.
Beauty, like a summer's day, subdueth by sweet influences;
Who can wrestle against Sleep?—yet is that giant, very gentleness.

Ajax may rout a phalanx, but beauty shall enslave him single-handed;
Pericles ruled Athens, yet he is the servant of Aspasia:
Light were the labour, and often-told the tale, to count the victories
of beauty,—
Helen, and Judith, and Omphale, and Thais, many a trophied name.
At a glance the misanthrope was softened, and repented of his vows,
When Beauty asked, he gave, and banned her—with a blessing;
The cold ascetic loved the smile that lit his dismal cell,
And kindly stayed her step, and wept when she departed;
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With fawning homage greeted her, as Beauty glided by.
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A glad spontaneous growth of friends is springing round her rest:
Learning sitteth at her feet, and Idleness laboureth to please her,
Folly hath flung aside his bells, and leaden Dulness gloweth;
Prudence is rash in her defence; Frugality filleth her with riches;
Despair came to her for counsel; and Bereavement was glad when
she consoled;
Justice putteth up his sword at the tear of supplicating beauty,
And Mercy, with indulgent haste, hath pardoned beauty's sin.

For beauty is the substitute for all things, satisfying every absence,
The rich delirious cup to make all else forgotten:
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O beauty, thou art eloquent; yea, though slow of tongue,
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Hippodame, Camilla, Atalanta,—in gracefulness ye fascinate your
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Attalus cannot boast his gold against the wealth of beauty;
O beauty, thou art noble; yea, though Esther be an exile,
Set her up on high, ye kings, and bow before the majesty of beauty!

Friend and scholar, who, in charity, hast walked with me thus far,
We have wandered in a wilderness of sweets, tracking beauty's
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And ever as we rambled on among the tangled thicket,
Many a startled thought hath tempted further roaming:
Passion, sympathetic influence, might of imaginary haloes,—
Many the like would lure aside, to hunt their wayward themes.
And, look you!—from his ferny bed in yonder hazel coppice,
A dappled hart hath flung aside the boughs and broke away;
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Should we follow?—foolish hunters, thus to chase afoot,—
Who can track the airy speed and doubling wiles of Taste?

For the estimates of human beauty, dependent upon time and clime,
Manifold and changeable, are multiplied the more by strange
gregarious fashion:
And notable ensamples in the great turn to epidemics in the lower,
So that a nation's taste shall vary with its rulers.
Stern Egypt, humbled to the Greek, fancied softer idols;
Greece, the Roman province, nigh forgat her classic sculpture;
Rome, crushed beneath the Goth, loved his barbarian habits;
And Alaric, with his ruffian horde, is tamed by silken Rome.
Columbia's flattened head, and China's crumpled feet,—
The civilized tapering waist,—and the pendulous ears of the savage,
—
The swollen throat among the mountains, and an ebon skin beneath
the tropics,—
These shall all be reckoned beauty: and for weighty cause.
First, for the latter: Providence in mercy tempereth taste by
circumstance,
So that Nature's must shall hit her creature's liking;
Second, for the middle: though the foolishness of vanity seek to mar
proportion,
Still, defects in those we love shall soon be counted praise;
Third, for the first: a chief, and a princess, maimed or distorted from
the cradle
Shall coax the flattery of slaves to imitate the great in their
deformity:
Hence groweth habit: and habits make a taste,
And so shall servile zeal deface the types of beauty.
Whiles Alexander conquered, crookedness was comely:
And followers learn to praise the scars upon their leader's brow.
Youth hath sought to flatter age by mimicking grey hairs;
Age plastereth her wrinkles, and is painted in the ruddiness of Youth.
Fashion, the parasite of Rank, apeth faults and failings,
Until the general Taste depraved hath warped its sense of beauty.

Each man hath a measure for himself, yet all shall coincide in much;
A perfect form of human grace would captivate the world:
Be it manhood's lustre, or the loveliness of woman, all would own its
beauty,
The Caffre and Circassian, Russians and Hindoos, the Briton, the Turk
and Japanese.
Not all alike, nor all at once, but each in proportion to intelligence,
His purer state in morals, and a lesser grade in guilt:
For the high standard of the beautiful is fixed in Reason's forum,
And sins, and customs, and caprice, have failed to break it down:
And reason's standard for the creature pointeth three perfections,
Frame, knowledge, and the feeling heart, well and kindly mingled;
A fair dwelling, furnished wisely, with a gentle tenant in it,—
This is the glory of humanity: thou hast seen it seldom.

There is a beauty for the body; the superficial polish of a statue,

The symmetry of form and feature delicately carved and painted.
How bright in early bloom the Georgian sitteth at her lattice,
How softened off in graceful curves her young and gentle shape:
Those dark eyes, lit by curiosity, flash beneath the lashes,
And still her velvet cheek is dimpled with a smile.
Dost thou count her beautiful?—even as a mere fair figure,
A plastic image, little more,—the outer garb of woman:
Yea,—and thus far it is well; but Reason's hopes are higher,—
Can he sate his soul on a scantling third of beauty?

