书城公版The Miscellaneous Writings and Speeches
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第464章 EPITAPH ON A JACOBITE

(1845.)

To my true king I offered free from stain Courage and faith; vain faith, and courage vain.

For him, I threw lands, honours, wealth, away.

And one dear hope, that was more prized than they.

For him I languished in a foreign clime, Grey-haired with sorrow in my manhood's prime;Heard on Lavernia Scargill's whispering trees, And pined by Arno for my lovelier Tees;Beheld each night my home in fevered sleep, Each morning started from the dream to weep;Till God who saw me tried too sorely, gave The resting place I asked, an early grave.

Oh thou, whom chance leads to this nameless stone, From that proud country which was once mine own, By those white cliffs I never more must see, By that dear language which I spake like thee, Forget all feuds, and shed one English tear O'er English dust.A broken heart lies here....