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 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, 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 An Object Worthier Of Regard Than He, In The Transition Of That Bitter Hour! Lost Was She, Lost; Nor Could The Sufferer Say That In The Act Of Preference He Had Been Unjustly Dealt With; But The Maid Was Gone! Had Vanished From His Prospects And Desires; Not By Translation To The Heavenly Choir Who Have Put Off Their Mortal Spoils Ah No! She Lives Another'S Wishes To Complete, 'Joy Be Their Lot, And Happiness,' He Cried, 'His Lot And Hers, As Misery Must Be Mine!' Such Was That Strong Concussion; But The Man, Who Trembled, Trunk And Limbs, Like Some Huge Oak By A Fierce Tempest Shaken, Soon Resumed The Stedfast Quiet Natural To A Mind Of Composition Gentle And Sedate, And, In Its Movements, Circumspect And Slow. To Books, And To The Long-Forsaken Desk, O'Er Which Enchained By Science He Had Loved To Bend, He Stoutly Re-Addressed Himself, Resolved To Quell His Pain, And Search For Truth With Keener Appetite (If That Might Be) And Closer Industry. Of What Ensued Within The Heart No Outward Sign Appeared Till A Betraying Sickliness Was Seen To Tinge His Cheek; And Through His Frame It Crept With Slow Mutation Unconcealable; Such Universal Change As Autumn Makes In The Fair Body Of A Leafy Grove, Discoloured, Then Divested. 'Tis Affirmed By Poets Skilled In Nature'S Secret Ways That Love Will Not Submit To Be Controlled By Mastery: And The Good Man Lacked Not Friends Who Strove To Instil This Truth Into His Mind, A Mind In All Heart-Mysteries Unversed. 'Go To The Hills,' Said One, 'remit A While 'This Baneful Diligence: At Early Morn 'Court The Fresh Air, Explore The Heaths And Woods; 'And, Leaving It To Others To Foretell, 'By Calculations Sage, The Ebb And Flow 'Of Tides, And When The Moon Will Be Eclipsed, 'Do You, For Your Own Benefit, Construct 'A Calendar Of Flowers, Plucked As They Blow 'Where Health Abides, And Cheerfulness, And Peace.' The Attempt Was Made; 'Tis Needless To Report How Hopelessly; But Innocence Is Strong, And An Entire Simplicity Of Mind A Thing Most Sacred In The Eye Of Heaven; That Opens, For Such Sufferers, Relief Within The Soul, Fountains Of Grace Divine; And Doth Commend Their Weakness And Disease To Nature'S Care, Assisted In Her Office By All The Elements That Round Her Wait To Generate, To Preserve, And To Restore; And By Her Beautiful Array Of Forms Shedding Sweet Influence From Above; Or Pure Delight Exhaling From The Ground They Tread." "Impute It Not To Impatience, If," Exclaimed The Wanderer, "I Infer That He Was Healed By Perseverance In The Course Prescribed." "You Do Not Err: The Powers, That Had Been Lost By Slow Degrees, Were Gradually Regained; The Fluttering Nerves Composed; The Beating Heart In Rest Established; And The Jarring Thoughts To Harmony Restored. But Yon Dark Mould Will Cover Him, In The Fulness Of His Strength, Hastily Smitten By A Fever'S Force; Yet Not With Stroke So Sudden As Refused Time To Look Back With Tenderness On Her Whom He Had Loved In Passion; And To Send Some Farewell Words With One, But One, Request; That, From His Dying Hand, She Would Accept Of His Possessions That Which Most He Prized; A Book, Upon Whose Leaves Some Chosen Plants, By His Own Hand Disposed With Nicest Care, In Undecaying Beauty Were Preserved; Mute Register, To Him, Of Time And Place, And Various Fluctuations In The Breast; To Her, A Monument Of Faithful Love Conquered, And In Tranquillity Retained! Close To His Destined Habitation, Lies One Who Achieved A Humbler Victory, Though Marvellous In Its Kind. A Place There Is High In These Mountains, That Allured A Band Of Keen Adventurers To Unite Their Pains In Search Of Precious Ore: They Tried, Were Foiled And All Desisted, All, Save Him Alone. He, Taking Counsel Of His Own Clear Thoughts, And Trusting