William Wordsworth
The Brothers, A Pastoral Poem
from Lyrical Ballads (Volume II, 1800)
These Tourists, Heaven preserve us! needs must live | ||
A profitable life: some glance along | ||
Rapid and gay, as if the earth were air. | ||
And they were butterflies to wheel about | ||
5 | Long as their summer lasted; some, as wise, | |
Upon the forehead of a jutting crag | ||
Sit perch'd with book and pencil on their knee, | ||
And look and scribble, scribble on and look, | ||
Until a man might travel twelve stout miles, | ||
10 | Or reap an acre of his neighbour's corn. | |
But, for that moping son of Idleness | ||
Why can he tarry yonder? - In our church-yard | ||
Is neither epitaph nor monument, | ||
Tomb-stone nor name, only the turf we tread. | ||
15 | And a few natural graves. To Jane, his Wife, | |
Thus spake the homely Priest of Ennerdale. | ||
It was a July evening, and he sate | ||
Upon the long stone seat beneath the eaves | ||
Of his old cottage, as it chanced that day, | ||
20 | Employ'd in winter's work. Upon the stone | |
His Wife sate near him, teasing matted wool, | ||
While, from the twin cards tooth'd with glittering wire, | ||
He fed the spindle of his youngest child, | ||
Who turn'd her large round wheel in the open air | ||
25 | With back and forward steps. Towards the field | |
In which the parish chapel stood alone, | ||
Girt round with a bare ring of mossy wall, | ||
While half an hour went by, the Priest had sent | ||
Many a long look of wonder, and at last, | ||
30 | Risen from his seat, beside the snowy ridge | |
Of carded wool - which the old Man had piled | ||
He laid his implements with gentle care, | ||
Each in the other lock'd; and, down the path | ||
Which from his cottage to the church-yard led, | ||
35 | He took his way, impatient to accost | |
The Stranger, whom he saw still lingering there. | ||
'Twas one well known to him in former days, | ||
A Shepherd-lad: who ere his thirteenth year | ||
Had chang'd his calling, with the mariners | ||
40 | A fellow-mariner, and so had fared | |
Through twenty seasons; but he had been rear'd | ||
Among the mountains, and he in his heart | ||
Was half a Shepherd on the stormy seas. | ||
Oft in the piping shrouds had Leonard heard | ||
45 | The tones of waterfalls, and inland sounds | |
Of caves and trees; and when the regular wind | ||
Between the tropics fill'd the steady sail | ||
And blew with the same breath through days and weeks, | ||
Lengthening invisibly its weary line | ||
50 | Along the cloudless main, he, in those hours | |
Of tiresome indolence would often hang | ||
Over the vessel's aide, and gaze and gaze, | ||
And, while the broad green wave and sparkling foam | ||
Flash'd round him images and hues, that wrought | ||
55 | In union with the employment of his heart, | |
He, thus by feverish passion overcome, | ||
Even with the organs of his bodily eye, | ||
Below him, in the bosom of the deep | ||
Saw mountains, saw the forms of sheep that graz'd | ||
60 | On verdant hills, with dwellings among trees, | |
And Shepherds clad in the same country grey | ||
Which he himself had worn. 2 | ||
And now at length, | ||
From perils manifold, with some small wealth | ||
65 | Acquir'd by traffic in the Indian Isles, | |
To his paternal home he is return'd, | ||
With a determin'd purpose to resume | ||
The life which he liv'd there, both for the sake | ||
Of many darling pleasures, and the love | ||
70 | Which to an only brother he has borne | |
In all his hardships, since that happy time | ||
When, whether it blew foul or fair, they two | ||
Were brother Shepherds on their native hills. | ||
- They were the last of all their race; and now, | ||
75 | When Leonard had approach'd his home, his heart | |
Fail'd in him, and, not venturing to inquire | ||
Tidings of one whom he so dearly lov'd, | ||
Towards the church-yard he had turn'd aside, | ||
That, as he knew in what particular spot | ||
80 | His family were laid, he thence might learn | |
If still his Brother liv'd, or to the file | ||
Another grave was added. - He had found | ||
Another grave, near which a full half hour | ||
He had remain'd, but, as he gaz'd, there grew | ||
85 | Such a confusion in his memory, | |
That he began to doubt, and he had hopes | ||
That he had seen this heap of turf before, | ||
