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and
deadly
sleep,
and others
in
an
hour of dangerous
slumber
:
Many
an
acquaintance of
ours
has gone down
to
the
grave, when
neither
they,
nor
we
thought of their
dying,
at
such
a
season.
But
as
thoughtless
as
they were,
they
were
never the
further
from the point
of death
;
and
we
shudder
with
horror
when
we
think what
is
become
of
their
souls.
While
we
are
young,
we
are
ready to please
ourselves with
the enjoyments
of
life,
and flatter
our
hopes
with a
long succession
of
them.
We
suppose
death to
be
at
the distance
of
fifty
or threescore
miles
;
threescore
years
and
ten
is
the appointed
period:
But, alas
!
how few
are
there,
whose hopes
are
fulfilled,
or whose
life
is
extended
to
those dimensions?
Perhaps
the
messenger
of
death
is
within
a furlong
of
our
dwelling
;
a
few
more
steps onward, and he smites
us
down to
the dust.
There
are
some
beautiful
verses, which
I
have
read perhaps
thirty
years
ago,
wherein the ingenious
author
describes
the
different
stages
of
human
life,
under
the
image
of
a
fair
prospect, or landscape,
and death
is
placed,
by
mis-
taken
mortals, afar
off
beyond them
all.
Since
the lines
return
now
upon
my
remembrance,
I
will
repeat
them
-here
with
some small
alteration. They are
as follow
:
F.
Life, and
the
scenes
that round it
rise,
Share in
the
same uncertainties.
.
Yet
still we
hug
ourselves
with vain
presage,
Of future days,
serene
and
long,
Of
pleasures fresh,
and ever strong,
An active youth, and
slow
declining
age.
"
Like
a
fair prospect
still we
make
Things future pleasing
forms to
take:
First,
verdant
meads
arise,
arid
flow'ry
fields
:
Cool groves,
and shady
copses
here,
There
brooks,
and winding streams
appear,
While
change of
objects
still new
pleasures
yields.
"
Farther
fine
castles
court the eye,
There
wealth and honours
we
espy
;
Beyond, a
huddled mixture
fills
the stage,
Till
the remoter
distance shrouds,
The
plains
with
hills, those hills with clouds,
There
we
place
death behind
old shiv'ring
age.
"
When
death,
alas
!
perhaps too
nigh,
In the next
hedge
Both
skulking
lie,
,
There
plants
his
engines, thence
lets fly
his
dart;
Which,
while
we
ramble without
fear,
Will
stop
us
in our full
career,
And
force
us
from our
airy dreams to
part."
ßc4
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