Only To His Own Weak Hands, Urged Unremittingly The Stubborn Work, Unseconded, Uncountenanced; Then, As Time Passed On, While Still His Lonely Efforts Found No Recompense, Derided; And At Length, By Many Pitied, As Insane Of Mind; By Others Dreaded As The Luckless Thrall Of Subterranean Spirits Feeding Hope By Various Mockery Of Sight And Sound; Hope After Hope, Encouraged And Destroyed. But When The Lord Of Seasons Had Matured The Fruits Of Earth Through Space Of Twice Ten Years, The Mountain'S Entrails Offered To His View And Trembling Grasp The Long-Deferred Reward. Not With More Transport Did Columbus Greet A World, His Rich Discovery! But Our Swain, A Very Hero Till His Point Was Gained, Proved All Unable To Support The Weight Of Prosperous Fortune. On The Fields He Looked With An Unsettled Liberty Of Thought, Wishes And Endless Schemes; By Daylight Walked Giddy And Restless; Ever And Anon Quaffed In His Gratitude Immoderate Cups; And Truly Might Be Said To Die Of Joy! He Vanished; But Conspicuous To This Day The Path Remains That Linked His Cottage-Door To The Mine'S Mouth; A Long And Slanting Track, Upon The Rugged Mountain'S Stony Side, Worn By His Daily Visits To And From The Darksome Centre Of A Constant Hope. This Vestige, Neither Force Of Beating Rain, Nor The Vicissitudes Of Frost And Thaw Shall Cause To Fade, Till Ages Pass Away; And It Is Named, In Memory Of The Event, The Path Of Perseverance." "Thou From Whom Man Has His Strength," Exclaimed The Wanderer, "Oh! Do Thou Direct It! To The Virtuous Grant The Penetrative Eye Which Can Perceive In This Blind World The Guiding Vein Of Hope; That, Like This Labourer, Such May Dig Their Way, 'Unshaken, Unseduced, Unterrified;' Grant To The Wise 'His' Firmness Of Resolve!" "That Prayer Were Not Superfluous," Said The Priest, "Amid The Noblest Relics, Proudest Dust, That Westminster, For Britain'S Glory, Holds Within The Bosom Of Her Awful Pile, Ambitiously Collected. Yet The Sigh, Which Wafts That Prayer To Heaven, Is Due To All, Wherever Laid, Who Living Fell Below Their Virtue'S Humbler Mark; A Sigh Of 'Pain' If To The Opposite Extreme They Sank. How Would You Pity Her Who Yonder Rests; Him, Farther Off; The Pair, Who Here Are Laid; But, Above All, That Mixture Of Earth'S Mould Whom Sight Of This Green Hillock To My Mind Recalls! 'He' Lived Not Till His Locks Were Nipped By Seasonable Frost Of Age; Nor Died Before His Temples, Prematurely Forced To Mix The Manly Brown With Silver Grey, Gave Obvious Instance Of The Sad Effect Produced, When Thoughtless Folly Hath Usurped The Natural Crown That Sage Experience Wears. Gay, Volatile, Ingenious, Quick To Learn, And Prompt To Exhibit All That He Possessed Or Could Perform; A Zealous Actor, Hired Into The Troop Of Mirth, A Soldier, Sworn Into The Lists Of Giddy Enterprise Such Was He; Yet, As If Within His Frame Two Several Souls Alternately Had Lodged, Two Sets Of Manners Could The Youth Put On; And, Fraught With Antics As The Indian Bird That Writhes And Chatters In Her Wiry Cage, Was Graceful, When It Pleased Him, Smooth And Still As The Mute Swan That Floats Adown The Stream, Or, On The Waters Of The Unruffled Lake, Anchors Her Placid Beauty. Not A Leaf, That Flutters On The Bough, Lighter Than He; And Not A Flower, That Droops In The Green Shade, More Winningly Reserved! If Ye Enquire How Such Consummate Elegance Was Bred Amid These Wilds, This Answer May Suffice; 'Twas Nature'S Will; Who Sometimes Undertakes, For The Reproof Of Human Vanity, Art To Outstrip In Her Peculiar Walk. Hence, For This Favourite Lavishly Endowed With Personal Gifts, And Bright Instinctive Wit, While Both, Embellishing Each Other, Stood Yet Farther Recommended By The Charm Of Fine Demeanour, And By Dance And Song, And Skill In Letters Every Fancy Shaped Fair Expectations; Nor, When To The World'S Capacious Field Forth Went The Adventurer, There Were He And His