And it all went into each other's hearts.

Leonard, the elder by just eighteen months,

Was two years

taller: 'twas a joy to see,

To hear, to meet them!-From their house the School Was distant three short miles-and in the time

Of storm and thaw, when every water-course

And unbridged stream, such as you may have noticed Crossing our roads at every hundred steps,

Was swoln into a noisy rivulet,

Would Leonard then, when elder boys perhaps
Remained at home, go staggering through the fords,
Bearing his Brother on his back. I've seen him,
On windy days, in one of those stray brooks,
Ay, more than once I've seen him mid-leg deep,
Their two books lying both on a dry stone
Upon the hither side: and once I said,
As I remember, looking round these rocks

And hills on which we all of us were born,

That God who made the great book of the world

Would bless such piety

LEONARD.

It

may be then

PRIEST.

Never did worthier lads break English bread!

The finest Sunday that the Autumn saw,
With all its mealy clusters of ripe nuts,
Could never keep these boys away from church,
Or tempt them to an hour of sabbath breach.
Leonard and James! I warrant, every corner
Among these rocks, and every hollow place
Where foot could come, to one or both of them
Was known as well as to the flowers that grow there.
Like Roe-bucks they went bounding o'er the hills :
They played like two young Ravens on the crags:
Then they could write, ay and speak too, as well
As many of their betters-and for Leonard!

The very night before he went away,
In my own house I put into his hand
A Bible, and I'd wager twenty pounds,

That, if he is alive, he has it yet.

LEONARD.

It seems, these Brothers have not lived to be

A comfort to each other.

PRIEST.

That they might

Live to such end, is what both old and young

In this our valley all of us have wished,

And what, for my part, I have often prayed:
But Leonard-

LEONARD.

Then James still is left among you?

PRIEST.

"Tis of the elder Brother I am speaking:
They had an Uncle ;-he was at that time
A thriving man, and trafficked on the seas:
And, but for that same Uncle, to this hour
Leonard had never handled rope or shroud.
For the Boy loved the life which we lead here;
And, though of unripe years, a stripling only,
His soul was knit to this his native soil.

But, as I said, old Walter was too weak

To strive with such a torrent; when he died,

The Estate and House were sold, and all their Sheep,

A pretty flock, and which, for aught I know,
Had clothed the Ewbanks for a thousand years.
Well-all was gone, and they were destitute.

And Leonard, chiefly for his Brother's sake,
Resolved to try his fortune on the seas.

'Tis now twelve years since we had tidings from him.

If there was one among us who had heard

That Leonard Ewbank was come home again,

From the great Gavel*, down by Leeza's Banks,
And down the Enna, far as Egremont,

The day would be a very festival;

And those two bells of ours, which there you see
Hanging in the open air-but, O good Sir!
This is sad talk-they'll never sound for him
Living or dead.-When last we heard of him
He was in slavery among the Moors

Upon the Barbary Coast.-'Twas not a little
That would bring down his spirit; and, no doubt,
Before it ended in his death, the Youth

Was sadly crossed--Poor Leonard! when we parted,
He took me by the hand and said to me,

If ever the day came when he was rich,
He would return, and on his Father's Land
He would grow old among us.

*The Great Gavel, so called, I imagine, from its resemblance to the Gable end of a house, is one of the highest of the Cumberland mountains. It stands at the head of the several vales of Ennerdale, Wastdale, and Borrowdale.

The Leeza is a river which flows into the Lake of Ennerdale: on issuing from the Lake, it changes its name, and is called the End, Eyne, or Enna. It falls into the sea a little below Egremont.

LEONARD.

If that day

Should come, 'twould needs be a glad day for him;

He would himself, no doubt, be happy then

As any that should meet him

PRIEST.

Happy! Sir

LEONARD.

You said his kindred all were in their graves,

And that he had one Brother

PRIEST.

That is but

A fellow tale of sorrow.

From his youth

James, though not sickly, yet was delicate;

And Leonard being always by his side

Had done so many offices about him,
That, though he was not of a timid nature,

Yet still the spirit of a Mountain Boy

In him was somewhat checked; and, when his Brother

Was gone to sea and he was left alone,

The little colour that he had was soon

Stolen from his cheek; he drooped, and pined, and pined

LEONARD.

But these are all the graves of full-grown men !