Under the steel his hand had dared to draw.
But O, restrain compassion, if its course,
As oft befalls, prevent or turn aside 10
Judgments and aims and acts whose higher source
Is sympathy with the unforewarned, who died[199]
Blameless—with them that shuddered o’er his grave,
And all who from the law firm safety crave.
[198] “The first sonnet prepares the reader to sympathise with the sufferings of the culprits. The next cautions him as to the limits within which his sympathies are to be restrained.” (Sir Henry Taylor.)—Ed.
[199] 1842.
… that died