illustrious brotherhood.

In conclusion, I will quote one more passage. From the subject of horses
he passes to that of dogs and their occasional reversion to wildness,
when the mastiff or cur, the "faithful" house-dog by day, takes to
sheep-killing by night. As a rule he is exceedingly cunning, committing
his depredations at a distance frown home, and after getting his fill
of slaughter he sneaks home in the early hours to spend the day in his
kennel "licking his guilty paws." This is an anxious time for shepherds
and farmers, and poor Giles is compelled to pay late evening visits to
his small flock of heavy-sided ewes penned in their distant fold. It is
a comfort to him to have a full moon on these lonely expeditions, and
despite his tremors he is able to appreciate the beauty of the scene.

With saunt'ring steps he climbs the distant stile,
Whilst all around him wears a placid smile;
There views the white-robed clouds in clusters driven
And all the glorious pageantry of heaven.
Low on the utmost bound'ry of the sight
The rising vapours catch the silver light;
Thence fancy measures as they parting fly
Which first will throw its shadow on the eye,
Passing the source of light; and thence away
Succeeded quick by brighter still than they.
For yet above the wafted clouds are seen
(In a remoter sky still more serene)
Others detached in ranges through the air,
Spotless as snow and countless as they're fair;
Scattered immensely wide from east to west
The beauteous semblance of a flock at rest.

This is almost the only passage in the poem in which something of the
vastness of visible nature is conveyed. He saw the vastness only in the
sky on nights with a full moon or when he made a telescope of his hat
to watch the flight of the lark. It was not a hilly country about his
native place, and his horizon was a very limited one, usually bounded by
the hedgerow timber at the end of the level field. The things he depicts
were seen at short range, and the poetry, we see, was of a very modest
kind. It was a "humble note" which pleased me in the days of long ago
when I was young and very ignorant, and as it pleases me still it may
be supposed that mentally I have not progressed with the years.
Nevertheless, I am not incapable of appreciating the greater music;
all that is said in its praise, even to the extremest expressions of
admiration of those who are moved to a sense of wonder