Attainments Overlooked, Or Scantily Rewarded; But All Hopes, Cherished For Him, He Suffered To Depart, Like Blighted Buds; Or Clouds That Mimicked Land Before The Sailor'S Eye; Or Diamond Drops That Sparkling Decked The Morning Grass; Or Aught That 'Was' Attractive, And Hath Ceased To Be! Yet, When This Prodigal Returned, The Rites Of Joyful Greeting Were On Him Bestowed, Who, By Humiliation Undeterred, Sought For His Weariness A Place Of Rest Within His Father'S Gates. Whence Came He? Clothed In Tattered Garb, From Hovels Where Abides Necessity, The Stationary Host Of Vagrant Poverty; From Rifted Barns Where No One Dwells But The Wide-Staring Owl And The Owl'S Prey; From These Bare Haunts, To Which He Had Descended From The Proud Saloon, He Came, The Ghost Of Beauty And Of Health, The Wreck Of Gaiety! But Soon Revived In Strength, In Power Refitted, He Renewed His Suit To Fortune; And She Smiled Again Upon A Fickle Ingrate. Thrice He Rose, Thrice Sank As Willingly. For He Whose Nerves Were Used To Thrill With Pleasure, While His Voice Softly Accompanied The Tuneful Harp, By The Nice Finger Of Fair Ladies Touched In Glittering Halls Was Able To Derive No Less Enjoyment From An Abject Choice. Who Happier For The Moment Who More Blithe Than This Fallen Spirit? In Those Dreary Holds His Talents Lending To Exalt The Freaks Of Merry-Making Beggars, Nor Provoked To Laughter Multiplied In Louder Peals By His Malicious Wit; Then, All Enchained With Mute Astonishment, Themselves To See In Their Own Arts Outdone, Their Fame Eclipsed, As By The Very Presence Of The Fiend Who Dictates And Inspires Illusive Feats, For Knavish Purposes! The City, Too, (With Shame I Speak It) To Her Guilty Bowers Allured Him, Sunk So Low In Self-Respect As There To Linger, There To Eat His Bread, Hired Minstrel Of Voluptuous Blandishment; Charming The Air With Skill Of Hand Or Voice, Listen Who Would, Be Wrought Upon Who Might, Sincerely Wretched Hearts, Or Falsely Gay. Such The Too Frequent Tenor Of His Boast In Ears That Relished The Report; But All Was From His Parents Happily Concealed; Who Saw Enough For Blame And Pitying Love. They Also Were Permitted To Receive His Last, Repentant Breath; And Closed His Eyes, No More To Open On That Irksome World Where He Had Long Existed In The State Of A Young Fowl Beneath One Mother Hatched, Though From Another Sprung, Different In Kind: Where He Had Lived, And Could Not Cease To Live, Distracted In Propensity; Content With Neither Element Of Good Or Ill; And Yet In Both Rejoicing; Man Unblest; Of Contradictions Infinite The Slave, Till His Deliverance, When Mercy Made Him One With Himself, And One With Them That Sleep." "'Tis Strange," Observed The Solitary, "Strange It Seems, And Scarcely Less Than Pitiful, That In A Land Where Charity Provides For All That Can No Longer Feed Themselves, A Man Like This Should Choose To Bring His Shame To The Parental Door; And With His Sighs Infect The Air Which He Had Freely Breathed In Happy Infancy. He Could Not Pine, Through Lack Of Converse; No He Must Have Found Abundant Exercise For Thought And Speech, In His Dividual Being, Self-Reviewed, Self-Catechised, Self-Punished. Some There Are Who, Drawing Near Their Final Home, And Much And Daily Longing That The Same Were Reached, Would Rather Shun Than Seek The Fellowship Of Kindred Mould. Such Haply Here Are Laid?" "Yes," Said The Priest, "The Genius Of Our Hills Who Seems, By These Stupendous Barriers Cast Round His Domain, Desirous Not Alone To Keep His Own, But Also To Exclude All Other Progeny Doth Sometimes Lure, Even By His Studied Depth Of Privacy, The Unhappy Alien Hoping To Obtain Concealment, Or Seduced By Wish To Find, In Place From Outward Molestation Free, Helps To Internal Ease. Of Many Such Could I Discourse; But As Their Stay Was Brief, So Their Departure Only Left Behind Fancies, And Loose Conjectures. Other Trace Survives, For Worthy