[Nineteenth-century agricultural poetry.] Fair copy manuscript of anonymous (American?) poem titled 'Elegy on the death of a Farm Laborer.' With emendations and additions in pencil.

10pp.,, 8vo. On five leaves torn from a notebook. In fair condition, on aged and lightly-worn paper. A creditable effort, showing the influence of Gray's 'Elegy' and Goldsmith's 'Deserted Village', describing the unnamed farm hand's funeral, and reflecting on the virtues and hardships of the poor. Begins: 'From yonder peaceful and secluded dell, | Snug in the bosom of th'encircling hills, | The perfumed Zephyr bears a passing knell, | And melancholy o'er the Soul distils. | It tells us hoary Time's unswerving flight | Has snapped the thread of Life's uncertain span; | And that grim Death with his relentless might, | Has swung his sickle through th'abode of man.' Care has been taken in the revision of the text, with emendations including several passages deleted and replaced. The poem ends abruptly on the tenth page, suggesting that it is not complete: 'Then comes the happy and eventful day | When scarce-used clothes once more are brought to view'.