tions from the poet's verses; the fourth records that "This monument, in honour of Thomas Gray, was erected A. D. 1799, among the scenes celebrated by that great Lyric and Elegiac Poet. He died July 31, 1771, and lies unnoted, in the churchyard adjoining, under the tombstone in which he piously and pathetically recorded the interment of his aunt and lamented mother." The cost of this monument, and the stone in the church wall, STOKE POGES MANOR HOUSE was generously borne by Mr. John Penn, a grandson of the founder of Pennsylvania. At the time of their erection, and indeed for some thirty years before, Stoke Poges Manor was in the possession of the Penn family. Since that date the property has been in the possession of several owners, but, happily, they have all realised that in many respects they were but the stewards of a heritage in which all lovers of the poet have a rightful share. One other association of Gray with Stoke Poges has still to be mentioned. Before the 66 Elegy” was printed, Horace Walpole appears to have handed it about in manuscript form, and one copy was seen by Lady Cobham, who was then residing at Stoke Poges Manor House. By and by the lady was surprised to find that the author was living in the same parish, and she gladly availed herself of the services of two visitors to secure his acquaintance. These visitors, who were ladies, set off one day across the fields to the farmhouse at West End, and, not finding the poet at home, left such a message as made it compulsory on him to return the call. Out of this incident, and descriptive of it, grew Gray's humorous poem entitled "A Long Story," the closing scene of which is laid in the Manor House. It will be seen, then, how rich is the parish of Stoke Poges in associations with the memory of Gray. From early boyhood to ripe manhood these peaceful fields and lanes often filled his vision and ministered to his pensive spirit the tender balm of nature's sweetest comfort. Here, too, he experienced that love of kindred which was in part denied him in his own home, spending those "quiet autumn days of every year so peacefully in loving and being loved by those three placid old ladies at Stoke, in a warm atmos phere of musk and potpourri." But it is in the quiet churchyard the memory of the poet lives in its greatest intensity. So long as the pathos of lowly life appeals to the heart, so long as there is a soul not wholly lost to the charm of peaceful days spent in the "cool sequester'd vale of life,' so long as the tender images of fading day and unavailing reminders of the dead have power to move the spirit - so long will this God's Acre keep green the memory of that poet whose verse abounds with "sentiments to which every bosom returns an echo." |