BORN, JUNE 24, 1825. DIED, OCTOBER 6, 1891.
O'er-busy Death, your scythe of late seems reaping
Swiftly our heads of State;
The wise who hold our England's weal in keeping,
The gentle and the great.
GRANVILLE is gone; and now another Warden
Falls with the fading leaf,
Leaving at Hatfield sorrow, and at Hawarden
Scarcely less earnest grief.
All mourn the Man whose simple steadfast spirit
Made hearty friends of all.
Whilst manhood like to his her sons inherit
England need fear no fall.
No high-perched, privileged and proud possessor
Of lineal vantage he;
Of perorating witchery no professor,
Or casuist subtlety.
A capable, clear-headed, modest toiler,
Touched with no egoist taint,
To Duty sworn, the face of the Despoiler
Made him not fear or faint.
O'erworn, o'erworked, with smiling face, though weary,
The tedious task he plied.
Sagacious, courteous, ever calm and cheery
Unsoured by spleen or pride.
As unprovocative as unpretentious,
Skilful though seeming-slow;
Unmoved by impulse of conceit contentious
To risk success for show.
O rare command of gifts, which, common-branded,
Are yet so strangely rare!
Selflessness patient, judgment even-handed
And spirit calmly fair!
Lost to his friends their worth may now be measured
By the strong sense of loss.
How "OLD MORALITY's" memory will be treasured,
Midst faction's pitch-and-toss.
But England which has instincts above Party
Most mourns the Man, now gone,
Who gave to Duty an allegiance hearty
As that of WELLINGTON.
Sure "the gaunt figure of the old Field-Marshal"[1]
Would his successor praise;
As modest, as unselfish, as impartial,
Though fallen on calmer days.
No glittering hero, but when England numbers
Patriots of worth and pith,
His name shall sound, who after suffering slumbers,
Plain WILLIAM HENRY SMITH!
Footnote 1: [(return)]
LONGFELLOW's "The Warden of the Cinque Ports."