That it was not another grave, but one, | ||
He had forgotten. He had lost his path, | ||
90 | As up the vale he came that afternoon, | |
Through fields which once had been well known to him. | ||
And Oh! what joy the recollection now | ||
Sent to his heart! he lifted up his eyes, | ||
And looking round he thought that he perceiv'd | ||
95 | Strange alteration wrought on every side | |
Among the woods and fields, and that the rocks, | ||
And the eternal hills, themselves were chang'd. | ||
By this the Priest who down the field had come | ||
Unseen by Leonard, at the church-yard gate | ||
100 | Stopp'd short, and thence, at leisure, limb by limb | |
He scann'd him with a gay complacency. | ||
Aye, thought the Vicar, smiling to himself; | ||
'Tis one of those who needs must leave the path | ||
Of the world's business, to go wild alone: | ||
105 | His arms have a perpetual holiday, | |
The happy man will creep about the fields | ||
Following his fancies by the hour, to bring | ||
Tears down his check, or solitary smiles | ||
Into his face, until the setting sun | ||
110 | Write Fool upon his forehead. Planted thus | |
Beneath a shed that overarch'd the gate | ||
Of this rude church-yard, till the stars appear'd | ||
The good man might have commun'd with himself | ||
But that the Stranger, who had left the grave, | ||
115 | Approach'd; he recogniz'd the Priest at once, | |
And after greetings interchang'd, and given | ||
By Leonard to the Vicar as to one | ||
Unknown to him, this dialogue ensued. | ||
LEONARD. | ||
You live, Sir, in these dales, a quiet life: | ||
120 | Your years make up one peaceful family; | |
And who would grieve and fret, if, welcome come | ||
And welcome gone, they are so like each other, | ||
They cannot be remember'd. Scarce a funeral | ||
Comes to this church-yard once, in eighteen months; | ||
125 | And yet, some changes must take place among you. | |
And you, who dwell here, even among these rocks | ||
Can trace the finger of mortality, | ||
And see, that with our threescore years and ten | ||
We are not all that perish. - I remember, | ||
130 | For many years ago I pass'd this road, | |
There was a foot-way all along the fields | ||
By the brook-side - 'tis gone - and that dark cleft! | ||
To me it does not seem to wear the face | ||
Which then it had. | ||
PRIEST. | ||
135 | Why, Sir, for aught I know, | |
That chasm is much the same - | ||
LEONARD. | ||
But, surely, yonder - | ||
PRIEST. | ||
Aye, there indeed, your memory is a friend | ||
That does not play you false. - On that tall pike, | ||
140 | (It is the loneliest place of all these hills) | |
There were two Springs which bubbled side by side, | ||
As if they had been made that they might be | ||
Companions for each other: ten years back, | ||
Close to those brother fountains, the huge crag | ||
145 | Was rent with lightning - one is dead and gone, | |
The other, left behind, is flowing still. - | ||
For accidents and changes such as these, | ||
Why we have store of them! a water-spout | ||
Will bring down half a mountain; what a feast | ||
150 | For folks that wander up and down like you, | |
To see an acre's breadth of that wide cliff | ||
One roaring cataract - a sharp May storm | ||
Will come with loads of January snow, | ||
And in one night send twenty score of sheep | ||
155 | To feed the ravens, or a Shepherd dies | |
By some untoward death among the rocks: | ||
The ice breaks up and sweeps away a bridge - | ||
A wood is fell'd: - and then for our own homes! | ||
A child is born or christen'd, a field plough'd, | ||
160 | A daughter sent to service, a web spun, | |
The old house cloth is deck'd with a new face; | ||
And hence, so far from wanting facts or dates | ||
To chronicle the time, we all have here | ||
A pair of diaries, one serving, Sir, | ||
165 | For the whole dale, and one for each fire-side, | |
Your's was a stranger's judgment: for historians | ||
Commend me to these vallies. | ||
LEONARD. | ||
Yet your church-yard | ||
Seems, if such freedom may be used with you, | ||
170 | To say that you are heedless of the past. | |
Here's neither head nor foot-stone, plate of brass, | ||
Cross-bones or skull, type of our earthly state | ||
Or emblem of our hopes: the dead man's home | ||