Mention, Of A Pair Who, From The Pressure Of Their Several Fates, Meeting As Strangers, In A Petty Town Whose Blue Roofs Ornament A Distant Reach Of This Far-Winding Vale, Remained As Friends True To Their Choice; And Gave Their Bones In Trust To This Loved Cemetery, Here To Lodge With Unescutcheoned Privacy Interred Far From The Family Vault. A Chieftain One By Right Of Birth; Within Whose Spotless Breast The Fire Of Ancient Caledonia Burned: He, With The Foremost Whose Impatience Hailed The Stuart, Landing To Resume, By Force Of Arms, The Crown Which Bigotry Had Lost, Aroused His Clan; And, Fighting At Their Head, With His Brave Sword Endeavoured To Prevent Culloden'S Fatal Overthrow. Escaped From That Disastrous Rout, To Foreign Shores He Fled; And When The Lenient Hand Of Time Those Troubles Had Appeased, He Sought And Gained, For His Obscured Condition, An Obscure Retreat, Within This Nook Of English Ground. The Other, Born In Britain'S Southern Tract, Had Fixed His Milder Loyalty, And Placed His Gentler Sentiments Of Love And Hate, There, Where 'They' Placed Them Who In Conscience Prized The New Succession, As A Line Of Kings Whose Oath Had Virtue To Protect The Land Against The Dire Assaults Of Papacy And Arbitrary Rule. But Launch Thy Bark On The Distempered Flood Of Public Life, And Cause For Most Rare Triumph Will Be Thine If, Spite Of Keenest Eye And Steadiest Hand, The Stream, That Bears Thee Forward, Prove Not, Soon Or Late, A Perilous Master. He Who Oft, Beneath The Battlements And Stately Trees That Round His Mansion Cast A Sober Gloom, Had Moralised On This, And Other Truths Of Kindred Import, Pleased And Satisfied Was Forced To Vent His Wisdom With A Sigh Heaved From The Heart In Fortune'S Bitterness, When He Had Crushed A Plentiful Estate By Ruinous Contest, To Obtain A Seat In Britain'S Senate. Fruitless Was The Attempt; And While The Uproar Of That Desperate Strife Continued Yet To Vibrate On His Ear, The Vanquished Whig, Under A Borrowed Name, (For The Mere Sound And Echo Of His Own Haunted Him With Sensations Of Disgust That He Was Glad To Lose) Slunk From The World To The Deep Shade Of Those Untravelled Wilds; In Which The Scottish Laird Had Long Possessed An Undisturbed Abode. Here, Then, They Met, Two Doughty Champions; Flaming Jacobite And Sullen Hanoverian! You Might Think That Losses And Vexations, Less Severe Than Those Which They Had Severally Sustained, Would Have Inclined Each To Abate His Zeal For His Ungrateful Cause; No, I Have Heard My Reverend Father Tell That, 'Mid The Calm Of That Small Town Encountering Thus, They Filled, Daily, Its Bowling-Green With Harmless Strife; Plagued With Uncharitable Thoughts The Church; And Vexed The Market-Place. But In The Breasts Of These Opponents Gradually Was Wrought, With Little Change Of General Sentiment, Such Leaning Towards Each Other, That Their Days By Choice Were Spent In Constant Fellowship; And If, At Times, They Fretted With The Yoke, Those Very Bickerings Made Them Love It More. A Favourite Boundary To Their Lengthened Walks This Churchyard Was. And, Whether They Had Come Treading Their Path In Sympathy And Linked In Social Converse, Or By Some Short Space Discreetly Parted To Preserve The Peace, One Spirit Seldom Failed To Extend Its Sway Over Both Minds, When They Awhile Had Marked The Visible Quiet Of This Holy Ground, And Breathed Its Soothing Air: The Spirit Of Hope And Saintly Magnanimity; That Spurning The Field Of Selfish Difference And Dispute, And Every Care Which Transitory Things, Earth And The Kingdoms Of The Earth, Create Doth, By A Rapture Of Forgetfulness, Preclude Forgiveness, From The Praise Debarred, Which Else The Christian Virtue Might Have Claimed. There Live Who Yet Remember Here To Have Seen Their Courtly Figures, Seated On The Stump Of An Old Yew, Their Favourite Resting-Place. But As The Remnant Of The Long-Lived Tree Was Disappearing By A