Page:Elegia scritta in un cimitero campestre.djvu/20

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XX


The next with dirges due in sad array
Slow thro' the church-way path we saw him born.
Approach and read (for thou can'st read) the lay,

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Grav'd on the stone beneath yon aged thorn.


Here rests his head upon the lap of earth
A youth to fortune and to fame unknown.
Fair science frown'd not on his humble birth,

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And melancholy mark'd him for her own.


Large was his bounty, and his soul sincere,
Heav'n did a recompence as largely send:
He gave to mis'ry all he had, a tear;

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He gain'd from heav'n ('twas all he wish'd) a friend.


No farther seek his merits to disclose,
Or draw his frailties from their dread abode,
(There they alike in trembling hope repose)

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The bosom of his Father and his God.