Long in our mêlée will be missed
The mace of Russel's mighty fist,
That struck and, wasting nought in sound,
Buried its blow without rebound.
Bagehot, equally distinguished in letters and journalism, passed unnoticed in 1877, but Delane, the third and most widely renowned of the three great editors who died in the last half of this decade, was fitly eulogized in 1879 by one who was not the only writer who had served on the staff of both Punch and The Times:—
Rest in thy grave, that knew no resting here,
Editor without equal, strenuous soul,
Staunch friend, despising favour, scorning fear,
Far-seeing, forward, cleaving to thy goal.
He left a different scene from that he found,