a tendency to make him admire ecclesiastical decoration, which in his later years he studied with the holy purpose of promoting the glory of God, and encouraging feelings of reverence in Christian worshippers.

The graves of Mr. KEBLE's father and mother, and of two of his sisters, are in the churchyard at Fairford, near the path on the south side of the church. In the chancel there is a mural tablet, erected by Mr. KEBLE himself, with the following inscription :

"Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord."

HUMBLE HOPE

THESE WORDS ARE HERE DEDICATED IN
TO THE MEMORY OF MANY FAITHFUL CHRISTIANS OF ONE NAME AND AMILY,

WHOSE BODIES LIE BURIED, SOME IN THIS CHANCEL,

SOME IN THE ADJOINING CHURCHYARD,
AND ESPECIALLY TO THE MOST REVERED AND PRECIOUS MEMORY

OF THE REV. JOHN KEBLE, M.A.,

SOMETIME FELLOW OF C.C.C., OXFORD,
VICAR FOR FIFTY YEARS OF COLN SAINT ALDWYN'S, NEAR FAIRFORD,

WHO DIED JAN. xxiv., MDCCCXXXV., AGED LXXXIX. YEARS ;
Of his Two SISTERS, MARY KEBLE AND ANNE KEBLE,
WHO DIED MARCH XX., MDCCCV. AND JULY XXII., MDCCCIX.,

AGED LXVIII. AND LV. YEARS ;

AND OF SARAH His Wife,
DAUGHTER OF THE Rev. JOHN MAULE, OF RINGWOOD, HANTS.,

WHO DIED MAY XI., MDCCCXXIII., AGED LXIV. YEARS,
AND OF THEIR Two DAUGHTERS, SARAH AND MARY ANNE,
WHO DIED JUNE XVI., MDCCCXIV. AND SEPTEMBER XX., MDCCCXXVI.,

AGED EIGHTEEN AND TWENTY-SEVEN YEARS.

There is also on the floor of the chancel, within the altar-rails on the south side, a lozenge-shaped tablet with the inscription, M. KEBLE, 1744; and another with the inscription A. KEBLE, 1754.

There are the following entries in the Burial Register at Fairford :

“Buried 1804, July 27, Keble, Anne, Spinster.”

Buried 1809, March 25, Mary Keble." “Buried 1754, Anne Keble, Feb. 4."

The population of Fairford at the last census was 1,654. The scenery around the village is varied and beautiful. The Cotswold hills, and the river Coln, adding much to the pleasant aspect of the country. Such scenery was well fitted to suggest to the Poet many of his beautiful thoughts.

THE POET'S BIRTH-PLACE AT FAIRFORD.

No. 2.

* Light are their steps, who in life's earliest dawn
The mountain-tops of Heavenly life ascend,
Brushing the dew-drops from the spangled lawn ;
Nor ever from the straighter path descend,
Fixing their eyes upon their journey's end;
Sweetest, best thoughts are theirs, such as have striven
With childhood, and with dawning conscience blend,
To flee all other love but that of Heaven,
Ere weigh'd to earth with sin, and much to be forgiven."

(The Baptistery, p. 16.)

HE house at Fairford, in which Mr. KEBLE was born, was left to him by his father, and has been bequeathed by him to the Rev. THOMAS KEBLE, junior, M.A., the only son of his only

brother, who also owns, by the bequest of his Aunt, Mrs. KEBLE, (to whom it was left by her husband,) the copyright of “The Christian Year,” and of the other works of his Uncle. The house is a plain stone

building near the road, with a stone wall in front of it, and it forms part of a leasehold property which has been in possession of the family for nearly one hundred years. It is now in the occupation of James Cornwall, Esq.

Near the house are many large elms, which afforded much matter for poetical thought to the great author, such as he expressed in the hymn for the Twenty-third Sunday after Trinity, in the words :