ia, till it arrives in
the valley behind yon rising ground; and pleasant is that
valley, truly a good spot, but most lovely where yonder bridge
crosses the little stream. Beneath its arch the waters rush
garrulously into a blue pool, and are there stilled for a time,
for the pool is deep, and they appear to have sunk to sleep.
Farther on, however, you hear their voice again, where they
ripple gaily over yon gravelly shallow. On the left the hill
slopes gently down to the margin of the stream. On the right is
a green level, a smiling meadow, grass of the richest decks the
side of the slope; mighty trees also adorn it, giant elms, the
nearest of which, when the sun is nigh its meridian, fling a
broad shadow upon the face of the pool; through yon vista you
catch a glimpse of the ancient brick of an old English hall. It
has a stately look, that old building, indistinctly seen, as it
is, among those umbrageous trees; you might almost suppose it
an earl's home; and such it was, or rather upon its site stood
an earl's home, in days of old, for there some old Kemp, some
Sigurd, or Thorkild, roaming in quest of a hearthstead, settled
down in the grey old time, when Thor and Freya were yet gods,
and Odin was a portentous name. Yon old hall is still called
the Earl's Home, though the hearth of Sigurd is now no more,
and the bones of the old Kemp, and of Sigrith his dame, have
been mouldering for a thousand years in some neighbouring
knoll; perhaps yonder, where those tall Norwegian pines shoot
up so boldly into the air. It is said that the old earl's
galley was once moored where is now that blue pool, for the
waters of that valley were not always sweet; yon valley was
once an arm of the sea, a salt lagoon, to which the war-barks
of 'Sigurd, in search of a home,' found their way.

I was in the habit of spending many an hour on the banks of
that rivulet with my rod in my hand, and, when tired with
angling, would stretch myself on the grass, and gaze upon the
waters as they glided past, and not unfrequently, divesting
myself of my dress, I would plunge into the deep pool which I
have already mentioned, for I had long since learned to swim.
And it came to pass, that on one hot summer's day, after
bathing in the pool, I passed along the meadow till I ca