 | An elegy Wrote under a Gallows |  |
AN ELEGY Wrote under a Gallows.
Let me associate with the serious night,
And contemplation her sedate compeer.
Thomson's Seasons.
And contemplation her sedate compeer.
Thomson's Seasons.
9
Dun-vested Twilight now along the sky,
With tardy-moving pace, begins to creep;
Toward their solemn gloom-wrap'd mansions fly
The ebon rooks, spread o'er the mountain steep.
With tardy-moving pace, begins to creep;
Toward their solemn gloom-wrap'd mansions fly
The ebon rooks, spread o'er the mountain steep.
And now from Stygian cave, would haggard night
Throw her deep horrors o'er the shuddering ground,
Did not pale Cynthia give a lurid light
Through the thick clouds which gird th'horizon round.
Throw her deep horrors o'er the shuddering ground,
Did not pale Cynthia give a lurid light
Through the thick clouds which gird th'horizon round.
Soul-sad'ning stillness lulls the pensive air,
Save that from far, with awe-impressing knowl,
The swinging bell keep stated time I hear,
Slowly-responsive to the clamant owl:
Save that from far, with awe-impressing knowl,
The swinging bell keep stated time I hear,
Slowly-responsive to the clamant owl:
10
Now, melancholy musing, takes her fill,
Alone from distant home doth she remain,
With faintly-falling foot winds up the hill,
Or plods along the solitary plain.
Alone from distant home doth she remain,
With faintly-falling foot winds up the hill,
Or plods along the solitary plain.
Where this bald barren spot of earth expands,
Deck'd with no shade of plant, or flow'rets smile,
Rear'd by some skill-conducted artist's hands,
A gallows frowns, a terror-striking pile.
Deck'd with no shade of plant, or flow'rets smile,
Rear'd by some skill-conducted artist's hands,
A gallows frowns, a terror-striking pile.
Full of the nurse, his fell of hair erect,
The late returning school-boy dreads to pass;
And far around (unless her swain protect)
Wanders the rural simple-minded lass.
The late returning school-boy dreads to pass;
And far around (unless her swain protect)
Wanders the rural simple-minded lass.
Yet underneath does contemplation sit,
Leaning her cheek against the dewy post;
And tho' the moisture down her bosom flit,
She heeds it not, in deep reflection lost.
Leaning her cheek against the dewy post;
And tho' the moisture down her bosom flit,
She heeds it not, in deep reflection lost.
How many hapless mortal beings here,
In hempen string, have dangled out of life,
Ne'er laid upon the consecrated bier,
But given to the surgeon's ruthless knife!
In hempen string, have dangled out of life,
Ne'er laid upon the consecrated bier,
But given to the surgeon's ruthless knife!
11
Some, whose blank minds, no spark of mercy knew,
To horrid deeds of desperation slow,
And driv'n by hot-brain'd frenzy not a few,
To lift their hands, and strike the fatal blow.
To horrid deeds of desperation slow,
And driv'n by hot-brain'd frenzy not a few,
To lift their hands, and strike the fatal blow.
Here pettyfogging forgery has oft
Its due desert, and last sad tremors felt:
Here window-scaling elves have swung aloft;
And rape has dy'd, for deeds he never dealt.
Its due desert, and last sad tremors felt:
Here window-scaling elves have swung aloft;
And rape has dy'd, for deeds he never dealt.
Here thieves of every size, and every sort,
Who, once firm-joined in many a social gang,
Dar'd with the legislative pow'r to sport,
At various times, in various numbers hang.
Who, once firm-joined in many a social gang,
Dar'd with the legislative pow'r to sport,
At various times, in various numbers hang.
Of graceful mein the highway-robber, here,
Who, mounted bravely on his gallant steed,
Could a whole caravan half-kill with fear,
Nor youth can save, nor valour's hardy deed.
Who, mounted bravely on his gallant steed,
Could a whole caravan half-kill with fear,
Nor youth can save, nor valour's hardy deed.
Yet not unmourn'd, he pass'd along the road,
On the slow-dragging cart exalted high,
Caught by his form, the virgin's bosom glow'd,
And tearful pity stole into her eye.
On the slow-dragging cart exalted high,
Caught by his form, the virgin's bosom glow'd,
And tearful pity stole into her eye.
12
Ah! why would she behold this dismal sight?
Ah! why her young unharden'd breast expose?
Beside her couch, all the dead hours of night,
His ghost shall stand, and banish her repose.
Ah! why her young unharden'd breast expose?
Beside her couch, all the dead hours of night,
His ghost shall stand, and banish her repose.
But curiosity with fluttering wing,
Idle awakener of the human breast,
Perhaps of knowledge too the fruitful spring,
In every human bosom reigns confest.
