fe, and was much esteemed by Lord and Lady
Lonsdale, and every member of that family. Among his verses (he wrote
many), are some worthy of preservation; one little poem in particular,
upon disturbing, by prying curiosity, a bird while hatching her young in
his garden. The latter part of this innocent and good man's life was
melancholy. He became blind, and also poor, by becoming surety for some
of his relations. He was a bachelor. He bore, as I have often witnessed,
his calamities with unfailing resignation. I will only add, that while
working in one of his fields, he unearthed a stone of considerable size,
then another, and then two more; and observing that they had been placed
in order, as if forming the segment of a circle, he proceeded carefully
to uncover the soil, and brought into view a beautiful Druid's temple,
of perfect, though small dimensions. In order to make his farm more
compact, he exchanged this field for another, and, I am sorry to add,
the new proprietor destroyed this interesting relic of remote ages for
some vulgar purpose. The fact, so far as concerns Thomas Wilkinson, is
mentioned in the note on a sonnet on 'Long Meg and her Daughters.'

433. *_A Night Thought_. [XV.]

These verses were thrown off extempore upon leaving Mr. Luff's house at
Fox Ghyll one evening. The good woman is not disposed to look at the
bright side of things, and there happened to be present certain ladies
who had reached the point of life where _youth_ is ended, and who seemed
to contend with each other in expressing their dislike of the country
and the climate. One of them had been, heard to say she could not endure
a country where there was 'neither sunshine nor cavaliers.' [In pencil
on opposite page--Gossip.]

434. *_An Incident characteristic of a favourite Dog_. [XVI.]

This dog I knew well. It belonged to Mrs. Wordsworth's brother, Mr.
Thomas Hutchinson, who then lived at Sockburn-on-the-Tees, a beautiful
retired situation, where I 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.

435. _Tribute to the Memory of the same Dog_. [XVII.]

Was written at the same time, 1805. The dog Music died, aged and blind,
by falling into a draw-well at Gallow Hill, to the great grief of the
family of the Hutchinsons, who, as has been before mentioned, had
removed to that place from Sockburn.

436. _Fidelity_. [XVIII.]

The young man whos