To strong delusion yields? Have ye to learn Thy epitaph! Let no man write Emmet, nay; thou shalt not go Without thy funeral strain ! 0 young and good And wise, though erring here, thou shalt not go Unhonour'd nor unsung. And better thus Beneath that indiscriminating stroke, Better to fall, than to have lived to mourn, Had turn'd away his face, wild Ignorance Let loose, and frantic Vengeance, and dark Zeal, How had it sunk into thy soul to see, Last curse of all, the ruffian slaves of France That takes away the sting of death, to die, To be remember'd, mourn'd, and honour'd still. Keswick. XIV. THANKSGIVING FOR VICTORY. [Written for Music, and composed by Shield.] GLORY to Thee in thine omnipotence, As seemeth best to thine unerring will The lot of Victory still; Edging sometimes with might the sword unjust; The rightful cause, that so such seeming ill Making the wicked feel thy present power; Almighty God, by whom our strength was given ! Keswick, 1815. XV. STANZAS WRITTEN IN LADY LONSDALE'S ALBUM, AT 1. SOMETIMES in youthful years, When in some ancient ruin I have stood, A melancholy thought hath made me grieve 2. Not for themselves alone Our fathers lived; nor with a niggard hand Their piles, memorials of the mighty dead, 3. With other feelings now, Lowther! have I beheld thy stately walls, The sun those wide-spread battlements shall crest, Thy towers with sanctity. 4. But thou the while shalt bear, To after-times, an old and honoured name, Thy Founder's virtuous fame. Fair structure! worthy the triumphant age And happiness thy dower! XVI. STANZAS ADDRESSED TO W. R. TURNER, ESQ., R.A., ON HIS VIEW OF THE LAGO MAGGIORE FROM THE TOWN OF ARONA. [Engraved for the Keepsake of 1829.] 1. TURNER, thy pencil brings to mind a day In pleasant fellowship, with wind at will; Smooth were the waters wide, the sky serene, And our hearts gladden'd with the joyful scene; 2. Joyful,.. for all things minister'd delight,.. The lake and land, the mountains and the vales; The Alps their snowy summits rear'd in light, Tempering with gelid breath the summer gales ; And verdant shores and woods refresh'd the eye That else had ached beneath that brilliant sky. 3. To that elaborate island were we bound Of yore the scene of Borromean pride, . Folly's prodigious work; where all around, Under its coronet and self-belied, Look where you will, you cannot choose but see The obtrusive motto 's proud "HUMILITY!" |