The fields to all their wonted tribute bear. And weep the more, because I weep in vain. Ver. 14. And weep the more, because I weep in vain.] Mr. Mitford quotes Cibber's alteration of Richard the Third, act ii. sc. 2: "So must we weep, because we weep in vain." Also the saying ascribed to Solon : “ Δι' αυτο δε τουτο δακρύω, ότι ουδεν ανυττω.” Rogers in his Italy has “And all clung round him weeping bitterly; EPITAPH ON MRS. CLARKEa. Lo! where this silent marble weeps, 5 This lady, the wife of Dr. Clarke, physician at Epsom, died April 27, 1757; and is buried in the church of Beckenham, Kent. Ver. 7. In agony, in death resign'd.] In the place of this Was felt for him, who could not save Whom what awaits, while yet he strays A sigh; an unavailing tear ; Till time shall every grief remove, With life, with memory, and with love. 15 Ver. 11. Whom what awaits, while yet he strays.] The construction here is a little hard, and creates obscurity, which is always least to be pardoned in an epitaph.—Mason. EPITAPH ON SIR WILLIAM WILLIAMS. HERE, foremost in the dangerous paths of fame, Young Williams fought for England's fair renown; His mind each muse, each grace adored his frame, Nor envy dared to view him with a frown. At Aix his voluntary sword he drew, There first in blood his infant honour sealed ; From fortune, pleasure, science, love, he flew, And scorned repose when Britain took the field. With eyes of flame, and cool undaunted breast, 5 10 a This Epitaph (hitherto unpublished) was written at the request of Mr. Frederic Montagu, who intended to have inscribed it on a monument at Bellisle, at the siege of which this accomplished youth was killed, 1761; but from some difficulty attending the erection of it, this design was not executed. This is as perfect, in its kind, as the foregoing sonnet. Sir William Williams, in the expedition to Aix, was on board the Magnanime with Lord Howe; and was deputed to receive the capitulation.-MASON. ELEGY, WRITTEN IN A COUNTRY CHURCH-YARDa. THE curfew tolls the knell of parting day, a The most popular of all our Author's publications; it ran through eleven editions in a very short space of time; was finely translated into Latin by Messrs. Ansty and Roberts; and in the same year another, though I think inferior, version of it was published by Mr. Lloyd. The reader is informed, in the Memoirs, of the time and manner of its first publication. He originally gave it only the simple title of “ Stanzas, written in a Country Church-yard." I persuaded him first to call it an ELEGY, because the subject authorized him so to do; and the alternate measure, in which it was written, seemed peculiarly fit for that species of composition. I imagined too that so capital a poem, written in this measure, would, as it were, appropriate it in future to writings of the sort; and the number of imitations which have since been made of it (even to satiety) seem to prove that my notion was well founded. In the first manuscript copy of this exquisite poem, I find the conclusion different from that which he afterwards composed; and though his after-thought was unquestionably the best, yet there is a pathetic melancholy in the four rejected stanzas, which highly claims preservation. I shall therefore give them as a variation in their proper place.-MASON. The reasons of that universal approbation, with which this Elegy has been received, may be learned from the comprehensive encomium of Dr. Johnson." It abounds with images, |