EULOGY ON SUSSEX VALE IN NEW BRUNSWICK

[A Fragment]

[Scadding’s note]: “‘Erie-us’ was a signature attached to poetical pieces in our local periodicals in and before 1838. I quote part of an ‘Eulogy on Sussex Vale in New Brunswick,’ thus subscribed:” *

                   Fanatic and hypocrite, disfigured in face,
                   Rant, cant, sect and radical, here find no place
                   The social relations to set all ajar,
                   And the sweets of a rational intercourse mar.
                   The politeness of kindness, the confidence fair,

                   Of integrity meek, unassuming, —the air.
                   The port, manner, habit, and action of truth
                   And true manliness wrought into childhood and youth.
                   The graces of goodness unshackled by art;
                   The large hospitality warm from the heat;

                   The walk circumscribed by the duties of life;
                   These duties fulfilled without envy and strife.
                   In thy children, the loyal, the happy and free;
                   And I praised the good ways that our forefathers trod,
                   For the building of man in the peace of his God.

* See Henry Scadding, “Some Canadian Noms-de Plume Identified”, The Canadian Journal of Science, Literature and History, (Toronto), N.S. XV, (April, 1877), 450. [back]