The Washington Critic

Dr. Aiken's Sonnet to Washington Monument:

The following sonnet from the pen of an English poet, which was accidentally discovered by a delver into the files of old newspapers in the National Library, is not only new to those who are well versed in all branches of literature, and, therefore, thought by all to whom its discoverer has shown it, worthy of republication, but many of its lines are strikingly appropriate as suggestive of the National Monument erected in this city in honor of George Washington. It is a "Sonnet," by Dr. Aiken, published in the Georgetown Weekly Ledger, November 26, 1791, addressed "To His Excellency, George Washington, President of the United States of America."

Point of that pyramid, whose solid base
Rests firmly founded on a nation's trust
Which, while the gorgeous palace sinks in dust,
Shall stand sublime and fill its ample space!

Elected chief of freemen: greater far
Than kings whose glittering parte are fixed by birth;
Named by thy country's voice for long tried worth
Her crown in peace, as once her shield in war,

Deign, Washington, to hear a British lyre,
That ardent greets thee with applausive lays.
And to the patriot hero homage pays!

Oh, would the muse immortal strains inspire,
That high, beyond all Greek and Roman fame,
Might soar to times unborn thy purer, nobler fame.

A Washington lady has often said since the completion of the Monument that it seemed to her typical of the loneliness and majesty, height and grandeur of Washington's character, standing alone in history, and the above sonnet, describing his character and seeming a prophetic description of the monument a grateful nation erected in his memory nearly a century later, proves the simile to be correct.