ARGUMENT.

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 oppo site 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.

THE CHURCH-YARD AMONG THE

MOUNTAINS.

Hail 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 0, 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 ! 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 :
Nor for their bodies would accept release ;
But, blessing God and praising him, bequeathed
With their last breath, from out the smouldering

flame,
The faith which they by diligence had earned,
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 !”.

The Vicar smiled, -
“ Alas! before to-morrow's sun goes down
His habitation will be here: for him
That open grave is destined.”

“Died he then
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