DRYDEN AND MILTON.
133
And on the wind, while hurrying to the goal,
The funeral-bell of murdered Hope will toll.
Out upon authors who conform in style
To manners that are prevalent though vile,
The gifts of God abusing for a price
Paid by the gilded devotees of Vice!
Then works survive as beacon-lights to warn,
Not precious scrolls the language to adorn,
And when then: names offend the startled ear
We feel as if an adder's brood were near.
Not such the band, from Labor's field withdrawn,
Whose lingering foot-prints match in glow the dawn;
The gulf of ages can not swallow up
These meek partakers of a bitter cup;
Their records were not written in the sand,
But treasured lie in Memory's holy land.
Despised of men, they toiled with fervent zeal,
Through good and ill report, for human weal;
Bravely the burthen of their sorrows bore,
And household-words will live for evermore.
Their names, a precious legacy, impart
Balm to the pilgrim growing faint of heart,
And, snatching up the staff, he journeys on,
The mournful gloom that wrapped his spirit gone.
The funeral-bell of murdered Hope will toll.
Out upon authors who conform in style
To manners that are prevalent though vile,
The gifts of God abusing for a price
Paid by the gilded devotees of Vice!
Then works survive as beacon-lights to warn,
Not precious scrolls the language to adorn,
And when then: names offend the startled ear
We feel as if an adder's brood were near.
Not such the band, from Labor's field withdrawn,
Whose lingering foot-prints match in glow the dawn;
The gulf of ages can not swallow up
These meek partakers of a bitter cup;
Their records were not written in the sand,
But treasured lie in Memory's holy land.
Despised of men, they toiled with fervent zeal,
Through good and ill report, for human weal;
Bravely the burthen of their sorrows bore,
And household-words will live for evermore.
Their names, a precious legacy, impart
Balm to the pilgrim growing faint of heart,
And, snatching up the staff, he journeys on,
The mournful gloom that wrapped his spirit gone.
