No other sheep were near, the Lamb was all alone, The Lamb, while from her hand he thus his supper took, Seemed to feast with head and ears; and his tail with pleasure shook. "Drink, pretty Creature, drink," she said in such a tone That I almost received her heart into my own. 'Twas little Barbara Lewthwaite, a Child of beauty rare! "What ails thee, Young One? what? Why pull so at thy cord? Is it not well with thee? well both for bed and board? "What is it thou wouldst seek? What is wanting to thy heart? Thy limbs are they not strong? And beautiful thou art : This grass is tender grass; these flowers they have no peers; And that green corn all day is rustling in thy ears! "If the Sun be shining hot, do but stretch thy woollen chain, This beech is standing by, its covert thou canst gain; For rain and mountain storms! the like thou needest not fear The rain and storm are things that scarcely can come here. 'Rest, little Young One, rest; thou hast forgot the day When my Father found thee first in places far away; Many flocks were on the hills, but thou wert owned by none, And thy mother from thy side for evermore was gone. "He took thee in his arms, and in pity brought thee home : A blessed day for thee! then whither wouldst thou roam? A faithful Nurse thou hast; the dam that did thee yean Upon the mountain tops no kinder could have been. "Thou knowest that twice a day I have brought thee in this can Fresh water from the brook, as clear as ever ran; And twice in the day, when the ground is wet with dew, I bring thee draughts of milk, warm milk it is and new. "Thy limbs will shortly be twice as stout as they are now, Then I'll yoke thee to my cart like a pony in the plough ; My playmate thou shalt be; and when the wind is cold Our hearth shall be thy bed, our house shall be thy fold. "It will not, will not rest !—Poor Creature, can it be "Alas, the mountain tops that look so green and fair! I've heard of fearful winds and darkness that come there; The little brooks that seem all pastime and all play, When they are angry, roar like lions for their prey. "Here thou needest not dread the raven in the sky; Night and day thou art safe,—our cottage is hard by. Why bleat so after me? Why pull so at thy chain? Sleep-and at break of day I will come to thee again!` -As homeward through the lane I went with lazy feet, This song to myself did I oftentimes repeat; And it seemed, as I retraced the ballad line by line, That but half of it was hers, and one half of it was mine. Again, and once again, did I repeat the song; "Nay," said I, "more than half to the Damsel must belong, For she looked with such a look, and she spake with such a tone, That I almost received her heart into my own." THE CHILDLESS FATHER. "UP, Timothy, up with your staff and away! -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, A coffin through Timothy's threshold had past; 1 In several parts of the North of England when a funeral takes place, a basin full of Sprigs of Box-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 Box-wood, and throws it into the grave of the deceased. Now fast up the dell came the noise and the fray, Perhaps to himself at that moment he said, THE REVERIE OF POOR SUSAN. At the corner of Wood Street, when daylight appears, 'Tis a note of enchantment; what ails her? She sees A mountain ascending, a vision of trees; Bright volumes of vapour through Lothbury glide, Green pastures she views in the midst of the dale, She looks, and her heart is in heaven: but they fade, POWER OF MUSIC. AN Orpheus! an Orpheus !—yes, Faith may grow bold, Near the stately Pantheon you'll meet with the same His station is there ;-and he works on the crowd, What an eager assembly! what an empire is this ! As the Moon brightens round her the clouds of the night, It gleams on the face, there, of dusky-browed Jack, That errand-bound 'Prentice was passing in haste- The Porter sits down on the weight which he bore; C |