Punch (72.1877)

June 30, 1877.] PUNCH, OR THE LONDON CHARIVARI. 289

TWO JUDGES.

steward of the jockey clue. lord justice of appeal.

Born, January, 1795. Died, June 19, 1877. Born, 1814. Died, June 15, 1877.

Two Judges have to higher judgments passed,
Leaving their record, each in his own Court;

As if Fate's irony for once had classed
The Bench of Justice with the Seat of Sport.

"We hear the " Bravo, Rous! " in death, as life,
From Jockey Club and handicappers' bar.

Where—strange repose from elemental strife—
He steered his Turf craft, like a ship of war,

With pluck, and purpose clear, and voice of power,
Through shoals of knavery and sands of sin;

Truth his chain-cable, honour his best bower,
Good name to risk and little love to win!

Light lie the turf on the Turf-Judge's grave !

May his work's merits o'er its kind prevail;
Nor let the sorry sport for which he gave

His life's best part against him weight the scale.

Not such our prayer above that other bier
Whereon a nobler Judge to rest is laid ;

Whose work was worthy of the soul sincere
That triumphed o'er disease, and pain o'er-swayed.

From his youth up a martyr on the rack

Of unearned suffering that most wills had tamed,

And turned a nature less heroic back
From strenuous effort, pitied and unblamed.

But, quenching sense in spirit, he so strove,
That early manhood found him early wise,

A Sage in whom, as pain o'ercame not love,
Strong soul weak body bore on high emprize.

Till on the judgment-seat, as on the way
That led up to its honours, he was seen,

Bearing the heat and burden of his day,
Of soul unruffled, patient, and serene ;

With a sweet sadness putting pain aside,
To bend his ripened judgment to the cause,

And turn the clear light of his mind to guide
His brethren through our labyrinthine laws.

When men, in after times, would have held up
The glass of all that a great Judge should be,

The face of Hellish, with his bitter cup
Beside him, let the Bar of England see !

TWO WOMEN.

$mlm tfli^feett Sarali Jlovton fjtos tester.

(Lady Stirling-Maxwell).
Bom, 1809. Died, June 15, 1877.

Born, April 3, 1807. Died, June 14, 1877.

One lived for grace—one lived for good ; so runs,
In brief, the record of Two Women's claims,

Whose lives, unlike, closed with close-following suns,
Bequeathing memories diverse as their fames.

One, the famed daughter of a famous line,
With grace and charm, with wit and beauty dowered,

Yet on whose power to please, and will to shine,
Some adverse star malignant influence showered.

Her bridal wreath was blent with weeds of strife :

An ill world's ill report, by party aimed,
Fleshed its foul shafts in her unguarded life,

Until fair-weather friendship shrank afraid,

And hate and envy gave their tongues free play
On the proud soul that would not be o'er-borne,

But strove to show brave face to bleakest day,
And hid her wounds, and gave back scorn for scorn :

And sang her song, and smiled her smile, and staunched
Her tears to strain her children to her breast,

But death's pale blight her hope's bright blossom blanched,
And left her all but lone in dark unrest.

Till time and fair life bore down ill-report,
And grief in patience, if not peace, was lost;

And she lived on, and sang, and held her court,
And dwelt in memories of the loved and lost.

Still beautiful, still graceful, with her voice

Of low, sweet music, and her gift of song ;
Tenacious of the friendships of her choice,—

Fast because wisely made as cherished long.

Truest of all, the friend who, at the last,

Gave her marred life the shelter of his name,

And a short sunshine o'er her evening cast,
Denied her in the morning of her fame.

Noble of soul as beautiful, endowed

With all that should have crowned a life with joy,—
Well for her she has past beyond the cloud,

Tended by faithful love, to join her boy.

Not on the heights of England's proud estate,
Where its spoilt children keep their giddy round,

The other learned to weigh man and man's fate,
Studied life's lessons and life's labour found.

But in a frugal, pure, and peaceful home,

A place of sober learning learnt to see
Through faith and trust in God's good time to come,

That where ill is, good may, and will, yet be.

Her parents' help, her sisters', brothers' guide,
She grew as high of heart, as mild of mood ;

With power o'er youth's rebelliousness and pride,
As one that from her own youth up was good.

And early fixed her mind, and chose her part,
To work in the high faith which few can feel,

That there's a spring of good in every heart,
So you have love its fountain to unseal.

This faith it was that marked a course for her,
And braced her for its trouble and its toil,

Cheered her 'gainst proofs how much the best may err,
And kept her pure as snow from taint or soil.

Out of the scaffold's shadow and the dark
Of lives from youth-up weaned of light and air,

She gathered sinking souls into her Ark
Of Love that rode the Deluge of Despair.

'Twas she first drew our city waifs and strays
Within the tending of the Christian fold,

With eyes of love for the averted gaze

Of a world prompt to scourge and shrill to scold.

From seeds she sowed—in season mattered not,
Or out—for good all seasons are the same—

Sprang new appliances, of love begot,
Lost lives to save, and wanderers reclaim.

Nor at home only; when her hair was white

She crossed the sea, on India to bestow
The love that England prized at length aright,

Following leads she was the first to show.

Not from far Pisgah only did she view
The Promised Land, but lived its soil to tread ;

And dies bequeathing work for us to do,
While praise and blessing crown her reverend head !

VOL. LXXT.