Others advent’rous walk abroad and meet
Returning parties pacing through the street,
When various voices, in the dying day,
Hum in our walks, and greet us in our way;
When tavern-lights flit on from room to room,
And guide the tippling sailor staggering home: 
There as we pass, the jingling bells betray
How business rises with the closing day: 
Now walking silent, by the river’s side,
The ear perceives the rippling of the tide;
Or measured cadence of the lads who tow
Some entered hoy, to fix her in her row;
Or hollow sound, which from the parish-bell
To some departed spirit bids farewell! 
   Thus shall you something of our borough know,
Far as a verse, with Fancy’s aid, can show. 
Of Sea or River, of a Quay or Street,
The best description must be incomplete;
But when a happier theme succeeds, and when
Men are our subjects and the deeds of men,
Then may we find the Muse in happier style,
And we may sometimes sigh and sometimes smile.

LETTER II.

. . . . . . . .  Festinat enim decurrere velox
Flosculus angustae miseraeque brevissima vitae
Portio! dum bibimus, dum serta, unguenta, puellas
Poscimus, obrepit non intellecta senectus. 
Juvenal, Satires

And when at last thy Love shall die,
Wilt thou receive his parting breath? 
Wilt thou repress each struggling sigh,
And cheer with smiles the bed of death? 
                                 Percy.

---------------

The church.

Several Meanings of the word Church—­The Building so called, here intended—­Its Antiquity and Grandeur—­Columns and Aisles—­The Tower:  the Stains made by Time compared with the mock antiquity of the Artist—­Progress of Vegetation on such Buildings—­Bells—­Tombs:  one in decay—­Mural Monuments, and the Nature of their Inscriptions—­An Instance in a departed Burgess—­Churchyard Graves—­Mourners for the Dead—­A Story of a betrothed Pair in humble Life, and Effects of Grief in the Survivor.

“What is a Church?”—­Let Truth and Reason speak,
They would reply, “The faithful, pure, and meek;
From Christian folds, the one selected race,
Of all professions, and in every place.” 
“What is a Church?”—­“A flock,” our Vicar cries,
“Whom bishops govern and whom priests advise;
Wherein are various states and due degrees,
The Bench for honour, and the Stall for ease;
That ease be mine, which, after all his cares,
The pious, peaceful prebendary shares.” 
“What is a Church?”—­Our honest Sexton tells,
“’Tis a tall building, with a tower and bells;
Where priest and clerk with joint exertion strive
To keep the ardour af their flock alive;
That, by its periods eloquent and grave;
This, by responses, and a well-set stave: 
These for the living; but when life be fled,
I toll myself the requiem for the dead.”