"A jolly place," said he, "in times of old! But something ails it now: the spot is curst. "You see these lifeless stumps of aspen-wood, Some say that they are beeches, others elms, These were the bower; and here a mansion stood, The finest palace of a hundred realms! "The arbor does its own condition tell; You see the stones, the fountain, and the stream; But as to the great Lodge! you might as well Hunt half a day for a forgotten dream. "There's neither dog nor heifer, horse nor sheep, "Some say that here a murder has been done, And blood cries out for blood: but, for my part, I've guessed, when I've been sitting in the sun, That it was all for that unhappy Hart. "What thoughts must through the creature's brain have past! Even from the topmost stone, upon the steep, "For thirteen hours he ran a desperate race; And in my simple mind we cannot tell What cause the Hart might have to love this place, And come and make his death-bed near the well. "Here on the grass perhaps asleep he sank, Lulled by the fountain in the summer tide; This water was perhaps the first he drank When he had wandered from his mother's side. "In April here beneath the flowering thorn "Now, here is neither grass nor pleasant shade; The sun on drearier hollow never shone ; So will it be, as I have often said, Till trees, and stones, and fountain, all are gone." "Gray-headed Shepherd, thou hast spoken well; "The Being, that is in the clouds and air, "The pleasure-house is dust: - behind, before, This is no common waste, no common gloom; But Nature, in due course of time, once more "She leaves these objects to a slow decay, "One lesson, Shepherd, let us two divide, 1800. XXV. SONG AT THE FEAST OF BROUGHAM CASTLE, UPON THE RESTORATION OF LORD CLIFFORD, THE SHEPHERD, TO THE ESTATES AND HONORS OF HIS ANCESTORS. HIGH in the breathless Hall the Minstrel sate, "From town to town, from tower to tower, She lifts her head for endless spring, Both roses flourish, red and white: The two that were at strife are blended, And all old troubles now are ended. But chiefly from above the board Where sits in state our rightful Lord, A Clifford to his own restored! "They came with banner, spear, and shield; And it was proved in Bosworth-field. Not long the Avenger was withstood, Earth helped him with the cry of blood: "How glad is Skipton at this hour,Though lonely, a deserted Tower; Knight, squire, and yeoman, page and groom: We have them at the feast of Brough'm. A taste of this great pleasure, viewing And she that keepeth watch and ward Him, and his Lady-mother dear! "O, it was a time forlorn Swords that are with slaughter wild |