Classic Poem

Esteem'd when living, and when dead recorded;
So should a faithful servant be rewarded.
An elegiac Ode to the Memory of that sober, ingenious youth, Mr. Richard Osborne, educated by the Author, and lamented by all. He died Dec. 22, 1736, in the nineteenth year of his age.

Where is my soul's chief comfort flown,
Where vanish'd all my joy?
Sure grief like mine was never known;
I've lost my darling boy.

Oh! he was art and nature's pride:
So sweet a form and mind
Were ne'er before so near allied,
Or in one person join'd.

Pure were his thoughts, his words sincere,
His actions just and true.
To him was virtue ever dear,
For vice he never knew.

Musick was all his soul's delight,
And learning all his store;
His constant study day and night
Was still to gain the more.

Gifts so sublime in one so young
To future time shall shine;
And tell, when these sad strains are sung,
How great a loss was mine.