'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?