And lo! the sailors homeward take their way;
Man must endure-let us submit and pray.

Such are our Winter-views: but night comes on-
Now business sleeps, and daily cares are gone;
Now parties form, and some their friends assist
To waste the idle hours at sober whist;

The tavern's pleasure or the concert's charm
Unnumber'd moments of their sting disarm;
Play-bills and open doors a crowd invite,
Το pass off one dread portion of the night;
And show and song and luxury combined,
Lift off from man this burthen of mankind.

Others advent'rous walk abroad and meet
Returning parties pacing through the street,
When various voices, in the dying day,

Hum in our walks, and greet us in our way;
When tavern-lights flit on from room to room,
And guide the tippling sailor staggering home:
There as we pass, the jingling bells betray
How business rises with the closing day :
Now walking silent, by the river's side,
The ear perceives the rippling of the tide;
Or measured cadence of the lads who tow
Some enter'd hoy, to fix her in her row;
Or hollow sound, which from the parish-bell
To some departed spirit bids farewell!

Thus shall you something of our BOROUGH know,
Far as a verse, with Fancy's aid, can show,
Of Sea or River, of a Quay or Street,
The best description must be incomplete,
But when a happier theme succeeds, and when
Men are our subjects and the deeds of men;

Then may we find the Muse in happier style,
And we may sometimes sigh and sometimes smile. (')

(1) This promise to the reader, that he should both smile and sigh in the perusal of the following Letters may appear vain, and more than an author ought to promise; but let it be considered that the character assumed is that of a friend, who gives an account of objects, persons, and events to his correspondent, and who was therefore at liberty, without any imputation of this kind, to suppose in what manner he would be affected by such descriptions.

THE BOROUGH.

LETTER II.

THE CHURCH.

Festinat enim decurrere velox.

Flosculus angustæ miseræque brevissima vitæ
Portio! dum bibimus, dum serta, unguenta, puellas
Poscimus, obrepit non intellecta senectus.—Juv. Sat. ix. (1.)

And when at last thy Love shall die,

Wilt thou receive his parting breath?

Wilt thou repress each struggling sigh,

And cheer with smiles the bed of death? - PERCY

(1)

["Lo! while we give the unregarded hour

To revelry and joy, in Pleasure's bower,

While now, for rosy wreaths our brows to twine,
And now for nymphs we call, and now for wine;
The noiseless foot of Time steals swiftly by,

And ere we dream of manhood, age is nigh.

"I believe that there was no translation of this satire in Shakspeare's time; yet he has given, with kindred genius, a copy of obrepit non intellecta senectus:

6 on our quick'st attempts,

The noiseless and inaudible foot of Time
Steals ere we can effect them.'"- GIFFORD.]

Several Meanings of the Word Church - The Building so called, here intended Its Antiquity and Grandeur Columns and Ailes - The Tower: the Stains made by Time compared with the mock Antiquity of the Artist-Progress of Vegetation on such Buildings - Bells - Tombs: one in decay - Mural Monuments, and the Nature of their Inscriptions An Instance in a departed Burgess - Churchyard Graves Mourners for the Dead - A Story of a betrothed Pair in humble Life, and Effects of Grief in the Survivor.

33

THE BOROUGH.

LETTER II.

THE CHURCH.

WHAT is a Church?"-Let Truth and Reason

speak,

They would reply, "The faithful, pure, and meek; "From Christian folds, the one selected race, "Of all professions, and in every place."

[cries, "What is a Church?"-" A flock," our Vicar "Whom bishops govern and whom priests advise; "Wherein are various states and due degrees, "The Bench for honour, and the Stall for ease; “That ease be mine, which, after all his cares, "The pious, peaceful prebendary shares."

"What is a Church?"- Our honest Sexton tells, “'T is a tall building, with a tower and bells; "Where priest and clerk with joint exertion strive "To keep the ardour of their flock alive; "That, by his periods eloquent and grave; "This, by responses, and a well-set stave: