The cairn

Chapter 196: To the Memory of Sir Thomas Picton.

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About This Book

A compact miscellany of short essays, anecdotes, prayers, poems, and biographical sketches that collects reflections on grief, maternal love, benevolence, virtue, taste, and historical episodes. The pieces alternate personal memories, moral aphorisms, humorous and touching anecdotes, and brief portraits of public figures, often framed as letters, epitaphs, or short narratives. Recurring themes include the effects of sorrow and joy, domestic affection, charity, the vicissitudes of fortune, and the consolations of faith and art. The tone moves between intimate recollection and light moralizing, presenting varied, self-contained vignettes meant to instruct, console, and amuse.

To the Memory of Sir Thomas Picton.

To the Memory of the gallant Sir Thomas Picton.

“My arm a nobler victory never gained.”

Weep for the brave! yet wherefore weep?

On honour’s bed he laid him down,

Distinguish’d ’mid the mighty heap,

Encircled with the hero’s crown.

Weep for the brave! the tear shall tell

Beyond the sculptor’s proudest art;

Though Picton, gallant Picton fell,

He lives enshrin’d in England’s heart.