Yet is this the pleasing trickery, that cheateth half the world,
Nature's wise deceit to make up waste in life;
And few be they that rest uncaught, for many a twig is limed;
Where is the wise among a million, that took not form for beauty?
But watch it well; for vanity and sin, malice, hate, suspicion,
Louring as clouds upon the countenance, will disenchant its charms.
The needful complexity of beauty claimeth mind and soul,
Though many coins of foul alloy pass current for the true:
And albeit fairness in the creature shall often co-exist with
excellence,
Yet hath many an angel shape been tenanted by fiends.
A man, spiritually keen, shall detect in surface beauty
Those marring specks of evil which the sensual cannot see;
Therefore is he proof against a face, unlovely to his likings,
And common minds shall scorn the taste, that shrunk from sin's
distortion.

There is a beauty for the reason; grandly independent of externals,

It looketh from the windows of the house, shining in the man
triumphant.
I have seen the broad blank face of some misshapen dwarf
Lit on a sudden as with glory, the brilliant light of mind:
Who then imagined him deformed? intelligence is blazing on his
forehead,
There is empire in his eye, and sweetness on his lip, and his brown
cheek glittereth with beauty:
And I have known some Nireus of the camp, a varnished paragon of
chamberers,
Fine, elegant, and shapely, moulded as the master-piece of Phidias,—
Such an one, with intellects abased, have I noted crouching to the
dwarf,
Whilst his lovers scorn the fool, whose beauty hath departed!

And there is a beauty for the spirit; mind in its perfect flowering,
Fragrant, expanded into soul, full of love and blessed.
Go to some squalid couch, some famishing death-bed of the poor;
He is shrunken, cadaverous, diseased;—there is here no beauty of
the body:
Never hath he fed on knowledge, nor drank at the streams of
science,
He is of the common herd, illiterate;—there is here no beauty of the
reason:
But lo! his filming eye is bright with love from heaven,
In every look it beameth praise, as worshipping with seraphs;
What honeycomb is hived upon his lips, eloquent of gratitude and
prayer,—
What triumph shrined serene upon that clammy brow,
What glory flickering transparent under those thin cheeks,—
What beauty in his face!—Is it not the face of an angel?

Now, of these three, infinitely mingled and combined,

Consisteth human beauty, in all the marvels of its mightiness:
And forth from human beauty springeth the intensity of Love;
Feeling, thought, desire, the three deep fountains of affection.
Son of Adam, or daughter of Eve, art thou trapped by nature,
And is thy young eye dazzled with the pleasant form of beauty?
This is but a lower love; still it hath its honour;
What God hath made and meant to charm, let not man despise.
Nevertheless, as reason's child, look thou wisely farther,
For age, disease, and care, and sin, shall tarnish all the surface:
Reach a loftier love: be lured by the comeliness of mind,—
Gentle, kind, and calm, or lustrous in the livery of knowledge.
And more, there is a higher grade; force the mind to its perfection—
Win those golden trophies of consummate love:
Add unto riches of the reason, and a beauty moulded to thy liking,
The precious things of nobler grace that well adorn a soul;
Thus, be thou owner of a treasure, great in earth and heaven,
Beauty, wisdom, goodness, in a creature like its God.

So then, draw we to an end; with feeble step and faltering,

I follow beauty through the universe, and find her home Ubiquity:
In all that God hath made, in all that man hath marred,
Lingereth beauty, or its wreck, a broken mould and castings.
And now, having wandered long time, freely and with desultory feet,
To gather in the garden of the world a few fair sample flowers,
With patient scrutinizing care let us cull the conclusion of their
essence,
And answer to the riddle of Zorobabel, Whence the might of beauty?

Ugliness is native unto nothing, but an attribute of concrete evil;

In everything created, at its worst, lurk the dregs of loveliness:
We be fallen into utter depths, yet once we stood sublime,
For man was made in perfect praise, his Maker's comely image:
And so his new-born ill is spiced with older good,
He carrieth with him, yea to crime, the withered limbs of beauty.
Passions may be crooked generosities; the robber stealeth for his
children;
Murder was avenger of the innocent, or wiped out shame with blood.
Many virtues, weighted by excess, sink among the vices;
Many vices, amicably buoyed, float among the virtues.
For, albeit sin is hate, a foul and bitter turpitude,
As hurling back against the Giver all His gifts with insult,
Still when concrete in the sinner, it will seem to partake of his
attractions,
And in seductive masquerade shall cloak its leprous skin;
His broken lights of beauty shall illumine its utter black,
And those refracted rays glitter on the hunch of its deformity.
Verily the fancy may be false, yet hath it met me in my musings,
(As expounding the pleasantness of pleasure, but no ways
extenuating licence,)
That even those yearnings after beauty, in wayward wanton youth,
When, guileless of ulterior end, it craveth but to look upon the lovely,
Seem like struggles of the soul, dimly remembering pre-existence,
And feeling in its blindness for a long-lost god, to satisfy its longing;
As if the sucking babe, tenderly mindful of his mother,
Should pull a dragon's dugs, and drain the teats of poison.
Our primal source was beauty, and we pant for it ever and again;
But sin hath stopped the way with thorns; we turn aside, wander,
and are lost.

