4 JULY 1903, Page 16

POETRY.

AT THE GRAVE OF THE CORN-LAW RHYMER. FIERCE feeler of a famished nation's pangs,—

When Pride and Pelf held up the bread-loaf high, He leap'd upon them with relentless fangs ' Till dropped the loaf and hushed the starveling's cry.

And yet no wolf in human shape was he,— A flower could charm him, and a child could lead; . But when a People groaned in agony,

He flew, a fury, at the throat of Greed.

His peers misprised him, till they forced the sigh, "No cause can prosper if by me espoused": And forth he went, in quietude to die, His work well done when Justice was aroused.

One district loves him,—where five streamlets rise, Don, Rivelin, Loxley, tiny Porter, Sheaf ; While from small Bethels that the proud despise Up springs his " Anthlem " for the poor's relief.

And Britain, too, remembers : on her scroll (Rich with such names as Langland, Chaucer, Burns, Milton, Defoe) his name did she enrol, Nor deems it least as the bright file she turns.

E. DOWNING.