This Poem will certainly not bear a literal interpretation. We cannot
suppose that the writer ever looked on the face of his friend after
death; for nearly four months had elapsed before the body reached England.
What he saw, therefore, was with "the mind's eye." And as Death often
brings out a likeness,[49] which was never before recognized; so,
contemplating the character of the departed, he sees
"Thy likeness to the wise below,
Thy kindred with the great of old."