No swinging sign-board creaked from cottage elm To stay his steps with faintness overcome; 'Twas dark and void as ocean's watery realm Roaring with storms beneath night's starless gloom; No gipsy cower'd o'er fire of furze or broom; No labourer watched his red kiln glaring bright, Nor taper glimmered dim from sick man's room; Along the waste no line of mournful light
Her he addressed in words of cheering sound. Recovering heart, like answer did she make; And well it was that, of the corse there found, In converse that ensued she nothing spake; She knew not what dire pangs in him such tale could wake.
But soon his voice and words of kind intent Banished that dismal thought; and now the wind
From lamp of lonely toll-gate streamed athwart the In fainter howlings told its rage was spent:
At length, though hid in clouds, the moon arose ; The downs were visible-and now revealed
A structure stands, which two bare slopes enclose.
It was a spot, where, ancient vows fulfilled,
Kind pious hands did to the virgin build
A lonely spital, the belated swain
From the night terrors of that waste to shield:
But there no human being could remain,
Meanwhile discourse ensued of various kind, Which by degrees a confidence of mind And mutual interest failed not to create, And, to a natural sympathy resigned,
In that forsaken building where they sate
The woman thus retraced her own untoward fate.
"By Derwent's side my father dwelt — a man Of virtuous life, by pious parents bred; And I believe that, soon as I began
And now the walls are named the "Dead House" of the To lisp, he made me kneel beside my bed,
When hearing a deep sigh, that seemed to come From one who mourned in sleep, he raised his head, And saw a woman in the naked room Outstretched, and turning on a restless bed: The moon a wan dead light around her shed. He waked her-spake in tone that would not fail, He hoped, to calm her mind; but ill he sped, For of that ruin she had heard a tale
And in his hearing there my prayers I said: And afterwards, by my good father taught, I read, and loved the books in which I read; For books in every neighbouring house I sought, And nothing to my mind a sweeter pleasure brought.
A little croft we owned - -a plot of corn, A garden stored with peas, and m., and thyme, And flowers for posies, oft on Sunday morn Plucked while the church bells rang their earliest chime. Can I forget our freaks at shearing time!
My hen's rich nest through long grass scarce espied; The cowslip's gathering in June's dewy prime; The swans that with white chests upreared in pride Rushing and racing came to meet me at the water-side'
The staff I well remember which upbore The bending body of my active sire; His seat beneath the honied sycamore Where the bees hummed, and chair by winter fire;
Which now with freezing thoughts did all her powers When market-morning came, the neat attire
Had heard of one who, forced from storms to shroud, Felt the loose walls of this decayed retreat Rock to incessant neighings shrill and loud, While his horse pawed the floor with furious heat; Till on a stone, that sparkled to his feet, Struck, and still struck again, the troubled horse: The man half raised the stone with pain and sweat, Half raised, for well his arm might lose its force Disclosing the grim head of a late murdered corse.
Such tale of this lone mansion she had learned, And, when that shape, with eyes in sleep half drowned, By the moon's sullen lamp she first discerned, Cold stony horror all her senses bound.
With which, though bent on haste, myself I decked; Our watchful house-dog, that would tease and tire The stranger till its barking fit I checked; The red-breast, known for years, which at my casement pecked.
The suns of twenty summers danced along,- Too little marked how fast they rolled away: But, through severe mischance and cruel wrong, My father's substance fell into decay: We toiled and struggled, hoping for a day When fortune might put on a kinder look; But vain were wishes, efforts vain as they; He from his old hereditary nook
Must part; the summons came; - our final leave we
They looked, and saw a lengthening road, and wain That rang down a bare slope not far remote: The barrows glistered bright with drops of rain, Whistled the wagoner with merry note, The cock far off sounded his clarion throat; But town, or farm, or hamlet, none they viewed, Only were told there stood a lonely cot
A long, mile thence. While thither they pursued Their way, the Woman thus her mournful tale renewed
"Peaceful as this immeasurable plain Is now, by beams of dawning light imprest, In the calm sunshine slept the glittering main; The very ocean hath its hour of rest. I too forgot the heavings of my breast. How quiet 'round me ship and ocean were! As quiet all within me. I was blest, And looked, and fed upon the silent air Until it seemed to bring a joy to my despair.
Ah! how unlike those late terrific sleeps, And groans that rage of racking famine spoke; The unburied dead that lay in festering heaps, The breathing pestilence that rose like smoke, The shriek that from the distant battle broke, The mine's dire earthquake, and the pallid host Driven by the bomb's incessant thunder-stroke To loathsome vaults, where heart-sick anguish tossed, Hope died, and fear itself in agony was lost!
Some mighty gulf of separation past,
I seemed transported to another world;
A thought resigned with pain, when from the mast The impatient mariner the sail unfurled,
And, whistling, called the wind that hardly curled The silent sea. From the sweet thoughts of home And from all hope I was for ever hurled. For me-farthest from earthly port to roam
There, pains which nature could no more support, With blindness linked, did on my vitals fall; And, after many interruptions short
Of hideous sense, I sank, nor step could crawl: Unsought for was the help that did my life recal.
Borne to a hospital, I lay with brain Drowsy and weak, and shattered memory; I heard my neighbours in their beds complain Of many things which never troubled me- Of feet still bustling round with busy glee, Of looks where common kindness had no part, Of service done with cold formality, Fretting the fever round the languid heart, And groans which, as they said, might make a dead
These things just served to stir the slumbering sense, Nor pain nor pity in my bosom raised.
With strength did memory return; and, thence Dismissed, again on open day I gazed,
At houses, men, and common light, amazed. The lanes I sought, and, as the sun retired, Came where beneath the trees a faggot blazed: The travellers saw me weep, my fate inquired, And gave me food-and rest, more welcome, more desired.
Rough potters seemed they, trading soberly With panniered asses driven from door to door;
Was best, could I but shun the spot where man might But life of happier sort set forth to me,
And other joys my fancy to allure- The bag-pipe dinning on the midnight moor In barn uplighted; and companions boon, Well met from far with revelry secure Among the forest glades, while jocund June Rolled fast along the sky his warm and genial moon.
But ill they suited me-those journeys dark O'er moor and mountain, midnight theft to hatch! To charm the surly house-dog's faithful bark, Or hang on tip-toe at the lifted latch. The gloomy lantern, and the dim blue match, The black disguise, the warning whistle shrill, And ear still busy on its nightly watch, Were not for me, brought up in nothing ill: Besides, on griefs so fresh my thoughts were brooding still.
What could I do, unaided and unblest? My father! gone was every friend of thine And kindred of dead husband are at best Small help; and, after marriage such as mine, With little kindness would to me incline
Nor was I then for toil or service fit;
My deep-drawn sighs no effort could confive In open air forgetful would I sit
Whole hours, with idle arms in moping sorrow Kill.
The friends whom she had left but a few minutes past. Now he had fled, and whither none could say,
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