IN MEMORIAM. LORD DERBY.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume V, Issue 24, 28 January 1870, Page 3

IN MEMORIAM. LORD DERBY.

Seal'd are the eyes, they have no battle light'ning, As in days when Stanley swav'd the State ; We shall see never more within them bright'ning The genius of the Rupert of Debate. Fond memory may retrace thine ancient glories, The scholar's triumph in our Oxford won; Yet it were pain to tell the day-break stories, Remember'd after setting of the sun. How shall v e weep thee ? Let the poor man's sorrow Thinking on thee in Lancashire's dark days, And mourning thee through all the long tomorrow, Bear truer tribute than our words of praise. Oh, noble ! — not alone from proudly wearing The ermine of a peer without a spot, A stainless name with stainless honor bearing, Whom noble lineage could ennoble not. Oh, scholar ! whom the blind Greek's epic splendor Cast such a glamour o'er that thou could'st leave The cares of statecraft, in sweet verse to render How Helen smiled, and Paris could deceive ! Oh, statesman J All too soon those eyes have slumber'd, Our hope was once more thou woulds't rule the realm. Never our England, through the years unnumbered, Shall know a wiser pilot at the helm. Oh, singer of the old Homeric story ! Oh, hand, that in our need so greatly gave ! Thine is tbe noble's scholar's, statesman's glory; Thine is a nation's requiem o'er thy grave. October, 1869.