Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr.,
For Whittier's Seventieth Birthday
(1877)
“ Whose heart-throbs of verse through our memories thrill Like a breath from the wood, like a breeze from the hill, So fervid, so simple, so loving, so pure, We hear but one strain and our verdict is sure,— Thee cannot elude us,—no further we search,— 'Tis Holy George Herbert cut loose from his church! We think it the voice of a seraph that sings,— Alas! we remember that angels have wings,— What story is this of the day of his birth? Let him live to a hundred! we want him on earth! One life has been paid him (in gold) by the sun ”
