Page 386

Thomas Gray. (1716–1771) (continued)

4200

Brushing with hasty steps the dews away,
To meet the sun upon the upland lawn.

Elegy in a Country Churchyard. Stanza 25.

4201

    One morn I miss’d him on the custom’d hill,
  Along the heath, and near his fav’rite tree:
Another came; nor yet beside the rill,
  Nor up the lawn, nor at the wood was he.

Elegy in a Country Churchyard. Stanza 28.

4202

    Here rests his head upon the lap of earth,
  A youth to fortune and to fame unknown:
Fair Science frown’d not on his humble birth,
  And Melancholy mark’d him for her own. 1

The Epitaph.

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    Large was his bounty, and his soul sincere,
  Heaven did a recompense as largely send:
He gave to mis’ry (all he had) a tear,
  He gained from Heav’n (’t was all he wish’d) a friend.

The Epitaph.

4204

    No further 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.

The Epitaph.

4205

And weep the more, because I weep in vain.

Sonnet. On the Death of Mr. West.

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Rich windows that exclude the light,
And passages that lead to nothing.

A Long Story.

4207

The hues of bliss more brightly glow,
Chastised by sabler tints of woe.

Ode on the Pleasure arising from Vicissitude. Line 45.

4208

The meanest floweret of the vale,
The simplest note that swells the gale,
The common sun, the air, the skies,
To him are opening paradise.

Ode on the Pleasure arising from Vicissitude. Line 53.

4209

And hie him home, at evening’s close,
To sweet repast and calm repose.

Ode on the Pleasure arising from Vicissitude. Line 87.

Note 1.
See Walton, Quotation 22. [back]

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