The Massachusetts spy, and Worcester County advertiser. [volume] ([Worcester, Mass.]) 1825-1831, 1827-10-10
459eE1,ae.
From the Rhode Island .9,nerico,
ON THE DEATH OF THE RI. HON
7~ GEORGE CANNING

1EOhGE CANNING.
The high, the mountain majesty of worth
/ Should be, and shall, survivor of its wo"
CHILDE HAROLD.
Oh! when the mighty die, how loud and long
Should be the waling requiem! All earth,
y which their spirits pour'd golden light,
/ lllumining her darkness, and with hues
Ot moro surprising radancy and charm,
Investing what was beautiful, should veil
/ Herself in deepest mourning, and put on
/ Her sackcloth robe of sorrow It's the need
/ She owes them, the proud guerdon they have
won.
| Through time their letter d names upon Fame's
lck,ite x
Her swanlike, starry pinion borne along,
Shall be, OF all that grace their era, sole,
Alone in their high perpetuity,
he only things DER which the rust of age,
And shadow of oblivion cannot come
The wardrobe whose only end and aim
| Are what he madly deems lis glory, dies
/ Is curS'd and then forgotten-or if Fame
Should claim perchance his character, It's trac I'd
! In blood and fire upon her raven wing,
And giares along her pathway-like the fierce
And alien blaze that wandering comets shed,
Mid those pure lights, eternal in the sky
Such vert not thou, illustrious one! whose
deeds
Are the wide earth's NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS. name
The white rob'd Virtues consecrate in light,
| While Genius gilds it with her halo's charm.
1t seems but yesterday saw thee stand
Within that hall whose walls have often rung
With the full song of eloquence-and heard
The echo of those voices that went forth,
| To guide the whrlwind and direct the storm;
And sway the destiny of nations-then,
| felt thy spirits spell upon me, and
| could have knelt, almost in worship, there,
Before the high supremacy of mind
Oh that an intellect like that should die
Thy star was in its zenth-and its light
( Was DER all earth-a cheering sun to those
Whose arms were bard, and whose warm hearts
beat strong
In the great cause of Freedom,-and bright
And blasting witness--an accusing FIRE
To those whowere its haters-These will smile,
Now that the eagle eye has ceasd to flash
Now when those lips are eloquent no more,
And the bright spirit that once mov'd and
warm'd
And lighted them has perish'd-these will
And forge their letters stronger for time,
And lay them heavier on the necks of men,
But who shall be their mourners? Who shall
breathe
The long, deep, solemn, choral strain of wo ;
First from thine own green island--from her hills
That nurturd and that lov'd thee, has gone forth
! The loudest tone of sorrow Britan's sons
In the ripe purposes thy wisdom plann'd,
The proud conceptions of thy mighty mind,
A pledge of growing greatness-and star
Set high before them, which they fondly deemd
Should be their guiding light--ther beacon fire,
In the dark hour of peril and dismay,
Along the Andes summits-on her cliffs
In your rich Wales Colombia and Peru
Shall that young band of sister nations weep
Who started into being and were cheer'd
And lem,
The bound and bleeding victim--fetter d
Fighting though fetterd-pourng out her life
Upon that altar which her fathers rear'd,
So lovely i'll her agony-how deep
Will be her wailing-and perhaps tho last
! God can her Phoenix spirit rise again
5 Those millions on the earth who bend beneath
: A tyrant masters shacklos, shall hang down
Their dropping heads and shed bitter tear
On their hard irons, while they feel each link
Grasp closer round the festerd neck and limb
And they-the great and giftod--men whose
f souls
Warm'd like thine ownwith all patriots fire.
These two shall Join with shadow ID hearts the
train
That gives TO the dark tomb Professionalism,
The chosen chief, who cheer'd and led them on.
Such are the monrnful voices that shall chant
Thy last sad quies--and Freedoms hand
Shall rear thy mausoleum--on its walls
OF granite 0lio's graphic pen
Shall trace thy proud Cchevcmonts-Canning's
e name
Shall be her volumes frontispieco, and grace
Though few, her fairest pages Round that
shrine
: Long shall the MUSES. lingor, waking there
Their Tyre strings sweetest harmony--ard OFT
! Wreathing fresh chaplets round the capitals
OF It's fair columns--and with coronals
Of deafness verdurc, binding its high dome.
e.
y" Fame -------------------------