The wretched parents all that night At day-break on a hill they stood And thence they faw the bridge of wood And now they homeward turn'd, and cry'd, "In Heaven we all fhall meet ! When in the fnow the mother spy'd Then downward from the steep hill's edge They track'd the footmarks fmall ; And through the broken hawthorn-hedge, And by the long stone-wall; And then an open field they crofs'd, The marks were still the fame; They track'd them on, nor ever lost, And to the bridge they came. We faw a woman fitting down She had a baby at her back I afk'd her why fhe loiter'd there She turn'd her head and bade the child She told us that her husband ferved And therefore to her parifh fhe We met a girl; her drefs was loofe Who with the wanton's hollow voice I afk'd her what there was in guilt To fhame. difeafe, and late remorfe? She answer'd, fhe was poor. I turn'd me to the rich man then, You afk'd me why the Poor complain, LUCY GRAY. OFT I had heard of Lucy Gray, No mate, no comrade Lucy knew; You yet may spy the fawn at play, "To-night will be a stormy night, And take a lantern, child, to light "That, Father! will I gladly do; 'Tis fcarcely afternoon The minster-clock has just struck two, And yonder is the moon." At this the father rais'd his hook Not blither is the mountain roe, The ftorm came on before its time, The wretched parents all that night But there was neither found nor fight At day-break on a hill they stood And thence they faw the bridge of wood And now they homeward turn'd, and cry'd, "In Heaven we all fhall meet! When in the fnow the mother spy'd Then downward from the steep hill's edge And then an open field they crofs'd, The marks were ftill the fame; They track'd them on, nor ever loft, |