 | A book of Bristol sonnets |  |
42
RICHARD SAVAGE; OR, IN FRONT OF ST. PETER'S HOSPITAL.
BURIAL REGISTER, A.D. 1743, RICHARD SAVAGE, THE POET.
Here lies whom wit remembers, birth forgot;Whose faults his misery made, his woe condones:
Who never heard a mother's pitying tones;
A father's stern example,—knew it not!
Cursed by a pride that hounds the beggar's lot,
The fear of patrons, but the sport of thrones!
Here the kind gaoler laid the poet's bones,
And only left men's hearts to mark the spot;
Who penned in garret, what he learnt in halls;
Who read for titles, what for bread he penned;
Who earned with pain, but would on pleasure spend.
Alas! he languished in your Newgate's walls!
And there he heard Death's welcomest of calls,
Paid his last debt, first really knew a friend.
| A book of Bristol sonnets | |