For such as I! A fool might surely deem

The servant greater than his Master. Praise

Might to the sinner merest irony seem,

The while the Sinless One is made a theme

Of ribaldry. Before his crown of thorn

Honor and earthly glory are a dream,

A phantom flimsier than of vapor born:

By that pierced brow the crown of all the worlds is worn.

IV.

Matt. xi. 30.