Thrice happy he who knows
With sportive light the cloudy thought to clear,
And round his head the playful halo throws
That plucks the terror from the front severe:
Such grace was thine, and such thy gracious part,
Thou wise old Scottish man of large and loving heart.
II.
The twentieth edition! I have looked
Long for my second--but it not appears;
Yet not the less I joy that thou hast brooked
Rich fruit of fair fame, and of mellow years,
Thou wise old man, within whose saintly veins
No drop of gall infects life's genial tide,
Whose many-chambered human heart contains
No room for hatred and no home for pride.
Happy who give with stretch of equal love
This hand to Heaven and that to lowly earth,
Wise there to worship with great souls above
As here to sport with children in their mirth;
Who own one God with kindly-reverent eyes
In flowers that prink the earth, and stars that gem the skies.
JOHN STUART BLACKIE.
CHARLES DICKENS to DEAN RAMSAY.
Gad's Hill Place, Higham, by Rochester, Kent,
Tuesday, 29th May 1866.
My dear Sir--I am but now in the receipt of your kind letter,
and its accompanying book. If I had returned home sooner, I
should sooner have thanked you for both.
I cannot adequately express to you the gratification I have
derived from your assurance that I have given you pleasure.
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