They dwindled, Sir, sad sight to see!" From ten to five, from five to three, A lamb, a weather, and a ewe ;
And then at last, from three to two; And of my fifty, yesterday
I had but only one:
And here it lies upon my arm,
Alas! and I have none ;
To-day I fetched it from the rock; It is the last of all my flock."
Left upon a seat in a YEW-TREE, which stands near the Lake of ESTHWAITE, on a desolate part of the shore, yet commanding a beautiful prospect.
-Nay, Traveller! rest. This lonely Yew-tree stands Far from all human dwelling: what if here No sparkling rivulet spread the verdant herb; What if these barren boughs the bee not loves; Yet, if the wind breathe soft, the curling waves, That break against the shore, shall lull thy mind By one soft impulse saved from vacancy.
That piled these stones, and with the mossy sod First covered o'er, and taught this aged Tree With its dark arms to form a circling bower,
I well remember.-He was one who owned
No common soul. In youth by science nursed, And led by nature into a wild scene
Of lofty hopes, he to the world went forth, A favored being, knowing no desire
Which genius did not hallow, 'gainst the taint Of dissolute tongues, and jealousy, and hate, And scorn, against all enemies prepared,
All but neglect. The world, for so it thought, Owed him no service: wherefore he at once With indignation turn'd himself away
And with the food of pride sustained his soul In solitude.-Stranger! these gloomy boughs Had charms for him; and here he loved to sit, His only visitants a straggling sheep, The stone-chat, or the glancing sand-piper; And on these barren rocks, with juniper, And heath, and thistle, thinly sprinkled o'er, Fixing his down-cast eye, he many an hour A morbid pleasure nourished, tracing here
An emblem of his own unfruitful life: And lifting up his head, he then would gaze- On the more distant scene; how lovely 'tis Thou seest, and he would gaze till it became Far lovelier, and his heart could not sustain The beauty still more beauteous. Nor, that time, When Nature had subdued him to herself,
Would he forget those beings, to whose minds, Warm from the labours of benevolence,
The world, and man himself, appeared a scene Of kindred loveliness; then he would sigh With mournful joy, to think that others felt What he must never feel: and so, lost Man! On visionary views would fancy feed,
Till his eye streamed with tears. In this deep vale
He died, this seat his only monument.
If Thou be one whose heart the holy forms
Of young imagination have kept pure,
Stranger! henceforth be warned; and know, that pride,
Howe'er disguised in its own majesty,
Is littleness; that he, who feels contempt For any living thing, hath faculties
Which he has never used; that thought with him Is in its infancy. The man, whose eye
Is ever on himself, doth look on one,
The least of Nature's works, one who might move The wise man to that scorn which wisdom holds Unlawful, ever. O, be wiser Thou! Instructed that true knowledge leads to love, True dignity abides with him alone
Who, in the silent hour of inward thought, Can still suspect, and still revere himself, In lowliness of heart.
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