Ev'n from the tomb the voice of nature cries,
Ev'n in our afhes live their wonted fires.
For thee, who mindful of th' unhonour'd dead
Doft in these lines their artless tale relate;
If chance, by lonely contemplation led,
Some kindred spirit fhall inquire thy fate.
Haply fome hoary-headed fwain may say,
• Oft have we seen him at the peep of dawn,
Brushing with hafty steps the dews away,
• To meet the fun upon the upland lawn.
• There at the foot of yonder nodding beech
That wreaths its old fantastic roots fo high,
'His listless length at noon-tide would he stretch,
And pore upon the brook that bubbles by.
Hard by yon wood, now fmiling as in fcorn,
Mutt'ring his wayward fancies he would rove;
Now drooping, woeful wan, like one forlorn,
'Or craz'd with care, or crofs'd in hopeless love.
'One morn I mifs'd him on the cuftom'd 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 fad array
'Slow through the church-way path we saw him borne.
Approach and read (for thou canst read) the lay, • Grav'd on the ftone beneath yon aged thorn.'
ERE refts his head upon the lap of earth
A youth to fortune and to fame unknown:
Fair fcience frown'd not on his humble birth,
And melancholy mark'd him for her own.
Large was his bounty, and his foul fincere,
Heav'n did a recompence as largely fend:
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 feeks his merits to disclose,
Or draw his frailties from their dread abode,
(There they alike in trembling hope repose)
The bofom of his FATHER and of his GOD.
H! friend to dazzle let the vain defign;
To raife the thought, and touch the heart be
thine!
That charm fhall grow, while that fatigues the ring,
Flaunts and goes down, an unregarded thing:
So when the fun's broad beam has tir'd the fight,
All mild afcends the moon's more fober light,
Serene in virgin modesty she shines,
And unobferv'd the glaring orb declines.
Oh! bleft with temper, whofe unclouded ray
Can make to-morrow chearful as to-day:
She, who can love a fifter's charms, or hear
Sighs for a daughter with unwounded ear;
She, who ne'er anfwers 'till a husband cools,
Or, if the rules him, never fhews the rules;
Charms by accepting, by fubmitting fways,.
Yet has her humour moft, when the obeys;
Let fops or fortune fly which way they will,
Difdains all lofs of tickets or codille;
Spleen, vapours, or fmall-pox, above them all,
And mistress of herself, tho' China fall.
AM not concerned to know
What to-morrow fate will do:
'Tis enough that I can say,
I've poffeft myself to-day:
Then if haply midnight death
Seize my flesh, and ftop my breath,
Yet to-morrow I fhall be
Heir to the best part of me.
Glittering stones, and golden things, Wealth and honour that have wings, Ever fluttering to be gone,
I could never call my own:
Riches that the world bestows,
She can take and I can lofe;
But the treasures that are mine
Lie afar beyond her line.
When I view my fpacious foul,
And furvey myself a whole,
And enjoy myself alone,
I'm a kingdom of my own.
I've a mighty part within
That the world hath never feen,
Rich as Eden's happy ground,
And with choicer plenty crown'd.
Here on all the shining boughs
Knowledge fair and useful grows;
On the fame young flow'ry tree
All the feafons you may fee!
Notions in the bloom of light,
Juft difclofing to the fight;
Here are thoughts of larger growth,
Rip'ning into folid truth;
Fruits refin'd of noble tafte;
Seraphs feed on such repast.
Here in a green and fhady grove,
Streams of pleasure mix with love ;
There beneath the smiling skies
Hills of contemplation rife;
Now upon fome fhining top
Angels light, and call me up;
I rejoice to raife my feet,
Both rejoice when there we meet.
There are endless beauties more
Earth hath no refemblance for ;
Nothing like them round the pole,
Nothing can defcribe the foul:
'Tis a region half unknown,
That has treasures of its own,
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