WHILE, with the public, you, my Lord, lament
A friend and father lost; permit the Muse,—
The Muse assign'd of old a double theme,-
To praise dead worth and humble living pride,
Whose generous task begins where interest ends:
Permit her on a TALBOT's tomb to lay
This cordial verse sincere, by truth inspir'd,
Which means not to bestow but borrow fame.
Yes, she may sing his matchless virtues now-
Unhappy that she may.-But where begin?
How from the diamond single out each ray,
Where all, though trembling with ten thousand hues,
Effuse one dazzling undivided light?
Let the low-minded of these narrow days
No more presume to deem the lofty tale
Of ancient times, in pity to their own,
Romance. In Talbot, we united saw
The piercing eye, the quick enlighten'd soul,
The graceful ease, the flowing tongue of Greece,
Join'd to the virtues and the force of Rome.