O Thou! to whom true faith is dear,
Grant, as my parting hour draws near,
Grant, as I heave my latest sigh,
No foe may watch in triumph nigh[1]!
The thought expressed in the last stanza might imply that, although our poet had outlived his friends, he had not survived his enemies. It is probable, indeed, that his propensity to satire had been the means of provoking the enmity of many of his contemporaries, especially of some of the clergy, against whom the invectives of his muse appear to have been often directed[2]. But in a poem entitled ‘The Bard’s Confession of his Sins[3],’ he acknowledges the culpability of his conduct in this instance as well as in several others; and we may infer that the poem in question was composed during the latter part of his life, when old age had communicated a suitable seriousness to his meditations.
We have now arrived at the close of our bard’s earthly career; and we may say of him, as of the swan, that he terminated his life with a song. But, unlike that of the swan, his tuneful talent was not forgotten at the hour of dissolution. On the contrary,
servatur ad imum,
Qualis ab incœpto processerat, et sibi constat.
His death (as before stated) is said to have occurred about the year 1400—in Anglesea, according to some authorities, but according to others of a more credible
