Cincinnati daily press. [volume] (Cincinnati [Ohio]) 1860-1862, 1861-04-10

BfehkH WaNe-hke On ehe IVOh VI Will
Oheart that will unheeding prove,
q heart that must unheeded break
How strong the hope how deep the love-
That burns for faithess foly's sake
The Church.yard that Furnished the
Theme for Grny's RIeEy.
A contributor to an Eastern journal re-
lates these interesting facts;
Some may have desired to know if there
were any actual spot which formed the scene
of the immortal verses of Gray's Eleqy in a
Country Chureh.ydrd. There is such
place, and one every way worthy Of the
poem. II bears the unpoetic name of
'Stoke Pogis.p 1t is within three miles of
"Slough,n upon the Great Western Railway,
not very far from Windsor. took "hy"
at Slough, and drove out to Stoke Pogis.
The road was through pretty undulating
country, in its July greenness and richness,
with soft haze lying like gsuze.vail upon
the hills and fields. l soon left the main
road, and turned into narrow lane, with
tall eluis on either side, and fringed with
thick hedges. How can describe an En-
glish hedge, of which 80 much has been said
in terms of general admiration2 Ii is a
sweet, blooming, tangled conglOmeratiou Of
brier, rose and thorn, impervious TO any
thing but an English fox-hunter's rush. The
- hawthorn, or white thorn, is the chief basis
of an English hedge. Its luxuriant leaves
are of dark. green, while its blossom is Of
white, whose delicate perfumes in the month
of May and June come on every breeze over
the fields
'1he milk.vhito thorn that scents the evening
gale"
But every other sort of blooming, running
thing mixed up with 1.-THE wild rose, the
blackberry with its oolored flowers, the
stone bramble, the spiky- leaved holly, the
cOmmon raaDherrv fha hrioht- huclr-
thorn, and the hazel whose long tassels, or
catkins, are the first blossoms of Spring.
All these left to grow and twine together,
on sacred ridge, one might say for centur-
ies--then we get the English hedge-to be
seen only, however, in its perfection in
Devonshfre or the Isle of Wight Although
the farmers are beginning to eye it with
suspicious looks, because it nests whole
colonies of greedy little birds, yet we would
say, "Bloom on for centuries more, dear
English hedgeW After following the land
for little while, / turned into the Park,
now owned by the Hon. b. Labourcher, but
formerly the property of William Penn's
family, where the "country-chulch.y yard"
still sleeps amid its aged trees. The entrance
was by the side of flower embowered cot
tat g, and here the spire of the little church
first cane in view.
Driving over the clean, smooth lawn OF
the Park, sprinkled with great elms and
oaks, came to the gate of the country
church-yard." The church which stands
within It is one of the most lovely in En-
gland, and satisfies all ones desires, being
more venerable and "ivy-mantled' than in
0Iay's time. 1t is built of flint pebbles,
with a red-tiled roof, and has three low
gable fronts, with long windows, and tower
draped thickly with ivy. The spire upon
this old tower looks more modern. 1t has
evidently been built since it was written,
that from the aged tower,
"The mopng owl does to the moon complain"
There is q high brick lwall and screen Of
tail trees about the whole church yard, ex-
eepting in front, where, if l remember
rightly, is an open iron fence. This vel
separates it from the rest of the Park.
The "rugged elms,' and the ''yew-tree'
shade" still spread their shadows in front o
the curious old wooden porch, and ovel
many a rounded, 'heaving turf" There are
some moss grown ancient monuments but
not many. 1t is truly a humble country
church yard. Its fiat gray stones contain
''The short and simple annals of the poor"
A small marble slab, inserted under tht
window of one of the gable-ends of the
church, bears these words: Opposite to this
stone, in the same tomb upon which he has
so feeliugly recorded his grief at the loss of a
beloved parent, are deposited the remain:
Written in Country Church.yard. etc., etc
He was buried Aug. 6, l77l."
The tombstone itself, which lies under the
window, has an inscription to the poet:
aunt, and after that this one to his mother
'In the same pieus confidence, beside heI
friend and sister, here sleep the remaies o.
Dorothy Gray, widow, the careful and tender
mother of many children, one of whom
alone bad the misfortune to survive her
She died March IL, 1873, aged 81.
Birds OF every hue and note flew around
among the trees, and hoped fearlessly upon
the tombs. The air and the delicate hum OF
insect life, and now and then the fiutter OF
little wings. Otherwise it was as still and
reposeful as the grave.
Walking short distance in front of the
church, over the meadow, | came to labur.
num-fringed path that leads to a stately
classic monument, with grave over against
it, and swelling green hill beyond it. L
commands delicious view of the churct
and grave yaTd-just such an English scen'
as Birket Foster would like to paint, and ha!
painted. The monument is in honor II
Gray, and of the whole region around, con
secrated by his genius. II is inscribed will
quotations from the ELegy and other poems
In the direction of the grove, there is writer
the verse beginning with
"Hard by yOn wood now smiling as in scOrn."
On the opposite side, toward Eton, ar
the words;
eye distant spires,
fe antique towers, etc"
On the side looking toward the church
yard, are these familiar but deathless verse;
that sing so sweetly, though too mourn
fully, of death and the grave.
One reads them, and then turns and look
on the very scene itselfIthe trees, the churcl
the graves;
"BeHesth these rugged elms that yew-tree's shaC
Where leaves the turf in many mold0ring hea
IaSh in his narrow cell forever laid,
The rude ioreiAthers Of the hamlet sleep.
The boast & heraldry, the pomp Of power,
ma ~ that beauty, al that wealth Ger gave
The paths OF slorY lead but to the grave.
In driving back from Stoke Pogis I
Slough, took another road, leading into Il
neighbOrhoOd Of Eton Montem and Windso
Park, and through an old gypsy fore!
esiled "Beecham Wood, where are some (
% the largest trees in England. These old tree
ars as wel worth worth seeing as any, thing in th
klpgdom. They carry us back to the day
OF green forest England, and of Robin Hoo
slAgled out one monstrous beech tree, an
measured 1t roughly with piece Of twin
It's girth was thirty. four feet. Its leave
fewer than OF old, were still bright an
green, though its vast, hollow trunk coul
lodge a company of spearmen. Our an
cesIors might have rested under its shadoV
AMUSING MIsTAEE-A Fancy-shOt Carpei
I.-As carpenter was shingling a houl
e In Oswego, n. Y, lately boy fred GU
atA pigeon above him. True to his aim, Il
bro fell, and in its descent hit the man
improvement smart rap on the back Of Il
neck. From the stroke following the repo
so quickly, he almost guessed he was 'gOn
COON bat examining his hand, which he ha
instinelValy thrown back. and seeing
orimsnned with The ninnnnin hinnI - O.