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.

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

["Him have we seen' the greenwood side along,
While o'er the heath we hied, our labour done,
Oft as the woodlark piped her farewell song,
With wistful eyes pursue the setting sun.]

"Hard by yon wood, now smiling as in scorn,
Muttering his wayward fancies he would rove;
Now drooping woeful wan, like one forlorn,

Or crazed with care, or crossed in hopeless love.

"One morn I missed him on the accustomed 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:

"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.

["There scattered2 oft, the earliest of the

year,
By hands unseen, are showers of violets found;
The redbreast loves to build and warble there,
And little footsteps lightly print the ground."]

THE EPITAPH.

Here rests his head upon the lap of earth

A youth, to fortune and to fame unknown:

(1) Him have we seen, &c.-This stanza, the "Doric delicacy" of which is praised by Mason, completes the poet's day, by supplying the evening. It is taken from Gray's first manuscript.

(2) There scattered, &c.-This exquisite stanza was printed in the earlier editions, but afterwards omitted by the author "because he thought it was too long a parenthesis in this place." The judgment is perhaps correct, but it is re-admitted here, notwithstanding, for the reason given in note 7, p. 61.

F

Fair Science1 frowned not on his humble birth,
And melancholy2 marked him for her own.

Large was his bounty,3 and his soul sincere ;*
Heaven did a recompense as largely send:
gave to misery all he had, a tear;

He

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

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.

Gray.

TO A WATER-FOWL.

WHITHER, midst falling dew,?

While glow the heavens with the last steps of day,
Far, through their rosy depths, dost thou pursue
Thy solitary way?

Vainly the fowler's eye

Might mark thy distant flight to do thee wrong;
As, darkly painted on the crimson sky,
Thy figure floats along.

(1) Fair science, &c.-i. e. the lowliness of his birth (not, however, that Gray's birth was actually humble) did not interfere with his successful pursuit of science and knowledge.

(2) Gray was of a grave temperament, and yet, like Cowper, wrote some particularly humorous poems.

(3) Bounty-The word usually refers to actual generosity, but here it seems to mean generosity of heart.

(4) Sincere-open, and capable of friendship.

(5) Friend-probably the poet refers to his friend Mason.

(6) There in their "dread abode," the bosom, i. e. the mercy of God, to which he refers both his merits and his frailties.

These notes may properly conclude with Dr. Johnson's judgment on the poem, that it" abounds with images which find a mirror in every mind, and with sentiments to which every bosom returns an echo." See "Life of Gray."

(7) Falling dew-This marks the time; for the bird being high in the air, was not, of course, in the midst of "falling dew."

Seek'st thou the plashy1 brink

Of weedy lake, or marge of river wide,
Or where the rocking billows rise and sink
On the chafed ocean side?

There is a power whose care

Teaches thy way along that pathless coast3—
The desert and illimitable air-

Lone wandering, but not lost.

All day thy wings have fanned,
At that far height, the cold thin atmosphere,
Yet stoop not, weary, to the welcome land,
Though the dark night is near.

And soon that toil shall end;

Soon shalt thou find a summer-home, and rest,
And scream among thy fellows; reeds shall bend,
Soon, o'er thy sheltered nest.

Thou'rt gone the abyss of heaven
Hath swallowed up thy form; yet, on my heart,
Deeply hath sunk the lesson thou hast given,
And shall not soon depart.

He, who from zone to zone

Guides through the boundless sky thy certain flight,
In the long way, that I must tread alone,
Will lead my steps aright.

Bryant.

(1) Plashy-from the noun plash. The termination ash, according to Dr. Wallis, denotes a sharp, sudden motion, gradually subsiding, as in crash, flash, plash, &c. See his "Grammatica Linguæ Anglicanæ," p. 160.

(2) There is a power, &c.-i. e. the inquiries in the last stanza seem to impute vagueness and indecision to thy movements, but such is not their character;There is a power that teaches thee thy way, &c.

(3) Coast-A peculiar but striking use of the word, as if the bird were skirting the very vault of the sky.

ALEXANDER SELKIRK'S SOLILOQUY.1

I AM monarch2 of all I survey,
My right there is none to dispute;
From the centre all round to the sea,
I am lord of the fowl and the brute.
O solitude! where are the charms

That sages have seen in thy face?
Better dwell in the midst of alarms,
Than reign in this horrible place.

I am out of humanity's3 reach,
I must finish my journey alone,
Never hear the sweet music of speech-
I start at the sound of my own.
The beasts that roam over the plain
My form with indifference see;
They are so unacquainted with man,
Their tameness is shocking to me.

Society, friendship, and love,
Divinely bestowed upon man,
Oh! had I the wings of a dove,
How soon would I taste you again :
My sorrows I then might assuage
In the ways of religion and truth;
Might learn from the wisdom of age,
And be cheered by the sallies of youth.

Religion! what treasure untold
Resides in that heavenly word!
More precious than silver and gold,
Or all that this earth can afford.

(1) Alexander Selkirk was a sailor, who having quarrelled with his captain, was set on shore by him, in the year 1704, on the uninhabited island of Juan Fernandez, and remained there more than four years.

(2) Monarch, sovereign-The former word-from the Greek μóvoc, alone, and άpxós, a governor-signifies one who has sole authority; sovereign-from the Latin supremus (through the old English, sovran), highest-one who has the highest authority. As there was no question of rank in Selkirk's case, the aptness of the word "monarch" is obvious.

(3) Humanity-human rature, mankind.

(4) Divinely-as the Latin divinitus, by divine providence, from heaven.

But the sound of the church-going bell'
These valleys and rocks never heard;
Never sighed at the sound of a knell,
Or smiled when a Sabbath appeared.
Ye winds! that have made me your sport,2
Convey to this desolate shore
Some cordial endearing report

Of a land I shall visit no more.
My friends, do they now and then send
A wish or a thought after me?
Oh! tell me I yet have a friend,
Though a friend I am never to see.
How fleet is a glance of the mind!
Compared with the speed of its flight,
The tempest itself lags behind,

And the swift-winged arrows of light.
When I think of my own native land,
In a moment I seem to be there;
But, alas! recollection, at hand,

Soon hurries me back to despair.
But the sea-fowl is gone to her nest,
The beast is laid down in his lair; 3
Even here is a season of rest,
And I to my cabin repair.
There's mercy in every place,
And mercy, encouraging thought!
Gives even affliction a grace,
And reconciles man to his lot.

THE HAPPY MAN.4

How happy is he born and taught
That serveth not another's will;
Whose armour is his honest thought,

And simple truth his highest skill;

Cowper.

(1) The church-going bell-This expression ought by analogy to mean, the bell that goes to church, and is therefore censured by Wordsworth in the Appendix to his "Lyrical Ballads."

(2) Sport-This implies that the author supposed that Selkirk had been shipwrecked, which, as just explained, was not the fact.

(3) Lair-See note 1, p. 4.

(4) Sir Henry Wotton, the author of this quaint and excellent poem, was a friend and contemporary of Milton.

(5) Born and taught-i. e. both by birth and education.

(6) Honest thought-honesty of purpose.