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As there has been some dispute as to the authorship of the following beautiful lines, which were first published by me in “
Personal Reminiscences, Anecdotes, and Letters of
General R. E. Lee,” it may be well to settle the point, as well as to preserve in our
Papers the feeling tribute of the gifted
Englishman.
I had frequently seen them in the fly leaf of
Worsley's translation of the Iliad, which he presented to
General Lee, and by permission of the family, not long after the
General's death, my friend,
Professor E. S. Joynes, copied them for me. I thus introduced them in my “Reminiscences” :
The following inscription and poem accompanied the presentation of a perfect copy of the Translation of the Iliad of Homer into Spencerian Stanza, by Philip Stanhope Worsley, Fellow of Corpus Christi College, Oxford — a scholar and poet whose untimely death, noticed with deepest regret throughout the literary world, in England, has cut short a career of the brightest promise:
To
General R. E. Lee,--the most stainless of living commanders, and, except in fortune, the greatest,--this volume is presented with the writer's earnest sympathy and respectful admiration.
The grand old bard that never dies,
Receive him in our English tongue!
I send thee, but with weeping eyes,
The story that he sung.
Thy Troy is fallen, thy dear land
Is marred beneath the spoiler's heel.
I cannot trust my trembling hand
To write the things I feel.
Ah, realm of tombs!
But let her bear
This blazon to the last of times:--
No nation rose so white and fair,
Or fell so pure of crimes.
The widow's moan, the orphan's wail,
Come round thee; yet in truth be strong!
Eternal right, though all else fail,
Can never be made wrong.
An angel's heart, an angel's mouth,
Not Homer's, could alone for me
Hymn well the great Confederate South,
Virginia first, and Lee.
P. S. W.
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I found in General Lee's letter-book the following beautiful letter in reply to this graceful compliment from the English scholar:
My Dear Sir:--I have received the copy of your translation of the “Illiad,” which you so kindly presented to me. Its perusal has been my evening's recreation, and I have never enjoyed the beauty and grandeur of the poem more than as recited by you. The translation is as truthful as powerful, and faithfully reproduces the imagery and rythm of the bold original.
The undeserved compliment to myself in prose and verse, on the first leaves of the volume, I receive as your tribute to the merit of my countrymen who struggled for constutional government.
With great respect, your obedient servant,
[Signed]
I add also another letter from General Lee to Professor Worsley, written a month later, and very appropriately inserted in this connection:
My Dear
Mr. Worsley:--In a letter just received from my nephew,
Mr. Childe, I regret to learn that, at his last accounts from you, you were greatly indisposed.
So great is my interest in your welfare that I cannot retrain, even at the risk of intruding upon your sick room, from expressing my sincere sympathy in your affliction.
I trust, however, that ere this you have recovered and are again in perfect health.
Like many of your tastes and pursuits, I fear you may confine yourself too closely to your reading; less mental labor and more of the fresh air of heaven might bring to you more comfort and to your friends more enjoyment, even in the way in which you now delight them.
Should a visit to this distracted country promise you any recreation, I hope I need not assure you how happy I should be to see you at
Lexington.
I can give you a quiet room and careful nursing, and a horse that would delight to carry you over our beautiful mountains.
I hope my letter informing you of the pleasure I derived from the perusal of your translation of the “Iliad,” in which I endeavored to express my thanks for the great compliment you paid me in its dedication, has informed you of my high appreciation of the work.
Wishing you every happiness in this world, and praying that eternal peace may be your portion in that to come, I am, most truly, your friend and servant,
[Signed]
