Letitia Elizabeth Landon (L. E. L.) in Fisher's Drawing Room Scrap Book, 1837/Wm. Wilberforce, Esq.
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WILLIAM WILBERFORCE, ESQ..
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WM. WILBERFORCE, ESQ.
BORN AUGUST 14TH, 1759.— DIED JULY 19Th, 1833.
"There are those who first started this mighty question, (slave emancipation,) and broached its godlike principles, who have not lived to see the triumph which is reserved for it in these our days. They laboured in their generation strenuously and vigorously for that fulfilment which we are now about to accomplish, — they were satisfied with the foundation which it was their fortune to lay, and they trusted that it would be strong enough to support the glorious superstructure which is now about to be reared upon it. Like the prophets of old, they hailed the day-star from on high, and exulted in that prospect, which they saw through a glass darkly, and not, as we do, face to face. It is not, however, without feelings of the deepest and most heartfelt satisfaction that I recall to your recollection the fact that one man, the most religiously inspired, the most conscientiously influenced of all who laboured in the dawn and the rising of this great and glorious cause—Wilberforce,—still remains, to witness the final consummation of that important triumph to which his last energies were devoted, and to exclaim, like the last of the prophets to whom I have before alluded, ‘Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace.’"—Lord Stanley’s Speech, May 14th, 1833.
The following anecdote is very characteristic of this truly great and christian philanthropist:
"A friend told me that he found him once in the greatest agitation, looking for a despatch which he had mislaid, one of the royal family was waiting for it:—he had delayed the search to the last moment; he seemed at last quite vext and flurried. At this unlucky instant, a disturbance in the nursery overhead occurred. My friend, who was with him, said to himself, Now, for once, Wilberforce's temper will give way. He had hardly thought thus, when Mr. Wilberforce turned to him and said, ‘What a blessing it is to have these dear children!—only think what a relief amidst other hurries to hear their voices, and know they are well.’"—Christian Keepsake for 1836.
He sleeps—yet little of him sleeps below,
Earth has its share, dust unto dust we throw.
His soul is in its native heaven, his mind
Remains with us, to benefit mankind.