SONNET.

I grieved for Buonaparté, with a vain1
                              
                              And an unthinking grief !  for who aspires2
                              
                              To genuine greatness but from just desires,3
                              
                              And knowledge such as he could never gain ?4
                              ’Tis not in battles that from youth we train5
                              
                              The governor who must be wise and good,6
                              
                              And temper with the sternness of the brain7
                              
                              Thoughts motherly and weak as womanhood.8
                              Wisdom doth live with children round her knees :9
                           
                           Books, leisure, perfect freedom, and the talk10
                           
                           Man holds with week-day man in the hourly walk11
                           
                           Of the mind’s business :  these are the degrees12
                           
                           By which true sway doth mount :  this is the stalk13
                           
                           True power doth grow-on ;  and her rights are these.14