Listen their just complaints, restrain the fierce and the lawless.’
Mrs Stair Douglas has acted wisely in reprinting the elegiacs written after the death of Mrs Whewell. We cannot believe that the metre will ever be popular; but in the case of this particular poem eccentricities of style will be forgiven for the sake of the dignified beauty of the thoughts. With the exception of In Memoriam, we know of no finer expression of Christian sorrow and Christian hope. We will quote a few lines from the first division of the poem, in which the bereaved husband describes the happiness which his wife had brought to him:
‘Blessed beyond all blessings that life can embrace in its circle,
Blessed the gift was when Providence gave thee to me:
Gave thee, gentle and kindly and wise, calm, clear-seeing, thoughtful,
Thee to me as I was, vehement, passionate, blind:
Gave me to see in thee, and wonder I never had seen it,
Wisdom that shines in the heart dearer than Intellect’s light;
Gave me to find in thee, when oppressed by loneliness’ burden,
Solace for each dull pain, calm from the strife of the storm.