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Title: Nash Vaughan Edwardes Vaughan; A Monody
Author: J. C. Manning [
More Titles by Manning]
(OF RHEOLA.)
DIED SEPTEMBER 18TH, 1868. (a)
I.
Let bard on battle-field, in sounding verse,
Proclaim to distant time the warrior-deed
That makes a hero, whose triumphal hearse
Rolls graveward o'er a thousand hearts that bleed
In widowed agony. Let golden lyre
Of regal Court engaged in worldly strife
Clothe princely foibles with poetic fire,
And crown with fame a king's ignoble life.
Let chroniclers of Camp and Court proclaim
A Warrior's greatness, and a Monarch's fame.
Be mine with verse the tomb of one to grace
Whose nobler deeds deserve a nobler place.
II.
The lofty fane that cleaves the glowing sky,
And heavenward points with golden finger-tip--
Structure whence flows the sacred harmony
Of prayer and praise from Christian heart and lip:
The ranging corridors where--blest the task--
'Tis ours to soothe the fever and the pain
Of wounded natures, who, despairing, ask
For healing touch that makes them whole again.
These are the monuments that proudly stand
On corner stones--fruit of his princely hand:
Homes for the poor, wound-stricken to the sod;
And altars for the worship of his God.
III.
The blazing meteor glares along the sky;
The thunder shakes the mountain with its roar;
But meteors for a moment live--then die:
The thunder peals--and then is heard no more.
The most refreshing rains in silence fall;
The most entrancing tones are sweet and low;
The greatest, mightiest truths, are simplest all;
Life's dearest light comes forth in voiceless flow;
E'en so his heart and hand were ever found
Flinging in mute beneficence around
The germs of Truth and Charity combined,
To heal the heart and purify the mind.
(a) The life of Mr. Vaughan was one daily round of charitable deeds, in furtherance of religion and social amelioration. His munificent donation to the Swansea Hospital, offered conditionally, led to the enlarged foundation of that noble institution, which stands a silent tribute to his memory. This Elegy was written at the request of the late Mr. John Williams, proprietor of the Cambrian, Swansea, who, in the letter requesting me to write the verses, said: "Such noble qualities as Mr. Vaughan possessed deserve everything good which human tongue can say of them."
[The end]
J. C. Manning's poem: Nash Vaughan Edwardes Vaughan; A Monody
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