A worldly man boasteth in his pride, that there is no power but of money; And he judgeth the characters of men by the differing measures of their means: He stealeth all goodly names, as worth, and value, and substance, Which be the ancient heritage of Virtue, but such an one ascribeth unto Wealth: He spurneth the needy sage, whose wisdom hath enriched nations, And the sons of poverty and learning, without whom earth were a desert: Music, the soother of cares, the tuner of the dank discordant heart-strings, It is nought unto such an one but sounds, whereby some earn their living: The poem, and the picture, and the statue, to him seem idle baubles, Which wealth condescendeth to favour, to gain him the name of patron. But little wotteth he the might of the means his folly despiseth; He considereth not that these be the wires which move the puppets of the world. A sentence hath formed a character, and a character subdued a kingdom; A picture hath ruined souls, or raised them to commerce with the skies: The pen hath shaken nations, and stablished the world in peace; And the whole full horn of plenty been filled from the vial of science. He regardeth man as sensual, the monarch of created matter, And careth not aught for mind, that linketh him with spirits unseen; He feedeth his carcase and is glad, though his soul be faint and famished, And the dull brute power of the body bindeth him a captive to himself. Man liveth from hour to hour, and knoweth not what may happen; Influences circle him on all sides, and yet must he answer for his actions: For the being that is master of himself, bendeth events to his will, But a slave to selfish passion is the wavering creature of circumstance. To this man temptation is a poison, to that man it addeth vigour; And each may render to himself influences good or evil. As thou directest the power, harm or advantage will follow, And the torrent that swept the valley, may be led to turn a mill; The wild electric flash, that could have kindled comets, May by the ductile wire give ease to an ailing child. For outward matter or event fashion not the character within, But each man, yielding or resisting, fashioneth his mind for himself.