English poem
Epitaph. on Edmund Duke of Buckingham, Who Died in the Nineteenth Year of
by Alexander Pope (1688–1744)
HIS AGE, 1735.
If modest youth, with cool reflection crown'd, And every opening virtue blooming round, Could save a parent's justest pride from fate, Or add one patriot to a sinking state; This weeping marble had not ask'd thy tear, Or sadly told how many hopes lie here! The living virtue now had shone approved, The senate heard him, and his country loved. Yet softer honours, and less noisy fame Attend the shade of gentle Buckingham: In whom a race, for courage famed and art, Ends in the milder merit of the heart; And chiefs or sages long to Britain given, Pays the last tribute of a saint to Heaven.
More by Alexander Pope
- Epitaph. Intended for Mr Rowe, in Westminster Abbey.
- Epitaph. Intended for Sir Isaac Newton, in Westminster Abbey.
- Epitaph. on Charles Earl of Dorset, in the Church of Withyam, in Sussex.
- Epitaph. on Dr Francis Atterbury, Bishop of Rochester, Who Died in Exile at Paris, 1732.
- Epitaph. on General Henry Withers, in Westminster Abbey, 1729.
- Epitaph. on James Craggs, Esq. in Westminster Abbey.
- Epitaph. on Mr Elijah Fenton, at Easthamstead, in Berks, 1730.
- Epitaph. on Mr Gay, in Westminster Abbey, 1732.