— VIRTUOUS youth!
Thank Heaven, I knew thee not! I ne'er shall feel
The keen regret thy drooping friends sustain;
Yet will I drop the sympathizing tear,
And this due tribute to thy memory bring;
Not that thy noble birth provokes my song,
Or claims such offering from the Muses shrine;
But that thy spotless undissembling heart,
Thy unaffected manners, all unstain'd
With pride of power, and insolence of wealth;
Thy probity, benevolence, and truth,
(Best inmates of man's soul!) for ever lost,
Cropt like fair flowers in Life's meridian bloom,
Fade undistinguish'd in the silent grave.