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Of life, of love, and gladness, doth dispense
His beams; which, unexcluded in their fall,
Upon the southern side of every grave
Have gently exercised a melting power,
Then will a vernal prospect greet your eye,
All fresh and beautiful, and green and bright,
Hopeful and cheerful:—vanished is the snow,
Vanished or hidden; and the whole Domain,
To some, too lightly minded, might appear
A meadow carpet for the dancing hours.
—This Contrast, not unsuitable to Life,
Is to that other state more apposite,
Death, and its twofold aspect; wintry—one,
Cold, sullen, blank, from hope and joy shut out:
The other, which the ray divine hath touched,
Replete with vivid promise, bright as spring."
"We see, then, as we feel," the Wanderer thus
With a complacent animation spake,
"And, in your judgment, Sir! the Mind's repose
On evidence is not to be ensured
By act of naked Reason. Moral truth
Is no mechanic structure, built by rule;
