They both are happy at this hour, 'Oh! it was a time forlorn Swords that are with slaughter wild To the caves, and to the brooks, To the clouds of heaven she looks; She is speechless, but her eyes Pray in ghostly agonies. Blissful Mary, Mother mild, Maid and Mother undefiled, Save a Mother and her Child! 'Now who is he that bounds with joy On Carrock's side, a Shepherd-boy? No thoughts hath he but thoughts that pass Can this be he who hither came In secret, like a smothered flame? 'Alas! when evil men are strong No life is good, no pleasure long. The Boy must part from Mosedale's groves, And quit the flowers that summer brings Must vanish, and his careless cheer Be turned to heaviness and fear. 'A recreant harp, that sings of fear And heaviness in Clifford's ear! I said, when evil men are strong, And tends a flock from hill to hill: To his side the fallow-deer Came, and rested without fear; The eagle, lord of land and sea, And both the undying fish that swim Through Bowscale-tarn did wait on him; And glancing, gleaming, dark or bright, He knew the rocks which Angels haunt Upon the mountains visitant; He hath kenned them taking wing: 130 By Voices how men lived of old. Among the heavens his eye can see The face of thing that is to be; 135 And, if that men report him right, His tongue could whisper words of might. -Now another day is come, Fitter hope, and nobler doom; Mailed and horsed, with lance and sword, To his ancestors restored Like a re-appearing Star, Like a glory from afar, First shall head the flock of war!' 155 Alas! the impassioned minstrel did not know 160 Love had he found in huts where poor men lie; The sleep that is among the lonely hills. In him the savage virtue of the Race, 165 Revenge, and all ferocious thoughts were dead: Nor did he change; but kept in lofty place The wisdom which adversity had bred. Glad were the vales, and every cottage hearth; The Shepherd-lord was honoured more and more; 170 And, ages after he was laid in earth, 'The good Lord Clifford' was the name he bore. GEORGE AND SARAH GREEN. Who weeps for strangers? Many wept By night, upon these stormy fells, Did wife and husband roam; Six little ones at home had left, For any dwelling-place of man As vainly did they seek. He perished; and a voice was heard- 5 ΙΟ |