God, the undiluted good, is root and stock of beauty,

And every child of reason drew his essence from that stem.
Therefore, it is of intuition, an innate hankering for home,
A sweet returning to the well, from which our spirit flowed,
That we, unconscious of a cause, should bask these darkened souls
In some poor relics of the light that blazed in primal beauty,
And, even like as exiles of idolatry, should quaff from the cisterns of
creation
Stagnant draughts, for those fresh springs that rise in the Creator.

Only, being burdened with the body, spiritual appetite is warped,

And sensual man, with taste corrupted, drinketh of pollutions:
Impulse is left, but indiscriminate; his hunger feasteth upon carrion;
His natural love of beauty doateth over beauty in decay.
He still thirsteth for the beautiful; but his delicate ideal hath grown
gross,
And the very sense of thirst hath been fevered from affection into
passion.
He remembereth the blessedness of light, but it is with an old man's
memory,
A blind old man from infancy, that once hath seen the sun,
Whom long experience of night hath darkened in his cradle
recollections,
Until his brightest thought of noon is but a shade of black.

This then is thy charm, O beauty all pervading;

And this thy wondrous strength, O beauty, conqueror of all:
The outline of our shadowy best, the pure and comely creature,
That winneth on the conscience with a saddening admiration:
And some untutored thirst for God, the root of every pleasure,
Native to creatures, yea in ruin, and dating from the birthday of the
soul.
For God sealeth up the sum, confirmed exemplar of proportions,
Rich in love, full of wisdom, and perfect in the plenitude of Beauty.

OF FAME.
LOW the trumpet, spread the wing, fling thy scroll upon the sky,
Rouse the slumbering world, O Fame, and fill the sphere with echo!
 —Beneath thy blast they wake, and murmurs come
hoarsely on the wind,
And flashing eyes and bristling hands proclaim they hear
thy message:
Rolling and surging as a sea, that upturned flood of faces
Hasteneth with its million tongues to spread the wondrous
tale;
The hum of added voices groweth to the roaring of a
cataract,
And rapidly from wave to wave is tossed that exaggerated story,
Until those stunning clamours, gradually diluted in the distance,
Sink ashamed, and shrink afraid of noise, and die away.
Then brooding Silence, forth from his hollow caverns,
Cloaked and cowled, and gliding along, a cold and stealthy shadow,
Once more is mingled with the multitude, whispering as he walketh,
And hushing all their eager ears, to hear some newer Fame.
So all is still again; but nothing of the past hath been forgotten;
A stirring recollection of the trumpet ringeth in the hearts of men:
And each one, either envious or admiring, hath wished the chance
were his
To fill as thus the startled world with fame, or fear, or wonder.
This lit thy torch of sacrilege, Ephesian Eratostratus;
This dug thy living grave, Pythagoras, the traveller from Hadës;
For this, dived Empedocles into Etna's fiery whirlpool;
For this, conquerors, regicides, and rebels, have dared their perilous
crimes.
In all men, from the monarch to the menial, lurketh lust of fame:
The savage and the sage alike regard their labours proudly:
Yea, in death, the glazing eye is illumined by the hope of reputation,
And the stricken warrior is glad, that his wounds are salved with
glory.

For fame is a sweet self-homage, an offering grateful to the idol,

A spiritual nectar for the spiritual thirst, a mental food for mind,
A pregnant evidence to all of an after immaterial existence,
A proof that soul is scatheless, when its dwelling is dissolved.
And the manifold pleasures of fame are sought by the guilty and the
good:
Pleasures, various in kind, and spiced to every palate:
The thoughtful loveth fame as an earnest of better immortality,
The industrious and deserving, as a symbol of just appreciation,
The selfish, as a promise of advancement, at least to a man's own
kin,
And common minds, as a flattering fact that men have been told of
their existence.

There is a blameless love of fame, springing from desire of justice,

When a man hath featly won and fairly claimed his honours:
And then fame cometh as encouragement to the inward
consciousness of merit,
Gladdening by the kindliness and thanks, wherewithal his labours are
rewarded.
But there is a sordid imitation, a feverish thirst for notoriety,
Waiting upon vanity and sloth, and utterly regardless of deserving:
And then fame cometh as a curse; the fire-damp is gathered in the
mine:
The soul is swelled with poisonous air, and a spark of temptation
shall explode it.

