With niggard-caution, his appointed prize;

For now, ere yet he works his tedious way,

Through cloth and wood and metal to his prey,

That prey dissolving shall a mass remain,

That fancy loathes and worms themselves disdain.

But see! the master-mourner makes his way,

To end his office for the coffin’d clay;

Pleased that our rustic men and maids behold

His plate like silver, and his studs like gold,

As they approach to spell the age, the name,