Taken from air and sunshine when the rose
Of infancy first blooms upon his cheeks;
The thinking, thoughtless, school-boy; the bold youth Of soul impetuous, and the bashful maid Smitten while all the promises of life
Are opening round her; those of middle Cast down while confident in strength they stand, Like pillars fixed more firmly, as might seem, And more secure, by very weight of all That, for support, rests on them; the decayed And burthensome; and lastly, that poor few Whose light of reason is with age extinct; The hopeful and the hopeless, first and last, The earliest summoned and the longest spared— Are here deposited, with tribute paid Various, but unto each some tribute paid; As if, amid these peaceful hills and groves, Society were touched with kind concern,
And gentle "Nature grieved, that one should die;" Or, if the change demanded no regret, Observed the liberating stroke-and blessed.
'And whence that tribute? wherefore these regards? Not from the naked Heart alone of Man
(Though claiming high distinction upon earth As the sole spring and fountain-head of tears, His own peculiar utterance for distress Or gladness)-No,' the philosophic Priest Continued, ''tis not in the vital seat Of feeling to produce them, without aid
From the pure soul, the soul sublime and pure; With her two faculties of eye and ear,
The one by which a creature, whom his sins
Have rendered prone, can upward look to heaven; The other that empowers him to perceive
The voice of Deity, on height and plain,
Whispering those truths in stillness, which the WORD, To the four quarters of the winds, proclaims.
Not without such assistance could the use
Of these benign observances prevail :
Thus are they born, thus fostered, thus maintained; And by the care prospective of our wise
Forefathers, who, to guard against the shocks, The fluctuation and decay of things,
Embodied and established these high truths In solemn institutions :-men convinced That life is love and immortality
The being one, and one the element. There lies the channel, and original bed, From the beginning, hollowed out and scooped For Man's affections-else betrayed and lost, And swallowed up 'mid deserts infinite! This is the genuine course, the aim, and end Of prescient reason; all conclusions else Are abject, vain, presumptuous, and perverse. The faith partaking of those holy times, Life, I repeat, is energy of love Divine or human; exercised in pain,
In strife, in tribulation; and ordained If so approved and sanctified, to pass,
Through shades and silent rest, to endless joy.'
THE CHURCHYARD AMONG THE MOUNTAINS
POET's Address to the State and Church of England.-The Pastor not inferior to the ancient Worthies of the Church.-He begins his Narratives with an instance of unrequited Love.-Anguish of mind subdued, and how.-The lonely Miner.-An instance of perseverance.-Which leads by contrast to an example of abused talents, irresolution, and weakness.-Solitary, applying this covertly to his own case, asks for an instance of some Stranger, whose dispositions may have led him to end his days here.-Pastor, in answer, gives an account of the harmonising influence of Solitude upon two men of opposite principles, who had encountered agitations in public life.-The rule by which Peace may be obtained expressed, and where.-Solitary hints at an overpowering Fatality.-Answer of the Pastor.-What subjects he will exclude from his Narratives.-Conversation upon this.-Instance of an unamiable character, a Female, and why given.-Contrasted with this, a meek sufferer from unguarded and betrayed love.-Instance of heavier guilt, and its consequences to the Offender. With this instance of a Marriage Contract broken is contrasted one of a Widower, evidencing his faithful affection towards his deceased Wife by his care of their female Children.
AIL to the crown by Freedom shaped-to gird
An English Sovereign's brow! and to the throne Whereon he sits! Whose deep foundations lie In veneration and the people's love;
Whose steps are equity, whose seat is law. -Hail to the State of England! And conjoin With this a salutation as devout,
Made to the spiritual fabric of her Church; Founded in truth; by blood of Martyrdom Cemented; by the hands of Wisdom reared In beauty of holiness, with ordered pomp, Decent and unreproved. The voice, that greets The majesty of both, shall pray for both; That, mutually protected and sustained, They may endure long as the sea surrounds This favoured Land, or sunshine warms her soil.
