But hear a wonder, for whose sake
This lamentable tale I tell ! 1

A lasting monument of words

This wonder merits well.

The Dog, which still was hovering nigh,

Repeating the same timid cry,

This Dog, had been through three months' space
A dweller in that savage place.

Yes, proof was plain that, since the day

When this ill-fated Traveller died,2

The Dog had watched about the spot,

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Or by his master's side:

How nourished here through such long time

He knows, who gave that love sublime;
And gave that strength of feeling, great
Above all human estimate !

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Thomas Wilkinson-referred to in the notes to The Solitary Reaper, vol. ii. pp. 399, 400, and the verses To the Spade of a Friend, in vol. iv. - alludes to this incident at some length in his poem, Emont Vale. Wilkinson attended the funeral of young Gough, and writes of the incident with feeling, but without inspiration. Gough perished early in April, and his body was not found till July 22nd, 1805. A reference to his fate will be found in Lockhart's Life of Scott (vol. ii. p. 274); also in a letter of Mr. Luff of Patterdale, to his wife, July 23rd, 1805. Henry Crabb Robinson records (see his Diary, Reminiscences, etc., vol. ii. p. 25) a conversation with Wordsworth, in which he said of this poem, that "he purposely made the narrative as prosaic as possible, in order that no discredit might be thrown on the truth of the incident."-ED.

INCIDENT

CHARACTERISTIC OF A FAVOURITE DOG *

Composed 1805.-Published 1807

[This dog I knew well. It belonged to Mrs. Wordsworth's brother, Mr. Thomas Hutchinson, who then lived at Sockburnon-the-Tees, a beautiful retired situation, where used to visit him and his sisters before my marriage. My sister and I spent many months there after my return from Germany in 1799.— I. F.]

One of the "Poems of Sentiment and Reflection."-ED.

ON his morning rounds the Master
Goes to learn how all things fare;

Searches pasture after pasture,
Sheep and cattle eyes with care;
And, for silence or for talk,

He hath comrades in his walk;

Four dogs, each pair of different breed,

Distinguished two for scent, and two for speed.

See a hare before him started!
-Off they fly in earnest chase;
Every dog is eager-hearted,
All the four are in the race:

And the hare whom they pursue,

Knows from instinct 1 what to do ;

Her hope is near: no turn she makes ;
But, like an arrow, to the river takes.

Deep the river was, and crusted
Thinly by a one night's frost;

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1

1837.

Hath an instinct

1807.

* In 1807 and 1815 the title was Incident, Characteristic of a favourite Dog, which belonged to a Friend of the Author.-ED.

But the nimble Hare hath trusted
To the ice, and safely crost;

She hath crost, and without heed

All are following at full speed,

When, lo! the ice, so thinly spread,

Breaks and the greyhound, DART, is over-head!

Better fate have PRINCE and SWALLOW—

See them cleaving to the sport !

MUSIC has no heart to follow,
Little MUSIC, she stops short.
She hath neither wish nor heart,
Hers is now another part:

A loving creature she, and brave!

1

And fondly strives 1 her struggling friend to save.

From the brink her paws she stretches,

Very hands as you would say !

And afflicting moans she fetches,
As he breaks the ice away.

For herself she hath no fears,

Him alone she sees and hears,

Makes efforts with complainings; nor gives o'er
Until her fellow sinks to re-appear no more.2

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25

30

35

40

TRIBUTE

TO THE MEMORY OF THE SAME DOG

Composed 1805.-Published 1807

[Was written at the same time, 1805. The Dog Music died, aged and blind, by falling into a draw-well at Gallow

1 1815.

And doth her best

1807.

2

1837.

Makes efforts and complainings; nor gives o'er
Until her Fellow sunk, and reappear'd no more.

1807.

1820.

sank,

E

VOL. III

Hill, to the great grief of the family of the Hutchinsons, who, as has been before mentioned, had removed to that place from Sockburn.-I. F.]

One of the "Poems of Sentiment and Reflection."-ED.

LIE1 here, without a record of thy worth,

Beneath a 2 covering of the common earth!
It is not from unwillingness to praise,

Or want of love, that here no Stone we raise;
More thou deserv'st; but this man gives to man,
Brother to brother, this is all we can.

3

Yet they to whom thy virtues made thee dear
Shall find thee through all changes of the year :
This Oak points out thy grave; the silent tree
Will gladly stand a monument of thee.

We grieved for thee, and wished thy end were past; And willingly have laid thee here at last :

For thou hadst lived till every thing that cheers
In thee had yielded to the weight of years;
Extreme old age had wasted thee away,
And left thee but a glimmering of the day;
Thy ears were deaf, and feeble were thy knees,—

I saw thee stagger in the summer breeze,
Too weak to stand against its sportive breath,
And ready for the gentlest stroke of death.

It came, and we were glad; yet tears were shed
Both man and woman wept when thou wert dead;
Not only for a thousand thoughts that were,

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20

1 In the editions of 1807 to 1820 the following lines began They were withdrawn in 1827.

the poem.

I grieved for thee, and wished thy end were past; 1820.

25

Old household thoughts, in which thou hadst thy share ;
But for some precious boons vouchsafed to thee,
Found scarcely any where in like degree!
For love, that comes wherever life and sense
Are given by God, in thee was most intense; 1
A chain of heart, a feeling of the mind,
A tender sympathy, which did thee bind
Not only to us Men, but to thy Kind:
Yea, for thy fellow-brutes in thee we saw
A soul2 of love, love's intellectual law :--
Hence, if we wept, it was not done in shame;
Our tears from passion and from reason came,
And, therefore, shalt thou be an honoured name!

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35

TO THE DAISY

Composed 1805.--Published 1815

Placed by Wordsworth among his " Epitaphs and Elegiac Pieces."-ED.

SWEET Flower! belike one day to have

A place upon thy Poet's grave,

I welcome thee once more :

But He, who was on land, at sea,
My Brother, too, in loving thee,
Although he loved more silently,
Sleeps by his native shore.

Ah! hopeful, hopeful was the day
When to that Ship he bent his way,
To govern and to guide:

His wish was gained: a little time

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