More fix’d and deeper than the maiden blush;
His paler lips the pearly teeth disclosed,
And lab’ring lungs the length’ning speech opposed. 
No more his span-girth shanks and quiv’ring thighs
Upheld a body of the smaller size;
But down he sank upon his dying bed,
And gloomy crotchets fill’d his wandering head. 
   ‘Spite of my faith, all-saving faith,’ he cried,
’I fear of worldly works the wicked pride;
Poor as I am, degraded, abject, blind,
The good I’ve wrought still rankles in my mind;
My alms-deeds all, and every deed I’ve done;
My moral-rags defile me every one;
It should not be:- what say’st thou! tell me, Ralph.’ 
Quoth I, ’Your reverence, I believe, you’re safe;
Your faith’s your prop, nor have you pass’d such time
In life’s good-works as swell them to a crime. 
If I of pardon for my sins were sure,
About my goodness I would rest secure.’ 
   “Such was his end; and mine approaches fast;
I’ve seen my best of preachers,—­and my last,” —
   He bow’d, and archly smiled at what he said,
Civil but sly:- “And is old Dibble dead?”
   Yes; he is gone:  and we are going all;
Like flowers we wither, and like leaves we fall; —
Here, with an infant, joyful sponsors come,
Then bear the new-made Christian to its home: 
A few short years and we behold him stand
To ask a blessing, with his bride in hand: 
A few, still seeming shorter, and we hear
His widow weeping at her husband’s bier:-
Thus, as the months succeed, shall infants take
Their names; thus parents shall the child forsake;
Thus brides again and bridegrooms blithe shall kneel,
By love or law compell’d their vows to seal,
Ere I again, or one like me, explore
These simple Annals of the village poor.

1801.

Footnotes: 

{1} Note:  Indentation and Punctuation as original.

{2} Allusions of this kind are to be found in the Fairy Queen.  See the end of the First Book, and other places.

*** End of the project gutenberg EBOOK, the parish Register ***

This file should be named gcrd10.txt or gcrd10.zip Corrected editions of our eBooks get a new number, gcrd11.txt versions based on separate sources get new letter, gcrd10a.txt

Project Gutenberg eBooks are often created from several printed editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the us unless a copyright notice is included.  Thus, we usually do not keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition.

We are now trying to release all our eBooks one year in advance of the official release dates, leaving time for better editing.  Please be encouraged to tell us about any error or corrections, even years after the official publication date.