The middle of the arch.
When list! he hears a piteous moan--60
Again!--his heart within him dies--
His pulse is stopped, his breath is lost,
He totters, pallid as a ghost, [8]
And, looking down, espies [9]
A lamb, that in the pool is pent 65
Within that black and frightful rent.

The lamb had slipped into the stream,
And safe without a bruise or wound
The cataract had borne him down
Into the gulf profound. 70
His dam had seen him when he fell,
She saw him down the torrent borne;
And, while with all a mother's love
She from the lofty rocks above
Sent forth a cry forlorn, 75
The lamb, still swimming round and round,
Made answer to that plaintive sound.

When he had learnt what thing it was,
That sent this rueful cry; I ween
The Boy recovered heart, and told 80
The sight which he had seen.
Both gladly now deferred their task;
Nor was there wanting other aid--
A Poet, one who loves the brooks
Far better than the sages' books, 85
By chance had thither strayed;
And there the helpless lamb he found
By those huge rocks encompassed round.

He drew it from the troubled pool, [10]
And brought it forth into the light: 90
The Shepherds met him with his charge,
An unexpected sight!
Into their arms the lamb they took,
Whose life and limbs the flood had spared; [11]
Then up the steep ascent they hied, 95
And placed him at his mother's side;
And gently did the Bard
Those idle Shepherd-boys upbraid,
And bade them better mind their trade.

The "bridge of rock" across Dungeon-Ghyll "chasm," and the "lofty
waterfall," with all its accessories of place as described in the poem,
remain as they were in 1800.--Ed.

* * * * *

VARIANTS ON THE TEXT

[Variant 1:

1800.

The valley rings with mirth and joy;
And, pleased to welcome in the May,
From hill to hill the echoes fling
Their liveliest roundelay. 1836.

The text of 1845 returns to that of 1800.]

[Variant 2:

1836.

It seems they have no work to do
Or that their work is done. 1800.

Boys that have had no work to do,
Or work that now is done. 1827.]

[Variant 3:

1805.

I'll run with you a race."--No more--1800.

We'll for this Whist