Historic Sites.

Historic Sites.

Better that buildings which are linked to fame
Should perish from the earth, than e’er become
So changed their owners would be stricken dumb
To view the desecration: for the name
Of some great man there born, or one who died 5
Or lived there, seems to consecrate the place,
To be severed by all the human race
Able to reverence virtue. With pride,
Not unbecoming, we point out the spot
Where greatness was achieved; and I, for aye, 10
Would keep their rooms unaltered; just as they
Were left us by those dear ones, ne’er forgot.
But, modernised to baseness, let them go—
They give no pleasure—they cause us but woe.

George Markham Tweddell
p. 19 [in Miscellaneous Sonnets]
New Zealand Masonic Journal, Dunedin, June 1, 1888.