Note 88 — Chapter XIV
Reading edition
We must not forget the boyish ‘Epitaph on Henry Martyn,’ written by Thomas Babington Macaulay in his thirteenth year (Life, by his nephew, vol. i. p. 38):
‘Here Martyn lies. In manhood’s early bloom The Christian hero finds a Pagan tomb. Religion sorrowing o’er her favourite son Points to the glorious trophies that he won, Eternal trophies! not with carnage red; Not stained with tears by hapless captives shed, But trophies of the Cross. For that dear Name, Through every form of danger, death, and shame, Onward he journeyed to a happier shore, Where danger, death, and shame assault no more.’
These lines reflect the impression made on Charles Grant and the other Clapham friends by Henry Martyn’s death at a time when they used his career as an argument for Great Britain doing its duty to India during the discussions in Parliament on the East India Company’s Charter of 1813.