CVIII.—ELEGY WRITTEN IN A COUNTRY CHURCH-YARD.
GRAY.
Thomas Gray was born in London, December 26, 1716, and died in 1771. The following poem has been always deservedly popular. The manuscript of it was sold in London in 1854 for £131.
1. The curfew tolls the knell of parting day;
The lowing herds wind slowly o’er the lea;
The ploughman homeward plods his weary way,
And leaves the world to darkness and to me.
2. Now fades the glimmering landscape on the sight,
And all the air a solemn stillness holds,