owledge 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!"

Some people have an idolatrous worship of money. The Israelites had
their golden Calf; the Greeks had their golden Jupiter. Old Bounderby
valued the man who was worth a "hundred thousand pounds." Others do the
same. The lowest human nature loves money, possessions, value. "What is
he worth?" "What is his income?" are the usual questions. If you say,
"There is a thoroughly good, benevolent, virtuous man!" nobody will
notice him. But if you say, "There is a man worth a million of money,"
he will be stared at till out of sight. A crowd of people used to
collect at Hyde Park Corner to see a rich man pass. "Here comes old
Crockie!" and the crowd would separate to allow him to pass, amidst
whispers of admiration. It was old Crockford, who made a large fortune
by keeping a gambling-house.

"The very sound of millions," says Mrs. Gore,[1] "tickles the ear of an
Englishman! He loves it so much, indeed, that it all but reconciles him
to the National Debt; and when applied to private proprietorship, it
secures deference for lowness of mind, birth, habits, and pursuits....
Ambition and money-love, if they tend to ennoble a country, reduce to
insignificance the human particles of which the nation is composed. In
their pursuit of riches, the English are gradually losing sight of
higher characteristics; ... our pursuit of railway bubbles and every
other frantic speculation of the hour, affords sufficient evidence of
the craving after capital superseding every better aspiration, whether
for this world or the next."

[Footnote 1: Introduction to "Men of Capital."]

The love of gold threatens to drive everything be