THE POET LAUREATE AND THE LATE PRINCE CONSORT.

Lyttelton Times, Volume XVII, Issue 991, 10 May 1862, Page 2

THE POET LAUREATE AND THE LATE PRINCE CONSORT.

A new edition of the ' Idylls of the King' contains the following dedication:— " These to his memory,—since he held them dear, " Perchance as finding there unconsciously " Some image of himself—l dedicate, " I dedicate, I consecrate with tears— "These Idylls. " And indeed he seems to me " Scarce other than my own ideal knight, " ' Who reverenced his conscience as his king; "' Whose glory was redressing human wrong; " ' Who spake no slander, no, nor listened to it; "' Who loved one only, and who clave to her—' " Her—over all whose realms to their last isle, " Commingled with the gloom of imminent war, " The shadow of his loss moved like eclipse, " Darkening the world. Wehavelosthim; heis gone"We know him now: all narrow jealousies ' " Are silent; and we see him as he moved, " How modest, kindly, all-accomplish'd wise, " With what sublime repression of himself, " And in what limits, and how tenderly; " Not swaying to this faction or to that; " Not making his high place the lawless perch " Of wing'd ambitions, nor a vantage-ground " For pleasure; but thro' all this tract of years " Wearing the white flower of a blameless life, " Before a thousand peering littlenesses, " In that fierce light which beats upon a throne, " And blackens every blot: for where is he, " Who dares foreshadow for an only son " A lovelier life, a more unstain'd than his ? " Or how should England dreaming of his sons " Hope more.for these than some inheritance " Of such a life, a heart, a mind as thine, " Thou noble Father of her Kings to.be, "Laborious for her people and her poor— " Voice in the rich dawn of an ampler day— " Far-sighted summoner of war and waste " To fruitful strifes and rivalries of peace— " Sweet nature gilded by the gracious gleam " Of letters, dear to Science, dear to Art," " Dear to thy land and ours, a Prince.iiideed, " Beyond all titles, and a household name, " Hereafter, through all times, Albert th# Good. " Break not, O woman's heart, but still efelure; " Break not, for thouart Eoyal, but endure, " Remembering air the beauty of that star " Which shone so close beside thee, that ye made " One light together, but has past and left " The Crown a lonely splendour. _. , "May all love, " His love, unseen but felt, o'er shadow thee • " The love of all thy sons encompass thee, " The love of all thy daughters cherish thee " The love of all thy people comfort thee, " Till God's love set thee at his side again."