Sonnet [Mind] (To Charles Swain)

Sonnet [Mind] 
To Charles Swain, Esq of Cheetwood Priory,

Charles Swain

Manchester on receiving a presentation of
his “Mind and other poems”

The beauties of thy Mind I much admire,
Friend of the muses, heaven-inspired!
Long may thy heart be warm’d with holy fire,
And such soul-soothing strains burst from thy lyre,
To cheer their drooping spirits who complain 5
Of num’rous ills on this abuséd globe,
Where man delights to mar the beautiful,
To curse his fellows whom he ought to bless,
To laugh and mock at Love and Gentleness,
An e’en the olive branch of Peace to pull, 10
That Hate, and Strife, and Jealousy, and War,
May bow each neck to Misery’s iron car:
But such sweet sounds peal from thy gentle lute,
As bid the discord of the soul be mute.

Stokesley - George Markham Tweddell.
[p. 226 – published in Tweddell’s Yorkshire Miscellany,
October 1845]
28

This may be an updated version of the same poem published in Tweddell's Tractates 1887 (the first version was 1845) and occasioned by the death of Charles Swain.

Tractates No. 29
North of England Sonnets, Fourth Series (1887)
DEDICATED TO
The ever-treasured Memory of my beloved old Friend,
who lived Poetry as well as he wrote it.
Charles Swain
(Born in Ancoats, Manchester, January 4th, 1803; Died at this pleasant
Residence in Prestwick Park, near that City, September 23rd, 1874.)

The many-beautied Mind all must admire,
Friend of the Muses, Heaven-inspired SWAIN!
Thy heart was truly warm’d with holy fire,
And fine soul-soothing strains burst from thy lyre,
To cheer their drooping spirits who complain 5
Of numerous ills on this abused globe,—
Where man delights to mar the beautiful—
To curse his fellows, whom he ought to bless—
To laugh and mock at Love and Gentleness,
And e’en the olive-branch from Peace to pull; 10
That Hate, and Strife, and Jealousy, and War,
May bow each neck to Misery’s iron car:
But the sweet sounds struck from SWAIN’s gentle lute
All bid the discord of the soul be mute.

Rose Cottage, Stokesley George Markham Tweddell

Tweddell published Charles Swain in his Yorkshire Miscellany and North of English Tractates and i think his early newspaper The Cleveland News and Stokesley Reporter.

From Wiki - Read more here - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Swain_(poet)Charles Swain (4 January 1801 – 22 September 1874) was an English poet, sometimes called “the Manchester poet,” which epithet refers to his birthplace. He worked in a dye house for a time, and then in an engraving and lithography enterprise which he eventually purchased and ran until his death. He became honorary professor of poetry at the Manchester Royal Institution, and in 1856 was granted a civil list pension. His friends included Robert Southey. Swain's epitaph for John Horsefield is noted by English Heritage as an element of their rationale for listing Horsefield's tomb as a Grade II monument.

Read online or download free Charles Swain's Mind and other Poems here - http://archive.org/details/mindandotherpoe00swaigoog