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him—Suggestion that the least ambitious Inquirers may be most free from error—The Pastor is desired to give some Portraits of the living or dead from his own observation of life among these Mountains—and for what purpose—Pastor consents—Mountain cottage—Excellent qualities of its Inhabitants—Solitary expresses his pleasure; but denies the praise of virtue to worth of this kind—Feelings of the Priest before he enters upon his account of Persons interred in the Church-yard—Graves of unbaptized Infants—What sensations they excite—Funereal and sepulchral Observances—Whence—Ecclesiastical Establishments—Whence derived—Profession of Belief in the doctrine of Imraortality.
THE CHURCH-YARD AMONG THE MOUNTAINS.
Poet's Address to the State and Church of England—The Pastor not inferior to the ancient Worthies of the Church—He begins his Narratives with an Instance of unrequited love—Anguish of mind subdued—and how—The lonely Miner, an Instance of Perseverance, which leads by contrast to an Example of abused talents, irresolution, and weakness—Solitary, applying this covertly to his own case, asks for an Instance of some Stranger, whose dispositions may have led him to end his days here—Pastor, in answer, gives an account of the harmonizing influence of Solitude upon two Men of opposite principles, who had encountered agitations in public life—The Rule by which Peace may be obtained expressed—and where—Solitary hints at an over-powering Fatality—Answer of the Pastor—What subjects he will exclude from his Narratives—Conversation upon this—Instance of an unamiable Character, a Female—and why given—Contrasted with this, a meek Sufferer, from unguarded and betrayed Love—Instance of heavier guilt—and its consequences to the Offender—With this Instance of a Marriage Contract broken is contrasted one of a Widower, evidencing his faithful affection towards his deceased Wife by his care of their female Children—Second Marriage of a Widower prudential and happy.
