Delaware gazette and state journal. (Wilmington, Del.) 1883-1902, 1899-06-01

Hands that the rod OF empire miBht hafe
Or walked to ecstasy the living Tyre;
But knowledge to their eyes her ample page.
Rich with the spoils Of time, did ne'er
Chill Perjury repress'd their noble rage.
And froze the genial current oil the soul.
Full many gem, of piirest ray. serene,
The dark, unfathom' d caves of ocean bear
Full many a flower Is born to blush unseen,
And waste its sweetness OH the desert air.
Some village Hampton, that with dauntless
The little tyrant of his fields withstood, :
Some mute, inglorious Milton, here may
Some Cronl we'll, guiltless of his country's
blood.
The applause of listening senates to COM
mand,
The threats of pain and ruin to despise,
To scatter plenty DER smiling land,
And read their history In nations eyes,
Their lot forbade: nor oircumscribed alone
Their growing virtues, but their crimes
confined
Forbade TO wade through slaughter to
throne,
And shut the gates of mercy on mankind;
The struggling pangs of conscious truth to
hide,
To quench the bushes of ingenious
shame,
Or heap the shrine of luxury and pride
With incense kindled at the Muses. tame.
Far from the madiing crowds ignoble strife,
Their sober wishes never learned to stray;
Along the COOL sequester'd vale Of life
They kept tine noiseless tenor OF their way.
Yet even these bones from insult to protect,
Some frail memorial still erected nigh,
With uncouth rhymes and shapeless sculp-
ture deck'd,
Implores the passing tribute of sigh.
Their name, their years. spelt by the inlet
ter'd Muse, -
The place Of fame and elegy supply;
| And many holy text around she strews,
That teach the rustic moralist to die.
| For who, to dumb forgetfulness prey.
This pleasing, anxious being e'er resign'd,
Left the warm precincts of the cheerful day,
Nor cast one longing, lingering look be-
hind?
On some fond breast the parting soul relies,
Some pious drops the closing eye requires
Even from the tomb the voice of nature
cries,
| Even in our ashes live their wonted fires
For thee. who. mindful of the unhonor'd
| dead.
Dost in these lines their artless tale relate,
II chance, by lonely contemplation led
Some kindred spirit shall inquire thy
fate
HAPPY some hoary-headed swain may say,
loft have we seen him at the peep of
| dawn .sa r-, ~ ~
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 SC
high.
His listless length at noontide would he
stretch
And pore upon the brook that babbles by
Hard by yon wood, now smiling as in
scOrn,
Muttering his Maynard fancies, would he
Now dropping, woful.wan. like one forlorn
Or crazed with care, or crossd in hopeless
zone morn missed him on the accustom'd
Along the heath, aud near his favorit,
tree:
Another came-nor yet beside the rill
Nor up the lawn, nor at the wood, was he
1.-THE next with dirges due in sad array,
Slow through the churchway path we say
him borne:
Approach and read (for thou canst rcad) tn
lay
Graved on the stone beneath yon age,
thorn.n
THE ErITAPH
Here rests his head upon the lap Of Earth,
A youth to fortune and to fame unknown
, Fair Science frown'd not on his humbl
birth,
And Melancholy mark d him for her own
Large was his bounty, and his soul sincere,
Heaven did recompense as largely send
he gave to misery-all he had-a tear,
| He gain'd from heaven Ctwas all b
I wish'd) friend.
No farther seek bis merits to disclose,
Or draw his frailties from their dreat
/ abode,
$ There they alike in trembling hope repose
The bosom of his Father and his God.