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At length, some pity warm'd the master's breast
('Twas then his threshold first receiv'd a guest.)
Slow, creaking turns the door with jealous care;
And half he welcomes in the shiv'ring pair;
One frugal fagot lights the naked walls,

And nature's fervour through their limbs recalls:
Bread of the coarsest sort, with meager wine,
Each hardly granted, serv'd them both to dine;
And when the tempest first appear'd to cease,
A ready warning bid them part in peace.

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With still remark the pondering Hermit view'd,
In one so rich, a life so poor and rude
And why should such, within himself he cry'd,
Lock the lost wealth a thousand want beside ?
But what new marks of wonder soon took place
In ev'ry settling feature of his face!

When, from his vest, the young companion bore
That cup the generous landlord own'd before;
And paid profusely, with the precious bowl,
The stinted kindness of this churlish soul:
Just sunk to earth, the miser in surprise,
Receiv'd the glitt'ring gift with startled eyes;
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But ere he could recover from his fright,
The generous guests had travelled from his sight,
Now the brisk clouds in airy tumults fly,
The sun emerging opes an azure sky :

A fresher green the fragrant leaves display,
And glitt'ring as they tremble, cheer the day :
The weather courts them from the poor retreat,
And the glad master bolts the wary gate.

While hence they walk, the pilgrims's bosom wrought

With all the travail of uncertain thought;
His partner's acts without their cause appear,*
'Twas there a vice, but seem'd a madness here.
Detesting that, and pitying this, he goes,

Lost and confounded with the various shows.
Now night's dim shades again invoke the sky,
Again the wand'rers want a place to lie,
Again they search and find a mansion nigh.
The soil improv'd around, the mansion neat,
And neither poorly low, nor idly great :
It seem'd to speak its master's turn of mind,
Content, and not for praise but virtue kind.

Hither the walkers turn their weary feet,
Then bless the mansion, and the master greet;
Their greeting fair, bestow'd with modest guise,
The courteous master hears, and thus replies :
Without a vain, without a grudging heart,
To him who gives us all, I yield a part :
From him you come, from him accept it here,
A frank and sober, more than costly cheer.
He spoke, and bid the welcome table spread,
Then talk'd of virtue till the time of bed;

*To steal the cup from the generous man, and give it to a wretch that would scarcely admit them within his gate.

When the grave household round the hall repair, Warn'd by a bell, and close the hours with prayer.

At length the world, renew'd by calm repose, Was strong for toil, the dappled morn arose : Before the pilgrims part, the younger crept Near the clos'd cradle, where an infant slept, And writh'd his neck; the landlord's little pride,

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O strange return grew black, and gasp'd, and died.

Horror of horrors ! what! his only son !

How look'd our Hermit when the fact was done! Not hell, tho' hell's black jaws in sunder part, And breathe blue fire, could more assail his heart.

Confus'd and struck with silence at the deed, He flies but trembling, fails to fly with speed. His steps the youth pursues; the country lay Perplex'd with roads, a servant shew'd the way; A river cross'd the path; the passage o'er Was nice to find, the servant went before; Long arms of oak an open bridge supplied, And deep the waves beneath the branches glide: The youth who seem'd to watch a time to sin, Approach'd the careless guide, and thrust him in: Plunging he falls, and rising lifts his head,

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Then flashing turns, and sinks among the dead.

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