MARTYRS.

Martyrs Memorial, Greyfriars Kirk Yard, Edinburgh.

Patriots have
toiled, and in their country’s cause

Bled nobly ;
and their deeds, as they deserve,

Receive proud
recompense. We give in charge

Their names
to the sweet lyre. Th’ historic Muse,

Proud of the
treasure, marches with it down

To latest
times ; and Sculpture, in her turn

Gives bond in
stone and ever-during brass

To guard
them, and t’ immortalise their trust

But fairer
wreaths are due, though never paid,

To those who,
posted at the shrine of Truth,

Have fallen
in her defence. A patriot’s blood,

Well spent in
such a strife, may earn indeed,

And for a
time insure, to his loved land,

The sweets of
liberty and equal laws ;

But martyrs
struggle for a brighter prize,

And win it
with more pain.

Their blood
is shed In confirmation of the noblest claim—

Our claim to
feed upon immortal truth,

To walk with
God, to be divinely free,

To soar, and
to anticipate the skies.

Yet few
remember them. They lived unknown„

Till
Persecution dragg’d them into fame.

And chased
them up to Heaven.