A work which is not here, a covenant "Twill be between us but whatever fate Befall thee, I shall love thee to the last, And bear thy memory with me to the grave." The Shepherd ended here; and Luke stoop'd down, And as his Father had requested, laid The first stone of the Sheep-fold; at the sight The Old Man's grief broke from him, to his heart He press'd his Son, he kissed him and wept; Next morning, as had been resolv'd, the Boy And all the Neighbours as he pass'd their doors That follow'd him 'till he was out of sight. A good report did from their Kinsman come, Wrote loving letters, full of wond'rous news, Both parents read them with rejoicing hearts. There is a comfort in the strength of love; 'Twill make a thing endurable, which else Would break the heart :-Old Michael found it so. I have convers'd with more than one who well Remember the Old Man, and what he was many and many a day he thither went, And never lifted up a single stone. There, by the Sheep-fold, sometimes was he seen Then old, beside him, lying at his feet. The length of full seven years from time to time Three years, or little more, did Isabel, Is gone, the ploughshare has been through the ground That grew beside their Door; and the remains Beside the boisterous brook of Green-head Gill. NOTES TO THE POEM OF THE BROTHERS. NOTE I. Page 26-line 20" There were two springs that bubbled side by side." The impressive circumstance here described, actually took place some years ago in this country, upon an eminence called Kidstow Pike, one of the highest of the mountains that surround Hawes-water. The summit of the pike was stricken by lightning; and every trace of one of the fountains disappeared, while the other continued to flow as before. 1 NOTE II. Page 29-line 5 "The thought of death sits easy on the man," &c. There is not any-thing more worthy of remark in the manners of the inhabitants of these mountains, than the tranquillity, I might say indifference, with which they think and talk upon the subject of death. Some of the country church-yards, as here described, do not contain a single tombstone, and most of them have a very small number. |