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 wreathes its old fantastic roots so high.--When 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. 27. "Hard by yon wood, now smiling as in scorn, 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,-Independent of control. Wayward properly means, desirous of having his own way. 28. “One morn I missed him, on the 'custom'd hill, Along the heath, and by his fav'rite tree; The next with dirges due, in sad array, Approach, and read (for thou can'st read) the lay, Grav'd on the stone beneath yon aged thorn. Dirges due.-Dirge means solemn, mournful music; such as sometimes attends funerals. Sad array.-The funeral proces sion. 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 under the shade of an aged beech, in careless slumber, sometimes looking with seeming earnestness upon the passing stream; sometimes rambling near a neighbouring wood, expressing the thoughts and fancies of his mind in his countenance, and speaking to himself; sometimes smiling indignantly, sometimes moping in melancholy.---One morning he was absent from his usual haunts; two days passed without his appearing under his favourite tree. On the third, his funeral was seen passing by; and here, says the ancient villager, speaking to the stranger, who is supposed to be inquiring for the poet, here are his tomb and epitaph :-- "Here rests his head, upon the lap of earth, A youth to fortune and to fame unknown; Fair science frown'd not on his humble birth, And melancholy marked him for her own. F "Large was his bounty, and his soul sincere, Heav'n did a recompence as largely send; He gave to mis'ry all he had, a tear; He gain'd from Heav'n ('twas all he wish'd) a friend. "No farther seek his merits to disclose, Or draw his frailties from their dread abode, (There they alike in trembling hope repose) The bosom of his father and his God. The epitaph is obscure. The sense is as follows:-Here lies buried, a youth of humble birth and fortune, not ignorant of science, but of a melancholy mind; he had a generousheart, though he had but little beside compassion to bestow; Heaven recompensed his good intentions by bestowing upon him a true friend.* Seek no farther into his history; what *Mr. Mason. |