They played like two young Ravens on the crags : Then they could write, aye 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 that 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 this same Uncle, to this hour
Leonard had never handled rope or shroud.
For the Boy loved the life which we lead here;
And, though a very Stripling, twelve years old,
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 Lad

Was sadly crossed--Poor Leonard! when we parted,

* 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.

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 Landi

He would grow old among us.

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 !

PRIEST.

Aye, Sir, that passed away: we took him to us. He was the Child of all the dale-he lived

Three months with one, and six months with an

other;

And wanted neither food, nor clothes, nor love :// And many, many happy days were his.

But, whether blithe or sad, 'tis my

.

belief

His absent Brother still was at his heart.