Thus widely removed from the fair, And my solace, wherever I go. Thomas Gray. { Born 1716. GRAY was born in Cornhill, London, 26th November 1716, and received his early education at Eton. He afterwards entered at Cambridge to study for the law. Having become intimate with Horace Walpole, he was induced to join him in a tour on the Continent. On his return in 1741, he applied himself to literary schemes, which he had not energy to carry out. His father having died and left him rich enough to carry out what plans he preferred, he passed the greater part of his life in the enjoyment of the learned society of Cambridge, and poring over his favourite authors. He was appointed in 1768 Professor of Modern History, with a salary of £400 a year; but he seems to have entirely neglected the duties, from inability to bring his mind to the effort necessary to prepare the lectures. His "Ode to Eton College" appeared in 1747, and his Elegy" in 1751; the latter became at once exceedingly popular, and is the poem on which his fame as a poet chiefly rests. He died July 30, 1771. ODE ON A DISTANT PROSPECT OF ETON COLLEGE. YE distant spires, ye antique towers, That crown the watery glade, Where grateful science still adores And ye, that from the stately brow Of Windsor's heights the expanse below Of grove, of lawn, of mead survey; Whose turf, whose shade, whose flowers among His silver-winding way! Ah, happy hills! ah, pleasing shade! Ah, fields beloved in vain! Where once my careless childhood strayed, I feel the gales that from ye A momentary bliss bestow, blow As, waving fresh their gladsome wing, Say, Father Thames, for thou hast seen To chase the rolling circle's speed, While some on earnest business bent To sweeten liberty; Some bold adventurers disdain The limits of their little reign, Gay hope is theirs, by fancy fed, ELEGY WRITTEN IN A COUNTRY CHURCHYARD Now fades the glimmering landscape on the sight, Save that from yonder ivy-mantled tower, Beneath those rugged elms, that yew-tree's shade, The rude forefathers of the hamlet sleep. The breezy call of incense-breathing morn, The swallow twittering from the straw-built shed, The cock's shrill clarion, or the echoing horn, No more shall rouse them from their lowly bed. For them no more the blazing hearth shall burn, Or busy housewife ply her evening care: No children run to lisp their sire's return, Or climb his knees the envied kiss to share. Oft did the harvest to their sickle yield, Their furrow oft the stubborn glebe has broke; How jocund did they drive their team a-field! How bowed the woods beneath their sturdy stroke! Let not Ambition mock their useful toil, Their homely joys, and destiny obscure; Nor Grandeur hear with a disdainful smile The short and simple annals of the poor. The boast of heraldry, the pomp of power, And all that beauty, all that wealth e'er gave, Await alike the inevitable hour: The paths of glory lead but to the grave. Nor you, ye proud, impute to these the fault, 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? 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: But knowledge to their eyes her ample page And froze the genial current of the soul. The dark unfathomed caves of ocean bear: And read their history in a nation's eyes- Their growing virtues, but their crimes confined Forbade to wade through slaughter to a throne, And shut the gates of mercy on mankind: The struggling pangs of conscious truth to hide, To quench the blushes of ingenuous shame, Or heap the shrine of Luxury and Pride With incense kindled at the Muse's flame. For 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. Yet even 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. Their name, their years, spelt by the unlettered muse, And many a holy text around she strews, On some fond breast the parting soul relies, For thee, who, mindful of the unhonoured dead, Some kindred spirit shall inquire thy fate; Haply some hoary-headed swain may say : Or crazed with care, or crossed in hopeless love. "One morn I missed him on the 'customed 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 churchway path we saw him borne; Approach and read-for thou canst read-the lay Graved on the stone beneath yon aged thorn." THE EPITAPH. Here rests his head upon the lap of Earth, Large was his bounty, and his soul sincere, He gave to Misery all he had-a tear! He gained from Heaven-'twas all he wished-a friend. |