To scatter plenty o'er a smiling land
And read their history in a nation's eyes.

Their lot forbade nor circumscribed alonem
Their growing virtues, but their crimes confin'd
Forbade to wade through slaughter to a throne o
And shut the gates of mercy on mankind;

The struggling pangs of conscious Truth to hide,
To quench the blushes of ingenuous Shame,
Or heap the shrine of luxury and Pride
With incense kindled at the Muse's flame.

Far from the madding crowd's ignoble strife,
Their sober wishes never learn'd to stray;
Along the cool sequester'd vale of life

They kept the noiseless tenor of the way..

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Yet ev'n these bones from insult to protect,
Some frail memorial still erected nigh,
With uncouth rhimes and shapeless sculpture deck'd,
Implores the passive tribute of a sigh.

Their name, their years, spelt by the unletter'd Muse,

The place of fame and elegy supply;

And many a holy text around he strews,

That teach the rustic moralist to die.

For who, to dumb forgetfulness a prey,
This pleasing anxious being e'er resign'd,
Left the warm precincts of the cheerful day,
Nor cast one longing ling'ring look behind ?

On some fond breast the parting soul relies,
Some pious drops the closing eye requires;
Ev'n from the tomb the voice of Nature cries,
Ev'n in our ashes live their wonted fires.

For thee, who mindful of the unhonoured Dead
Dost in these lines their artless tales relate;
If chance, by lonely Contemplation led,

Some kindred Spirit shall inquire thy Tate foto

Haply some hoary-headed swain may say,
• Oft have we seen him at the peep of dawn,
• Brushing with hasty steps the dew away
To meet the sun upon the upland lawn.

void anonyou do i amid ais done,

There at the foot of yond yonder nodding beech,
That wreathes its old fantastic roots so high,
His listless length at noontide would he stretch,
And pore upon the brook that bubbles by.

Hard by yon wood, now smiling, as in scorn,
Mutt'ring his wayward fancies he would rove,
Now drooping, woeful wan, like one forlorn,
Or craz'd withreare, or cross'd in hopeless love.

One morn I miss'd him on the accustom'd hill,
• Along the heath, and near his favourite 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 the church way path we saw him borne, ...
Approach and read (for thou canst read) the lay,
Grav'd on the stone, beneath yon aged thorn.

1

THE EPITAPH.

HERE rests his head upon the lap of Earth
A Youth, to Fortune and to Fame unknown:
Fair Science frown'd not on his humble birth,
And Melancholy mark'd him for her own.

:

*

**

He gave to Mis'ry (all he had) a tear,

He gain'd from heav'n ('twas all he wish'd) a 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.

400000

GRAY.

CHAP. XI.

WARRINGTON ACADEMY.

MARK where its simple front yon mansion rears,
The nursery of men for future years!
Here callow chiefs and embryo statesmen lie
And unfledg'd poets short excursions try:
While Mersey's gentle current, which too long
By fame neglected, and unknown to song,
Between his ruchy banks, (no poet's theme)
Had kept inglorious, like a vulgar stream,
Reflects th' ascending seats with conscious pride,
And dares to emulate a classic tide.

Soft music breathes along each op'ning shade,
And soothes the dashing of his rough cascade,
With mystic lines his sands are figu'd o'er,
And circles trae'd upon the letter'd shore.
Beneath his willows rove th' inquiring youth,
And court the fair majestic form of truth.
Here nature opens all her secret springs,
And heav'n-born science plumes her eagle wings
Too long had bigot rage, with malice swell'd,
Crush'd her strong pinions, and her flight withheld;

Too long to check her ardent progress strove
So writhes the serpent round the bird of Jove;
Hangs on her flight, restrains her tow'ring wing,
Twists its dark folds, and points its venom'd sting,
Yet still (if aught aright the Muse divine)
Her rising pride shall mock the vain design;
On sounding pinions, yet aloft shall soar,
And thro' the azure deep unravell'd paths explore.
Where Science smiles, the Muses join the train :
And gentlest arts and purest manners reign.

Ye generous youth who love this studied shade,
How rich a field is to your hopes display'd!
Knowledge to you unlocks the classic page;
And virtue blossoms for a better age.
Oh golden days! oh bright unvalued hours !
What bliss (did ye but know that bliss) were yours ?
With richest stores your glowing bosoms fraught,
Perception quick, and luxury of thought......
The high designs that heave the labouring soul,
Panting for fame, impatient of controul
And fond enthusiastic thought, that feeds
On pictur'd tales of vast heroic deeds;
And quick affections, kindling into flame
At virtue's, or their country's honour'd name;
And spirits light to every joy in tune;
And friendship, ardent as a summer's noon;
And generous scorn of vice's venal tribe
And proud disdain of interest's sordid bribe
And conscious honour's quick instinctive sense
And smiles unfore'd; and easy confidences
And vivid fancy; and clear simple truth,
And all the mental bloom of vernal youth

How bright the scene to fancy's eye appears, Through the long perspective of distant years, When this, this little group their country calls ba

From academic shades and learned halls begel

To fix her laws, her spirit to sustain,

And light up glory thro' her wide domain !

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Their various tastes in different arts display'd,
Like temper'd harmony of light and shade,
With friendly union in one mass shall blend,
And this adorn the state, and that defend,
These the sequester'd shade shall cheaply please,
With learned labour, and inglorious ease;
While those impeli'd by some resistless force,
O'er seas and rocks shall urge their vent'rous course ;
Rich fruits matur'd by glowing suns behold,
And China's groves and vegetable gold;
From every land the various harvest spoil,
And bear the tribute to their native soil:

But tell each land (while every toil they share,
Firm to sustain, and resolute to dare)
MAN is the nobler growth our realms supply,
And SOULS are ripen'd in our northern sky.

Some pensive creep along the shelly shore,
Unfold the silky texture of a flower,
With sharpen'd eyes inspect an hornet's sting,
And all the wonders of an insects wing.
Some trace with curious search the hidden cause
Of nature's changes, and her various laws :
Untwist her beauteous web, disrobe her charms,
And hunt her to her elemental forms:
Or prove what hidden powers in herbs are found
To quench disease, and cool the burning wound;
With cordial drops the fainting head sustain,
Call back the flitting soul, and still the throbs of pain.

The patriot passion that shall strongly feel,
Ardent and glowing with undaunted zeal;
With lips of fire shall plead his country's cause,
And vindicate the majesty of laws.

This, cloath'd with Britain's thunder, spread alarms
Thro' the wide earth, and shake the pole with arms.
That, to the sounding lyre, his deeds rehearse,
Enshrine his name in some immortal verse;
To long posterity his praise consign,
And pay a life of hardships by a line.