The Vicar paused; and toward a seat advanced, A long stone-seat, fixed in the Church-yard wall;[HX] Part shaded by cool sycamore, and part 780 Offering a sunny resting-place to them[591] Who seek the House of worship, while the bells Yet ring with all their voices, or before The last hath ceased its solitary knoll. Beneath the shade we all sate down;[592] and there 785 His office, uninvited, he resumed.
"As on a sunny bank, a tender lamb Lurks in safe shelter from the winds of March, Screened by its parent, so that little mound Lies guarded by its neighbour; the small heap 790 Speaks for itself; an Infant there doth rest; The sheltering hillock is the Mother's grave.[HY] If mild discourse, and manners that conferred A natural dignity on humblest rank; If gladsome spirits, and benignant looks, 795 That for a face not beautiful did more Than beauty for the fairest face can do; And if religious tenderness of heart, Grieving for sin, and penitential tears Shed when the clouds had gathered and distained 800 The spotless ether of a maiden life; If these may make a hallowed spot of earth More holy in the sight of God or Man; Then, o'er that mould,[593] a sanctity shall brood Till the stars sicken at the day of doom. 805
"Ah! what a warning for a thoughtless man, Could field or grove, could[594] any spot of earth, Show to his eye an image of the pangs Which it hath witnessed;[HZ] render back an echo Of the sad steps by which it hath been trod! 810 There, by her innocent Baby's precious grave, And on the very turf[595] that roofs her own, The Mother oft was seen to stand, or kneel In the broad day, a weeping Magdalene.[596] Now she is not; the swelling turf reports 815 Of the fresh shower, but of poor Ellen's tears Is silent; nor is any vestige left Of the path worn by mournful tread of her Who, at her heart's light bidding, once had moved In virgin fearlessness, with step that seemed[597] 820 Caught from the pressure of elastic turf Upon the mountains gemmed[598] with morning dew, In the prime hour of sweetest scents and airs. --Serious and thoughtful was her mind; and yet, By reconcilement exquisite and rare, 825 The form, port, motions, of this Cottage-girl Were such as might have quickened and inspired A Titian's hand, addrest to picture forth Oread or Dryad glancing through the shade What time the hunter's earliest horn is heard 830 Startling the golden hills. "A wide-spread elm Stands in our valley, named THE JOYFUL TREE;[599] From dateless usage which our peasants hold Of giving welcome to the first of May By dances round its trunk.--And if the sky 835 Permit, like honours, dance and song, are paid To the Twelfth Night, beneath the frosty stars Or the clear moon. The queen of these gay sports, If not in beauty yet in sprightly air, Was hapless Ellen.--No one touched the ground 840 So deftly, and the nicest maiden's locks Less gracefully were braided;--but this praise, Methinks, would better suit another place.