A native of New
Hampshire.]
* * * * *
=_Jacob Leonard Martin,[83] 1803-1848._=
=_361_=. THE CHURCH OF SANTA CROCE, FLORENCE.
Tomb of the mighty dead,[84] illustrious shrine,
Where genius, in the majesty of death,
Reposes solemn, sepulchred beneath,
Temple o'er every other fane divine!
Dark Santa Croce, in whose dust recline
Their mouldering relics whose immortal wreath.
Blooms on, unfaded by Time's withering breath,
In these proud ashes what a prize is thine!
Sure it is holy ground I tread upon;
Nor do I breathe unconsecrated air,
As, rapt, I gaze on each undying name.
These monuments are fragments of the throne
Once reared by genius on this spot so fair,
When Florence was the seat of arts and early fame.
[Footnote 83: A native of North Carolina; best known in political life,
but meritorious in literature.]
[Footnote 84: In this church repose Galileo, Michael Angelo, Alfieri, and
other illustrious Italians.]
* * * * *
=_Geo. W. Bethune, 1803-1862._= (Manual, p. 487.)
Invocation.
=_362._= MYTHOLOGY GIVES PLACE TO CHRISTIANITY.
Hushed is their song; from long-frequented grove,
Pale Memory, are thy bright-eyed daughters gone;
No more in strains of melody and love,
Gush forth thy sacred waters, Helicon;
Prostrate on Egypt's plain, Aurora's son,
God of the sunbeam and the living lyre,
No more shall hail thee with mellifluous tone;
Nor shall thy Pythia, raving from thy fire,
Speak of the future sooth to those who would inquire.
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