Their lot forbad: nor circumfcrib'd alone
Their growing virtues, but their crimes confin'd;
Forbad to wade through flaughter to a throne,
And fhut the gates of mercy on mankind,

The struggling pangs of confcious truth to hide,
To quench the blushes of ingenuous shame,
Or heap the shrine of Luxury and Pride
With incenfe kindled at the Mufe's flame.

Far from the madding crowd's ignoble strife,
Their fober wishes never learn'd to stray;
Along the cool fequefter'd vale of life
They kept the noiseless tenor of their way.

Yet ev❜n these bones from infult to protect
Some frail memorial still erected nigh,

With uncouth rhimes and shapeless sculpture deck'd,
Implores the paffing tribute of a figh.

Their name, their years, fpelt by th' unletter'd Mufe, The place of fame and elegy fupply:

And many a holy text around fhe ftrews,

That teach the ruftic moralift to dye.

For

For who to dumb Forgetfulness a prey,
This pleafing anxious being e'er resign'd,
Left the warm precincts of the chearful day,
Nor caft one longing ling'ring look behind?

On fome fond breast the parting foul relies,
Some pious drops the clofing 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 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

Brufhing with hafty steps the dews away

• To meet the fun upon the upland lawn.

There at the foot of yonder nodding beech

That rears its old fantastic roots fo high,

'His liftless length at noon-tide would he stretch, ⚫ And pore upon the brook that babbles by.

'Hard

• 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 miss'd him on the custom'd hill, Along the heath and near his fav'rite tree: 'Another came; nor yet befide 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 born,

Approach and read (for thou canst read) the lay,

'Grav'd on the stone beneath yon aged thorn.

The EPITAPH.

HE

ERE refts 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.

Large

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 feek 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 his God.

HYMN to ADVERSITY.

By the Same.

AUGHTER of Jove, relentless Pow'r,

DA

Thou Tamer of the human breast,

Whose iron fcourge and tort'ring hour

The Bad affright, afflict the Beft!· Bound in thy adamantine chain

The Proud are taught to tafte of pain,

And purple tyrants vainly grcan

With

pangs unfelt before, unpitied and alone.

When

When first thy Sire to fend on earth
Virtue, his darling Child, defign'd,
To thee he gave the heav'nly Birth,

And bade to form her infant mind.

Stern rugged nurse! thy rigid lore
With patience many a year fhe bore:

What forrow was, thou bad'ft her know,

And from her own fhe learn'd to melt at others' woe.

Scared at thy frown terrific, fly

Self-pleafing Folly's idle brood,

Wild Laughter, Noife, and thoughtless Joy,

And leave us leisure to be good.

Light they disperse, and with them go

The fummer Friend, the flattering Foe;

By vain Prosperity received,

To her they vow their truth, and are again believed,

{་

Wisdom in fable garb array'd,

t

Immers'd in rapt'rous thought profound,

And Melancholy, filent maid

With leaden eye, that loves the ground,
Still on thy folemn steps attend:
Warm Charity, the gen'ral friend,