A kind and gentle heart he had,
To comfort friends and foes;
The naked every day he read more

A kind and gentle heart he had,
To comfort friends and foes;
The naked every day he clad
When he put on his clothes.

It never was our guise
To slight the poor, or aught humane despise.

It never was our guise
To slight the poor, or aught humane despise.

Careless their merits or their faults to scan,
His pity gave ere charity began.

Careless their merits or their faults to scan,
His pity gave ere charity began.

His house was known to all the vagrant train,
He chid their wanderings but reliev'd their pain;
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His house was known to all the vagrant train,
He chid their wanderings but reliev'd their pain;
The long remembered beggar was his guest,
Whose beard descending swept his aged breast.

To pity distress it but human; to relieve it is Godlike.

To pity distress it but human; to relieve it is Godlike.

Help thi kynne, Crist bit (biddeth), for ther bygynneth charitie.

Help thi kynne, Crist bit (biddeth), for ther bygynneth charitie.

Alas! for the rarity
Of Christian charity
Under the sun.
Oh! it was pitiful!
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Alas! for the rarity
Of Christian charity
Under the sun.
Oh! it was pitiful!
Near a whole city full,
Home had she none.

Gifts and alms are the expressions, not the essence, of this
virtue.

Gifts and alms are the expressions, not the essence, of this
virtue.

He scorn'd his own, who felt another's woe.

He scorn'd his own, who felt another's woe.