THE CHURCH-YARD AMONG THE MOUNTAINS

BOOK VI.

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 opposite 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 l'astorWhat subjects he will exclude from his Narrative-Conversation upon this-In stance 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
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.
That can perceive, not less than heretofore

I

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 fame.
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.

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!
She, whose dear name with unregarded sighs
He long had blessed, whose Image was preserved.
Shrined in his breast with fond idolatry,
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 is 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.
Now, those sad tidings weighing on his heart,
To books, and papers, and the studious desk,
He stoutly re-addressed himself-resolved
To quell his pain, and enter on the path
Of old pursuits with keener appetite
And closer industry. Of what ensued
Within his soul 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 their souls, a fount 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, which 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 height of strength to earth
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; and, with those words, a prayer
That, from his dying hand, she would accept
Of his possessions that which most he prized;
A book, upon the surface of whose leaves,
Some chosen plants, 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 whose endeavours did at length achieve
A victory less worthy of regard,

Though marvellous in its kind. A place exists
High in these mountains, that allured a band
Of keen adventurers to unite their pains

In search of treasure there by nature formed,

And there concealed: but they who tried were foiled
And all desisted, all, save him alone.

Who, 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;