Of stirring fancy, on his silent heart
When o'er those bleak and barren downs, in rain
Or sunshine, where the giant Wansdeck sweeps, 670
Homewards he bends his solitary way.
Live long; and late may the old villager
Look on thy stone, amid the churchyard grass,
Remembering years of kindness, and the tongue,
Eloquent of his Maker, when he sat
At church, and heard the undivided code
Of apostolic truth--of hope, of faith,
Of charity--the end and test of all.
Live long; and though I proudly might recall
The names of many friends--like thee, sincere 680
And pious, and in solitude adorned
With rare accomplishments--this grateful praise
Accept, congenial to the poet's theme;
For well I know, haply when I am dead,
And in my shroud, whene'er thy homeward path
Lies o'er those hills, and thou shalt cast a look
Back on our garden-slope, and Bremhill tower,
Thou wilt remember me, and many a day
There passed in converse and sweet harmony.
A truce to satire, and to harsh reproof, 690
Severer arguments, that have detained
The unwilling Muse too long:--come, while the clouds
Work heavy and the winds at intervals,
Pipe, and at intervals sink in a sigh,
As breathed o'er sounds and shadows of the past-- 695
Change we our style and measure, to relate
A village tale of a poor Cornish maid,
And of her prayer-book. It is sad, but true;
And simply told, though not in lady phrase
Of modish song, may touch some gentle heart, 700
And wake an interest, when description fails.

PART THIRD.

THE MAIDEN'S CURSE.

I subjoin the plain narrative of the singular event on which this
tale is founded, from Mr Polwhele, that the reader may see how far,
_poetically_, I have departed from plain facts, and what I have
thought it best to add for the sake of moral, picturesque, and
poetical effect. The narrative is as follows:--

"October, 1780. Thomas Thomas, aged 37. This man died of mental
anguish, or what is called a broken heart. He lived in the village
of Drannock, in the parish of Gwinnear, till an unhappy event
occurred, which proved fatal to his peace of mind for more than
eight years, and finally occasioned his death. He courted Elizabeth
Thomas, of the same village, who was his fir