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Title: Written After Reading A Biography Of The Duke Of Beaufort
Author: J. C. Manning [
More Titles by Manning]
WRITTEN AFTER READING A BIOGRAPHY OF HIS GRACE
THE DUKE OF BEAUFORT, TO WHOM THESE LINES
ARE RESPECTFULLY INSCRIBED.
Like a Sea with its source in the distance belost,
That upholds on its breast and contains in its heart
Countless treasures and gems of which none know the cost--
All the brightest achievements of Science and Art:
So the proud race of Somerset flows down the Past,
With its Statesmen and Warriors--kinsmen of Kings:
With its learning and culture--its heritage vast--
And its virtues which inborn Nobility brings.
In the Wars of the Roses three Somersets gave
Up their lives for their Monarch in danger's dark hour,
And the rain of their hearts'-blood that watered each grave
Brought a still brighter flush to their Destiny's flow'r.
And when men the fair features of Liberty smeared
With the stain of Licentiousness through the dark Past,
'Twas a Somerset England's proud Standard upreared
O'er the stronghold of Raglan--and bled to the last:
A stronghold whose name once a Warrior bore
Who with courage undaunted chivalrously led
The brave soldiers of England through carnage and gore;
Where a Czar bade defiance--a Somerset bled.
Long the foremost in loyalty, forum, and field;
Where the sword wins renown or where politics grace:
Always first to be doing--the latest to yield:
All these are the virtues, the pride of thy race.
In the face of thy life like a mirror we see
All the lives of true Englishmen shaped as thine own,
For the tastes and pursuits which form nature in thee
Are the food from whose sustenance Britons have grown.
When Philanthropy leads, in its fights for the Poor,
No sincerer heart follows more keenly than thine;
For there's nought else in life hath more pow'r to allure,
Where the soul takes delight in the mission divine.
All the ages the wild storms of Faction have raved,
Though alluring the paths in which traitors have trod,
Not a moment hast thou or thine ancestors waived
In your love for Old England, its Throne, and its God.
1877.
[The end]
J. C. Manning's poem: Written After Reading A Biography Of The Duke Of Beaufort
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