Haply fome hoary-headed Swain may say, Oft have we seen him at the peep of dawn Brushing with hafty steps the dews away • To meet the fun upon the upland lawn. There at the foot of yonder nodding beech • That wreathes its old fantastic roots so high, 'His listless length at noontide would he stretch, • 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, • 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 thro' the church-way path we saw him born. Approach and read (for thou can'st read) the lay, • Grav'd on the ftone beneath yon aged thorn. The EPITAPH. ERE refts his head upon the lap of Earth HER A Youth to Fortune and to Fame unknown. Fair Science frown'd not on his humble birth, 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 difclafe, Or draw his frailties from their dread abode, (*There they alike in trembling hope repofe,) The bofom of his Father and his God. -paventofa speme. Petrarch. Son. 114. 5 THE |