XXXIX.

'I cannot blame thy choice (the Sage replied), 'For soft and smooth are Fancy's flowery ways. 'And yet, even there, if left without a guide, 'The young adventurer unsafely plays. 'Eyes, dazzled long by Fiction's gaudy rays, 'In modest Truth no light nor beauty find. 'And who, my child, would trust the meteor-blaze, 'That soon must fail, and leave the wanderer blind, 'More dark and helpless far, than if it ne'er had shined?