XIX.

But praise—and dearer, holier praise be theirs,

Who, in the stillness and the solitude

Of hearts press’d earthwards by a weight of cares,

Uncheer’d by Fame’s proud hope, th’ ethereal food

Of restless energies, and only view’d

By Him whose eye, from his eternal throne,

Is on the soul’s dark places; have subdued

And vow’d themselves with strength till then unknown,

To some high martyr-task, in secret and alone.