Idle causes, noised awhile, shall yield most active consequents,

And therefore it were ill upon occasion to scorn the voice of rumour.
Ye have seen the chemist in his art mingle invisible gases;
And lo, the product is a substance, a heavy dark precipitate:
Even so fame, hurtling on the quiet with many meeting tongues,
Can out of nothing bring forth fruits, and blossom on a nourishment
of air.
For many have earned honour, and thereby rank and riches,
From false and fleeting tales, some casual mere mistake;
And many have been wrecked upon disgrace, and have struggled
with poverty and scorn,
From envious hints and ill reports, the slanders cast on innocence.
Whom may not scandal hit? those shafts are shot at a venture:
Who standeth not in danger of suspicion? that net hath caught the
noblest.
Cæsar's wife was spotless, but a martyr to false fame;
And Rumour, in temporary things, is gigantic as a ruin or a remedy:
Many poor and many rich have testified its popular omnipotence,
And many a panic-stricken army hath perished with the host of the
Assyrians.
Nevertheless, if opportunity be nought, let a man bide his time;
So the matter be not merchandise nor conquest, fear thou less for
character.
If a liar accuseth thee of evil, be not swift to answer;
Yea, rather give him license for awhile; it shall help thine honour
afterward:
Never yet was calumny engendered, but good men speedily
discerned it,
And innocence hath burst from its injustice, as the green world
rolling out of Chaos.
What, though still the wicked scoff,—this also turneth to his praise;
Did ye never hear that censure of the bad is buttress to a good
man's glory?
What, if the ignorant still hold out, obstinate in unkind judgment,—
Ignorance and calumny are paired; we affirm by two negations:
Let them stand round about, pushing at the column in a circle,
For all their toil and wasted strength, the foolish do but prop it.
And note thou this; in the secret of their hearts, they feel the taunt is
false,
And cannot help but reverence the courage, that walketh amid
calumnies unanswering:
He standeth as a gallant chief, unheeding shot or shell;
He trusteth in God his Judge: neither arrows nor the pestilence shall
harm him.

A highheart is a sacrifice to Heaven: should it stoop among the

creepers in the dust,
To tell them that what God approved, is worthy of their praise?
Never shall it heed the thought; but flaming on in triumph to the
skies,
And quite forgetting fame, shall find it added as a trophy.
A great mind is an altar on a hill: should the priest descend from his
altitude,
To canvass offerings and worship from dwellers on the plain?
Rather, with majestic perseverance will he minister in solitary
grandeur,
Confident the time will come, when pilgrims shall be flocking to the
shrine.
For fame is the birthright of genius; and he recketh not how long it
be delayed;
The heir need not hasten to his heritage, when he knoweth that his
tenure is eternal.
The careless poet of Avon, was he troubled for his fame,
Or the deep-mouthed chronicler of Paradise, heeded he the suffrage
of his equals?
Mæonides took no thought, committing all his honours to the future,
And Flaccus, standing on his watch-tower, spied the praise of ages.

Smoking flax will breed a flame, and the flame may illuminate a world;
Where is he who scorned that smoke as foul and murky vapour?
The village stream swelled to a river, and the river was a kingdom's
wealth,
Where is he who boasted he could step across that stream?
Such are the beginnings of the famous: little in the judgment of their
peers,
The juster verdict of posterity shall fix them in the orbits of the
Great.
Therefore dull Zoilus, clamouring ascendant of the hour,
Will soon be fain to hide his hate, and bury up his bitterness for
shame:
Therefore mocking Momus, offended at the footsteps of Beauty,
Shall win the prize of his presumption, and be hooted from his throne
among the stars.
For, as the shadow of a mountain lengtheneth before the setting sun,
Until that screening Alp have darkened all the canton,—
So, Fame groweth to its great ones; their images loom longer in
departing;
But the shadow of mind is light, and earth is filled with its glory.

And thou, student of the truth, commended to the praise of God,

Wouldst thou find applause with men?—seek it not, nor shun it.
Ancient fame is roofed in cedar, and her walls are marble;
Modern fame lodgeth in a hut, a slight and temporary dwelling:
Lay not up the treasures of thy soul within so damp a chamber,
For the moth of detraction shall fret thy robe, and drop its eggs upon
thy motive;
Or the rust of disheartening reserve shall spoil the lustre of thy gold,
Until its burnished beauty shall be dim as tarnished brass;
Or thieves, breaking through to steal, shall claim thy jewelled
thoughts,
And turn to charge the theft on thee, a pilferer from them!

There is a magnanimity in recklessness of fame, so fame be well

deserving,
That rusheth on in fearless might, the conscious sense of merit:
And there is a littleness in jealousy of fame, looking as aware of
weakness,
That creepeth cautiously along, afraid that its title will be challenged.
The wild boar, full of beechmast, flingeth him down among the
brambles;
Secure in bristly strength, without a watch, he sleepeth:
But the hare, afraid to feed, croucheth in its own soft form;
Wakefully with timid eyes, and quivering ears, he listeneth.
Even so, a giant's might is bound up in the soul of Genius,
His neck is strong with confidence, and he goeth tusked with power:
Sturdily he roameth in the forest, or sunneth him in fen and field,
And scareth from his marshy lair a host of fearful foes.
But there is a mimic Talent, whose safety lieth in its quickness,
A timorous thing of doubling guile, that scarce can face a friend:
This one is captious of reproof, provident to snatch occasion,
Greedy of applause, and vexed to lose one tittle of the glory.
He is a poor warder of his fame, who is ever on the watch to keep it
spotless;
Such care argueth debility, a garrison relying on its sentinel.
Passive strength shall scorn excuses, patiently waiting a re-action,
He wotteth well that truth is great, and must prevail at last;
But fretful weakness hasteth to explain, anxiously dreading prejudice,
And ignorant that perishable falsehood dieth as a branch cut off.

