The lowliest duties on itself did lay

“The lowliest duties on itself did lay” is a Wordsworth line used as an epigraph to the chapter that opens with Camden Farebrother learning he has been appointed to the Lowick living. The verse gives his advancement a moral frame: the chapter’s first response to the appointment is not triumph over rivals, but recognition that he has earned the trust placed in him.

Text and Placement

The chapter heading quotes two linked lines, “His heart / The lowliest duties on itself did lay,” and attributes them to Wordsworth. The fragment makes the heart—not rank, ambition, or public acclaim—the source of a willingness to take on humble obligations. Its emphasis falls on freely accepted service: duties are laid upon oneself, rather than merely imposed from outside.

The Appointment of Farebrother

The epigraph is followed by a June evening scene in the old-fashioned parlor at Farebrother’s home. His mother leaves her tea and toast untouched as the household receives the news that he is to have the Lowick living. Though she maintains her customary primness, the flush in her cheeks and brightness in her eyes reveal her emotion; she tells Camden that the greatest comfort is that he has deserved the position.

Moral Significance

Placed immediately before this domestic scene, the quotation makes the appointment more than a professional benefit. The mother’s emphasis on deserving it answers the epigraph’s image of inwardly assumed duty: recognition matters because it confirms a character formed through service. The passage thus binds public responsibility to private judgment, presenting advancement as most satisfying when it rests on a record of humble work.