The Prince George's enquirer and southern Maryland advertiser. (Upper Marlborough, Md.) 1882-1925, 1896-01-31

| last ltUtCl uOW Den ooliiieoH S'oO'
buried upright with only a paving
stone to mark the spot, we now come
to his monument which bears the IN
scripton, O Rare Ben Johnson. lii
best known plays are 'Catalme,
every Man in his Humor," 1.-The AL
chemist" and ''The Silent Woman,
from the name piece of pure imagi
nation as such is an unknown quantity
johnson was Poet Laureate TO Jane!
|. and contemporary with Shakespeare
We now approach the second grea
English poet, Edmund Sperser, author
of that beautiful and romantic poem
known as "The Faerie Queen" Poe
Laureate to Elizabeth and inventor OF
the Spencerian stanza. Spenser imi
tated Chaucer as Virgil did Homer
and like Virgil lie suffered by compar.
lson. AS work Of the imagination
and nature painting 1.-The Faerit
Queen" has few equals. Sad to say
Spencer like many Of the early great
poets died in great poverty, broken.
hearted because of the numerous mis-,
fortunes which crowded upon him, one
of which was the destruction of his
home and the burning to death Of an
infant child during Tyrone's rebel.
lion in Ireland. Above the Spensel
monument is memorial to Samue1
Butler best known as the author Of
"Hudibras. Butler was a man OF
great learning, wit and pleasantly but
he reaped small advantage from his
writings. The monument reads
''that he who bad been denied all
things in life might not in death be
denied tomb; which reminds one
of the. lines:
''Seven ancient cities claimed Homer dead.
Through which the living Homer was forced to beg
his bread
And now to the immortal author OF
"Paradise Lost John Milton. A
bust Of the poet below which is Tyre
around it twining Il serpent with an
apple in allusion to ssParadlse Lost. -
Milton was was one of the most Gull
tured men that England has ever pro-
duced, standing peer with Bulwer
Lytton and together superior to any.
He was Cambridge graduate and for
ten years was Latin Secretary to the
council Of the Common wealth. It was
after the downfall of Cromwell and the
return of the Stuart dynasty that Mil
ton wrote his great epic, h. was then
totally blind. There is probably no.
where in literature sweeter spirit of
resignation to misfortune than Milton
breathes in his sonnet on his blindness
closing with the line:
HE also serves who only stands and waits
1t seems impossible not to mention
code to the Nativity" in speaking of
Milton, as well as al Penseroso,"
"L'Allegro and "Comus." Milton
died in 1871, but so strong was the
Royalist feeling that the Abbey con-
tanned no memorial of him until 1877.
Addison in his remarks on the Abbey
led the way for the reaction, and DR..
Johnson's favorable criticism added
the necessary impetus toward a justly
merited honor. Above the Milton
memorial is medallion of Thomas
Gray held by the lyric muse with her
finger pointing to Milton and the
verse:
NO more the grccian muse unrivaled reigns:
To Britain let the nations homage pay:
She felt a Homer's fire in Mlton'S strains.
A Pindars rapture in the Tyre of Gray
Grays body rests at Stoke Pogis, the
scene Of his famous "EIegy written in
a Country Churchyard.' There is no
the popularity of this poem,
IN fact its very popularity has tended
somewhat to rob 1t of the place it
should hold in literature for every one
who is at all given to quoting will call
OH Gray which has made some of his
beautiful lines hacknied until they as
sumo the commonplace. Two other
poems by this author are worthy of
more recognition than they have
''The Bard and the "Progress of Poe
sy." The opening lines Of the former
'Ru'n seize thee, ruthless King" and
the succeeding story told of the down
fall of the Welsh Kings is on higher
plane than any other work of Gray.
The poet was ripe scholar but was Of
the kind "who never speak out" Had
he been possessed of the same spirit of
ambition and determination which
characterize some Of our other poets
his name would have occupied high
9r position among the poetic stars.
His death occurred in 177I at the
University of Cambridge where he then
held the chair of Modern History.
Thomas Shadwell, the vanqulshed RI
val of Dryden, satirized by him in
'Absalom and Achitophel,' has
in which the inscription
sets forth that he was Poet Laureate
and Historiographer during the reign
IF William III. 1t is quite peculiar
that Shadwell is practi-
,ally only know to-day because of his
being criticised by Dryden, who in at
tempting to belittle MIN preserved his
name to posterity. Matthew Prior at
aimed some distinction by his poetic
works, especially his short, fu gitiye
pieces, but his reputation is rather
greater as politician than as Il poet.
He has a large monument in the Alb.
oey presented by Louis NV of France.
4 bust of Prior surmounts a pedestal
IN one side Of which stands Tna:ia
With flute in her hand, and the other
History with her book closed on the
,utermost side Of raised altar of fine
marble is Il Latin inscription record
ng the fact that death cut short his
work on history Of his own times.
over the bust is pediment with two
BOYS one holding an hour glass in
which the sand has run out, while the
,ther bears a torch reversed; on the
lpex of the pediment is an urn and on
he base Of the sarcophagus is a long
inscription reciting the many offices
n which he had been engaged. Thorn
u Campbell, author of The Pleasures
# Hope wherein occurs
. lis distance lends enchantmcnt to the view.
And robes the mountain in its hue
5 represented aS IN the academic robes |
# Lord-Rector, he was thrice elected
o that position in the University of
ilsscow. On the pedestal are the
ines from his own Last Man