ANSWER TO A BEAUTIFUL POEM, WRITTEN BY MONTGOMERY, AUTHOR OF “THE WANDERER OF SW...

Montgomery! true, the common lot

Of mortals lies in Lethe's wave;

Yet some shall never be forgot,

Some shall exist beyond the grave.

“Unknown the region of his birth,”

The herorolls the tide of war;

Yet not unknown his martial worth,

Which glares a meteor from afar.

His joy or grief, his weal or woe,

Perchance may‘ scape the page of fame;

Yet nations, now unborn, will know

The record of his deathless name.

The Patriot's and the Poet's frame

Must share the common tomb of all:

Their glory will not sleep the same;

‘ That’ will arise, though Empires fall.

The lustre of a Beauty's eye

Assumes the ghastly stare of death;

The fair, the brave, the good must die,

And sink the yawning grave beneath.

Once more, the speaking eye revives,

Still beaming through the lover's strain;

For Petrarch's Laura still survives:

She died, but ne'er will die again.

The rolling seasons pass away,

And Time, untiring, waves his wing;

Whilst honour's laurels ne'er decay,

But bloom in fresh, unfading spring.

All, all must sleep in grim repose,

Collected in the silent tomb;

The old, the young, with friends and foes,

Fest'ring alike in shrouds, consume.

The mouldering marble lasts its day,

Yet falls at length an useless fane;

To Ruin's ruthless fangs a prey,

The wrecks of pillar'd Pride remain.

What, though the sculpture be destroy'd,

From dark Oblivion meant to guard;

A bright renown shall be enjoy'd,

By those, whose virtues claim reward.

Then do not say the common lot

Of all lies deep in Lethe's wave;

Some few who ne'er will be forgot

Shall burst the bondage of the grave.