Gbomas TKHbatelg 209 



rostral column, sacred to the memory of Cap- 

 tain Grenville, who fell in an action at sea. By 

 placing here the meed of valor, and by filling 

 these fields with the representations of those 

 who have deserved best of mankind, the char- 

 acter intended to be given to the spot is justly 

 and poetically expressed, and the number of the 

 images which are presented or excited per- 

 fectly corresponds with it. Solitude was never 

 reckoned among the charms of Elysium ; it has 

 been always pictured as the mansion of delight 

 and of joy, and in this imitation every circum- 

 stance accords with that established idea : the 

 vivacity of the stream which flows through the 

 vale, the glimpses of another approaching to 

 join it, the sprightly verdure of the green- 

 sward, and every bust of the British worthies, 

 reflected in the water ; the variety of the trees, 

 the lightness of their greens, their disposition, 

 all of them distinct objects, and dispersed over 

 gentle inequalities of the ground, together with 

 the multiplicity of objects, both within and 

 without, which embellish and enliven the scene, 

 give it a gayety which the imagination can 

 hardly conceive, or the heart wish to be ex- 

 ceeded. 



Close by this spot, and a perfect contrast to 

 it, is the alder grove, a deep recess in the midst 

 of a shade, which the blaze of noon cannot 



