And he speaks of Wellington--

"Truth teller was our England's Alfred named,
Truth lover was our English Duke."

Emerson notices that many of our phrases turn upon this love of truth,
such as "The English of this is," "Honour bright," "His word is as good
as his bond."

"'Tis not enough taste, learning, judgment join;
In all you speak let truth, and candour shine."

I am certain that if men and women would believe that it is important
that they should form a true judgment upon things, and that they should
speak or write it when required, we should get rid of a great deal of bad
art, bad books, bad pictures, bad buildings, bad music, and bad morals. I
am further certain that by constantly uttering false criticisms we
perpetuate such things. And what harm we are doing to our own selves in
the meantime! How habitually warped, how unsteady, how feeble, the
judgment becomes, which is not kept bright and vigorous through right
use. How insensibly we become callous or indolent about forming a
correct judgment. "It is a pleasure to stand upon the shore and see the
ships tossed upon the sea; a pleasure to stand in the window of a castle
and to see a battle and the adventures thereof below: but no pleasure is
comparable to the standing upon the vantage ground of truth (a hill not
to be commanded and where the air is always clear and serene) and to see
the errors and wanderings and mists and tempests in the vale below, so
always that this prospect be with pity and not with swelling or pride.
Certainly it is heaven upon earth to have a man's mind move in charity,