 | A New Year's Eve, and Other Poems |  |
212
SONNET
TO EDWARD ROMILLY, ESQ.
Dear friend, what stimulus canst thou require,Beyond the name thou bearest, to animate
Thy heart to choose the wise, the good, the great,
And after pure and virtuous fame aspire?
Nor friendship's voice, nor e'en the muses' lyre,
Stronger incentives could for thee create,
Than in thy thoughts and feelings must await
On the bright memory of thy honoured Sire.
Then be his patriot, philanthropic fame,
Ever before thee 'till life's course be run:
Nor need a prouder epitaph be won,
Even by him who boasts that noble name,
Than justly for his monument to claim,
“Here rests a virtuous father's virtuous son!”
| A New Year's Eve, and Other Poems | |