Yet not while Walter liv'd-for, though their Parents Lay buried side by side as now they lie, The old Man was a father to the boys, Two fathers in one father and if tears Shed, when he talk'd of them where they were not, And hauntings from the infirmity of love, Are aught of what makes up a mother's heart, Was half a mother to them.-If you weep, Sir, To hear a stranger talking about strangers, Heaven bless you when you are among your kindred! Aye. You may turn that way—it is a grave LEONARD. These Boys I hope They lov'd this good old Man PRIEST. They did-and truly, But that was what we almost overlook'd, They were such darlings of each other. For Yet he being old, they had much love to spare, And it all went into each other's hearts. Leonard, the elder by just eighteen months, Was two years taller: 'twas a joy to see, To hear, to meet them! from their house the School Was distant three short miles, and in the time Of storm and thaw, when every water-course And unbridg'd stream, such as you may have notic'd Crossing our roads at every hundred steps, Was swoln into a noisy rivulet, Would Leonard then, when elder boys perhaps Upon the hither side :-and once I said, As I remember, looking round these rocks And hills on which we all of us were born, That God who made the great book of the world LEONARD, It may be then PRIEST. Never did worthier lads break English bread : The finest Sunday that the Autumn saw, Could never keep these boys away from church, As many of their betters-and for Leonard! The very night before he went away, LEONARD. It seems, these Brothers have not liv'd to be A comfort to each other. PRIEST. That they might Live to that end, is what both old and young In this our valley all of us have wish'd, And what, for my part, I have often pray'd: But Leonard LEONARD. Then James still is left among you PRIEST. "Tis of the elder Brother I am speaking : They had an Uncle, he was at that time But, as I said, old Walter was too weak To strive with such a torrent; when he died, 'Tis now twelve years since we had tidings from him. If there was one among us who had heard That Leonard Ewbank was come home again, |