5. I plucked a fair white rose, and stole
To lay it by her side,

And thought strange sleep enchained her soul,
For no fond voice replied.

6. That eve, I knelt me down in wo,
And said a lonely prayer;

Yet still my temples seemed to glow
As if that hand were there

7. Years fled, and left me childhood's joy,
Gay sports and pastimes dear;

I rose a wild and wayward boy,
Who scorned the curb of fear.

8. Fierce passions shook me like a reed,
Yet, ere at night I slept,

That soft hand made my bosom bleed,
And down I fell and wept.

9. Youth came--the props of virtue reeled,
But oft at day's decline,

A marble touch my brow congealed —
Blessed mother, was it thire?

10. In foreign lands I travelled wide,
My pulse was bounding high,
Vice spread her meshes at my side,
And pleasure lured my eye;—

11. Yet still that hand, so soft and cold,
Maintained its mystic sway,

As when, amid my curls of gold,
With gentle force it lay.

1. youngand for young and. 4. shewas for she was. 6. zif for as if. 8. likea for like a 16. pinted for pointed.

QUESTION's.

What Rule is over this Lesson? What metre is his oetry? Observe that the second verse, and the sixteenth, have erch a line that has seven syllables; but they count but six, accor1ing to the Rule over Lesson 32. The word prayer also in the sixtanth verse sounds as one syllable, and is never called two in poetry

LESSON XXXVII.

RULE. When you do not know how to pronounce a word, or are obliged for any other reason to hesitate while reading, do not cough nor say hem nor eh; but stop silently till you are ready to proceed.

THE PET LAMB.

1. THE dew was falling fast, the stars began to blink,

I heard a voice: it said, 'Drink, pretty creature, drink!'
And, looking o'er the hedge, before me I espied

A snow-white mountain lamb, with a maiden at its side.

2. No other sheep were near, the lamb was all alone,
And by a slender cord was tethered to a stone;
With one knee on the grass did the little maiden kneel,
While to that mountain lamb she gave its evening meal.

3. The lamb while from her hand, he thus his supper took, Seemed to feast with head and ears; and his tail with pleasure shook, 'Drink, pretty creature, drink,' she said in such a tone, That I almost received her heart into my own.

1. "Twas little Barbara Lewthwaite, a child of beauty rare!
I watched them with delight, they were a lovely pair.
Now with her empty can the maiden turned away;
But, ere ten yards were gone, her footsteps did she stay.

Towards the lamb she looked, and from that shady place,
I, unobserved, could see the workings of her fare:

If Nature to her tongue could measured numbers bring,

Thus, thought I, to her lamb that little maid might sing.

6. What ails thee, young one? What? Why pull so at thy cord

Is it not well with thee? Well both for bed and board?

Thy plot of grass

soft, and green as grass can be ;

Rest, little young one, rest; what is 't that aileth thee?

What 's wanting to thy heart
And beautiful thou art :

7. What is it thou wouldst seek?
Thy limbs, are they not strong?
This grass is tender grass; these flowers they have no peers;
And that green corn, all day, is rustling in thy ears!

8. If the sun be shining hot, do but stretch thy woollen chain, This beech is standing by, its covert thou canst gain;

For rain and mountain storms! the like thou need'st not fear, The rain and storm are things which scarcely can come here

9. Rest, little young one, rest; thou hast forgot the day,

When my father found thee first in places far away;
Many flocks were on the hills, but thou wert owned by none
And thy mother from thy side for ever more was gone.

10. He took thee in his arms, and in pity brought thee home;
A blessed day for thee! then whither wouldst thou roam ?
A faithful nurse thou hast ; the dam that did thee yean,
Upon the mountain tops, no kinder could have been.

11. Thou know'st that twice a day I have brought thee in this can Fresh water from the brook, as clear as ever ran ;

And twice in the day, when the ground is wet with dew,
I bring thee draughts of milk, warm milk it is, and new

12. Thy limbs will shortly be twice as stout as they are now,
Then I'll yoke thee to my cart like a pony in the plough:
My playmate thou shalt be; and when the wind is cold,
Our hearth shall be thy bed, our house shall be thy fold.

13. 'It will not, will not rest!-poor creature, can it be

That 'tis thy mother's heart which is working so in thee?
Things that I know not of, belike to thee are dear,
And dreams of things which thou canst neither see nor hear.

14 Alas, the mountain tops, that look so green and fair!
I've heard of fearful winds and darkness that come there;
The little brooks that seem all pastime and all play,
When they are angry, roar like lions for their prey.

15. Here thou need'st not dread the raven in the sky:

Night and day thou art safe,—our cottage is hard by.
Why bleat so after me? Why pull so at thy chain?
Sleep-and at break of day I will come to thee again.'

16 As homeward through the lane I went with lazy feet,
This song to myself did I oftentimes repeat;

And it seemed, as I retraced the ballad line by line,
That but half of it was hers, and one half of it was mine.

17. Again, and once again did I repeat the song;

'Nay,' said I, 'more than half to the damsel must belong; For she looked with such a look, and she spake with such a tone, That I almost received her heart into my own.'

ERRORS.

3. critter or creeter for creature.

8. stannin or standin

for standing. 12. hurth for hearth. 14. wins for winds. 16. homewud for homeward.

QUESTIONS.

What Rule is over this Lesson ? What Rule is before Lesson 17? Before Lesson 12?

Remark. In this Lesson and in many pieces of poetry, the lines have not an equal number of syllables. Some have 12, others 13, and others 14.