LINES

— Nay, Traveller! rest. This lonely yew-tree stands Far from all human dwelling: what if here No sparkling rivulet spread the verdant herb; What if these barren boughs the bee not loves;

Yet, if the wind breathe soft, the curling waves, That break against the shore, shall lull thy mind By one soft impulse saved from vacancy. — Who he was

That piled these stones, and with the mossy sod First covered o'er and taught this aged tree With its dark arms to form a circling bower, I well remember.— He was one who owned

No common soul. In youth by science nursed And led by nature into a wild scene Of lofty hopes, he to the world went forth, A favored being, knowing no desire

Which genius did not hallow,‘ gainst the taint Of dissolute tongues, and jealousy, and hate And scorn, against all enemies prepared. All but neglect. The world, for so it thought,

Owed him no service: he was like a plant Fair to the sun, the darling of the winds, But hung with fruit which no one, that passed by, Regarded, and, his spirit damped at once,

With indignation did he turn away And with the food of pride sustained his soul In solitude.— Stranger! these gloomy boughs Had charms for him; and here he loved to sit,

His only visitants a straggling sheep, The stone-chat, or the glancing sand-piper; And on these barren rocks, with juniper, And heath, and thistle, thinly sprinkled o'er,

Fixing his downcast eye, he many an hour A morbid pleasure nourished, tracing here An emblem of his own unfruitful life: And lifting up his head, he then would gaze

On the more distant scene; how lovely‘ tis Thou seest, and he would gaze till it became Far lovelier, and his heart could not sustain The beauty still more beauteous. Nor, that time

When Nature had subdued him to herself Would he forget those beings, to whose minds, Warm from the labours of benevolence, The world, and man himself, appeared a scene

Of kindred loveliness: then he would sigh With mournful joy, to think that others felt What he must never feel: and so, lost man! On visionary views would fancy feed,

Till his eye streamed with tears. In this deep vale He died, this seat his only monument. If thou be one whose heart the holy forms Of young imagination have kept pure,

Stranger! henceforth be warned; and know, that pride, Howe'er disguised in its own majesty, Is littleness; that he, who feels contempt For any living thing, hath faculties

Which he has never used; that thought with him Is in its infancy. The man, whose eye Is ever on himself, doth look on one, The least of nature's works, one who might move

The wise man to that scorn which wisdom holds Unlawful, ever. O, be wiser thou! Instructed that true knowledge leads to love, True dignity abides with him alone

Who, in the silent hour of inward thought, Can still suspect, and still revere himself, In lowliness of heart.