Classic Poem

PRESIDENT OF THE SESSION, WHO WAS BASELY MURDERED BY
CHEISLY OF DALRAY, AT THE SITTING DOWN OF THE
CONVENTION,ANNO 1689.

So falls our glory, with one fatal blow,
Gone is that head which did us justice show,
That tongue from which such well tuned words did come,
And charmed us all, is now for ever dumb.
Which with such evenness justice did dispense,
As universal judge of wit and sense,
His pointed wit did in us hopes create
To see our church healed, and our tott'ring state;
This stroke doth make them vanish into air,
Leaves us behind to languish in despair.
So when a boist'rous wave doth overwhelm
The skilful pilot that should guide the helm,
And yet the enraged ocean still doth roar,
The passengers must doubt to reach the shore.
Oh heavens! by such a horrid murder must
So brave a man's be mixed with common dust.
Monster, what tiger would thy length have gone?
Ravilac, Clement, Gerard are outdone.
Fatal it seems in pleading to excel,
Just so Rome's pride and glory Tully fell,