Dr. Donne did most of his good in secret, letting not his right hand know what his left hand did.  He redeemed many poor from prison; helped many a poor scholar; and employed a trusty servant or a discreet friend to distribute his bounty where it was most needed.  A friend whom he had known in days of affluence, having by a too liberal heart and carelessness become decayed in his estate and reduced to poverty, Donne sent him a hundred pounds.  But the decayed gentleman returned it with thanks, saying that he wanted it not;—­for, says Walton, in narrating the event, “as there be some spirits so generous as to labour to conceal and endure a sad poverty, rather than expose themselves to those blushes that attend the confession of it, so there be others to whom nature and grace have afforded such sweet and compassionate souls as to pity and prevent the distresses of mankind; which I have mentioned because of Dr. Donne’s reply, whose answer was, ’I know you want not what will sustain nature, for a little will do that; but my desire is that you, who in the days of your plenty have cheered and raised the hearts of so many of your dejected friends, would now receive this from me, and use it as a cordial for the cheering of your own;’”—­and upon these terms it was received.

The truth is, that we very much exaggerate the power of riches.  Immense subscriptions are got up for the purpose of reforming men from their sinful courses, and turning them from evil to good.  And yet subscriptions will not do it.  It is character that can do the work; money never can.  Great changes in society can never be effected through riches.  To turn men from intemperance, improvidence, and irreligion, and to induce them to seek their happiness in the pursuit of proper and noble objects, requires earnest purpose, honest self-devotion, and hard work.  Money may help in many respects; but money by itself can do nothing.  The apostle Paul planted the knowledge of the Christian religion over half the Roman empire; yet he supported himself by tent-making, and not by collecting subscriptions.  Men of anxious, earnest, honest hearts, are far more wanted than rich men—­willing to give money in charity.

Nothing is so much over-estimated as the power of money.  All the people who are looking out for front seats in “society,” think it the one thing needful.  They may be purse-liberal, but they are also purse-proud.  The hypocritical professions of some people, with a view to elicit the good opinion of others, in the teeth of their daily life and practice, is nothing short of disgusting.  “Oh, Geordie, jingling Geordie,” said King James, in the novel, “it was grand to hear Baby Charles laying down the guilt of dissimulation, and Steenie lecturing on the turpitude of incontinence!”