Merit, God knows, is very little rewarded.

When thus the heart is in a vein Of tender thought, the simplest strain Can touch it with peculiar power.

We encourage one another in mediocrity.

In every thing that relates to science, I am a whole Encyclopaedia behind the rest of the world.

A poor relation—is the most irrelevant thing in nature.

As down in the sunless retreats of the ocean Sweet flowers are springing no mortal can see, So deep in my soul the still prayer of devotion, Unheard by the world, rises silent to Thee. As still to the star of its worship, though clouded, The needle points faithfully o'er the dim sea, So dark when I roam in this wintry world shrouded, The hope of my spirit turns trembling to Thee.

Oft in the stilly night, Ere slumber's chain has bound me, Fond memory brings the light Of other days around me; The smiles, the tears, Of boyhood's years, The words of love then spoken; The eyes that shone Now dimmed and gone, The cheerful hearts now broken.