Where heaves the turf in many a mouldering heap,
Each in his narrow cell for ever laid,

Describing the natural tendency for old graves to be other than flat. Initially the soil was heaped into a mound on a fresh grave; over time it might settle into a noticeable depression.

"Cell" may refer specifically to the coffin, or more generally the grave site. The eighteenth-century understanding of "cell" is primarily a small cavity or hollow place. It has religious connotations--cells may refer to the caves or small rooms where religious persons live--but "cell" also holds a more modern connotation of a small and close apartment in a prison.

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