Idle awakener of the human breast,
Perhaps of knowledge too the fruitful spring,
In every human bosom reigns confest.
Lost to itself beneath th'incurious shade,
Some novel scenes th'excursive mind requires,
Confin'd the active principle would fade,
Its ardour wasted, and extinct its fires.
Some novel scenes th'excursive mind requires,
Confin'd the active principle would fade,
Its ardour wasted, and extinct its fires.
Hence birth-night balls, and coronations proud,
Hence wax-work puppets draw the gazing eye,
Hence the Lord May'r's and his processive crowd,
And hapless thieves whose destiny is nigh.
Hence wax-work puppets draw the gazing eye,
Hence the Lord May'r's and his processive crowd,
And hapless thieves whose destiny is nigh.
Nor you ye rich, and haughty of the earth,
Look on these humble lays with eye askance;
Perhaps you owe to accident and birth,
That you not share with them their airy dance.
Look on these humble lays with eye askance;
Perhaps you owe to accident and birth,
That you not share with them their airy dance.
13
The murd'rer deaf to pity's whisp'ring breath,
Had he been born a ruler of mankind,
Haply o'er half the globe had scatter'd death,
And nations prais'd his high heroic mind.
Had he been born a ruler of mankind,
Haply o'er half the globe had scatter'd death,
And nations prais'd his high heroic mind.
The statesman, planted in their meaner sphere,
Untouch'd the wealth of an impoverish'd land,
The nightly thiev'ry with superior share
Of deep-directing policy had plann'd.
Untouch'd the wealth of an impoverish'd land,
The nightly thiev'ry with superior share
Of deep-directing policy had plann'd.
For sunk in low estate, the Fates deny'd
To them the broken laws, and venial sin,
Safe by the whirl the larger vessels ride,
Whose waves devouring draw the smaller in.
To them the broken laws, and venial sin,
Safe by the whirl the larger vessels ride,
Whose waves devouring draw the smaller in.
Of nice dependencies is form'd the scale,
Each imperceptible gradation just,
From those who scarce may breathe the common gale,
To those who perpetrate whate'er they lust.
Each imperceptible gradation just,
From those who scarce may breathe the common gale,
To those who perpetrate whate'er they lust.
For me, howbeit a sagely-singing wight,
These mysteries to others I consign,
Enough for me, that, in this dusky night,
The melancholy garland I intwine.
These mysteries to others I consign,
Enough for me, that, in this dusky night,
The melancholy garland I intwine.
14
Enough for me, that, while I tune the lay
In which these ill-starr'd suff'rers I bemoan,
My thoughts pace dark reflections mazy way,
And their sad exit warns me of my own.
In which these ill-starr'd suff'rers I bemoan,
My thoughts pace dark reflections mazy way,
And their sad exit warns me of my own.
Yes, all must drink the draught which death shall pour,
Nor I'll my loitering lips in vain refuse,
Yet come when will the courage-chilling hour,
Kind Heav'n forbid my dying in my shoes!
Nor I'll my loitering lips in vain refuse,
Yet come when will the courage-chilling hour,
Kind Heav'n forbid my dying in my shoes!
Ye soft Parnassian maids defend your bard,
Nor let him to his grave go down with shame;
He doth not feel one wish by dying hard,
Among th'applauding crowd to gain a name.
Nor let him to his grave go down with shame;
He doth not feel one wish by dying hard,
Among th'applauding crowd to gain a name.
Should you your sacred care remove, alas!
And meagre hunger urge him to a crime,
Should dire necessity bring this to pass,
And he be blasted in his vernal prime:
And meagre hunger urge him to a crime,
Should dire necessity bring this to pass,
And he be blasted in his vernal prime:
This on his grave be writ, that all may view:
Here lyes a luckless youth, whose ready quill
The fairy face of nature nicely drew,
And wrote quaint elegies with matchless skill:
Here lyes a luckless youth, whose ready quill
The fairy face of nature nicely drew,
And wrote quaint elegies with matchless skill:
15
But ah! by these he earn'd a scanty fare,
Though fraught with genius they were cast aside,
He hir'd a purse, he could not feed on air,
And, rather than by famine perish, dy'd.
Though fraught with genius they were cast aside,
He hir'd a purse, he could not feed on air,
And, rather than by famine perish, dy'd.
Great Rogues may thrive—and candour's self must own,
Strong the temptation was, and small the fault;
Be then to time his virtues only known,
The cause and manner of his death forgot.
Strong the temptation was, and small the fault;
Be then to time his virtues only known,
The cause and manner of his death forgot.
FINIS.
| An elegy Wrote under a Gallows | |