ELEGY. 125 



sent on that solemn occasion, and after- 

 wards sent to my elder sister, will give 

 some idea of the loss we all sustained, 

 and at the same time do credit to the 

 writer's mind and heart as an elegiac 

 production : 



LINES WRITTEN BY EDWARD BLNSTEAD, 



A FRIEND AND COMPANION OF THE LATE , WHO WAS 



A WITNESS TO HIS END, AND AGAINST WHOM INJURIOUS 

 REPORTS HAD BEEN FALSELY CIRCULATED. 



WHILE sad remembrance paints the scene of woe, 

 My tortur'd breast its anguish will reveal ; 



In spite of consolation tears will flow, 

 And silent tell the poignant grief I feeL 



Scarce had he to meridian beauty rose, 

 When, in a sudden and eventful hour, 



He sunk eternal to that long repose 



Where mortals all must yield their boastful pow'r. 



Twas then that calumny, with poison'd breath, 



To malice lent her pestilential aid, 

 And falsely said that in his lingering death 



That friendship, inhumanity betray'd. 



Ah ! who can feel his grievous loss more dear, 



Or at his melancholy fate repine ? 

 Friends of his youth might drop a genuine tear, 



But all their sorrows cannot equal mine. 



For may I not superior sorrow claim, 



Who knew his worth, and saw the pains he bore ? 

 Parental woe might know a pang the same, 



But e'en their misery cannot feel it more. 



