 | Poems and Songs |  |
90
AN ELEGY On the EARL of SANDWICH.
If there were ought in Verse, at once could raise,Or tender pity, or immortal praise,
Thine Obsequies, brave Sandwich would require
What ever would our nobler thoughts inspire;
But since thou find'st by thy unhappy fate,
What 'tis to be unfortunately Great,
And purchase Honour at too dear a rate:
The Muses best attempt, how e're design'd,
Cannot but prove impertinently kind,
Thy glorious Valour is a Theam too high
For all the humble Arts of Poësie,
91
Are little things Ambitious Men have done;
But on a flaming Ship thus to despise
That life, which others did so highly prize;
To fight with Fire, and struggle with a Wave,
And Neptune with unwearied Arms out-brave,
Are deeds surpassing fab'lous Chronicle.
And which no future Age shall parallel;
Leviathan himself's outdon by Thee,
Thou greater wonder of the Deep, than he:
Nor could the Deep thy mighty Ashes hold,
The Deep that swallows Diamonds and Gold,
Fame ev'n thy sacred Relicks, does pursue,
Richer than all the Treasures of Peru:
While the kind Sea thy breathless body brings
Safe to the bed of Honour and of Kings.
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