Is but a fellow to that pasture field. | ||
PRIEST. | ||
175 | Why there, Sir, is a thought that's new to me. | |
The Stone-cutters, 'tis true, might beg their bread | ||
If every English church-yard were like ours: | ||
Yet your conclusion wanders from the truth. | ||
We have no need of names and epitaphs, | ||
180 | We talk about the dead by our fire-sides. | |
And then for our immortal part, we want | ||
No symbols, Sir, to tell us that plain tale: | ||
The thought of death sits easy on the man | ||
Who has been born and dies among the mountains: | ||
LEONARD. | ||
185 | Your dalesmen, then, do in each other's thoughts | |
Possess a kind of second life: no doubt | ||
You, Sir, could help me to the history | ||
Of half these Graves? | ||
PRIEST. | ||
With what I've witness'd; and with what I've heard, | ||
190 | Perhaps I might, and, on a winter's evening, | |
If you were seated at my chimney's nook | ||
By turning o'er these hillocks one by one, | ||
We two could travel, Sir, through a strange round, | ||
Yet all in the broad high-way of the world. | ||
195 | Now there's a grave - your foot is half upon it, | |
It looks just like the rest, and yet that man | ||
Died broken-hearted. | ||
LEONARD. | ||
'Tis a common case, | ||
We'll take another: who is he that lies | ||
200 | Beneath yon ridge, the last of those three graves; - | |
It touches on that piece of native rock | ||
Left in the church-yard wall. | ||
PRIEST. | ||
That's Walter Ewbank. | ||
He had as white a head and fresh a cheek | ||
205 | As ever were produc'd by youth and age | |
Engendering in the blood of hale fourscore. | ||
For five long generations had the heart | ||
Of Walter's forefathers o'erflow'd the bounds | ||
Of their inheritance, that single cottage, | ||
210 | You see it yonder, and those few green fields. | |
They toil'd and wrought, and still, from sire to son, | ||
Each struggled, and each yielded as before | ||
A little - yet a little - and old Walter, | ||
They left to him the family heart, and land | ||
215 | With other burthens than the crop it bore. | |
Year after year the old man still preserv'd | ||
A chearful mind, and buffeted with bond, | ||
Interest and mortgages; at last he sank, | ||
And went into his grave before his time. | ||
220 | Poor Walter! whether it was care that spurr'd him | |
God only knows, but to the very last | ||
He had the lightest foot in Ennerdale: | ||
His pace was never that of an old man: | ||
I almost see him tripping down the path | ||
225 | With his two Grandsons after him - but you, | |
Unless our Landlord be your host to-night, | ||
Have far to travel, and in these rough paths | ||
Even in the longest day of midsummer - | ||
LEONARD. | ||
But these two Orphans! | ||
PRIEST. | ||
230 | Orphans! such they were - | |
Yet not while Walter liv'd - for, though their Parents | ||
Lay buried side by side as now they lie, | ||
The old Man was a father to the boys, | ||
Two fathers in one father: and if tears | ||
235 | Shed, when he talk'd of them where they were not, | |
And hauntings from the infirmity of love, | ||
Are aught of what makes up a mother's heart, | ||
This old Man in the day of his old age | ||
Was half a mother to them. - If you weep, Sir, | ||
240 | To hear a stranger talking about strangers, | |
Heaven bless you when you are among your kindred! | ||
Aye. You may turn that way - it is a grave | ||
Which will bear looking at. | ||
LEONARD. | ||
These Boys I hope | ||
245 | They lov'd this good old Man - | |
PRIEST. | ||
They did - and truly, | ||
But that was what we almost overlook'd, | ||
They were such darlings of each other. For | ||
Though from their cradles they had liv'd with Walter, | ||
250 | The only kinsman near them in the house, | |
Yet he being old, they had much love to spare, | ||
And it all went into each other's hearts. | ||
Leonard, the elder by just eighteen months, | ||
Was two years taller: 'twas a joy to see, | ||
255 | To hear, to meet them! from their house the School | |
Was distant three short miles, and in the time | ||
Of storm and thaw, when every water-course | ||
And unbridg'd stream, such as you may have notic'd | ||
Crossing our roads at every hundred steps, | ||
260 | Was swoln into a noisy rivulet, | |
Would Leonard then, when elder boys perhaps | ||
