On the Hon. Simon Harcourt

Only Son of the Lord Chancellor Harcourt

At the Church of Stanton-Harcourt, Oxfordshire, 1720.

TO this sad shrine, whoe’er thou art, draw near;

Here lies the Friend most lov’d, the Son most dear;

Who ne’er knew Joy but Friendship might divide,

Or gave his father grief but when he died.

How vain is Reason, Eloquence how weak!

If Pope must tell what Harcourt cannot speak.

Oh, let thy once-lov’d friend inscribe thy stone,

And with a father’s sorrows mix his own!