Napoleon III., after his downfall at Sedan, was imprisoned for awhile at the Chateau of Wilhelmshöhe, near Cassel. He then joined the Empress at Chiselhurst in England, where he lived quietly until his death, Jan. 9, 1873. How long he sat-this Cæsar of the stage, This bold, pretending patron of the age! Muzzled the press, yet bade the peopie think; Knelt to the Pope, but gave the crowd a wink; Now capped a Cardinal, now endowed a school; Permitted suffrage, under iron rule; Gave wings to trade, but clogged all daring thought, Counting all counsel but his own as naught; Put new wine in old bottles, best in worst, And clamped them round with iron, lest they burst; Forced two extremes to marry, last with first; Wed light to darkness, and misnamed the brood Born of the union, France's highest good. I've watched him stroll with Raleigh by the wood, Or Sidney, near the Mulla's rippling brim, While Nature crooned her Summer-evening hymn, Till o'er the fields the new moon's syckle stood. I've heard calm words of courtly brotherhood Chime like an Angelus through the ages dim, And they, whom all else honored, honered him, My Spenser, votary of the Holy Rood. They rose and passed through Honor's troubled sky; Each quenched in blood his fitful, fervent star; He dwelt apart, unknown, and fixed his Who not in cleric conflict played their parts, Will mourn him well and long. Friend of the poor, apart from creed or clique, And ardent champion of the struggling weak Against the selfish strong. Toiler for Temperance, hastener on of Light, In many a fray where right's at odds with might, Might's foes will miss their friend. Farewell! it moves the common heart to heart The crowning of so glorious a career -London Punch. |