* 120 The Chieftain's gripe his throat compressed, His knee was planted on his breast; From blood and mist * to clear his sight, 125 Then gleamed aloft * his dagger bright! But hate and fury * ill supplied To turn the odds of deadly game ; Reeled soul and sense, reeled brain and eye. The struggling foe may now unclasp 135 The fainting chief's relaxing * grasp ; Unwounded from the dreadful close, * Erring, straying from the mark. * Relaxing, loosening. * * * ELEGY WRITTEN IN A COUNTRY CHURCHYARD. Gray. bell rung in England during Norman times The ploughman homeward plods * bis weary to warn the people to way, put out all fires and And leaves the world to darkness and to me. lights at eight o'clock. Parting, departing. 5 Now fades the glimmering * landscape on the untilled meadow. Lea, grass-land, an sight, Plods, walks as if And all the air a solemn stillness holds, very tired. Save where the beetle wheels his droning * away. Glimmering, fading flight, Droning, humming And drowsy tinklings * lull the distant Drowsy tinklings, &c., the sound of bells tied round the necks Save that from yonder ivy-mantled tower of some of the sheep. The moping * owl does to the moon complain Moping, dull, gloomy. Molest, injure, disBeneath those rugged * elms, that yew-tree's Rugged, rough, of shade, uneven surface. Where heaves the turf in many a moulder ing heap, 15 Each in his narrow cell for ever laid, The rude forefathers of the hamlet * sleep. lage. Hanilet, a small vib like a bee. folds ; * turb. * sweet air of the morn * the mo household duties. * * * * * 30 field. Breezy call, &c., fresh The breezy call* of incense-breathing morn, The swallow twittering from the straw-built ing. shed, Clarion, a narrow- The cock's shrill clarion,* or the echoing horn, tubed trumpet No more shall rouse them from their lowly 20 Horn, the hunter's horn heard early in bed. burn, 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, 25 Furrow, the trench Their furrow * oft the stubborn glebe * has made by the plough. broke; Glebe, land for culti. [afield ! * vating. How jocund* did they drive their team stroke ! Their homely joys, and destiny * obscure; Afield, on towards the Nor Grandeur hear with a disdainful smile Destiny, our state of The short and simple annals * of the poor. life. Annals, the account of what takes place The boast of heraldry, the pomp of power, from year to year. And all that beauty, all that wealth e'er gave, Inevitable, sure to Await alike the inevitable hour : 35 happen. The paths of glory lead but to the grave. Impute, to blame. Nor you, ye proud, impute* to these the fault, Anthem, a sacred If Memory o'er their tomb no trophies raise, song Storied urn, a vessel Where through the long-drawn aisle and fretted containing the ashes vault of the deado person. The pealing anthem * swells the note of praise. 40 story of his life written upon it. Bust, a representa- Can storied urn or animated bust Back to its mansion call the fleeting breath? solid substance. Can Honour's voice provoke * the silent dust, Provoke, here means Or Flattery soothe the dull cold ear of to call forth. Death ? 45 Rod of empire, the Some heart once pregnant * with celestial sceptre, marking the power given to sovereigns to or Hands that the rod of empire * might have govern. swayed, Ecstasy, great joy. Lyre, a kind of harp. Or waked to ecstasy * the living lyre.* * * * tion of the head and shoulders in some fire ; * rule * * 50 * cessors, 55 * 60 became But Knowledge to their eyes her ample page, Ample, large, wide, full. Rich with the spoils * of time, did ne'er Spoils, things taken unroll ; from an enemy, here Chill Penury * repressed * their noble rage, means knowledge ac quired through predeAnd froze the genial* current of the soul. Penury, poverty. Full * many a gem, of purest ray serene, Repressed, stopped, The dark unfathomed * caves of ocean bear : checked. Genial, gay, cheerful. Full many a flower is born to blush unseen, Full, &c., very many. And waste its sweetness on the desert air. Unfathomed, un sounded, depth not known Some village Hampden,* that with dauntless Hampden (John) breast lived in the reign of Charles I. He would The little tyrant of his fields withstood ; not pay the tax of Some mute inglorious Milton,* here may ship money," and became