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XII.
And had he to their pinching wants,
The unnipp’d neighb'ring bounds deny’d;
They sure had dropp’d——as surely too,
The pitying shepherd boy had died.
XIII.
Then die!——th’ unfeeling master said,
And spurn’d him from his closing door;
Which, till he found his favourite lamb,
He vow’d should ne’er admit him more.
XIV.
Dark was the night, and o’er the waste
The whistling winds did fiercely blow.
And ’gainst his poor unshelter’d head,
With arrowy keenness came the snow:
XV.
The small thick snow that Eurus drives
In freezing fury o’er the plain,
And with unsparing vengeance, scores
The callous face of hardiest swain.
XVI.
Yet thus he left his master’s house,
And shap’d his sad uncertain way;
By man unnotic’d and forsook,
And follow’d but by——trusty Tray——
XVII.
Poor trusty Tray! a faithful dog;
Lubin and he were young together:
Still would they grace each other’s side,
Whate’er the time, whate’er the weather.