Remain'd at home, go staggering through the fords | ||
Bearing his Brother on his back. - I've seen him, | ||
On windy days, in one of those stray brooks, | ||
265 | Aye, more than once I've seen him mid-leg deep, | |
Their two books lying both on a dry stone | ||
Upon the hither side: - and once I said, | ||
As I remember, looking round these rocks | ||
And hills on which we all of us were born, | ||
270 | That God who made the great book of the world | |
Would bless such piety - | ||
LEONARD. | ||
It may be then - | ||
PRIEST. | ||
Never did worthier lads break English bread: | ||
The finest Sunday that the Autumn saw, | ||
275 | With all its mealy clusters of ripe nuts, | |
Could never keep these boys away from church, | ||
Or tempt them to an hour of sabbath breach. | ||
Leonard and James! I warrant, every corner | ||
Among these rocks and every hollow place | ||
280 | Where foot could come, to one or both of them | |
Was known as well as to the flowers that grew there. | ||
Like roe-bucks they went bounding o'er the hills: | ||
They play'd like two young ravens on the crags: | ||
Then they could write, aye and speak too, as well | ||
285 | 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. | ||
290 | It seems, these Brothers have not liv'd 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 wish'd, | ||
295 | And what, for my part, I have often pray'd: | |
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 | ||
300 | A thriving man, and traffick'd on the seas: | |
And, but for this same Uncle, to this hour | ||
Leonard had never handled rope or shroud. | ||
For the Boy lov'd the life which we lead here; | ||
And, though a very Stripling, twelve years old; | ||
305 | 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, | ||
310 | Had clothed the Ewbauks for a thousand years. | |
Well - all was gone, and they were destitute. | ||
And Leonard, chiefly for his brother's sake, | ||
Resolv'd to try his fortune on the seas. | ||
'Tis now twelve years since we had tidings from him. | ||
315 | If there was one among us who had heard | |
That Leonard Ewbank was come home again, | ||
From the great Gavel2, down by Leeza's Banks, | ||
And down the Enna, far as Egremont, | ||
The day would be a very festival, | ||
320 | 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 | ||
325 | 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 cross'd - Poor Leonard! when we parted, | ||
He took me by the hand and said to me, | ||
330 | If ever the day came when he was rich, | |
He would return, and on his Father's Land | ||
He would grow old among us. | ||
LEONARD. | ||
If that day | ||
Should come, 'twould needs be a glad day for him; | ||
335 | He would himself, no doubt, be as 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. | ||
340 | 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, | ||
345 | That, though he was not of a timid nature, | |
Yet still the spirit of a mountain boy | ||
In him was somewhat check'd, and when his Brother | ||
Was gone to sea and he was left alone | ||
The little colour that he had was soon | ||
350 | Stolen from his cheek, he droop'd, and pin'd and | |
pin'd: | ||
LEONARD. | ||
But these are all the graves of full grown men! | ||
PRIEST. | ||
Aye, Sir, that pass'd away: we took him to us. | ||
He was the child of all the dale - he liv'd | ||
Three months with one, and six months with another: | ||
355 | 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. | ||
And, when he liv'd beneath our roof, we found | ||
360 | (A practice till this time unknown to him) | |
That often, rising from his bed at night, | ||
He in his sleep would walk about, and sleeping | ||
He sought his Brother Leonard - You are mov'd! | ||
Forgive me, Sir: before I spoke to you, | ||
365 | I judg'd you most unkindly. | |
LEONARD. | ||
But this youth, | ||
How did he die at last? | ||
PRIEST. | ||
One sweet May morning, | ||
It will be twelve years since, when Spring returns, | ||
370 | He had gone forth among the new-dropp'd lambs, | |
With two or three companions whom it chanc'd | ||
Some further business summon'd to a house | ||
Which stands at the Dale-head. James, tir'd perhaps, | ||
Or from some other cause remain'd behind. | ||
375 | You see yon precipice - it almost looks | |
Like some vast building made of many crags, | ||
