tirbe Opertator, Otptember 25, 1852
PUBLICATIONS RECEIVED
A Dirge for Wellington. By Martin F. Tupper, Author of Proverbial Philosophy.
This hasty effusion will not rank among the happiest of funereal poems. The ideas are commonplace—" everybody's thoughts "; the panegyric is even overdone, not always as regards the actual merits of the Duke, but comparatively with reference to living men. In missing the exact characteristics of Welling- ton, the poet has missed the particular truth, some likeness to which is always necessary even in compliment. The two following stanzas are the best and truest of the whole Dirge; yet the leading idea is not the writer's, but a Frenchman's.
But stoutly too, with glad acclaim, Tell out his honest worth— There never lived a child of fame More childlike on this earth ! Simple in heart, sincere in mind, lust, resolute, and true,
Duty was all he strove to find, And all he dared to do !
Duty, though Death were on the track, Though Scorn were in the way, Duty, though Pleasure beckon'd back, Or Interest lured astray; Duty, great chief ! Thy glorious name Is link'd with Duty still,
Through civic strife, and martial fame, Through good report and ill.
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