And O, ye swelling hills, and spacious plains! Besprent from shore to shore with steeple-towers, And spires whose silent finger points to heaven '; Nor wanting, at wide intervals, the bulk
Of ancient minster lifted above the cloud Of the dense air, which town or city breeds To intercept the sun's glad beams-may ne'er That true succession fail of English hearts, Who, with ancestral feeling, can perceive What in those holy structures ye possess Of ornamental interest, and the charm Of pious sentiment diffused afar, And human charity, and social love. -Thus never shall the indignities of time Approach their reverend graces, unopposed; Nor shall the elements be free to hurt Their fair proportions; nor the blinder rage Of bigot zeal madly to overturn; And, if the desolating hand of war Spare them, they shall continue to bestow, Upon the thronged abodes of busy men (Depraved, and ever prone to fill the mind Exclusively with transitory things) An air and mien of dignified pursuit; Of sweet civility, on rustic wilds.
The Poet, fostering for his native land Such hope, entreats that servants may abound Of those pure altars worthy; ministers Detached from pleasure, to the love of gain Superior, insusceptible of pride,
And by ambitious longings undisturbed; Men, whose delight is where their duty leads Or fixes them; whose least distinguished day Shines with some portion of that heavenly lustre Which makes the sabbath lovely in the sight
Of blessed angels, pitying human cares. --And, as on earth it is the doom of truth To be perpetually attacked by foes Open or covert, be that priesthood still, For her defence, replenished with a band Of strenuous champions, in scholastic arts Thoroughly disciplined; nor (if in course Of the revolving world's disturbances
Cause should recur, which righteous Heaven avert ! 60 To meet such trial) from their spiritual sires Degenerate; who, constrained to wield the sword Of disputation, shrunk not, though assailed With hostile din, and combating in sight Of angry umpires, partial and unjust;
And did, thereafter, bathe their hands in fire,
So to declare the conscience satisfied:
Or, through illuminating grace, received,
For their dear countrymen, and all mankind.
O high example, constancy divine!
Even such a Man (inheriting the zeal And from the sanctity of elder times Not deviating, a priest, the like of whom, If multiplied, and in their stations set, Would o'er the bosom of a joyful land Spread true religion and her genuine fruits) Before me stood that day; on holy ground Fraught with the relics of mortality, Exalting tender themes, by just degrees To lofty raised; and to the highest, last; The head and mighty paramount of truths,- Immortal life, in never-fading worlds, For mortal creatures, conquered and secured.
That basis laid, those principles of faith Announced, as a preparatory act Of reverence done to the spirit of the place, The Pastor cast his eyes upon the ground; Not, as before, like one oppressed with awe, But with a mild and social cheerfulness; Then to the Solitary turned, and spake.
'At morn or eve, in your retired domain, Perchance you not unfrequently have marked A Visitor-in quest of herbs and flowers; Too delicate employ, as would appear,
For one, who, though of drooping mien, had yet From nature's kindliness received a frame Robust as ever rural labour bred.'
The Solitary answered: Such a Form Full well I recollect. We often crossed Each other's path; but, as the Intruder seemed Fondly to prize the silence which he kept, And I as willingly did cherish mine,
We met, and passed, like shadows. I have heard, From my good Host, that being crazed in brain By unrequited love, he scaled the rocks, Dived into caves, and pierced the matted woods, In hope to find some virtuous herb of power To cure his malady!'
'Alas! before to-morrow's sun goes down His habitation will be here: for him
That open grave is destined.'
Of pain and grief?' the Solitary asked, 'Do not believe it; never could that be!'
'He loved,' the Vicar answered, 'deeply loved, Loved fondly, truly, fervently; and dared At length to tell his love, but sued in vain; Rejected, yea repelled; and, if with scorn Upon the haughty maiden's brow, 'tis but A high-prized plume which female Beauty wears In wantonness of conquest, or puts on To cheat the world, or from herself to hide Humiliation, when no longer free.
That he could brook, and glory in ;-but when The tidings came that she whom he had wooed Was wedded to another, and his heart Was forced to rend away its only hope; Then, Pity could have scarcely found on earth An object worthier of regard than he, In the transition of that bitter hour! Lost was she, lost; nor could the Sufferer say That in the act of preference he had been Unjustly dealt with; but the Maid was gone!
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