When some proud son of man returns to
\nearth,
\nUnknown to glory, but upheld by birth,
\nThe sculptor’s art exhausts the pomp of
\nwoe,
\nAnd storied urns record who rest below:
\nWhen all is done, upon the tomb is seen,
\nNot what he was, but what he should have
\nbeen:
\nBut the poor dog, in life the firmest friend,
\nThe first ot welcome, foremost to defend,
\nWhose honest heart is still his master’s
\nown,
\nWho labors, fights, lives, breathes for him
\nalone,
\nUnhonored falls, unnoticed all his worth,
\nDenied in heaven the soul he held on
\nearth:
\nWhile man, vain insect! hopes to be for-
\ngiven,
\nAnd claims himself a sole exclusive heaven.
\nOh man! thou feeble tenant of an hour,
\nDebased by slavery, or corrupt by power,
\nWho knows thee well must quit thee with
\ndisgust,
\nDegraded mass of animated dust!
\nThy love is lust, thy friendship is all a cheat,
\nThy smiles hypocrisy, thy words deceit!
\nBy nature vile, ennobled but by name,
\nEach kindred brute might bid thee blush
\nfor shame.
\nYe! who perchance behold this simple urn,
\nPass on – it honors none you wish to mourn:
\nTo mark a friend’s remains these stones
\narise;
\nI never knew but one, – and here he lies.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
First Published\u00a01808 When some proud son of man returns to earth, Unknown to glory, but upheld by birth, The sculptor’s art exhausts the pomp of woe, And storied urns record who rest below: When all is done, upon the tomb is seen, Not what he was, but what he should have been: But the poor […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/englishhistory.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/568"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/englishhistory.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/englishhistory.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/englishhistory.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/englishhistory.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=568"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/englishhistory.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/568\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/englishhistory.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=568"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/englishhistory.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=568"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/englishhistory.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=568"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}