315
Had earned for him sure welcome, and the rights
Of a prized Visitant, in the jolly hall
Of country Squire; or at the statelier board
Of Duke or Earl, from scenes of courtly pomp
Withdrawn,—to while away the summer hours
In condescension among rural guests.
With these high Comrades he had revelled long,
Had frolicked many a year; a simple Clerk
By hopes of coming patronage beguiled
And vexed, until the weary heart grew sick.
And so, abandoning each higher aim
And all his shewy Friends, at length he turned
For a life's stay, though slender yet assured,
To this remote and humble Chapelry;
Which had been offered to his doubtful choice
By an unthought of Patron. Bleak and bare
They found the Cottage, their allotted home:
Naked without and rude within; a spot
With which the scantily-provided Cure
Not long had been endowed: and far remote
The Chapel stood, divided from that House
By an unpeopled tract of mountain waste.