And in the midst is one particular rock | ||
That rises like a column from the vale, | ||
Whence by our Shepherds it is call'd, the Pillar. | ||
380 | James, pointing to its summit, over which | |
They all had purpos'd to return together, | ||
Inform'd them that he there would wait for them: | ||
They parted, and his comrades pass'd that way | ||
Some two hours after, but they did not find him | ||
385 | At the appointed place, a circumstance | |
Of which they took no heed: but one of them, | ||
Going by chance, at night, into the house | ||
Which at this time was James's home, there learn'd | ||
That nobody had seen him all that day: | ||
390 | The morning came, and still, he was unheard of: | |
The neighbours were alarm'd, and to the Brook | ||
Some went, and some towards the Lake; ere noon | ||
They found him at the foot of that same Rock | ||
Dead, and with mangled limbs. The third day after | ||
395 | I buried him, poor Lad, and there he lies. | |
LEONARD. | ||
And that then is his grave! - Before his death | ||
You said that he saw many happy years? | ||
PRIEST. | ||
Aye, that he did - | ||
LEONARD. | ||
And all went well with him - | ||
PRIEST. | ||
400 | If he had one, the Lad had twenty homes. | |
LEONARD. | ||
And you believe then, that his mind was easy - | ||
PRIEST. | ||
Yes, long before he died, he found that time | ||
Is a true friend to sorrow, and unless | ||
His thoughts were turn'd on Leonard's luckless fortune, | ||
405 | He talk'd about him with a chearful love. | |
LEONARD. | ||
He could not come to an unhallow'd end! | ||
PRIEST. | ||
Nay, God forbid! You recollect I mention'd | ||
A habit which disquietude and grief | ||
Had brought upon him, and we all conjectur'd | ||
410 | That, as the day was warm, he had lain down | |
Upon the grass, and, waiting for his comrades | ||
He there had fallen asleep, that in his sleep | ||
He to the margin of the precipice | ||
Had walk'd, and from the summit had fallen head-long, | ||
415 | And so no doubt he perish'd: at the time, | |
We guess, that in his hands he must have had | ||
His Shepherd's staff; for midway in the cliff | ||
It had been caught, and there for many years | ||
It hung - and moulder'd there. | ||
420 | The Priest here ended - | |
The Stranger would have thank'd him, but he felt | ||
Tears rushing in; both left the spot in silence, | ||
And Leonard, when they reach'd the church-yard gate, | ||
As the Priest lifted up the latch, turn'd round, | ||
425 | And, looking at the grave, he said, My Brother. | |
The Vicar did not hear the words: and now, | ||
Pointing towards the Cottage, he entreated | ||
That Leonard would partake his homely fare: | ||
The other thank'd him with a fervent voice, | ||
430 | But added, that, the evening being calm, | |
He would pursue his journey. So they parted. | ||
It was not long ere Leonard reach'd a grove | ||
That overhung the road: he there stopp'd short, | ||
And, sitting down beneath the trees, review'd | ||
435 | All that the Priest had said: his early years | |
Were with him in his heart: his cherish'd hopes, | ||
And thoughts which had been his an hour before. | ||
All press'd on him with such a weight, that now, | ||
This vale, where he had been so happy, seem'd | ||
440 | A place in which he could not bear to live: | |
So he relinquish'd all his purposes. | ||
He travell'd on to Egremont; and thence, | ||
That night, address'd a letter to the Priest | ||
Reminding him of what had pass'd between them. | ||
445 | And adding, with a hope to be forgiven, | |
That it was from the weakness of his heart, | ||
He had not dared to tell him, who he was. | ||
This done, he went on shipboard, and is now | ||
A Seaman, a grey headed Mariner. | ||
1 This Poem was intended to be the concluding poem of a series of pastorals, the scene of which was laid among the mountains of Cumberland and Westmoreland. I mention this to apologise for the abruptness with which the poem begins. | ||
2 This description of the Calenture is sketched from an imperfect recollection of an admirable one in prose, by Mr. Gilbert, Author of the Hurricane. | ||
3 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 follows 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. |
First published 1800
Robert Clark