"I humbly think you are mistaken," answered the artist. "On the contrary, he always inculcated submission to our superiors. But you ask how is it contrary to the manifest will of God? I reply, not only by the difference of mere worldly advantages which he has bestowed upon various men, for that might depend upon a false and mistaken scheme of society, but by the difference of mental and spiritual powers which he himself has ordained and bestowed, without any intervention of man or of man's will. Take one of the many idiots, or half idiots, who sit upon the steps of St. John at Rome, and place him by the side of the late Lorenzo de Medici. Take them as mere infants, and try to educate them alike nay, give the highest culture to the idiot, the lowest to Lorenzo, what would be the result? The one would tower above the other with his gigantic mind, the other would remain an intellectual pigmy; the one would be a prince of thought, the other a plebeian. Here is an inequality decreed by God himself; and although I have taken an extreme case, you will find the same rule pervade all minds and all natures. No man has the same capabilities. Every gift is unequally apportioned; and the same Almighty Being who gives to one man wealth and to another poverty, to one man the stature of a hero, to another the height of a dwarf, has decreed that inequality of station against which the vanity of multitudes struggles in vain. I myself am a plebeian, you are nobles, yet I would not alter the order of society if I could. But let us change the topic; or, while this sweet half light still lingers in the west, I will play upon my favourite lute again, and let you hear some verses which flow somewhat with the current of our thoughts." For a moment he leaned his cheek against the instrument, struck a few chords, put the strings in perfect tune, and then, with the skill of a great musician, drew forth harmonies such as were seldom heard in those days. A minute or two after, his voice, far sweeter than any sounds which could be brought from the lute, joined in, and he sang some irregular verses, which he seemed to improvise. SONG. "Let him who cannot what he will, Will only what he can. 'Tis surely Folly's plan, By willing more, to compass his own will. Then wise the man who can himself retrain To will within his power; he ne'er shall will in vain. "Yet many a joy and many woe, From knowing or not knowing what to will, In sweet and bitter drops distil, For from ourselves our fate does mostly flow. Fair skies to him who steers his bark aright, And keeps the pole-star--duty--ever in his sight. "He who takes all, is rarely blessed; The sweetest things turn soonest sour, When we abuse our power. Oft have I wept for joys too soon possessed. What lessons, then, from these light verses flow? That which we ought to do, and what we ought to know." CHAPTER XVI.