11. Can storied urn, or animated bust"

Back to its mansion call the fleeting breath?
Can Honour's voice provoke the silent dust,

Or Flattery soothe the dull cold ear of Death?

12. Perhaps in this neglected spot" is laid

Some heart once pregnant with celestial fire; Hands, that the rod of empire" might have swayed, Or waked to ecstasy the living lyre.12

13. But knowledge to their eyes her ample page, Rich with the spoils of time, did ne'er unroll; Chill Penury repressed their noble rage,13

And froze the genial current of the soul."

14. Full many a gem, of purest ray serene,

The dark unfathomed caves of ocean bear:
Full many a flower is born to blush unseen,
And waste its sweetness on the desert air.

15. Some village Hampden," that, with dauntless breast, The little tyrant of his fields withstood; Some mute inglorious Milton" here may rest,

Some Cromwell" guiltless of his country's blood.

16. The applause of listening senates to command,
The threats of pain and ruin to despise,
To scatter plenty o'er a smiling land,

And read their history in a nation's eyes,

17. Their lot forbade: nor circumscribed alone

Their growing virtues, but their crimes confined;
Forbade to wade through slaughter to a throne,
And shut the gates of mercy on mankind;

18. The struggling pangs of conscious truth to hide,
To quench the blushes of ingenuous shame,
Or heap the shrine of Luxury and Pride 18

18

With incense kindled at the Muse's flame.

19. Far from the madding crowd's ignoble strife, Their sober wishes never learned to stray; Along the cool sequestered vale of life

They kept the noiseless tenor of their way.

20. Yet ev❜n these bones from insult to protect,
Some frail memorial" still erected nigh,

With uncouth rhymes and shapeless sculpture decked,
Implores the passing tribute of a sigh.

21. Their name, their years, spelt by the unlettered Muse, The place of fame and elegy supply:

And many a holy text 20 around she strews,
That teach the rustic moralist to die.

22. For who, to dumb Forgetfulness a prey,

21

This pleasing anxious being e'er resigned,
Left the warm precincts of the cheerful day,2
Nor cast one longing, lingering look behind?

23. On some fond breast the parting soul relies,
Some pious drops the closing eye requires;
Ev'n from the tomb the voice of Nature cries,
Ev'n in our ashes live their wonted fires.

24. For thee,* who, mindful of the unhonoured dead,
Dost in these lines their artless tale relate;
If chance," by lonely contemplation led,
Some kindred spirit shall inquire thy fate;

66

25. Haply some hoary-headed swain may say,
Oft have we seen him at the peep of dawn,
Brushing with hasty steps the dews away,
To meet the sun upon the upland lawn.

26. "There at the foot of yonder nodding beech,
That wreathes its old fantastic roots so high,
His listless length at noontide would he stretch,
And pore upon the brook that babbles by.

27. "Hard by yon wood, now smiling as in scorn,
Muttering his wayward fancies he would rove:
Now drooping, woful-wan, like one forlorn,

Or crazed with care, or crossed in hopeless love.

28. "One morn I missed him on the 'customed 23 hill; Along the heath, and near his favourite tree; Another came; nor yet beside the rill,

Nor up the lawn, nor at the wood was he.

29. "The next, with dirges due, in sad array,

Slow through the church-way path we saw him borne; Approach and read (for thou canst read) the lay, 'Graved on the stone beneath yon aged thorn."+

The post here introduces himself, and fancies what will be said of him after his death by some "hoary-headed swain."

†This verse was printed in the first editions.

THE EPITAPH.*

30. Here rests his head upon the lap of Earth,
A youth, to fortune and to fame unknown;
Fair science frowned not on his humble birth,
And melancholy marked him for her own.

31. Large was his bounty, and his soul sincere,
Heaven did a recompense as largely send;
He gave to misery all he had, a tear,

He gained from heaven ('twas all he wished) a friend.

32. No farther seek his merits to disclose,

Or draw his frailties from their dread abode,

There they alike in trembling hope repose,
The bosom of his father and his God.

SPELL AND GIVE THE MEANING

knell, a funeral bell.

glim'mering, shining faintly. dron'ing, a dull humming. tink'ling, sound of a small bell.

mop'ing, gloomy. mould'ering, decaying. ham'let, a few cottages.

twit'tering, making quick chirps.

en'vy, to be jealous.

glebe, lit., soil.

jo'cund, merrily.

des'tiny, fate.

her'aldry, nobility as proclaimed by titles.

inevitable, that cannot be escaped.

tro'phies, memorials.

pen'ury, extreme poverty.

repressed', kept back.
serene', clear.

daunt'less, fearless.
inglo'rious, without glory.
sen'ates, parliaments.
cir'cumscribed, limited.
vir'tues, good qualities.
ingen'uous, frank, open.
igno'ble, of low family.
seques'tered, lonely.
ten'or, continuous course.
uncouth', odd, strange.
el'egy, lament.

resigned', submissive.
pre'cincts, limits.

fantas'tic, fanciful.

dirge, a lament.

pregnant, here, filled

ec'stasy, delight.

mel'ancholy, here, sadness.

frail'ties, weaknesses.

The epitaph which the poet imagines may be written on his own tombstone. It is, of course, conceived in reference to an imaginary personage.

NOTES.

cur'few, a bell still tolled from some village churches at sunset. It was originally tolled by command of William the Conqueror, at 8 P.M., as the signal for all to cover their fire (couvre-feu, Fr.); that is, to put out all lights. 2 sol'itary reign, her solitude. 3 in'cense - breathing morn. The fragrance of the flowers and flelds in the early morning is compared to incense.

4 A clar'ion is a kind of shrill, clear-voiced trumpet. The crowing of a cock is compared to its sound.

5 the ech'oing horn of the hunts

man.

6 boast of her'aldry, the sounding titles given by the College of Heralds.

'fret'ted vault, arch with highly ornamental roof.

8 sto'ried urn, an urn on the funeral monument engraved with the story of him who lies beneath.

9 anʼimated bust, life-like statue

or bust.

10 neglect'ed spot, the village churchyard.

11 The rod of em'pire is the

royal sceptre; here used for "the highest offices of the state."

12 Or waked to ec'stasy, &c.;
as a great poet.

13 no'ble rage, here, enthusiasm.
14 And froze, &c. Poverty pre-
vented them carrying out the
noble and healthful wishes of
their heart and intellect, as frost
binds up the bright stream.
15 Hamp'den was the first to resist
the illegal taxes of Charles I.
16 Mil'ton, author of "Paradise
Lost."

17 Oliver Crom'well. Gray here
supposes him to have caused the
civil wars. But this is open to
question.

18 Or heap, &c. "Or flatter the rich and proud with fulsome praise in verse, as if they were gods, at whose shrine such incense might be burned."

19 frail memo'rial, some humble

tombstone.

20 holy text, on the tombstone.
21 Left, &c. Passed from the light
of the sun to the darkness of the
grave.

22 chance, perchance.

23 'cus'tomed, accustomed.

EARTHQUAKES AND VOLCANOES.*-PROFESSOR W. C. WILLIAMSON, F.R.S.

1. WE rarely find active volcanoes far away from the sea. They are generally near the sea-coast; or if not near the sea-coast, near great bodies of inland water. The main exception to this rule is found in the district to the north of India; but, even there, the volcanic

* Every place in this and other lessons should be found out on the map.