Swift Decay, They, With Joint Care, Determined To Erect, Upon Its Site, A Dial, That Might Stand For Public Use Preserved, And Thus Survive As Their Own Private Monument: For This Was The Particular Spot, In Which They Wished (And Heaven Was Pleased To Accomplish The Desire) That, Undivided, Their Remains Should Lie. So, Where The Mouldered Tree Had Stood, Was Raised Yon Structure, Framing, With The Ascent Of Steps That To The Decorated Pillar Lead, A Work Of Art More Sumptuous Than Might Seem To Suit This Place; Yet Built In No Proud Scorn Of Rustic Homeliness; They Only Aimed To Ensure For It Respectful Guardianship. Around The Margin Of The Plate, Whereon The Shadow Falls To Note The Stealthy Hours, Winds An Inscriptive Legend." At These Words Thither We Turned; And Gathered, As We Read, The Appropriate Sense, In Latin Numbers Couched: 'Time Flies; It Is His Melancholy Task, To Bring, And Bear Away, Delusive Hopes, And Re-Produce The Troubles He Destroys. But, While His Blindness Thus Is Occupied, Discerning Mortal! Do Thou Serve The Will Of Time'S Eternal Master, And That Peace, Which The World Wants, Shall Be For Thee Confirmed!' "Smooth Verse, Inspired By No Unlettered Muse," Exclaimed The Sceptic, "And The Strain Of Thought Accords With Nature'S Language; The Soft Voice Of Yon White Torrent Falling Down The Rocks Speaks, Less Distinctly, To The Same Effect. If, Then, Their Blended Influence Be Not Lost Upon Our Hearts, Not Wholly Lost, I Grant, Even Upon Mine, The More Are We Required To Feel For Those Among Our Fellow-Men, Who, Offering No Obeisance To The World, Are Yet Made Desperate By 'Too Quick A Sense Of Constant Infelicity,' Cut Off From Peace Like Exiles On Some Barren Rock, Their Life'S Appointed Prison; Not More Free Than Sentinels, Between Two Armies, Set, With Nothing Better, In The Chill Night Air, Than Their Own Thoughts To Comfort Them. Say Why That Ancient Story Of Prometheus Chained To The Bare Rock On Frozen Caucasus; The Vulture, The Inexhaustible Repast Drawn From His Vitals? Say What Meant The Woes By Tantalus Entailed Upon His Race, And The Dark Sorrows Of The Line Of Thebes? Fictions In Form, But In Their Substance Truths, Tremendous Truths! Familiar To The Men Of Long-Past Times, Nor Obsolete In Ours. Exchange The Shepherd'S Frock Of Native Grey For Robes With Regal Purple Tinged; Convert The Crook Into A Sceptre; Give The Pomp Of Circumstance; And Here The Tragic Muse Shall Find Apt Subjects For Her Highest Art. Amid The Groves, Under The Shadowy Hills, The Generations Are Prepared; The Pangs, The Internal Pangs, Are Ready; The Dread Strife Of Poor Humanity'S Afflicted Will Struggling In Vain With Ruthless Destiny." "Though," Said The Priest In Answer, "These Be Terms Which A Divine Philosophy Rejects, We, Whose Established And Unfailing Trust Is In Controlling Providence, Admit That, Through All Stations, Human Life Abounds With Mysteries; For, If Faith Were Left Untried, How Could The Might, That Lurks Within Her, Then Be Shown? Her Glorious Excellence That Ranks Among The First Of Powers And Virtues Proved? Our System Is Not Fashioned To Preclude That Sympathy Which You For Others Ask; And I Could Tell, Not Travelling For My Theme Beyond These Humble Graves, Of Grievous Crimes And Strange Disasters; But I Pass Them By, Loth To Disturb What Heaven Hath Hushed In Peace. Still Less, Far Less, Am I Inclined To Treat Of Man Degraded In His Maker'S Sight By The Deformities Of Brutish Vice: For, In Such Portraits, Though A Vulgar Face And A Coarse Outside Of Repulsive Life And Unaffecting Manners Might At Once Be Recognised By All" "Ah! Do Not Think," The Wanderer Somewhat Eagerly Exclaimed, "Wish Could Be Ours That You, For Such Poor Gain, (Gain Shall I Call It? Gain Of What? For Whom?) Should Breathe A Word Tending To Violate Your Own Pure Spirit. Not A Step We Look For In Slight Of That Forbearance And Reserve Which