. Cathedrals, abbeys and churches of England and Wales, descriptive, historical, pictorial . y but impressive cenotaph erected by John Pennto the memory of Gray. The monument, separated from the park by a lowfence, is kept in beautiful order, and upon the panels are inscribed some of themost appropriate verses from the Elegy. A more lovingly tended churchyardor a quainter church it would be impossible to imagine. Here is a contrastindeed to the ragged graveyards so frequently met with not many years ago,where the paths were overgrown with moss and weeds, and a flock of sheepgrazed upon the lit
. Cathedrals, abbeys and churches of England and Wales, descriptive, historical, pictorial . y but impressive cenotaph erected by John Pennto the memory of Gray. The monument, separated from the park by a lowfence, is kept in beautiful order, and upon the panels are inscribed some of themost appropriate verses from the Elegy. A more lovingly tended churchyardor a quainter church it would be impossible to imagine. Here is a contrastindeed to the ragged graveyards so frequently met with not many years ago,where the paths were overgrown with moss and weeds, and a flock of sheepgrazed upon the little green mounds so eloquent of human love and sorrow andeternal hope. At Stoke Poges every tomb is cared for; and within the last few Stoke Poges.] TI11<] YEW TREE. 3G9 years a new piece of ground has been added, with a lych-gate designed byMr. J. Okh-id Scott. Althougli brambles and thistles lack in the older portion, andthere is a noticeable absence of the raggedness which so soon comes to a neglectedburying-place, order is not pushed to rigidity. Nature has had her way in all that. MONUMENTS IN THE CHANCEL. is lovely. Over many of the older headstones ivy has grown, apparently naturall},and the mossy lettering is framed with festoons of evergreen. The ancient yew-tree of the Elegy, which casts its shade across the porch, is tangled and inter-twined with ivy, like the stones which nestle beneath it. This same yew is thechiefest reliance of all the writers who have combated the claims of other placesto the immortality of having suggested Grays poem. It is the clearest possibleidentification of the sjjot which the poet had in his mind :— Beneath those rugged ehns, that yew-trees shade, Where heaves the turf in many a mouldering heap,Each in his narrow cell for ever laid, The rude forefathers of the hamlet sleep. Many ingenious arguments have been advanced in favour of Upton, not farfrom Stoke, and other places near and far, but Stoke churchyard so completelyanswers to the
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1890, booksubjectchurcharchitecture
