Methought I saw the phantom stand I felt the pressure of her hand- Fair, fair beneath the evening sky The quiet church-yard lay: Dearly she loved their arching spread, And, as she wish'd on her deathbed, Was buried at their feet. Around her grave a beauteous fence Within the gloom of death. Such flowers from bank of mountain brook At eve we used to bring, Oft had I fix'd the simple wreath But now such flowers as form'd it, breathe Around her bed of rest. Yet all within my silent soul, As the hush'd air, was calm; The air that seem'd so thick and dull A trance of high and solemn bliss [BORN at Nottinghamshire, England, March 21, 1785. Apprenticed to a stocking-weaver, afterwards to an attorney; printed a volume of verses, Clifton Grove, with other Poems, 1803; obtained a sizarship in St. Johns College, Cambridge, 1804. For two years was at the head of his class, became a tutor in mathematics, but destroyed his health by excessive study, and died of consumption at Cambridge, Oct. 19, 1806.] CHILDHOOD. PICTURED in How sweet, while all the evil shuns the gaze, memory's mellowing To view the unclouded skies of former glass, how sweet Our infant days, our infant joys to greet; days! Beloved age of innocence and smiles, When each winged hour some new delight beguiles, When the gay heart, to life's sweet dayspring true, Still finds some insect pleasure to pur |