Edmund Clarence Stedman, ed. (1833–1908). A Victorian Anthology, 1837–1895. 1895.

William Bell Scott 1811–90

Hero-Worship

HOW would the centuries long asunder

Look on their sires with angry wonder,

Could some strong necromantic power

Revive them for one spectral hour!

Bondsmen of the past are we,—

Predestin’d bondsmen: could we see

The dead now deified, again

Peering among environing men,

We might be free.