The fourth bears this inscription:
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his Monument, in honour ofTHOMAS GRAY,Was erected A.D. 1799,Among the sceneryCelebrated by that great Lyric and Elegiac Poet.He died in 1771,And lies unnoted in the adjoining Church-yard,Under the Tomb-stone on which he piouslyAnd pathetically recorded the intermentOf his Aunt and lamented Mother. This monument is in a neatly kept garden-like enclosure, with awinding walk approaching from the shade of the neighbouring trees. Tothe right, across the park, at some little distance, backed by finetrees, stands the rural little church and churchyard where Gray wrotehis _Elegy_, and where he lies. As you walk on to this, the mansioncloses the distant view between the woods with fine effect. Thechurch has often been engraved, and is therefore tolerably familiarto the general reader. It consists of two barn-like structures, withtall roofs, set side by side, and the tower and finely tapered spirerising above them at the northwest corner. The church is thickly hungwith ivy, where "The moping owl may to the moon complainOf such as, wandering near her secret bower,Molest her ancient, solitary reign." The structure is as simple and old-fashioned, both without andwithin, as any village church can well be. No village, however, is tobe seen. Stoke consists chiefly of scattered houses, and this is nowin the midst of the park. In the churchyard, "Beneath those rugged elms, that yew-tree's shade,Where heaves the turf in many a mouldering heap,Each in his narrow cell forever laid,The rude forefathers of the hamlet sleep." All this is quite literal; and the tomb of the poet himself, near thesoutheast window, completes the impression of the scene. It is aplain brick altar tomb, covered with a blue slate slab, and, besideshis own ashes, contains those of his mother and aunt. On the slab areinscribed the following lines by Gray himself: "In the vault beneathare deposited, in hope of a joyful resurrection, the remains of _MaryAntrobus_. She died unmarried, Nov. 5, 1749, aged sixty-six. In thesame pious confidence, beside her friend and sister, here sleep theremains of _Dorothy Gray_, widow; the careful, tender mother of manychildren, ONE of whom alone had the misfortune to survive her. Shedied, March 11, 1753, aged LXXII." No testimony of the interment of Gray in the same tomb was inscribedanywhere till Mr. Penn, in 1799, erected the monument alreadymentioned, and placed a small slab in the wall, under the window,opposite to the tomb itself, recording the fact of Gray's burialthere. The whole scene is well worthy of a summer day's stroll,especially for such as, pent in the metropolis, know how to enjoy thequiet freshness of the country and the associations of poetry and thepast. [Illustration: GRAY'S MONUMENT, STOKE PARK.]
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