Purity of motive and nobility of mind shall rarely condescend

To prove its rights, and prate of wrongs, or evidence its worth to
others.
And it shall be small care to the high and happy conscience
What jealous friends, or envious foes, or common fools may judge.
Should the lion turn and rend every snarling jackal,
Or an eagle be stopt in his career to punish the petulance of
sparrows?
Should the palm-tree bend his crown to chide the briar at his feet,
Nor kindly help its climbing, if it hope, and be ambitious?
Should the nightingale account it worth her pains to vindicate her
music,
Before some sorry finches, that affect to judge of song?
No: many an injustice, many a sneer, and slur,
Is passed aside with noble scorn by lovers of true fame:
For well they wot that glory shall be tinctured good or evil,
By the character of those who give it, as wine is flavoured by the
wineskin:
So that worthy fame floweth only from a worthy fountain,
But from an ill-conditioned troop the best report is worthless.
And if the sensibility of genius count his injuries in secret,
Wisely will he hide the pains a hardened herd would mock:
For the great mind well may be sad to note such littleness in
brethren,
The while he is comforted and happy in the firmest assurance of
desert.

Cease awhile, gentle scholar;—seek other thoughts and themes;

Or dazzling Fame with wildfire light shall lure us on for ever.
For look, all subjects of the mind may range beneath its banner,
And time would fail and patience droop, to count that numerous
host.
The mine is deep, and branching wide,—and who can work it out?
Years of thought would leave untold the boundless topic, Fame.
Every matter in the universe is linked in suchwise unto others,
That a deep full treatise upon one thing might reach to the history of
all things:
And before some single thesis had been followed out in all its
branches,
The wandering thinker would be lost in the pathless forest of
existence.
What were the matter or the spirit, that hath no part in Fame?
Where were the fact irrelevant, or the fancy out of place?
For the handling of that mighty theme should stretch from past to
future,
Catching up the present on its way, as a traveller burdened with
time.
All manner of men, their deeds, hopes, fortunes, and ambitions,
All manner of events and things, climate, circumstance, and custom,
Wealth and war, fear and hope, contentment, jealousy, devotion,
Skill and learning, truth, falsehood, knowledge of things gone and
things to come,
Pride and praise, honour and dishonour, warnings, ensamples,
emulations,
The excellent in virtues, and the reprobate in vice, with the cloud of
indifferent spectators,—
Wave on wave with flooding force throng the shoals of thought,
Filling that immeasurable theme, the height and depth of Fame.
With soul unsatisfied and mind dismayed, my feet have touched the
threshold,
Fain to pour these flowers and fruits an offering on that altar:
Lo, how vast the temple,—there are clouds within the dome!
Yet might the huge expanse be filled, with volumes writ on Fame.

OF FLATTERY.
 USIC is commended of the deaf:—but is that praise
despised?
I trow not: with flattered soul the musician heard him
gladly.
Beauty is commended of the blind:—but is that compliment
misliking?
I trow not: though false and insincere, woman listened
greedily.
Vacant Folly talketh high of Learning's deepest reason:
Is she hated for her hollowness?—learning held her wiser for the
nonce.
The worldly and the sensual, to gain some end, did homage to
religion:
And the good man gave thanks as for a convert, where others saw
the hypocrite.

Yet none of these were cheated at the heart, nor steadily believed
those flatteries;
They feared the core was rotten, while they hoped the skin was
sound:
But the fruits have so sweet fragrance, and are verily so pleasant to
the eyes,
It were an ungracious disenchantment to find them apples of Sodom.
So they laboured to think all honest, winking hard with both their
eyes;
And hushed up every whisper that could prove that praise absurd:
They willingly regard not the infirmities that make such worship vain,
And palliate to their own fond hearts the faults they will not see.
For the idol rejoiceth in his incense, and loveth not to shame his
suppliants,
Should he seek to find them false, his honours die with theirs:
An offering is welcome for its own sake, set aside the giver,
And praise is precious to a man, though uttered by the parrot or the
mocking-bird.

The world is full of fools; and sycophancy liveth on the foolish:

So he groweth great and rich, that fawning supple parasite.
Sometimes he boweth like a reed, cringing to the pompousness of
pride,
Sometimes he strutteth as a gallant, pampering the fickleness of
vanity;
I have known him listen with the humble, enacting silent marveller,
To hear some purse-proud dunce expose his poverty of mind;
I have heard him wrangle with the obstinate, vowing that he will not
be convinced,
When some weak youth hath wisely feared the chance of ill success:
Now, he will barely be a winner,—to magnify thy triumphs afterward;
Now, he will hardly be a loser,—but cannot cease to wonder at thy
skill:
He laudeth his own worth, that the leader may have glory in his
follower;
He meekly confesseth his unworthiness, that the leader may have
glory in himself.
Many wiles hath he, and many modes of catching,
But every trap is selfishness, and every bait is praise.

