“Sweet Auburn! loveliest village of the plain,” Could thy true Poet visit earth again, How would his patriot spirit grieve to see A hundred Auburns doomed to die like thee! The decent church abandoned to the owl, The ruined parsonage, the roofless school, The village of its preacher’s voice bereft, The little flock without a shepherd left, Without “the man to all the country dear,” Whose part it was to teach, to warn, to cheer; “Unskilful he to fawn or seek for power By doctrines fashioned to the varying hour; Far other aims his heart had learned to prize, More bent to raise the wretched than to rise. Still in his duty prompt at every call, He watched and wept, he prayed and felt for all; And as a bird each fond endearment tries To tempt her new-fledged offspring to the skies, He tried each art, reproved each dull delay, Allured to brighter worlds and led the way.” Will then the State suppress the godly man, And bid him buy his dwelling if he can, That hospitable roof and open door Sought by the friendless, loved by all the poor, Steal the small stipend from a treasure paid Which pious ages gifts to God had made, Leave the bewildered peasant tempest-tost, His faith unaided and his altar lost, To quit for distant lands his long-loved home, Or helpless sink beneath the foot of Rome? Where shall he look for succour? shall he trust That Royal womanhood will still be just? Will their dear Queen their loyal love disown, And let her statesmen drive them from her throne? The man of State who wants a heart to feel Wants that which most concerns the public weal; No nice distinction will he stoop to make Between the power to seize, and right to take. “The Lord forbid it,” cry the poor “that we Should give our fathers’ heritage to thee.” False allegations then a pretext yield; And Ahab takes possession of the field. Wild as the wind is such a Statesman’s mind; No law can fix him, and no treaty bind; He burns the poor man’s charter with its seal, And bids him trust in voluntary zeal, Go beg the bread that has been all his own, Along a road untravelled and unknown, Ardent alike to pare a Church away, And lay a tax for charities to pay.