THE CHILDLESS FATHER. "Up, Timothy, up with your staff and away. Not a soul in the village this morning will stay; The hare has just started from Hamilton's grounds, And Skiddaw is glad with the cry of the hounds." -Of coats and of jackets grey, scarlet, and green, On the slopes of the pastures all colours were seen; With their comely blue aprons, and caps white as snow, The girls on the hills made a holiday show. Fresh sprigs of green box-wood, not six months before, Filled the funeral basin* at Timothy's door; * In several parts of the North of England when a funeral takes place, a basin full of Sprigs of Box A coffin through Timothy's threshold had past; One Child did it bear, and that Child was his last. Now fast up the dell came the noise and the fray. The horse and the horn, and the hark! hark away! Old Timothy took up his staff, and he shut Perhaps to himself at that moment he said, "The key I must take, for my Ellen is dead." But of this in my ears not a word did he speak, And he went to the chase with a tear on his cheek. 1800. wood is placed at the door of the house from which the coffin is taken up, and each person who attends the funeral ordinarily takes a Sprig of this Boxwood, and throws it into the grave of the deceased. MICHAEL. A PASTORAL POEM. 1F from the public way you turn your steps That overhead are sailing in the sky. It is in truth an utter solitude; Nor should I have made mention of this Dell But for one object which you might pass by, Might see and notice not. Beside the brook Appears a straggling heap of unhewn stones! And to that simple object appertains A story, unenriched with strange events, Yet not unfit, I deem, for the fireside, For their own sakes, but for the fields and hills Of natural objects led me on to feel For passions that were not my own, and think Upon the forest-side in Grasmere Vale name; An old man, stout of heart, and strong of limb. Hence had he learned the meaning of all winds, Were things indifferent to the Shepherd's thoughts. Fields, where with cheerful spirits he had breathed The common air; hills, which with vigorous step He had so often climbed; which had impressed Of hardship, skill or courage, joy or fear; |