Maiden! they bade me o'er thy fate
Numbers and strains mellifluous swell,
They knew the love I bore thee great,--
They knew not what I ne'er can tell.
The unstrung heart to others leaves
The music of a feebler woe,
Her numbers are the sighs she heaves,
Her off'ring tears that ever flow.
Where could I gather fancies now?
They 're with'ring on thy lowly tomb,--
My summer was thy cheek and brow,
And perish'd is that lovely bloom!
THOMAS BROWN, M.D.
Illustrious as a metaphysician, Dr Thomas Brown is entitled to a place
in the poetical literature of his country. He was the youngest son of
Samuel Brown, minister of Kirkmabreck, in the stewartry of
Kirkcudbright, and was born in the manse of that parish, on the 9th
January 1778. His father dying when he was only a year old, his
childhood was superintended solely by his mother, who established her
abode in Edinburgh. Evincing an uncommon aptitude for knowledge, he
could read and understand the Scriptures ere he had completed his fifth
year. At the age of seven he was committed to the charge of a maternal
uncle in London, who placed him at the schools of Camberwell and
Chiswick, and afterwards at two other classical seminaries, in all of
which he exhibited remarkable precocity in learning. On the death of his
relative he returned to Edinburgh, and in his fourteenth year entered
the University of that city.
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