Common Human-Heartedness Inspires, And Mortal Ignorance And Frailty Claim, Upon This Sacred Ground, If Nowhere Else." "True," Said The Solitary, "Be It Far From Us To Infringe The Laws Of Charity. Let Judgment Here In Mercy Be Pronounced; This, Self-Respecting Nature Prompts, And This Wisdom Enjoins; But If The Thing We Seek Be Genuine Knowledge, Bear We Then In Mind How, From His Lofty Throne, The Sun Can Fling Colours As Bright On Exhalations Bred By Weedy Pool Or Pestilential Swamp, As By The Rivulet Sparkling Where It Runs, Or The Pellucid Lake." "Small Risk," Said I, "Of Such Illusion Do We Here Incur; Temptation Here Is None To Exceed The Truth; No Evidence Appears That They Who Rest Within This Ground, Were Covetous Of Praise, Or Of Remembrance Even, Deserved Or Not. Green Is The Churchyard, Beautiful And Green, Ridge Rising Gently By The Side Of Ridge, A Heaving Surface, Almost Wholly Free From Interruption Of Sepulchral Stones, And Mantled O'Er With Aboriginal Turf And Everlasting Flowers. These Dalesmen Trust The Lingering Gleam Of Their Departed Lives To Oral Record, And The Silent Heart; Depositories Faithful And More Kind Than Fondest Epitaph: For, If Those Fail, What Boots The Sculptured Tomb? And Who Can Blame, Who Rather Would Not Envy, Men That Feel This Mutual Confidence; If, From Such Source, The Practice Flow, If Thence, Or From A Deep And General Humility In Death? Nor Should I Much Condemn It, If It Spring From Disregard Of Time'S Destructive Power, As Only Capable To Prey On Things Of Earth, And Human Nature'S Mortal Part. Yet In Less Simple Districts, Where We See Stone Lift Its Forehead Emulous Of Stone In Courting Notice; And The Ground All Paved With Commendations Of Departed Worth; Reading, Where'Er We Turn, Of Innocent Lives, Of Each Domestic Charity Fulfilled, And Sufferings Meekly Borne I, For My Part, Though With The Silence Pleased That Here Prevails, Among Those Fair Recitals Also Range, Soothed By The Natural Spirit Which They Breathe. And, In The Centre Of A World Whose Soil Is Rank With All Unkindness, Compassed Round With Such Memorials, I Have Sometimes Felt, It Was No Momentary Happiness To Have 'One' Enclosure Where The Voice That Speaks In Envy Or Detraction Is Not Heard; Which Malice May Not Enter; Where The Traces Of Evil Inclinations Are Unknown; Where Love And Pity Tenderly Unite With Resignation; And No Jarring Tone Intrudes, The Peaceful Concert To Disturb Of Amity And Gratitude." "Thus Sanctioned," The Pastor Said, "I Willingly Confine My Narratives To Subjects That Excite Feelings With These Accordant; Love, Esteem, And Admiration; Lifting Up A Veil, A Sunbeam Introducing Among Hearts Retired And Covert; So That Ye Shall Have Clear Images Before Your Gladdened Eyes Of Nature'S Unambitious Underwood, And Flowers That Prosper In The Shade. And When I Speak Of Such Among My Flock As Swerved Or Fell, Those Only Shall Be Singled Out Upon Whose Lapse, Or Error, Something More Than Brotherly Forgiveness May Attend; To Such Will We Restrict Our Notice, Else Better My Tongue Were Mute. And Yet There Are, I Feel, Good Reasons Why We Should Not Leave Wholly Untraced A More Forbidding Way. For, Strength To Persevere And To Support, And Energy To Conquer And Repel These Elements Of Virtue, That Declare The Native Grandeur Of The Human Soul Are Oft-Times Not Unprofitably Shown In The Perverseness Of A Selfish Course: Truth Every Day Exemplified, No Less In The Grey Cottage By The Murmuring Stream Than In Fantastic Conqueror'S Roving Camp, Or 'Mid The Factious Senate, Unappalled Whoe'Er May Sink, Or Rise To Sink Again, As Merciless Proscription Ebbs And Flows. There," Said The Vicar, Pointing As He Spake, "A Woman Rests In Peace; Surpassed By Few In Power Of Mind, And Eloquent Discourse. Tall Was Her Stature; Her Complexion Dark And Saturnine; Her Head Not Raised To Hold Converse With Heaven, Nor Yet Deprest Towards