Come, I would forewarn thee and forearm thee; for keen are the
weapons of his warfare;
And, while my soul hath scorned him, I have watched his skill from
far.
His thoughts are full of guile, deceitfully combining contrarieties,
And when he doeth battle in a man, he is leagued with traitorous
Self-love.
Strange things have I noted, and opposite to common fancy;
We leave the open surface, and would plumb the secret depths.
For he will magnify a lover, even to disparaging his mistress;
So much wisdom, goodness, grace,—and all to be enslaved?
Till the Narcissus, self-enamoured, whelmed in floods of flattery,
Is cheated from the constancy and fervency of love by friendship's
subtle praise.
Moreover, he will glorify a parent, even to the censure of his child,—
O degenerate scion, of a stock so excellent and noble!
Scant will he be in well-earned praise of a son before his father;
And rarely commendeth to a mother her daughter's budding beauty:
Yet shall he extol the daughter to her father, and be warm about the
son before his mother;
Knowing that self-love entereth not, to resist applause with
jealousies.
Wisely is he sparing of hyperbole where vehemence of praise would
humble,
For many a father liketh ill to be counted second to his son:
And shrewdly the flatterer hath reckoned on a self still lurking in the
mother,
When his tongue was slow to speak of graces in the daughter.
But if he descend a generation, to the grandsire his talk is of the
grandson,
Because in such high praise he hideth the honours of the son;
And the daughter of a daughter may well exceed, in beauty, love,
and learning,
For unconsciously old age perceived—she cannot be my rival.
These are of the deep things of flattery: and many a shallow
sycophant
Hath marvelled ill that praise of children seldom won their parents.
This therefore note, unto detection: flattery can sneer as well as
smile;
And a master in the craft wotteth well, that his oblique thrust is
surest.

Flattery sticketh like a burr, holding to the soil with anchors,

A vital, natural, subtle seed, everywhere hardy and indigenous.
Go to the storehouse of thy memory, and take what is readiest to thy
hand,—
The noble deed, the clever phrase, for which thy pride was flattered:
Oh, it hath been dwelt upon in solitude, and comforted thy heart in
crowds,
It hath made thee walk as in a dream, and lifted up the head above
thy fellows;
It hath compensated months of gloom, that minute of sweet
sunshine,
Drying up the pools of apathy, and kindling the fire of ambition:
Yea, the flavour of that spice, mingled in the cup of life,
Shall linger even to the dregs, and still be tasted with a welcome;
The dame shall tell her grandchild of her coy and courted youth,
And the grey-beard prateth of a stranger, who praised his task at
school.

Oftimes to the sluggard and the dull, flattery hath done good service,
Quickening the mind to emulation, and encouraging the heart that
failed.
Even so, a stimulating poison, wisely tendered by the leech,
Shall speed the pulse, and rally life, and cheat astonished death.
For, as a timid swimmer ventureth afloat with bladders,
Until self-confidence and growth of skill have made him spurn their
aid,
Thus commendation may be prudent, where a child hath ill deserved
it;
But praise unmerited is flattery, and the cure will bring its cares:
For thy son may find thee out, and thou shalt rue the remedy:
Yea, rather, where thou canst not praise, be honest in rebuke.

I have seen the objects of a flatterer mirrored clearly on the surface,

Where self-love scattereth praise, to gather praise again.
This is a commodity of merchandize, words put out at interest:
A scheme for canvassing opinions, and tinging them all with
partiality.
He is but a harmless fool; humour him with pitiful good-nature:
If a poetaster quote thy song, be thou tender to his poem:
Did the painter praise thy sketch? be kind, commend his picture;
He looketh for a like return; then thank him with thy praise.
In these small things with these small minds count thou the
sycophant a courtier,
And pay back, as blindly as ye may, the too transparent honour.
Also, where the flattery is delicate, coming unobtrusive and in
season,
Though thou be suspicious of its truth, be generous at least to its
gentility.
The skilful thief of Lacedæmon had praise before his judges,
And many caitiffs win applause for genius in their callings.
Moreover, his meaning may be kind,—and thou art a debtor to his
tongue;
Hasten well to pay the debt, with charity and shrewdness:
He must not think thee caught, nor feel himself discovered,
Nor find thine answering compliment as hollow as his own.
Though he be a smiling enemy, let him heed thee as the fearless and
the friendly;
A searching look, a poignant word, may prove thou art aware:
Still, with compassion to the frail, though keen to see his soul,
Let him not fear for thy discretion: see thou keep his secret, and
thine own.

However, where the flattery is gross, a falsehood clear and fulsome,

Crush the venomous toad, and spare not for a jewel in its head.
Tell the presumptuous in flattery, that or ever he bespatter thee with
praise,
It might be well to stop and ask how little it were worth:
Thou hast not solicited his suffrage,—let him not force thee to refuse
it;
Look to it, man, thy fence is foiled,—and thus we spoil the plot.
Self-knowledge goeth armed, girt with many weapons,
But carrieth whips for flattery, to lash it like a slave:
But the dunce in that great science goeth as a greedy tunny,
To gorge both bait and hook, unheeding all but appetite:
He smelleth praise and swalloweth,—yea, though it be palpable and
plain,
Say unto him, Folly, thou art Wisdom,—he will bless thee for thy lie.

