As the whirlwind in its course; The crimson harvest of the foe. 10 SONNET ON THE DEATH OF MR. RICHARD WEST. [See W. S. Landori Poemata, p. 186.] In vain to me the smiling mornings shine, A different object do these eyes require : V. 9. "Primosque et extremos metendo stravit humum, sine clade victor." Hor. Od. iv. 14, 31. 5 V. 1. Milt. P. L. v. 168, "That crown'st the smiling morn." Luke. V. 2. Lucret. vi. 204, "Devolet in terram liquidi color aureus ignis." Luke. V. 3. Milt. P. L. iv. 602, "She all night long her amorous descant sung." Luke. V. 8. "And in my ear the imperfect accent dies." Dryden. Ovid. Rogers. V. 12. Spens. B. Id. cant. iii. st. 5: "On these Cupido winged armies led, of little loves." Luke. V. 14. A line similar to this occurs in Cibber's Alteration of Richard the Third, act ii. sc. 2: Yet morning smiles the busy race to cheer, 9 And new-born pleasure brings to happier men: The fields to all their wonted tribute bear: To warm their little loves the birds complain : I fruitless mourn to him that cannot hear, And weep the more, because I weep in vain. EPITAPH ON MRS. JANE CLERKE. [See Woty's Poetical Calendar, part viii. p. 121. Nicoll's Select Poems, vol. vii. p. 331.] This lady, the wife of Dr. John Clerke, physician at Epdied April 27, 1757; and was buried in the church of Beckenham, Kent. som, Lo! where this silent marble weeps, "So we must weep, because we weep in vain." "Solon, when he wept for his son's death, on one saying to him, Weeping will not help,' answered: Ai avrò de τοῦτο δακρύω, ὅτι οὐδὲν ἀνύττω ‘I weep for that very cause, that weeping will not avail.' See Diog. Laert. vol. i. p. 39. ed. Meibomii. It is also told of Augustus. See also Fitzgeffry's Life and Death of Sir Francis Drake, B. 99. "Oh! therefore do we plaine, And therefore weepe, because we weepe in vaine." See also Dodsley's Old Plays, vol. x. p. 139, and Bamfylde's Sonnets, p. 6. ed. Park. V. 1. "This weeping marble had not ask'd a tear." Pope. Epitaph on Ed. D. of Buckingham. And Winds. For. "There o'er the martyr-king the marble weeps," 313. "orat te flebile Saxum." Burm. Anthol. Lat. vol. ii. p. 282. Affection warm, and faith sincere, She felt the wound she left behind, Sits smiling on a father's woe: Whom what awaits, while yet he strays A pang, to secret sorrow dear; With life, with memory, and with love. Var. V. 7-10. In agony, &c.] "To hide her cares her only art, Was felt for him, who could not save 5 10 15 V. 6. "And soft humanity that from rebellion fled," Dryden. Thr. Aug. s. xii. "Bred to the rules of soft humanity," ditto All for Love, act ii. sc. i. "Oh! soft humanity in age beloved," Pope. Epitaph ix. "The soft virtue of humanity," A. Smith. Mor. Sent. v. i. p. 310. EPITAPH ON SIR WILLIAM WILLIAMS." This Epitaph was written at the request of Mr. Frederick Montagu, who intended to have inscribed it on a monument at Bellisle, at the siege of which Sir W. Williams was killed, 1761. See Mason's Memoirs, vol. i. p. 73; and vol. iv. p. 76, and H. Walpole's Lett. to G. Montagu, p. 244. See account of Sir W. P. Williams, in Brydges. Restituta, vol. iii. p. 53; and in Clubs of London, vol. ii. p. 13. "In the recklessness of a desponding mind, he approached too near the enemy's sentinels, and was shot through the body." “ Valiant in arms, courteous and gay in peace, Hall Stevenson's Poems, ii. p. 49. HERE, foremost in the dangerous paths of fame, Young Williams fought for England's fair re nown; His mind each Muse, each Grace adorn'd his frame, Nor envy dar'd to view him with a frown. * Sir William Peere Williams, bart. a captain in Burgoyne's dragoons. V. 3. Εἵνεκεν εὐεπίης πινυτόφρονος, ἣν ὁ μελιχρὸς ἤσκησεν Μουσῶν, ἄμμιγα καὶ Χαρίτων. Sophoc. Epit. ed. Brunck. vol. i. p. 10, "A thousand Graces round her person play, A. Hill. Poems, vol. iii. p. 60. At Aix, his voluntary sword he drew, There first in blood his infant honour seal'd; From fortune, pleasure, science, love, he flew, And scorn'd repose when Britain took the field. 5 With eyes of flame, and cool undaunted breast, Victor he stood on Bellisle's rocky steeps- 10 Ah, gallant youth! this marble tells the rest, Where melancholy friendship bends, and weeps. ELEGY WRITTEN IN A COUNTRY The manuscript variations in this poem, in the Wharton papers, agree generally with those published by Mr. Mathias, vol. i. p. 65, in his edition of Gray's Works. See Barrington on the Statutes, p. 154. British Bibliog. vol. iii. p. viii. THE curfew tolls the knell of parting day, The lowing herd winds slowly o'er the lea, The ploughman homeward plods his weary way, And leaves the world to darkness and to me. V. 5. Sir William Williams, in the expedition to Aix, was on board the Magnanime with Lord Howe; and was deputed to receive the capitulation. This expression has been adopted by Scott: V. 1. "Since riding side by side, our hand Marmion, Introd. to Cant. iv. Che paia 'l giorno pianger, che si muore." Dante, Purgat. 1. 8. Gray. |