Earth, But In Projection Carried, As She Walked For Ever Musing. Sunken Were Her Eyes; Wrinkled And Furrowed With Habitual Thought Was Her Broad Forehead; Like The Brow Of One Whose Visual Nerve Shrinks From A Painful Glare Of Overpowering Light. While Yet A Child, She, 'Mid The Humble Flowerets Of The Vale, Towered Like The Imperial Thistle, Not Unfurnished With Its Appropriate Grace, Yet Rather Seeking To Be Admired, Than Coveted And Loved. Even At That Age She Ruled, A Sovereign Queen, Over Her Comrades; Else Their Simple Sports, Wanting All Relish For Her Strenuous Mind, Had Crossed Her Only To Be Shunned With Scorn, Oh! Pang Of Sorrowful Regret For Those Whom, In Their Youth, Sweet Study Has Enthralled, That They Have Lived For Harsher Servitude, Whether In Soul, In Body, Or Estate! Such Doom Was Hers; Yet Nothing Could Subdue Her Keen Desire Of Knowledge, Nor Efface Those Brighter Images By Books Imprest Upon Her Memory, Faithfully As Stars That Occupy Their Places, And, Though Oft Hidden By Clouds, And Oft Bedimmed By Haze, Are Not To Be Extinguished, Nor Impaired. Two Passions, Both Degenerate, For They Both Began In Honour, Gradually Obtained Rule Over Her, And Vexed Her Daily Life; An Unremitting, Avaricious Thrift; And A Strange Thraldom Of Maternal Love, That Held Her Spirit, In Its Own Despite, Bound By Vexation, And Regret, And Scorn, Constrained Forgiveness, And Relenting Vows, And Tears, In Pride Suppressed, In Shame Concealed To A Poor Dissolute Son, Her Only Child. Her Wedded Days Had Opened With Mishap, Whence Dire Dependence. What Could She Perform To Shake The Burthen Off? Ah! There Was Felt, Indignantly, The Weakness Of Her Sex. She Mused, Resolved, Adhered To Her Resolve; The Hand Grew Slack In Alms-Giving, The Heart Closed By Degrees To Charity; Heaven'S Blessing Not Seeking From That Source, She Placed Her Trust In Ceaseless Pains And Strictest Parsimony Which Sternly Hoarded All That Could Be Spared, From Each Day'S Need, Out Of Each Day'S Least Gain. Thus All Was Re-Established, And A Pile Constructed, That Sufficed For Every End, Save The Contentment Of The Builder'S Mind; A Mind By Nature Indisposed To Aught So Placid, So Inactive, As Content; A Mind Intolerant Of Lasting Peace, And Cherishing The Pang Her Heart Deplored. Dread Life Of Conflict! Which I Oft Compared To The Agitation Of A Brook That Runs Down A Rocky Mountain, Buried Now And Lost In Silent Pools, Now In Strong Eddies Chained; But Never To Be Charmed To Gentleness: Its Best Attainment Fits Of Such Repose As Timid Eyes Might Shrink From Fathoming. A Sudden Illness Seized Her In The Strength Of Life'S Autumnal Season. Shall I Tell How On Her Bed Of Death The Matron Lay, To Providence Submissive, So She Thought; But Fretted, Vexed, And Wrought Upon, Almost To Anger, By The Malady That Griped Her Prostrate Frame With Unrelaxing Power, As The Fierce Eagle Fastens On The Lamb? She Prayed, She Moaned; Her Husband'S Sister Watched Her Dreary Pillow, Waited On Her Needs; And Yet The Very Sound Of That Kind Foot Was Anguish To Her Ears! 'And Must She Rule,' This Was The Death-Doomed Woman Heard To Say In Bitterness, 'And Must She Rule And Reign, 'Sole Mistress Of This House, When I Am Gone? 'Tend What I Tended, Calling It Her Own!' Enough; I Fear, Too Much. One Vernal Evening, While She Was Yet In Prime Of Health And Strength, I Well Remember, While I Passed Her Door Alone, With Loitering Step, And Upward Eye Turned Towards The Planet Jupiter That Hung Above The Centre Of The Vale, A Voice Roused Me, Her Voice; It Said, 'That Glorious Star 'In Its Untroubled Element Will Shine 'As Now It Shines, When We Are Laid In Earth 'And Safe From All Our Sorrows.' With A Sigh She Spake, Yet, I Believe, Not Unsustained By Faith In Glory That Shall Far Transcend Aught By These Perishable Heavens Disclosed To Sight Or Mind. Nor Less Than Care Divine Is Divine Mercy. She, Who H