 | The Poetical Works of Robert Story |  |
O Spare the Kind Heart.
1841.
[_]
[On reading Lord Francis Egerton's address to the Electors of South Lancashire, in which he alluded to the infirm state of his health. This Nobleman, since known as the Earl of Ellesmere, has died while these sheets were in the press. The lines may now, alas! stand as a slight but sincere tribute to his memory.
O spare the kind heart long to beat as it does,
Instinct with all feelings delightful and pure!
And spare the clear head, now so needful to us,
Who battle our birth-right to save and sceure!
Instinct with all feelings delightful and pure!
And spare the clear head, now so needful to us,
Who battle our birth-right to save and sceure!
272
When the agents of Evil are active and rife,
When Treason, or Folly, presides at the helm,
We ask thee, O Heaven! to leave us a life
Devoted and bound to the weal of the realm!
When Treason, or Folly, presides at the helm,
We ask thee, O Heaven! to leave us a life
Devoted and bound to the weal of the realm!
We ask thee to leave us that something, of which
Crowds feel the effect, though they gucss not its cause,
Which, preceding his eloquence flowing and rich,
In look and in bearing still wins, while it awes!
Crowds feel the effect, though they gucss not its cause,
Which, preceding his eloquence flowing and rich,
In look and in bearing still wins, while it awes!
We ask thee to leave us that eloquence, filled
With all that Refinement and Genius infuse—
As soft as the dew from a spring mist distilled,
And sweet as the harmonies breathed by the Muse—
With all that Refinement and Genius infuse—
As soft as the dew from a spring mist distilled,
And sweet as the harmonies breathed by the Muse—
Coming, not like a summer-stream swollen by rain,
A torrent that fails when the shower-cloud is gone,
But a fount-supplied river, that rolls through the plain,
And, strong but yet gentle, in sunshine rolls on!
A torrent that fails when the shower-cloud is gone,
But a fount-supplied river, that rolls through the plain,
And, strong but yet gentle, in sunshine rolls on!
We ask thee to leave us that character, bright
With virtues not drawing their lustre from birth,
But blending with that all the charm of their light,
To brilliance of Name adding brilliance of Worth.
With virtues not drawing their lustre from birth,
But blending with that all the charm of their light,
To brilliance of Name adding brilliance of Worth.
Yes! spare the kind heart long to beat as it does,
Instinct with all feelings delightful and pure!
And spare the clear head now so needful to us,
When battling our birth-right to save and secure!
Instinct with all feelings delightful and pure!
And spare the clear head now so needful to us,
When battling our birth-right to save and secure!
| The Poetical Works of Robert Story | |