The Eulogies of Howard: A Vision

by William Hayley

"Is it possible for us, my Brethren, to recall to our memory these holy words without feeling at the same time, in the most forcible degree, all the Christian merits of HOWARD? Can we fail to admire and to venerate the unexampled ardour, purity, and perseverance, with which he exercised the peculiar virtue so distinguished by our Lord?—While we behold him sublimely pre-eminent in this Christian perfection, shall we not cherish the delightful idea, that his heavenly rewards will be finally adequate to his unrivaled labours on earth? Shall not those who have loved him exult in the persuasion, that in that great and aweful day, when the living and the dead are to receive their everlasting doom; when the princes and the great ones of the earth may be confronted with those whom they have persecuted and oppressed, or whom they have failed to relieve; when the proudest Sons of Learning, Genius, or Wit, may shrink at the superior lustre of those whom they have ridiculed and reviled; HOWARD will shine encircled by thousands, who will gratefully plead for his beatitude in those blessed words of our Redeemer, 'I was in prison, and he came unto me!'

"Yes, my Brethren, the day will assuredly come, when the servant so signally faithful will be called to a reward, surpassing the utmost reach of our conception, by the voice of his Righteous Master—then, and then only, will praise be fully proportioned to his transcendant merit; when this consummate Christian is raised to glory by the glorified Messiah, when his pure spirit exults in the commendation of his GOD.

"The imperfect efforts, that mankind may make to do honour to such a Being, cannot, indeed, so much promote his glory, as they may conduce to the interest of human nature. Subject as it has been to the wildest excesses, human panegyric, in all its shapes, may be safely devoted to a personage, whom it is hardly possible to praise with sincerity, without feeling our disposition improved. In a beneficent, a sublime, and truly religious character, there is a sort of magnetic virtue, which to those who are affectionately drawn towards it, though only in idea, communicates a portion of itself. Hence arises, what we cannot too fondly cherish, the delight and the utility of commemorating departed worth. If its title to commemoration be justly proportioned to its magnitude, its singularity, and extent; not only various individuals, but different Nations, will become rivals in promoting the fame of HOWARD. As the glorious qualities, which his life displayed, are equally open to the emulation of the great and the humble; every class of human creatures is peculiarly interested in his praise. If to honour his memory may be thought to belong to any one community more than to another; surely, my Brethren, we shall not fail to assume to ourselves so pleasing a duty, so honourable a distinction. Well, indeed, might the insulting enemies of our Faith reproach us with a supine and disgraceful inattention to the real interest of Virtue, and the true glory of Religion, could we suffer any other order of men to surpass the Ministers of CHRIST in a meritorious zeal to honour this faithful servant of Heaven, whose life exhibits a lesson more instructive and sublime than all the eloquence of the Pulpit! a Christian, who has shewn us, in the most signal manner, how practicable it is to follow, in succouring the distrest, not only the precepts, but the example of our GOD."

In the moment that this benevolent Divine concluded his address to his attentive brethren, my kind and vigilant Guides removed me from the temple.—I was now led into a scene entirely different from those we left. It was an open and verdant plain, with a few elevations in the ground, that afforded advantageous views of the whole extensive spot. Here, instead of beholding the Ministers of Peace, I found myself encircled by the multitudinous votaries of War. It appeared to me that all the military and all the naval servants of our country were collected together, and each different division of these well-appointed and well-looking men, that formed a pleasing spectacle alone, was attended by a crowd of miscellaneous spectators, more numerous than itself: yet in all this immense multitude there was no sign of tumult or confusion. They were ranged in such a manner as to form a wide circular area in the midst of them. I was stationed on a little eminence within this area; and in the same vacant space I beheld a party of veteran Commanders, both Military and Naval, who seemed to have been conferring together, but separated by the direction of my aetherial Conductors, to address, in different parts of this extensive field, the different companies assigned to their care. What they respectively said in their separate departments I was unable to discover, as I only heard distinctly one gallant Veteran, whose character was particularly dear to me. This consummate officer has raised himself by merit alone from the humblest rank of military life to a station of the highest honour and trust. His modesty is as singular as his fortune: passing close to me, with a gracious salutation, he approached a very fine orderly corps of foot, who looked up to him with a sort of filial respect, while he spoke to them the few following words:

"As bravery and compassion are the characteristics of good Soldiers, you cannot want, my friends, any long exhortation from me to honour the memory of HOWARD; the most resolute and the most compassionate man that has lived in our time. Though he was not of our profession, as his life was devoted to mitigate the united horrors of captivity and sickness, those worst of enemies to the spirit of a soldier, you will undoubtedly feel that he has a peculiar claim to our most grateful and generous regard."

