Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, EPITAPH ON LORD METCALFE, by THOMAS BABINGTON MACAULAY


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EPITAPH ON LORD METCALFE, by                 Poet Analysis     Poet's Biography
First Line: Near this stone is laid
Last Line: With which his memory is cherished by his family.
Alternate Author Name(s): Macaulay, 1st Baron
Subject(s): India; Metcalfe, Charles Theophlius (1785-1846)


Near this stone is laid
CHARLES LORD METCALFE,
A statesman tried in many high offices
And difficult conjunctures,
And found equal to all.
The three greatest dependencies of the British crown
Were successively intrusted to his care.
In India, his fortitude, his wisdom,
His probity, and his moderation
Are held in honorable remembrance
By men of many races, languages, and religions.
In Jamaica, still convulsed by a social revolution,
His prudence calmed the evil passions
Which long suffering had engendered in one class
And long domination in another.
In Canada, not yet recovered from the calamities of civil war,
He reconciled contending factions
To each other, and to the mother country.
Costly monuments in Asiatic and American cities
Attest the gratitude of the nations which he ruled.
This tablet records the sorrow and the pride
With which his memory is cherished by his family.





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