Flatterer, thou shalt rue thy trade, though it have many present
gains;
Those varnished wares may sell apace, yet shall they spoil thy credit.
Thine is the intoxicating cup, which whoso drinketh it shall nauseate:
Thine is trickery and cheating; but deception never pleased for long.
And though while fresh thy fragrance seemed even as the dews of
charity,
Yet afterward it fouled thy censer, as with savour of stale smoke.
For the great mind detected thee at once, answering thine emptiness
with pity,
He saw thy self-interested zeal, and was not cozened by vain-glory:
And the little mind is bloated with the praise, scorning him who gave
it,
A fool shall turn to be thy tyrant, an thou hast dubbed him great:
And the medium mind of common men, loving first thy music,
After, when the harmonies are done, shall feel small comfort in their
echoes;
For either he shall know thee false, conscious of contrary deservings,
And, hating thee for falsehood, soon will scorn himself for truth,
Or, if in aught to toilsome merit honest praise be due,
Though for a season, belike, his weakness hath been raptured at thy
witching,
Shall he not speedily perceive, to the vexing of his disappointed
spirit,
That thine exaggerated tongue hath robbed him of fair fame?
Thou hast paid in forger's coins, and he had earned true money:
For the substance of just praise, thou hast put him off with shadows
of the sycophant:
Thou art all things to all men, for ends false and selfish,
Therefore shalt be nothing unto any one, when those thine ends are
seen.

Turn aside, young scholar, turn from the song of Flattery!

She hath the Siren's musical voice, to ravish and betray.
Her tongue droppeth honey, but it is the honey of Anticyra;
Her face is a mask of fascination, but there hideth deformity behind;
Her coming is the presence of a queen, heralded by courtesy and
beauty,
But, going away, her train is held by the hideous dwarf, Disgust.

Know thyself, thine evil as thy good, and flattery shall not harm thee:
Yea, her speech shall be a warning, a humbling and a guide.
For wherein thou lackest most, there chiefly will the sycophant
commend thee,
And then most warmly will congratulate, when a man hath least
deserved.
Behold, she is doubly a traitor; and will underrate her victim's best,
That, to the comforting of conscience, she may plead his worse for
better.

Therefore, is she dangerous,—as every lie is dangerous:

Believe her tales, and perish: if thou act upon such counsel.
Her aims are thine not thee, thy wealth and not thy welfare,
Thy suffrage not thy safety, thine aid and not thine honour.
Moreover, with those aims insured, ceaseth all her glozing;
She hath used thee as a handle,—but her hand was wise to turn it;
Thus will she glorify her skill, that it deftly caught thy kindness,
Thus will she scorn thy kindness, so pliable and easy to her skill.
And then, the flatterer will turn to be thy foe, the bitterest and
hottest,
Because he oweth thee much hate to pay off many humblings.
Thinkest thou now that he is high, he loveth the remembrance of his
lowliness,
The servile manner, the dependent smile, the conscience self-
abased?
No, this hour is his own, and the flatterer will be found a busy
mocker;
He that hath salved thee with his tongue, shall now gnash upon thee
with his teeth;
Yea, he will be leader in the laugh,—silly one, to listen to thy loss,
We scarce had hoped to lime and take another of the fools of
flattery.
At the last; have charity, young scholar,—yea, to the sycophant
convicted;
Be not a Brutus to thyself, nor stern in thine own cause.
Pardon exaggerated praise; for there is a natural impulse,
Spurring on the nobler mind, to colour facts by feelings:
Take an indulgent view of each man's interest in self,
Be large and liberal in excuses; is not that infirmity thine own?
Search thy soul and be humble; and mercy abideth with humility;
So that, yea, the insincere may find thee pitiful, and love thee.
Mildly put aside, without rudeness of repulse, the pampering hand of
flattery,
For courtesy and kindness have gone beneath its guise, and ill
shouldst thou rebuke them.

Thou art incapable of theft: but flowers in the garden of a friend

Are thine to pluck with confidence, and it were unfriendliness to
hesitate:
Thou abhorrest flattery: but a generous excess in praise
Is thine to yield with honest heart, and false were the charity to
doubt it:
The difference lieth in thine aim; kindliness and good are of charity,
But selfish, harmful, vile, and bad, is Flattery's evil end.
 OF NEGLECT.
GENEROUS and righteous is thy grief, slighted child of sensibility;
For kindliness enkindleth love, but the waters of indifference quench
it:
Thy soul is athirst for sympathy, and hungereth to find affection,
The tender scions of thy heart yearn for the sunshine of good
feeling;
And it is an evil thing and bitter, when the cheerful face of Charity,
Going forth gaily in the morning to woo the world with smiles,
Is met by those wayfaring men with coldness, suspicion, and repulse,
And turneth into hard dead stone at the Gorgon visage of Neglect.
O brother, warm and young, covetous of other's favour,
I see thee checked and chilled, sorrowing for censure or
forgetfulness:
Let coarse and common minds despise—that wounding of thy vanity,
Alas, I note a sorer cause, the blighting of thy love;
Let the callous sensual deride thee,—disappointed of thy praise,
Alas, thou hast a juster grief, defrauded of their kindness:
It is a theme for tears to feel the soft heart hardening,
The frozen breath of apathy sealing up the fountain of affection;
It is a pang, keen only to the best, to be injured well-deserving,
And slumbering Neglect is injury,—Could ye not watch one hour?
When God Himself complained, it was that none regarded,
And indifference bowed to the rebuke, Thou gavest Me no kiss when
I came in.

