Yet, God is my witness, thou small, helpless Thing! Thy life I would gladly sustain Till summer come up from the south, and, with crowds Of thy brethren, a march thou shouldst sound through the clouds, And back to the forests again! VIII. 1799. A POET'S EPITAPH. ART thou a Statist, in the van A Lawyer art thou? — draw not nigh! Art thou a Man of purple cheer? Or art thou one of gallant pride, Physician art thou? one all eyes, Philosopher! a fingering slave, Wrapt closely in thy sensual fleece, A Moralist perchance appears; One to whose smooth-rubbed soul can cling An intellectual All-in-all! Shut close the door; press down the latch ; Sleep in thy intellectual crust; Nor lose ten tickings of thy watch Near this unprofitable dust. But who is he, with modest looks, He is retired as noontide dew, The outward shows of sky and earth, In common things that round us lie That broods and sleeps on his own heart. But he is weak; both Man and Boy, Hath been an idler in the land, Contented if he might enjoy The things which others understand. -Come hither in thy hour of strength; IX. TO THE DAISY. BRIGHT Flower! whose home is everywhere, Bold in maternal Nature's care, And all the long year through, the heir Methinks that there abides in thee Some concord with humanity, Given to no other flower I see Is it that Man is soon deprest? A thoughtless Thing! who, once unblest, Or on his reason, And thou wouldst teach him how to find A shelter under every wind, A hope for times that are unkind Thou wander'st the wide world about, Meek, yielding to the occasion's call, Thy function apostolical In peace fulfilling. In the School of X. MATTHEW. is a tablet, on which are inscribed, in gilt letters, the names of the several persons who have been Schoolmasters there since the foundation of the School, with the time at which they entered upon and quitted their office. Opposite to one of those names the Author wrote the following lines. IF Nature, for a favorite child, In thee hath tempered so her clay, Read o'er these lines; and then review Its history of two hundred years. When through this little wreck of fame, Has travelled down to Matthew's name, And, if a sleeping tear should wake, Poor Matthew, all his frolics o'er, |