composed were well adapted to
soothe and cherish that contemplative sadness which, when the wounds
of grief are healing, it is a luxury to indulge, and that the poet did
indulge them is self-evident in many a line.

In returning to Stoke Green to spend the night, some of the rustic
peasantry were wending their way down the lane to the same place, but
none of these simple people, although questioned, could tell aught of
him whose fame and works had induced the pilgrimage to Stoke; neither
did better success attend any succeeding inquiry at the village. So
universally true is that scriptural saying, like ALL the sayings of
HIM who uttered it, that a prophet is not without honor, save in his
own country and in his own house.

Retiring to rest early, with a full determination to do that which had
often been resolved but never accomplished, that is, to rise with the
dawn; the resolution had nearly defeated the purpose, inasmuch as the
mind being surcharged with the past and the expected, there was little
inclination to sleep until after midnight. But a full and fixed
determination of the will overcomes greater difficulties, and the
first streak of light at break of day found me up and dressed, and of
a truth

Brushing with hasty steps the dews away,
To meet the sun upon the upland lawn.

The dawn was most lovely, and the perfume from the hawthorns
delicious; every thing indicated a beautiful day. The sarcophagus
stands on the most elevated spot, and there, where probably in days
long past the poet had watched the rising of the sun, did I, a humble
pilgrim at his shrine, await the same sublime spectacle.

As if to gratify a long cherished desire, the sun did rise with a
splendor impossible to be exceeded, and the following lines, by an
anonymous author, immediately recurred to memory:

O who can paint the rapture of the soul,
As o'er the scene the sun first steals to sight,
And all the world of vapors as they roll,
And heaven's vast arch unveils in living light.

To witness the break of day in the country is indeed a luxury to which
the inhabitants of cities are strangers. As the sun rose from the
horizon, his increasing light brought into view myriads of dew-drops
on every bud and blossom, which glittered and shone like diamonds. The
sky-larks began to rise from their grassy beds among the daisies,
ascending in circles to the clouds, and caroling a music which is
almost heavenly to hear.