PETHERTON-BRIDGE
.
AN
ELEGY
Tradition
holds
,
that
the
catastrophe
alluded
to
in
this
elegy
hap
pened
about
two
centuries
ago
;
of
which
the
sculpture
is
yet
to
be
seen
at
the
above-mentioned
bridge
,
near
South-Petherton
,
Somerset
.
.
INSCRIBED
TO
THE
REV.
MR.
BEAN
,
OF
STOKE-SUB-HAMDON
,
SOMERSET
.
BY
THE
SAME
.
O
Bean
!
whose
fond
connubial
days
A
beauteous
infant-race
attend
;
Say
,
wilt
thou
once
more
aid
my
lays
,
And
join
the
patron
to
the
friend
?
But
not
o'er
bright
Aonian
plains
,
Enraptur'd
as
we
us'd
to
roam
:
The
Muse
each
joyous
thought
restrains
,
And
calls
her
wing'd
ideas
home
.
The
wedded
pair
for
children
pray
;
They
come
—
fair
blessings
from
the
skies
:
What
raptures
gild
the
haleyon
day
!
What
joys
in
distant
azure
rise
!
But
ah
!
enamour'd
as
they
view
The
smiling
,
hopeful
,
infant-train
,
Unseen
,
misfortune
marks
his
due
,
Unheard
,
he
threats
the
heart
with
pain
.
Had
sad
disaster
ne'er
ensnar'd
The
soft
,
the
innocent
,
and
young
,
The
tender
Muse
had
gladly
spar'd
The
little
heroes
of
her
song
.
See'st
thou
the
limpid
current
glide
Beneath
yon
bridge
,
my
hapless
theme
,
Where
brambles
fringe
its
verdant
side
,
And
willows
tremble
o'er
the
stream
?
From
Petherton
it
takes
its
name
,
From
whence
two
smiling
infants
stray'd
:
Led
by
the
stream
they
hither
came
,
And
on
the
flowery
margin
play'd
.
Sweet
victims
!
must
your
short-liv'd
day
So
soon
extinguish
in
the
wave
;
And
point
the
setting
sun
his
way
,
That
glimmer'd
o'er
your
watry
grave
!
As
each
by
childish
fancy
led
,
Cropt
the
broad
daisies
as
they
sprung
;
Lay
stretch'd
along
the
verdant
bed
,
And
sweetly
ply'd
the
lisping
tongue
;
Lo
!
from
the
spray-deserted
steep
,
Where
either
way
the
twigs
divide
,
The
one
roll'd
headlong
to
the
deep
,
And
plung'd
beneath
the
closing
tide
.
The
other
saw
,
and
from
the
land
,
(
While
nature
imag'd
strange
distress
)
Stretch'd
o'er
the
brink
his
little
hand
,
The
fruitless
signal
of
redress
.
The
offer'd
pledge
,
without
delay
,
The
struggling
victim
rose
and
caught
;
But
ah
!
in
vain
—
their
fatal
way
,
They
both
descended
swift
as
thought
.
Short
was
the
wave-oppressing
space
;
Convuls'd
with
pains
too
sharp
to
bear
,
Their
lives
dissolv'd
in
one
embrace
;
Their
mingled
souls
flew
up
in
air
.
Lo
!
there
yon
time-worn
sculpture
shews
The
sad
,
the
melancholy
truth
;
What
pangs
the
tortur'd
parent
knows
,
What
snares
await
defenceless
youth
.
Here
,
not
to
sympathy
unknown
,
Full
oft
the
sad
Muse
wandering
near
,
Bends
silent
o'er
the
mossy
stone
,
And
wets
it
with
a
willing
tear
.