32
POEMS.
When in the grave He saw for aye descend
His mind's best model, and his soul's best Friend.
He too, the just, the true, the pure, the kind,
The mild in manners, and the firm in mind,
[Whose heart might bleed, but not whose virtue bend;
Who left the Statesman, yet still kept the Friend,
And counting Fox's love his proudest boast,
Who, e'en when most they differed, prized him most[1]]
Fitzwilliam there, as swelled the requiem strain,
Wept o'er his earliest friendship's broken chain.
And there too Thou, Heir to the Patriot's flame,
Heir to his worth, his talents, and his name,
Allied by virtue as allied by blood,
Like Fox sincere, warm, candid, kind, and good,
Thou, Holland. . . .No! let others fill the line;
'Twould pain my heart too much to speak the pains of thine!
His mind's best model, and his soul's best Friend.
He too, the just, the true, the pure, the kind,
The mild in manners, and the firm in mind,
[Whose heart might bleed, but not whose virtue bend;
Who left the Statesman, yet still kept the Friend,
And counting Fox's love his proudest boast,
Who, e'en when most they differed, prized him most[1]]
Fitzwilliam there, as swelled the requiem strain,
Wept o'er his earliest friendship's broken chain.
And there too Thou, Heir to the Patriot's flame,
Heir to his worth, his talents, and his name,
Allied by virtue as allied by blood,
Like Fox sincere, warm, candid, kind, and good,
Thou, Holland. . . .No! let others fill the line;
'Twould pain my heart too much to speak the pains of thine!
- ↑ Alluding to the difference of opinion between Lord Fitzwilliam and Mr. Fox respecting the French Revolution.
