But by the plenteous virtues shining out
Along the zodiac of a good man’s life;
Dear gentle friend! from one so loved as you,—
Because so loving, and so finely apt
In tender ministry to a little flock,
With whom you joy and suffer ... and, withal,
So constant to the spirit of our time
That I must hold you of a different sort
From those dry lichens on the altar steps,
Those mutes in surplices, school-trained to sink