Poem by Samuel Taylor Coleridge

Lines

Written at the King’s Arms, Ross, 
Formerly the House of “The Man of Ross”

RICHER than miser o’er his countless hoards,
Nobler than kings or king-polluted lords,
Here dwelt the Man of Ross! O traveller, hear!
Departed merit claims a reverent tear.
Friend to the friendless, to the sick man health,
With generous joy he viewed his modest wealth;
He heard the widow’s heaven-breathed prayer of praise,
He marked the sheltered orphan’s tearful gaze,
Or where the sorrow-shrivelled captive lay,
Poured the bright blaze of freedom’s noontide ray.
Beneath this roof if thy cheered moments pass,
Fill to the good man’s name one grateful glass:
To higher zest shall memory wake thy soul,
And virtue mingle in the ennobled bowl.
But if, like me, through life’s distressful scene
Lonely and sad thy pilgrimage hath been,
And if, thy breast with heart-sick anguish fraught,
Thou journeyest onward tempest-tossed in thought,
Here cheat thy cares! in generous visions melt,
And dream of goodness thou hast never felt!

1. Brockley Coomb
2. The Pang More Sharp Than All
3. The Happy Husband
4. Lines Written after a Walk before Supper
5. Charity in Thought

John Reade Lines ("I KNELT down as I poured my spirit forth by that gray gate")

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