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GRAY'S POEMS.
By vain Prosperity receiv'd,
To her they vow their truth, and are again believ'd.

Wisdom in sable garb array'd,[N 1] 25
Immers'd in rapt'rous thought profound,
And Melancholy, silent maid,
With leaden eye that loves the ground,[N 2]
Still on thy solemn steps attend:
Warm Charity, the gen'ral friend, 30
With Justice, to herself severe,
And Pity, dropping soft the sadly-pleasing tear.

Oh! gently on thy suppliant's head,
Dread goddess, lay thy chast'ning hand!
Not in thy Gorgon terrors clad, 35

Notes

    Also,"The common people swarm like summer flies,
    And whither fly the gnats, but to the sun."

    Henry VI. P. iii, act 2. sc. 9. "Such summer-birds are men!" Tim. of Ath. act iii. sc. 7. But the exact expression is George Herbert's: "fall and flow, like leaves, about me, or like summer-friends, flies of estates and sunshine," Temple, p. 296. And (The W. Devil) v. Dodsley's Old Plays, vol. vi. p. 292. "One summer she." Quarles. Sion's Elegies, xix. "Ah, summer friendship with the summer ends." Mr. Rogers quotes Massinger's Maid of Honor, "O summer friendship." Gray seems to have had Horace in his mind, lib. 1. Od. xxxv. 25.

  1. ↑ V. 25. O'erlaid with black, staid Wisdom's hue,'
    V. 25. O'erlaid with black, staidIl Penser. 16. W.
  2. ↑ V. 28. "With a sad leaden downward cast,
    V. 28. Thou fix them on the earth as fast."
    Il Penser. 43. W. "So leaden eyes." Sidney. Astroph. and Stella, Song 7. "And stupid eyes that ever loved the ground," Dryden. Cim. and Iphig. v. 57. "Melancholy lifts her head," Pope. Ode on St. Cec. v. 30. "The sad companion, dull-eyed Melancholy," Pericles, act i. sc. 2. And so we read "leaden Contemplation" in Love's Lab
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