A Memorial of Mary Dyer, One of the Early Worthies andMartyrs in the Society of Quakers
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 20 January 2022
Summary
We too have had our Martyrs. Such wert Thou,
Illustrious Woman! though the starry crown
Of martyrdom have sate on many a brow,
In the World's eye, of far more wide renown.
Yet the same spirit grac’d thy fameless end;
Which shone in Latimer, and his compeers,
Upon whose hallow’d memories still attend
Manhood's warm reverence, Childhood's guileless tears.
Well did they win them: may they keep them long!
Their names require not praise obscure as mine;
Nor does my Muse their cherish’d memories wrong,
By this imperfect aim to honour thine.
Heroic Martyr of a sect despis’d!
Thy name and memory to my heart are dear:
Thy fearless zeal, in artless childhood priz’d,
The lapse of years has taught me to revere.
Thy Christian worth demands no Poet's lay,
Historian's pen, nor Sculptor's boasted art:
What could the proudest tribute these can pay
To thy immortal spirit now impart?
Yet seems it like a sacred debt to give
The brief memorial thou mayst well supply;
Whose life display’d how Christians ought to live;
Whose death—how Christian Martyrs calmly die.
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- Publisher: Anthem PressPrint publication year: 2020