Adding her thoughts; ‘I talk, my child, to you, Who little think of what such wretches do.’ “I loved to walk where none had walk’d before, About the rocks that ran along the shore; Or far beyond the sight of men to stray, And take my pleasure when I lost my way; 450 For then ’twas mine to trace the hilly heath, And all the mossy moor that lies beneath: Here had I favourite stations, where I stood And heard the murmurs of the ocean-flood, With not a sound beside, except when flew Aloft the lapwing, or the gray curlew, Who with wild notes my fancied power defied, And mock’d the dreams of solitary pride. “I loved to stop at every creek and bay Made by the river in its winding way, 460 And call to memory--not by marks they bare, But by the thoughts that were created there. “Pleasant it was to view the sea-gulls strive Against the storm, or in the ocean dive, With eager scream, or when they dropping gave Their closing wings to sail upon the wave: Then, as the winds and waters raged around, And breaking billows mix’d their deafening sound, They on the rolling deep securely hung, And calmly rode the restless waves among. 470 Nor pleased it less around me to behold, Far up the beach, the yesty sea-foam roll’d; Or, from the shore upborn, to see on high Its frothy flakes in wild confusion fly; While the salt spray that clashing billows form, Gave to the taste a feeling of the storm. “Thus, with my favourite views, for many an hour Have I indulged the dreams of princely power; When the mind, weaned by excursions bold, The fancy jaded, and the bosom cold, 480 Or when those wants that will on kings intrude, Or evening-fears, broke in on solitude; When I no more my fancy could employ, } I left in haste what I could not enjoy, } And was my gentle mother’s welcome boy. } “But now thy walk,--this soft autumnal gloom Bids no delay--at night I will resume My subject, showing, not how I improved In my strange school, but what the things I loved, My first-born friendships, ties by forms uncheck’d, 490 And all that boys acquire whom men neglect.” TALES OF THE HALL. BOOK V. _RUTH._ Richard resumes his Narrative--Visits a Family in a Seaport--The Man and his Wife--Their Dwelling--Books, Number and Kind--The Friendship contracted--Employment there--Hannah, the Wife, her Manner; open Mirth and latent Grief--She gives the Story of Ruth, her Daughter--Of Thomas, a Sailor--Their Affection--A Press-gang-- Reflections--Ruth disturbed in Mind--A Teacher sent to comfort her--His Fondness--Her Reception of him--Her Supplication--Is refused--She deliberates--Is decided. TALES OF THE HALL.