And here, oh! here, where yet all young and warm, The gay creations of his spirit charm,[100] The matchless dialogue--the deathless wit, Which knew not what it was to intermit; 50 The glowing portraits, fresh from life, that bring Home to our hearts the truth from which they spring; These wondrous beings of his fancy, wrought To fulness by the fiat of his thought, Here in their first abode you still may meet, Bright with the hues of his Promethean heat; A Halo of the light of other days, Which still the splendour of its orb betrays. But should there be to whom the fatal blight Of failing Wisdom yields a base delight, 60 Men who exult when minds of heavenly tone Jar in the music which was born their own, Still let them pause--ah! little do they know That what to them seemed Vice might be but Woe. Hard is his fate on whom the public gaze Is fixed for ever to detract or praise; Repose denies her requiem to his name, And Folly loves the martyrdom of Fame. The secret Enemy whose sleepless eye Stands sentinel--accuser--judge--and spy. 70 The foe, the fool, the jealous, and the vain, The envious who but breathe in other's pain-- Behold the host! delighting to deprave, Who track the steps of Glory to the grave, Watch every fault that daring Genius owes Half to the ardour which its birth bestows, Distort the truth, accumulate the lie, And pile the Pyramid of Calumny! These are his portion--but if joined to these Gaunt Poverty should league with deep Disease, 80 If the high Spirit must forget to soar, And stoop to strive with Misery at the door,[101] To soothe Indignity--and face to face Meet sordid Rage, and wrestle with Disgrace, To find in Hope but the renewed caress, The serpent-fold of further Faithlessness:-- If such may be the Ills which men assail, What marvel if at last the mightiest fail? Breasts to whom all the strength of feeling given Bear hearts electric-charged with fire from Heaven, 90 Black with the rude collision, inly torn, By clouds surrounded, and on whirlwinds borne, Driven o'er the lowering atmosphere that nurst Thoughts which have turned to thunder--scorch, and burst.[ao]
But far from us and from our mimic scene Such things should be--if such have ever been; Ours be the gentler wish, the kinder task, To give the tribute Glory need not ask, To mourn the vanished beam, and add our mite Of praise in payment of a long delight. 100 Ye Orators! whom yet our councils yield, Mourn for the veteran Hero of your field! The worthy rival of the wondrous _Three!_[102] Whose words were sparks of Immortality! Ye Bards! to whom the Drama's Muse is dear, He was your Master--emulate him _here_! Ye men of wit and social eloquence![103] He was your brother--bear his ashes hence! While Powers of mind almost of boundless range,[104] Complete in kind, as various in their change, 110 While Eloquence--Wit--Poesy--and Mirth, That humbler Harmonist of care on Earth, Survive within our souls--while lives our sense Of pride in Merit's proud pre-eminence, Long shall we seek his likeness--long in vain, And turn to all of him which may remain, Sighing that Nature formed but one such man, And broke the die--in moulding Sheridan![105]