Alas! What Boots The Long Laborious Quest Of Moral Prudence, Sought Through Good And Ill; Or Pains Abstruse, To Elevate The Will, And Lead Us On To That Transcendent Rest Where Every Passion Shall The Sway Attest Of Reason, Seated On Her Sovereign Hill; What Is It But A Vain And Curious Skill, If Sapient Germany Must Lie Deprest, Beneath The Brutal Sword? Her Haughty Schools Shall Blush; And May Not We With Sorrow Say, A Few Strong Instincts And A Few Plain Rules, Among The Herdsmen Of The Alps, Have Wrought More For Mankind At This Unhappy Day Then All The Pride Of Intellect And Thought?