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The Funeral of the Duke of Wellington.
the wealth of nations, to enter into statistical research, and to encounter each other in fiscal controversy—we present to the world the most sublime and touching spectacle that human circumstances can well produce—the spectacle of a senate mourning a hero!"—Disraeli's Speech on the Death of the Duke of Wellington.
No sounds of labour vexed the quiet airFrom morn till eve. The people all stood still,And earth won back a Sabbath. There were noneWho cared to buy or sell and make a gainFor one whole day. All felt as they had lostA father, and were fain to keep within,Silent or speaking little. Such a dayAn old man sees but once in all his time.
The simplest peasant in the land that dayKnew somewhat of his country's grief. He hoardThe knell of England's hero from the towerOf the old church, and asked the cause and sighed.The veteran who had bled on some far fieldFought o'er the battle for the thousandth time,With quaint addition; and the little child,That stopped his sport to run and ask his sireWhat it all meant, picked out the simple tale,—How he who drove the French from Waterloo,And crushed the tyrant of the world, and madeHis country great and glorious,—he was dead.All, from the simplest to the stateliest, knewBut one sad story,—from the cottar's bairnUp to the fair-haired lady on the throne,Who sat within and sorrowed for her friend;And every tear she shed became her well,And seemed more lovely in her people's eyesThan all the starry wonders of her crown.
But as the waters of the Northern Sea(When one strong wind blows steady from the pole)Come hurrying to the shore, and far and wideAs eye can reach the creaming waves press onImpatient; or, as trees that bow their topsOne way when Alpine hollows bring one wayThe blast whereat they quiver in the vale,So millions pressed to swell the general griefOne way;—for once all men seemed one way drawn;Or if, through evil hap and unforeseenSome stayed behind, their hearts; at least, were thereThe whole day through—could think of nothing else—Hear nothing else—see nothing!