When men of shallow heads themselves advance
Above their usual pitch of ignorance,
To talk of maxims and of rules; forbear
To interpose your sense, or meddle there.
Why should you laugh at this, or that confute?
For what are you concern'd in the dispute?
What reason, or what obligation lies
On you to hinder them from seeming wise?
Besides, to be too much inclin'd to speak,
Shews your mind's constitution to be weak;
Your very love of talking doth declare
How ill your principles digested are,
And that you do not practice what you know,
As vomiting doth a weak stomach show.
O, but perhaps you fancy, that they may
Construe your silence, ignorance, and say
That you know nothing: we suppose they do,
If patiently you bear it, know that you
Have the great work begun, you now begin
To feel your precepts strengthen you within.
'Tis your behaviour that can best express
The well digested maxims you profess:
Thus well fed sheep do not cast up their meat,
To satisfy their shepherd what they eat,
But what they eat, and inwardly digest,
By fatness, fleece, and milk, they manifest.