"To a mysteriously consorted pair This place is consecrate; to Death and Life, And to the best affections that proceed From their conjunction; consecrate to faith In him who bled for man upon the cross; Hallowed to revelation; and no less
To reason's mandates; and the hopes divine Of pure imagination;-above all,
To charity, and love, that have provided, Within these precincts, a capacious bed, And receptacle, open to the good And evil, to the just and the unjust; In which they find an equal resting-place:
Even as the multitude of kindred brooks
And streams, whose murmur fills this hollow vale, Whether their course be turbulent or smooth,
Their waters clear or sullied, all are lost Within the bosom of yon crystal Lake, And end their journey in the same repose!
And blest are they who sleep; and we that know, While in a spot like this we breathe and walk, That all beneath us by the wings are covered Of motherly humanity, outspread
And gathering all within their tender shade, Though loth and slow to come! A battle-field, In stillness left when slaughter is no more, With this compared, is a strange spectacle! A rueful sight, the wild shore strewn with wrecks, And trod by people in afflicted quest
Of friends and kindred, whom the angry sea
Restores not to their prayer! Ah! who would think That all the scattered subjects which compose Earth's melancholy vision through the space
Of all her climes-these wretched, these depraved, To virtue lost, insensible of peace,
From the delights of charity cut off,
To pity dead, the oppressor and the opprest; Tyrants who utter the destroying word,
And slaves who will consent to be destroyed- Were of one species with the sheltered few, Who, with a dutiful and tender hand, Did lodge in an appropriated spot;
This file of infants; some that never breathed The vital air; and others, who, allowed That privilege, did yet expire too soon, Or with too brief a warning to admit Administration of the holy rite
That lovingly consigns the babe to the arms Of Jesus, and his everlasting care; These that in trembling hope are laid apart; And the besprinkled nursling, unrequired Till he begins to smile upon the breast
That feeds him; and the tottering little one Taken from air and sunshine when the rose Of infancy first blooms upon his cheek;
The thinking, thoughtless, school-boy; the bold youth Of soul impetuous, and the bashful maid Smitten while all the promises of life
Are opening round her; those of middle age, Cast down while confident in strength they stand, Like pillars fixed more firmly, as might seem, And more secure, by very weight of all That, for support, rests on them; the decayed And burthensome; and lastly, that poor few Whose light of reason is with age extinct; The hopeful and the hopeless, first and last, The earliest summoned and the longest spared- Are here deposited with tribute paid Various, but unto each some tribute paid; As if, amid these peaceful hills and groves, Society were touched with kind concern,
And gentle Nature grieved, that one should die;' Or, if the change demanded no regret, Observed the liberating stroke-and blessed?
And whence that tribute ? wherefore these regards? Not from the naked Heart alone of Man (Though framed to high distinction upon earth As the sole spring and fountain-head of tears, His own peculiar utterance for distress Or gladness)-No," the philosophic Priest Continued, "tis not in the vital seat Of feeling to produce them, without aid From the pure soul, the soul sublime and pure; With her two faculties of eye and ear,
The one by which a creature, whom his sins
Have rendered prone, can upward look to heaven; The other that empowers him to perceive
The voice of Deity on height and plain,
Whispering those truths in stillness, which the WORD To the four quarters of the winds proclaims. Not without such assistance could the use
Of these benign observances prevail;
Thus are they born, thus fostered, and maintained, And by the care prospective of our wise
Forefathers, who, to guard against the shocks, The fluctuation and decay of things, Embodied and established these high truths In solemn institutions:-men convinced That life is love and immortality, The being one, and one the element. There lies the channel, and original bed,
From the beginning, hollowed out and scooped
For Man's affections-else betrayed and lost, And swallowed up 'mid deserts infinite!
This is the genuine course, the aim, and end Of prescient reason; all conclusions else Are abject, vain, presumptuous, and perverse. The faith partaking of those holy times, Life, I repeat, is energy of love Divine or human; exercised in pain, In strife, and tribulation; and ordained,
Is so approved and sanctified, to pass,
Through shades and silent rest, to endless joy."
THE CHURCH-YARD AMONG THE MOUNTAINS.
Poet's Address to the State and Church of England-The Pastor not inferior to the ancient Worthies of the Church-He begins his Narra tives 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 opposite principles who had encountered agitations in public life-The rule by which Peace may be obtained, expressed, and where-Solitude hints at an overpowering Fatality-Answer of the Pastor-What subjects he will exclude from his Narrative-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, evincing his faithful affection towards his deceased wife by his care of their female Children,
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 as long as sea surrounds The favoured Land, or sunshine warms her soil.
And O, 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, That can perceive, not less than heretofore Our ancestors did feelingly 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 their minds 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 ambition's 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, And, 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 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-intent upon the task
Of prying, low and high, for 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 he was crazed in brain By unrequited love, and 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."
Of pain and grief?" the Solitary asked: "Believe it not-oh! never could that be!"
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