nite!" The limits of thy dominions are "past finding out!" LESSON LXVIII. Elegy written in a Country Churchyard.-GRAY. THE curfew tolls the knell of parting day, Now fades the glimmering landscape on the sight, Save that from yonder ivy-mantled tower, Beneath those rugged elms, that yew-tree's shade, The rude forefathers of the hamlet sleep. The breezy call of incense-breathing morn, The swallow, twittering from the straw-built shed, For them no more the blazing hearth shall burn, Or climb his knees the envied kiss to share. Oft did the harvest to their sickle yield, Their furrow oft the stubborn glebe has broke; How bowed the woods beneath their sturdy stroke! Let not Ambition mock their useful toil, Their homely joys, and destiny obscure : The boast of heraldry, the pomp of power, The paths of glory lead but to the grave. Nor you, ye proud! impute to these the fault, Can storied urn, or animated bust, Back to its mansion call the fleeting breath? Can honour's voice provoke the silent dust, Or flattery sooth the dull, cold ear of death? Perhaps in this neglected spot is laid Some heart, once pregnant with celestial fire; But knowledge to their eyes her ample page, Full many a gem of purest ray serene The dark, unfathomed caves of ocean bear; Some village-Hampden, that, with dauntless breast, The applause of listening senates to command, To scatter plenty o'er a smiling land, Their lot forbade; nor circumscrib'd alone Their growing virtues, but their crimes confined; The struggling pangs of conscious truth to hide, With incense kindled at the muse's flame. Far from the madding crowd's ignoble strife, They kept the noiseless tenour of their way. Yet e'en these bones from insult to protect, Their name, their years, spelt by the unlettered muse, And many a holy text around she strews, For who, to dumb forgetfulness a prey, On some fond breast the parting soul relies, For thee, who, mindful of the unhonoured dead, Some kindred spirit shall inquire thy fate," Haply, some hoary-headed swain may say, "There, at the foot of yonder nodding beach, "Hard by yon wood, now smiling, as in scorn, Muttering his wayward fancies, he would rove; Now drooping, woful wan! like one forlorn, Or crazed with care, or crossed in hopeless love. "One morn I missed him on the accustomed hill, Along the heath, and near his fav'rite tree; Another came; nor yet beside the rill, Nor up the lawn, nor at the wood, was he : "The next, with dirges due, in sad array, Slow through the churchway-path we saw him borne : Approach, and read (for thou canst read) the lay There scattered oft, the earliest of the year, By hands unseen, are showers of violets found; The redbreast loves to build and warble there, And little footsteps lightly print the ground. THE EPITAPH. HERE rests his head upon the lap of earth, Large was his bounty, and his soul sincere; He gained from Heaven ('twas all he wished)-8 friend. No farther seek his merits to disclose, Or draw his frailties from their dread abode, (There they alike in trembling hope repose) The bosom of his Father and his God. LESSON LXIX. The Hour of Death.-MRS. HEMANS. LEAVES have their time to fall, And flowers to wither at the north-wind's breath, Thou hast all seasons for thine own, oh! Death. Day is for mortal care, Eve for glad meetings round the joyous hearth, The banquet hath its hour, Its feverish hour of mirth, and song, and wine; Youth and the opening rose May look like things too glorious for decay, Leaves have their time to fall, And flowers to wither at the north-wind's breath, Thou hast all seasons for thine own, oh! Death. We know when moons shall wane, When summer-birds from far shall cross the sea, Is it when Spring's first gale Comes forth to whisper where the violets lie? Thou art where billows foam, Thou art where music melts upon the air; And the world calls us forth-and thou art there. |