"Honour erected in thy breast its throne, / And kind Humanity was all thy own."
— Hamilton, William, of Bangour (1704-1754)
Work Title
Date
w. December 1742, 1760
Metaphor
"Honour erected in thy breast its throne, / And kind Humanity was all thy own."
Metaphor in Context
This verse, O gentle Hamilton! be thine,
(Each softer grace bedew thy darling shrine);
Nature to thee did her best gifts impart,
The mildest manners and the warmest heart;
Honour erected in thy breast its throne,
And kind Humanity was all thy own.
Yet when thy country's wrong to action moved,
You rose to save, and left that ease you loved;
For this she grieves thy early fate to see;
And 'midst her sufferings finds a tear for thee.
But thou perhaps hast well escaped her doom,
Thy eyes are closed, nor sees her ills to come;
Abandon'd o'er, to shameless men a prey,
And slow, deceiving friends, far worse than they;
The kindred triumph of thy noble blood,
Thy name enroll'd amidst the few that stood.
Fair, beaming clear, through life, the patriot flame,
And deaf to honours that begun in shame;
Each duty paid that friendship could demand;
Each nobler deed to save a destin'd land.
An age, corrupt amidst the civil storm,
Would suffer struggling Virtue to perform;
To fix his country, ever free, he tried--
Found the brave labour vain, resigned, and died.
(cf. p. 259 in 1760 ed.)
(Each softer grace bedew thy darling shrine);
Nature to thee did her best gifts impart,
The mildest manners and the warmest heart;
Honour erected in thy breast its throne,
And kind Humanity was all thy own.
Yet when thy country's wrong to action moved,
You rose to save, and left that ease you loved;
For this she grieves thy early fate to see;
And 'midst her sufferings finds a tear for thee.
But thou perhaps hast well escaped her doom,
Thy eyes are closed, nor sees her ills to come;
Abandon'd o'er, to shameless men a prey,
And slow, deceiving friends, far worse than they;
The kindred triumph of thy noble blood,
Thy name enroll'd amidst the few that stood.
Fair, beaming clear, through life, the patriot flame,
And deaf to honours that begun in shame;
Each duty paid that friendship could demand;
Each nobler deed to save a destin'd land.
An age, corrupt amidst the civil storm,
Would suffer struggling Virtue to perform;
To fix his country, ever free, he tried--
Found the brave labour vain, resigned, and died.
(cf. p. 259 in 1760 ed.)
Categories
Provenance
Searching "throne" and "heart" in HDIS (Poetry)
Citation
At least 2 entries in ESTC (1760).
See Poems on Several Occasions. By William Hamilton of Bangour, Esquire. (Edinburgh: Printed for W. Gordon Bookseller in the Parliament Close, 1760). <Link to ECCO>
Text from The Poems and Songs of William Hamilton of Bangour, ed. James Paterson (Edinburgh: Thomas George Stevenson, 1850).
See Poems on Several Occasions. By William Hamilton of Bangour, Esquire. (Edinburgh: Printed for W. Gordon Bookseller in the Parliament Close, 1760). <Link to ECCO>
Text from The Poems and Songs of William Hamilton of Bangour, ed. James Paterson (Edinburgh: Thomas George Stevenson, 1850).
Date of Entry
08/07/2004
Date of Review
01/12/2012
