The fcene of the following ftanzas is fuppofed to lie on the Thames near Richmond.

I.

N yonder grave a Druid lies,

IN

Where flowly winds the stealing wave! The year's best sweets shall duteous rife

To deck its poet's fylvan grave!

II.

In yon deep bed of whifp'ring reeds
His airy harp * fhall now be laid,
That he, whofe heart in forrow bleeds,
May love thro' life the foothing fhade.

III.

Then maids and youths fhall linger here,
And while its founds at distance fwell,
Shall fadly feem in Pity's ear,

To hear the woodland pilgrim's knell.

• The harp of ÆOLUS, of which see a description in the CASTLE OF INDOLENCE.

VOL. I.

IV.

Remembrance oft fhall haunt the shore

When Thames in fummer wreaths is dreft, And oft fufpend the dafhing oar

To bid his gentle fpirit reft!

V.

And oft as Eafe and Health retire
To breezy lawn, or forest deep,

The friend fhall view yon whit'ning * spire,
And 'mid the varied landscape weep.

VL

But thou, who own'ft that earthy bed,
Ah! what will ev'ry dirge avail ?
Or tears, which Love and Pity fhed,
That mourn beneath the gliding fail !

VII.

Yet lives there one, whofe heedless eye

Shall fcorn thy pale fhrine glimm❜ring near? With him, fweet bard, may Fancy die, And Joy defert the blooming year.

VIII.

But thou, lorn ftream, whofe fullen tide
No fedge-crown'd Sifters now attend,
Now waft me from the green hill's fide,
Whofe cold turf hides the buried friend!

* RICHMOND church.

IX.

And fee, the fairy vallies fade,

Dun Night has veil'd the folemn view !
Yet once again, dear parted fhade,
Meek Nature's child, again adieu !

X.

The genial meads affign'd to blefs

Thy life, fhall mourn thy early doom, Their hinds, and shepherd-girls shall dress With fimple hands thy rural tomb.

XI.

Long, long, thy ftone, and pointed clay,
Shall melt the mufing Briton's eyes,

O vales, and wild woods, fhall he fay,
In yonder grave your Druid lies!

In the morning of May 11, 1762, was opened in Westminster-abbey, a monument, erected to the memory of Mr. Thomfon. It is fituated between Shakefpear's and Rowe's, and executed by Michael Henry Spang, ftatuary, after a defign of Mr. Adam, architect to his Majesty. There is a figure of Mr. Thomfon fitting, who leans his left arm upon a pedestal, and holds a book with the cap of Liberty in his other hand. Upon the pedeftal is carved a basrelief of the Seasons, to which a boy points, offering him a laurel crown as the reward of his ge

nius. At the feet of the figure, is the tragic mask, and ancient harp. The whole is fupported by a projecting pedestal; and on a pannel, is the following infcription.

JAMES THOMSON,
Etatis 48. Obiit 27 August 1748.

Tutor❜d by thee, sweet poetry exalts
Her voice to ages; and informs the page
With mufic, image, fentiment, and thoughts,
Never to die!

This monument was erected 1762.

EPITAPH for Mг. THOMSON's monument.

Ould ftatues fpeak, no couplet were requir'd,

Co

To tell how poets liv'd by all admir'd.
But fpeech denied, the letter-titled stone
Muft tell of THOMSON, what to all is known;
"With Attic fire that SCOTIA faw him burn,
"And gave him both his cradle and his urn."
Others to marble may their glory owe,
And boast those honours sculpture can bestow.
Short-liv'd renown! that ev'ry moment must
Sink with its emblem, and consume to duft!
But THOMSON needs no artist to engrave,
From dark oblivion no device to fave.
Such puny aids let names inferior afk;
Nature for him affumes herself the task.
The Seafons are his monuments of fame,
With them to flourish, as from them it came.

THA

SEASONS.