years before, met at the same place, and all Joined in performance of the same venerable duty."

"Oh, 'tis a burthen, Cromwell, 'tis a burthen, Too heavy for a man who hopes for heaven!" We have been dwelling upon images of peace in the moral world, that have brought us again to the quiet inclosure of consecrated ground, in which this venerable pair lie interred. The sounding brook, that rolls close by the churchyard, without disturbing feeling or meditation, is now unfortunately laid bare; but not long ago it participated, with the chapel, the shade of some stately ash-trees, which will not spring again. While the spectator from this spot is looking round upon the girdle of stony mountains that encompasses the vale,-masses of rock, out of which monuments for all men that ever existed might have been hewn, it would surprise him to be told. as with truth he might be, that the plain blue slab dedicated to the memory of this aged pair, is a production of a quarry in North Wales. It was sent as a mark of respect by one of their descendants from the vale of Festiniog, a region almost as beautiful as that in which it now lies!

He was indeed most zealously attached to the doctrine and frame of the Established Church. We have seen him congratulating himself that he had no dissenters in his cure of any denomination. Some allowance must be made for the state of opinion when his first religious impressions were received, before the reader will acquit him of bigotry, when I mention, that at the time of the augmentation of the cure, he refused to invest part of the money in the purchase of an estate offered to him upon advantageous terms, because the proprietor was a Quaker ;-whether from scrupulous apprehension that a blessing would not attend a contract framed for the benefit of the Church between persons not in religious sympathy with each other; or, as a seeker of peace, he was afraid of the uncomplying disposition which at one time was too frequently conspicuous in that sect. Of this an instance had fallen under his own notice; for, while he taught school at Loweswater, certain persons of that denomination had refused Upon the Seathwaite Brook, at a small disto pay annual interest due under the title of tance from the parsonage, has been erected a Church-stock; * a great hardship upon the mill for spinning yarn; it is a mean and disincumbent, for the curacy of Loweswater was agreeable object, though not unimportant to the then scarcely less poor than that of Seathwaite. spectator, as calling to mind the momentous To what degree this prejudice of his was blame-changes wrought by such inventions in the able need not be determined;-certain it is, that he was not only desirous, as he himself says, to live in peace, but in love with all men. He was placable, and charitable in his judgments; and, however correct in conduct and rigorous to himself, he was ever ready to forgive the trespasses of others, and to soften the censure that was cast upon their frailties.-It would be unpardonable to omit that, in the maintenance of his virtues, he received due support from the partner of his long life She was equally strict in attending to her share of their joint cares, nor less diligent in her appropriate occupations. person who had been some time their servant in the latter part of their lives, concluded the panegyric of her mistress by saying to me, "" She was no less excellent than her husband; she was good to the poor, she was good to every thing!" He survived for a short time this virtuous companion. When she died, he ordered that her body should be borne to the grave by three of her daughters and one granddaughter; and, when the corpse was lifted from the threshold, he insisted upon lending his aid, and feeling about, for he was then almost blind, took hold of a napkin fixed to the coffin; and, as a bearer of the body, entered the chapel, a few steps from the lowly parsonage.

A

What a contrast does the life of this obscurelyseated, and, in point of worldly wealth, poorlyrepaid churchman, present to that of a Cardinal Wolsey!

* Mr. Walker's charity being of that kind which "seeketh not her own," he would rather forego his rights than distrain for dues which the parties liable refused to pay as a point of

conscience.

frame of society-changes which have proved especially unfavourable to these mountain solitudes. So much had been effected by those new powers, before the subject of the preceding biographical sketch closed his life, that their operation could not escape his notice, and doubtless excited touching reflections upon the comparatively insignificant results of his own manual industry. But Robert Walker was not a man of times and circumstances; had he lived at a later period, the principle of duty would have produced application as unremitting: the same energy of character would have been displayed, though in many instances with widely different effects.

Having mentioned in this narrative the vale of Loweswater as a place where Mr. Walker taught school, I will add a few memoranda from its parish-register, respecting a person apparently of desires as moderate, with whom he must have been intimate during his residence there.

"Let him that would, ascend the tottering seat
Of courtly grandeur, and become as great
As are his mounting wishes; but for me
Let sweet repose and rest my portion be.
HENRY FOREST, Curate.

"

being 25 years of age."
'Henry Forest came to Loweswater, 1708,

"This curacy was twice augmented by Queen Anne's bounty. The first payment, with great difficulty, was paid to Mr. John Curwen, of

274

Poems of Sentiment and Reflection.

EXPOSTULATION AND REPLY.

'WHY, William, on that old gray stone,
Thus for the length of half a day,
Why, William, sit you thus alone,
And dream your time away?

THE TABLES TURNED.

AN EVENING SCENE, ON THE SAME
SUBJECT.

Up! up! my friend, and quit your books;

"Where are your books?-that light be- Or surely you'll grow double :

Up! up! my friend, and clear your looks;
Why all this toil and trouble?

The sun, above the mountain's head,
A freshening lustre mellow

Through all the long green fields has spread,
His first sweet evening yellow.

Books! 'tis a dull and endless strife:
Come, hear the woodland linnet,
How sweet his music! on my life,
There's more of wisdom in it.

And hark! how blithe the throstle sings!
He, too, is no mean preacher:
Come forth into the light of things,
Let nature be your teacher.

She has a world of ready wealth,
Our minds and hearts to bless-
Spontaneous wisdom breathed by health,
Truth breathed by cheerfulness.

One impulse from a vernal wood
May teach you more of man,
Of moral evil and of good,
Than all the sages can.

Sweet is the lore which nature brings;
Our meddling intellect

Mis-shapes the beauteous forms of things:
We murder to dissect.

Enough of science and of art;
Close up these barren leaves;

Come forth, and bring with you a heart

That watches and receives.