The Poetical Works of (Richard Monckton Milnes) Lord Houghton | ||
302
DRYDEN AND THACKERAY.
When one whose nervous English verse,
Public and party hates defied,
Who bore and bandied many a curse
Of angry times—when Dryden died,
Public and party hates defied,
Who bore and bandied many a curse
Of angry times—when Dryden died,
Our royal Abbey's Bishop-Dean
Waited for no suggestive prayer,
But, ere one day closed o'er the scene,
Craved as a boon to lay him there.
Waited for no suggestive prayer,
But, ere one day closed o'er the scene,
Craved as a boon to lay him there.
The wayward faith, the faulty life,
Vanished before a nation's pain;
“Panther” and “Hind” forgot their strife,
And rival statesmen thronged the fane.
Vanished before a nation's pain;
“Panther” and “Hind” forgot their strife,
And rival statesmen thronged the fane.
O gentle Censor of our age!
Prime master of our ampler tongue!
Whose word of wit and generous page
Were never wroth except with wrong,—
Prime master of our ampler tongue!
Whose word of wit and generous page
Were never wroth except with wrong,—
303
Fielding—without the manners' dross,
Scott—with a spirit's larger room,
What prelate deems thy grave his loss?
What Halifax erects thy tomb?
Scott—with a spirit's larger room,
What prelate deems thy grave his loss?
What Halifax erects thy tomb?
But, may be, He who so could draw
The hidden great, the humble wise,
Yielding with them to God's good law,
Makes the Pantheon where he lies.
The hidden great, the humble wise,
Yielding with them to God's good law,
Makes the Pantheon where he lies.
The Lord Halifax sent to the Lady Elizabeth and Mr. Charles Dryden her son, that if they would give him leave to bury Mr. Dryden, he would inter him with a gentleman's private funeral, and afterwards bestow five hundred pounds on a monument in the Abbey: which, as they had no reason to refuse, they accepted.—Biog. Dict.
The Poetical Works of (Richard Monckton Milnes) Lord Houghton | ||