* * * * * “ON Stanemore’s side, one summer eve, | |
| John Brunskill sate to see | |
| His herds in yonder Borrodale | |
| Come winding up the lea. | |
| |
| “Behind them, on the lowland’s verge, | 5 |
| In the evening light serene, | |
| Brough’s silent tower, then newly built | |
| By Blenkinsop, was seen. | |
| |
| “Slowly they came in long array, | |
| With loitering pace at will; | 10 |
| At times a low from them was heard, | |
| Far off, for all was still. | |
| |
| “The hills returned that lonely sound | |
| Upon the tranquil air: | |
| The only sound it was which then | 15 |
| Awoke the echoes there. | |
| |
| “‘Thou hear’st that lordly bull of mine, | |
| Neighbor,’ quoth Brunskill then: | |
| ‘How loudly to the hills he crunes, | |
| That crune to him again! | 20 |
| |
| “‘Think’st thou if yon whole herd at once | |
| Their voices should combine, | |
| Were they at Brough, that we might not | |
| Hear plainly from this upland spot | |
| That cruning of the kine?’ | 25 |
| |
| “‘That were a crune indeed,’ replied | |
| His comrade, ‘which, I ween, | |
| Might at the Spital well be heard, | |
| And in all dales between. | |
| |
| “‘Up Mallerstang to Eden’s springs, | 30 |
| The eastern wind upon its wings | |
| The mighty voice would bear; | |
| And Appleby would hear the sound, | |
| Methinks, when skies are fair.’ | |
| |
| “‘Then shall the herd,’ John Brunskill cried, | 35 |
| ‘From yon dumb steeple crune; | |
| And thou and I, on this hillside, | |
| Will listen to their tune. | |
| |
| “‘So, while the merry Bells of Brough | |
| For many an age ring on, | 40 |
| John Brunskill will remembered be, | |
| When he is dead and gone,— | |
| |
| “‘As one who, in his latter years, | |
| Contented with enough, | |
| Gave freely what he well could spare | 45 |
| To buy the Bells of Brough.’ | |
| |
| “Thus it hath proved: three hundred years | |
| Since then have passed away, | |
| And Brunskill’s is a living name | |
| Among us to this day.” | 50 |
| |
| “More pleasure,” I replied, “shall I | |
| From this time forth partake, | |
| When I remember Helbeck woods, | |
| For old John Brunskill’s sake. | |
| |
| “He knew how wholesome it would be, | 55 |
| Among these wild, wide fells | |
| And upland vales, to catch, at times, | |
| The sound of Christian bells;— | |
| |
| “What feelings and what impulses | |
| Their cadence might convey | 60 |
| To herdsman or to shepherd-boy, | |
| Whiling in indolent employ | |
| The solitary day;— | |
| |
| “That, when his brethren were convened | |
| To meet for social prayer, | 65 |
| He too, admonished by the call, | |
| In spirit might be there; | |
| |
| “Or when a glad thanksgiving sound, | |
| Upon the winds of heaven, | |
| Was sent to speak a nation’s joy, | 70 |
| For some great blessing given,— | |
| |
| “For victory by sea or land, | |
| And happy peace at length; | |
| Peace by his country’s valor won, | |
| And stablished by her strength;— | 75 |
| |
| “When such exultant peals were borne | |
| Upon the mountain air, | |
| The sound should stir his blood, and give | |
| An English impulse there.” | |
| |
| Such thoughts were in the old man’s mind, | 80 |
| When he that eve looked down | |
| From Stanemore’s side on Borrodale, | |
| And on the distant town. | |
| |
| And had I store of wealth, methinks, | |
| Another herd of kine, | 85 |
| John Brunskill, I would freely give, | |
| That they might crune with thine. | |
| |