one of the rest, leaders of the insurSome Cromwell,* guiltless of his country's rection. blood. Milton (John) was one the greatest Eng lish poets who ever The applause * of listening senates * to com- lived mand, Cromwell, the great leader in the rebellion The threats of pain and ruin to despise, against Charles I.; To scatter plenty o'er a smiling land, afterwards And read their history in a nation's eyes, a Lord Protector. Senate, an assembly fairs of a country. Their growing virtues, but their crimes con Lot forbade, denied this privilege from Forbade to wade through slaughter to a their position in life. throne, Circumscribe, to put boundaries round And shut the gates of Mercy on mankind ; about a thing, to confine. The struggling pangs of conscious truth * to Conscious truth, what one knows and feels ward. . Sequestered, lonely, They kept the noiseless tenor* of their way. set apart, private. Tenor, here means their course of life. Yet even these bones from insult to protect, Some frail memorial still erected nigh, Tribute, something * 65 fined ; to be true. 70 So Unlettered, not Their name, their years, spelt by the unlearned. lettered * Muse, Elegy here means The place of fame and elegy * supply; praise of the dead. And many a holy text around she strews, Moralist, one who That teach the rustic moralist * to die. tries to learn lessons from what happens For who to dumb Forgetfulness a prey, around us. 85 This pleasing, anxious being, e'er resigned ; Precinct, an enclos d Left the warm precincts* of the cheerful day, Nor cast one longing, lingering look behind ? Parting, departing. On some fond breast the parting * soul relies, Pious, loving, affec- Some pious* drops the closing eye requires; 90 Even from the tomb the voice of Nature cries,- space. * tionate. 95 * For thee, who, mindful of the unhonoured dead, Artless, simple, with- Dost in these lines their artless * tale relate ; out harm. If chance, by lonely Contemplation led, Kindred spirit, one Some kindred spirit * shall inquire thy fate, having the same habits and ideas. Haply, perhaps. Haply * some hoary-headed swain * may say, Swain, a peasant. “Oft have we seen him at the peep of dawn Brushing with hasty steps the dews away, Lawn, a smooth piece To meet the sun upon the upland lawn.* 100 of grass-land. “There, at the foot of yonder nodding beech, Fantastic, odd, curi. That wreathes its old fantastic roots so ous, high, Listless, heedless, His listless * length at noontide would he careless. stretch, Pore, to look And pore * upon the brook that babbles by. “Hard by * yon wood, now smiling as in scorn, 105 near. Muttering his wayward fancies he would rove; Wan, pale, faint. Now drooping, woful, wan,* like one forlorn, * love. hill, Heath, uncultivated Along the heath * and near his favourite 110 land. tree; RiN. a small running Another came, nor yet beside the rill, brook. Nor up the lawn, nor at the wood was be ; * * * “The next, with dirges * due, in sad array,* Dirge, a funeral ser. vice. Slow through the church-way path we saw Array, procession, him borne : order. 115 Approach and read (for thou canst read) the lay Lay, the song or verse carved on the stone; Graved on the stone beneath yon aged inscription. thorn." Graved, carved on stone. * ness, away. THE EPITAPH.* Epitaph, an inscrip tion on a tomb. 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, Melancholy, a gloomy 120 And Melancholy * marked him for her own. state of mind, sad Large was his bounty,* and his soul sincere ; Bounty, what he gavo Sincere, truthful, pure. He gained from Heaven ('twas all he wished), a friend. 125 No further seek his merits * to disclose, Merits, goodness. Or draw his frailties * from their dread Frailties, weak. abode, * abode, the (There they alike in trembling hope repose), grave. The bosom of his Father and his God. nesses, * LOVE OF COUNTRY.-Scott. “This is my own, my native land !” Whose heart hath ne'er within him burned, 5 As home his footsteps he hath turned, From wandering on a foreign strand ! * High though his title, proud his name, 10 Boundless his wealth as wish can claim; Despite those titles, power, and pelf,* And, doubly dying, shall go down Unwept, unhonoured, and unsung. Foreign strand, countries other than one's own native land. * Pelf, riches. |