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"madding crowd," who follow ambition and avarice, with an eagerness almost equal to madness.

Their sober wishes never learn'd to stray, never wandered beyond their own business. Sequester'd vale. Sequestered means retired';' and "Sequestered vale of life," an humble situation, not raised to the heights of grandeur or wealth.

Tenour-mean's a steady course.

Kept the noiseless tenour of their way;-pur sued a quiet, unnoticed course of life.

XIX.

"Yet ev'n these bones from insult to protect, Some frail memorial still erected nigh,

With uncouth rhymes and shapeless sculpture deck'd, Implores the passing tribute of a sigh.

"Their name, their years, spelt by th' unletter'd muse,

The place of fame and elegy supply;

And many a holy text around she strews,

That teach the rustic moralist to die.

XXI.

"For who, to dumb forgetfulness a prey,
This pleasing anxious being e'er resign'd,
Left the warm precincts of the cheerful day,
Nor cast one longing, ling'ring look behind?

The poet seems here to have finished the reflections that at first occurred to him from the view of the churchyard, and to begin a new train of thoughts, suggested by the ordinary tomb-stones that struck his view. He says, even these poor villagers wish to have some tokens of their existence raised over their graves, of frail or perishable materials; often of wood, of rude workmanship, inscribed only with their names and ages, in place of the pompous inscriptions, and elegiac or mournful verses, which are usually put upon the monuments of the rich and great. Sometimes, he says, the tombs of the poor are inscribed with texts of Scripture, to teach those who read them, the necessity of death, and the hopes of another world. For, says he, no human being departs from life without thinking with fondness and regret upon some friend, whom he leaves behind him in this world. And even after death, men wish that their memory should excite feelings of tenderness and affection.

Precincts of the cheerful day.The word precinct mean's boundary.

XXII.

"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.

Parting soul relies;—that is, depends upon some person who was fond of them for the last marks of kindness, and requires, that is, wants the consolation of sympathy from those whom they loved.

Pious drops-affectionate tears. The original meaning of piety is the love of children towards their parents-It is now used to express the love and veneration of mankind towards God.

Even in their ashes live their wonted fires.-The ancients, instead of burying dead bodies in the ground, burnt them upon large piles of wood, and preserved the ashes of their friends in urns. Hence the word ashes is frequently used to represent the dead; and the inscriptions upon the tombs seem to express the feelings and passions of the dead, and to call upon the living for sympathy.

XXIII.

"For thee, who, mindful of th' unhonoured dead, Dost in these lines their artless tale relate;

If chancé by lonely contemplation led,,
Some kindred spirit shall inquire thy fate,

XXIV.

"Haply some hoary-headed swain may say,-
Oft have we seen him, at the peep of dawn,
Brushing with hasty steps the dew away,
To meet the sun upon the upland lawn.

XXV.

"There, at the foot of yonder nodding beech,
That wreathes it's old fantastic roots so high,
His listless length at noontide would he stretch,
And pore upon the brook that babbles by.

Kindred spirit. A person of similar disposition.

Brushing the dew away brings before the mind a picture of early morning, when the clear drops of dew hang on every blade of grass; and

-

Meeting the sun upon the upland lawn-marks the very moment of sunrise.

That wreathès it's old fantastic roots so highWhen trees grow upon banks, the earth frequently moulders away from their roots, and then the roots appear, in various twining forms; far above the surface of the ground where they were planted.

Listless;-Without energy; without any determinate design.-To list, means to wish or

choose.

XXVI.

"Hard by yon wood, now smiling as in scorit,
Mutt'ring his wayward fancies, he would rove,
Now drooping, woful wan, like one forlorn,
Or crazed with care, or crossed with hopeless love.

Wayward,-Independant of control. Wayward properly means, desirous of having his own way.

XXVII.

"One morn I missed him, on the 'custom'd hill, Along the heath, and by his fav'rite tree;

Another came

nor yet ;

beside the rill,

Nor up the lawn, nor at the wood was he.

XXVIII.

The next with dirges due, in sad array,

Slow through the church-way path we saw him borne; Approach, and read (for thou can'st read)the lay, Grav'd on the stone beneath yo1n aged thorn.

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Dirges due. Dirge means solemn, mournful music; such as sometimes attends funerals. Sad array. The funeral procession.

In these five stanzas, the poet speaks of himself-He says, if any person of a mind similar to his own should inquire for the author of these lines, perhaps some aged villager will point out his tombstone, and desire the stranger to read his epitaph, and will tell him all that was known of him in the neighbourhood; will tell him, that he was often seen wandering at an early hour through the fields, or resting