se master-bias leans
To homefelt pleasures and to gentle scenes;
Sweet images! which, wheresoe'er he be,
Are at his heart; and such fidelity
It is his darling passion to approve;
More brave for this, that he hath much to love:--
'Tis, finally, the Man, who, lifted, high,
Conspicuous object in a Nation's eye,
Or left unthought of in obscurity,--
Who, with a toward or untoward lot,
Prosperous or adverse, to his wish or not--
Plays, in the many games of life, that one
Where what he most doth value must be won:
Whom neither shape of danger can dismay,
Nor thought of tender happiness betray;
Who not content that former worth stand fast,
Looks forward, persevering to the last,
From well to better, daily self-surpassed:
Who, whether praise of him must walk the earth
For ever, and to noble deeds give birth,
Or he must fall, to sleep without his fame,
And leave a dead unprofitable name--
Finds comfort in himself and in his cause;
And, while the mortal mist is gathering, draws
His breath in confidence of Heaven's applause:
This is the happy Warrior; this is he
That every Man in arms should wish to be.

Wordsworth.

[Notes: _Turns his necessity to glorious gain_. Turns the necessity
which lies on him of fellowship with pain, and fear, and bloodshed, into
glorious gain.

_More skilful in self knowledge, even more pure, as tempted more_.
"His self-knowledge and his purity are all the greater because of the
temptations he has had to withstand."

_Whose law is reason_ = whose every action is obedient to reason.

_In himself possess his own desire_. According to Aristotle, virtuous
activity is the highest reward the good man can attain; virtue has no
end beyond action; according to the modern proverb, "Virtue is its own
reward."

_More brave for this, that he hath much to love_. Here also Wordsworth
follows Aristotle in his description of the virtue of manliness. The
good man, according to Aristotle, is most brave of all in encountering
"the awful moment of great issues," in that he has the most to lose by
death.

_Not content that former worth stand fast_. Not content to rest on the
foundation of accomplished good and worthy deeds, solid though it be.

_Finds comfort in himself_. Compare: