Stedman and Hutchinson, comps. A Library of American Literature:
An Anthology in Eleven Volumes. 1891.
Vols. IX–XI: Literature of the Republic, Part IV., 1861–1889
To Aaron Burr, under Trial for High Treason
By Sarah Wentworth Apthorp Morton (17591846)T
Whose deeds a million hearts appall;
Thy fate shall pity’s eye deplore,
Or vengeance for thy ruin call.
Seems as a leaf the gales defy,
Though scattered in sedition’s storm,
Yet borne by glorious hope on high.
And such does Europe’s scourge appear,
As, of the sun, a vertic beam,
The brightest in the golden year.
The strong herculean limbs denied,
But gave—a mind, where genius glowed,
A soul, to valor’s self allied.
Thy every blessing to annoy;
To blight thy laurels’ tender green;
The banner of thy fame destroy.
The fault of godlike hearts alone,
Like fortune in her frenzy, blind,
Here gives a prison, there a throne.