On The Death Of A Masonic Grand Sachem[195]

This day we unite And all Brethren invite To honour a man of our nation; Who, honest as brave, Is gone to his grave And takes an unchangeable station.

In our subject we view (To Liberty true) The officer firm in all danger; Who stood to his post At the head of a host His country to save, and avenge her.

By compass and square This artisan rare Defeated all foreign invasion, Then returned to his farm When no longer alarm Distracted the mind of the nation.

In all that he did, In all that he said The bliss of mankind was intended;-- He rose for their good, To support them he stood, And Liberty ever defended.

The foundation he laid, And the fabric he made No mason but he could pretend to; It will stand, we foresee, 'Till that era shall be When the globe of the world there's an end to.

So, fame to the man Who the building began, Whose model all nations will take When kingdoms are fled, Standing armies are dead, And monarchs--no longer awake.

From the edition of 1809.