THE EPITAPH

_Here rests his head upon the lap of earth

A youth to fortune and to fame unknown;

Fair Science frowned not on his humble birth,

And Melancholy marked him for her own.

Large was his bounty, and his soul sincere;

Heaven did a recompense as largely send:

He gave to Misery (all he had) a tear,

He gained from Heaven ('twas all he wished) 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._

English Poets of the Eighteenth Century · 第 172 / 322 题