This speech was followed by a burst of acclamation from those to whom it was particularly addressed. Similar shouts of applause resounded from different quarters of the spacious field, while our aetherial attendants, Gratitude and Admiration, who followed each speaker at the close of each address to different divisions of this innumerable assembly, displayed, to each division in its turn, an extensive sketch of a simple but magnificent mausoleum to the memory of Howard, in the form of an English lazaretto. On the first display of this striking and worthy monument, the applauding multitude seemed to exult in the prospect of its completion. But I soon observed, to my inexpressible concern, that while Gratitude and Admiration were busy in exciting the various ranks of the vast assembly, to accomplish this favourite design, they were followed by two earthy fiends of a dark and malignant influence: these were Detraction and Indifference, who shed such a chill and depressive mist around them, that all the ardour of the Assembly seemed to sink. Among the miscellaneous crowds that were visible between the divisions of the martial host, there ran a murmur of obloquy and derision against the pure object of public veneration. He was reviled as a whimsical Reformer, and a rash Enthusiast, who had absurdly sacrificed his life in a vain and fantastic pursuit. This base spirit of calumnious malignity was not communicated to any one division of the martial multitude; but the universal zeal for the glory of HOWARD seemed to be almost annihilated; even Gratitude and Admiration appeared to grow faint in their darling purpose. During their languor, they suffered their sketch of the Mausoleum to be gradually stolen from their hands, and to drop upon the ground. At this moment a sudden and violent earthquake was felt through all the extensive scene. The centre of the vacant area opened—it threw forth a phantom terrific and enormous—its magnitude seemed to grow upon the sight; its lineaments were shrouded from our view by an immense mantle, on which were represented a thousand different and hideous images of Death. Its name was Contagion—it rushed forward with an indescribable movement. Dismay and confusion overwhelmed all that quarter of the crowded scene, that was particularly threatened by its first advance. The affrighted multitude rolled back like a tumultuous sea. The horrid spectre stopt; and left a wide interval between itself and the retiring host. A ray of heavenly light illumined the vacant space. I fixed my eye on the brilliant spot, and soon beheld the meek and gentle form of HOWARD advancing, without fear or arrogance, towards the terrific Phantom. With an untrembling hand he seized the dark folds of its extensive mantle, and seemed animated with the hope of annihilating the Monster. In the instant, a burst of celestial splendor was spread over the gloomy plain. The Angel of Retribution descended; and snatching the consummate Philanthropist to his bosom, he rose again; while all the astonished multitude, now reviving from their terror, gazed only on the celestial apparition; and heard the reascending Seraph thus address the beneficent spirit now committed to his care:

"Thou faithful servant of Heaven! thy hour of recompence is come. Justly hast thou cautioned mankind not to impute thy conduct to rashness or enthusiasm. Weak and wavering in their own pursuits of felicity, thou wilt not wonder to see them so in their sense of thy merit, and their zeal for thy honour: but I am commissioned to bear thee to that All-seeing Power, who can alone truly estimate, and perfectly reward thy desert. I know that the praise of beings, inferior to thy GOD, never influenced thy life; but the homage of good minds is grateful to the purest inhabitants of Heaven; and in departing from a world so much indebted to thy virtue, let it gratify thy perfect spirit to foresee, that as long as the earth endures, the most enlightened of her sons will remember and revere thee as one of her sublimest benefactors."

As soon as the divine messenger had ceased to speak, every voice in the reanimated multitude, that heard him, raised a shout of benediction on the name of HOWARD. I started in transport at the sound; and the effort that I made to join the universal acclamation terminated my vision.

Pardon me, thou gentlest and most indulgent of Friends! that, conscious as I am of the sincerity with which thy pure mind ever wished to avoid all exuberance of praise, I yet presume to send into the world such a tribute to thy virtues as thy humility might reject. Let the motives of the publication atone for all its defects!

This little work is made public, not from a vain expectation, or desire, in the Writer to obtain any degree of literary distinction; for, if his wishes and endeavours are successful, the world will not know from what hand it proceeds.