EPITAPH ON LORD METCALFE.

(1847.)

Near this stone is laid CHARLES, LORD METCALFE, A Statesman tried in many high offices, And difficult conjunctures, And found equal to all. The three greatest Dependencies of the British Crown Were successively entrusted to his care. In India, his fortitude, his wisdom, His probity, and his moderation, Are held in honourable remembrance By men of many races, languages, and religions. In Jamaica, still convulsed by a social revolution, His prudence calmed the evil passions Which long suffering had engendered in one class And long domination in another. In Canada, not yet recovered from the calamities of civil war, He reconciled contending factions to each other, And to the Mother Country. Costly monuments in Asiatic and American cities Attest the gratitude of the nations which he ruled. This tablet records the sorrow and the pride With which his memory is cherished by his family.