Moreover, praise is good; honour is a treasure to be hoarded;

A good man's praise foreshadoweth God's, and in His smile is
heaven:
But men walk on in hardihood, steeling their sinfulness to censure,
And when rebuke is ridiculed, the love of praise were an infirmity;
The judge thou heedest not in fear, cannot have deep homage of thy
hope,
And who then is the wise of this world, that will own he trembleth at
his fellows?
Calm, careless, and insensible, he mocketh blame or calumny,
Neither should his dignity be humbled to some pittance of their
praise:
The rather, let false pride affect to trample on the treasure
Which evermore in secret strength unconquered Nature prizeth;
Rather, shall ye stifle now the rising bliss of triumph,
Lest after, in the world's Neglect, he must acknowledge bitterness.

For lo, that world is wide, a huge and crowded continent,

Its brazen sun is mammon, and its iron soil is care:
A world full of men, where each man clingeth to his idol;
A world full of men, where each man cherisheth his sorrow;
A world full of men, multitude shoaling upon multitude;
A surging sea, where every wave is burdened with an argosy of self;
A boundless beach, where every stone is a separate microscopic
world:
A forest of innumerable trees, where every root is independent.

What then is the marvel or the shame, if units be lost among the
million?
Canst thou reasonably murmur, if a leaf drop off unnoticed?
Wondrous in architecture, intricate and beautiful, delicately tinged
and scented,
Exquisite of feeling and mysterious in life, none cared for its growth,
or its decay:
None? yea,—no one of its fellows,—nor cedar, palm, nor bramble,—
None? its twin-born brother scarcely missed it from the spray:
None?—if none indeed, then man's neglect were bitterness;
And Life a land without a sun, a globe without a God!
Yea, flowers in the desert, there be that love your beauty;
Yea, jewels in the sea, there be that prize your brightness;
Children of unmerited oblivion, there be that watch and woo you,
And many tend your sweets, with gentle ministering care:
Thronging spirits of the happy, and the ever-present Good One
Yearning seek those precious things, man hath not heart to love,
Gems of the humblest or the highest, pure and patient in their kind,
The souls unhardened by ill usage, and uncorrupt by luxury.

And ye, poor desolates unsunned, toilers in the dark damp mine,
Wearied daughters of oppression, crushed beneath the car of
avarice,
There be that count your tears,—He hath numbered the hairs of thy
head,—
There be that can forgive your ill, with kind considerate pity:
Count ye this for comfort, Justice hath her balances,
And yet another world can compensate for all:
The daily martyrdom of patience shall not be wanting of reward;
Duty is a prickly shrub, but its flower will be happiness and glory.

Ye too, the friendless, yet dependent, that find nor home nor lover,
Sad imprisoned hearts, captive to the net of circumstance,—
And ye, too harshly judged, noble unappreciated intellects,
Who, capable of highest, lowlier fix your just ambition in content,—
And chiefest, ye, famished infants of the poor, toiling for your
parents' bread,
Tired, and sore, and uncomforted the while, for want of love and
learning,
Who struggle with the pitiless machine in dull continuous conflict,
Tasked by iron men, who care for nothing but your labour,—
Be ye long-suffering and courageous: abide the will of Heaven;
God is on your side; all things are tenderly remembered:
His servants here shall help you; and where those fail you through
Neglect,
His kingdom still hath time and space for ample discriminative
Justice:
Yea, though utterly on this bad earth ye lose both right and mercy,
The tears that we forgat to note, our God shall wipe away.

Nevertheless, kind spirit, susceptible and guileless,

Meek uncherished dove, in a carrion flock of fowls,
Sensitive mimosa, shrinking from the winds that help to root the fir,
Fragile nautilus, shipwrecked in the gale whereat the conch is glad,
Thy sharp peculiar grief is uncomforted by hope of compensation,
For it is a delicate and spiritual wound, which the probe of pity
bruiseth:
Yet hear how many thoughts extenuate its pain;
Even while a kindred heart can sorrow for its presence.
For the sting of neglect is in this,—that such as we are all, forget us,
That men and women, kith and kin, so lightly heed of other:
Sympathy is lacking from the guilty such as we, even where angels
minister,
And souls of fine accord must prize a fellow-sinner's love;
For the worst love those who love them, and the best claim heart for
heart,
And it is a holy thirst to long for love's requital:
Hard it will be, hard and sad, to love and be unloved;
And many a thorn is thrust into the side of him that is forgotten.
The oppressive silence of reserve, the frost of failing friendship,
Affection blighted by repulse, or chilled by shallow courtesy,
The unaided struggle, the unconsidered grief, the unesteemed self-
sacrifice,
The gift, dear evidence of kindness, long due, but never offered,
The glance estranged, the letter flung aside, the greeting ill received,
The services of unobtrusive care unthanked, perchance unheeded,
These things, which hard men mock at, rend the feelings of the
tender,
For the delicate tissue of a spiritual mind is torn by those sharp
barbs;
The coldness of a trusted friend, a plenitude ending in vacuity,
Is as if the stable world had burst a hollow bubble.

But consider, child of sensibility; the lot of men is labour,

Labour for the mouth, or labour in the spirit, labour stern and
individual.
Worldly cares and worldly hopes exact the thoughts of all,
And there is a necessary selfishness, rooted in each mortal breast.
The plans of prudence, or the whisperings of pride, or all-absorbing
reveries of love,
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