BOOK V. _RUTH._ Richard would wait till George the tale should ask, Nor waited long--He then resumed the task. “South in the port, and eastward in the street, Rose a small dwelling, my beloved retreat, Where lived a pair, then old; the sons had fled The home they fill’d; a part of them were dead, Married a part, while some at sea remain’d, And stillness in the seaman’s mansion reign’d; Lord of some petty craft, by night and day, The man had fish’d each fathom of the bay. 10 “My friend the matron woo’d me, quickly won, To fill the station of an absent son (Him whom at school I knew, and, Peter known, I took his home and mother for my own). I read, and doubly was I paid to hear Events that fell upon no listless ear: She grieved to say her parents could neglect Her education!--’twas a sore defect; She, who had ever such a vast delight To learn, and now could neither read nor write:-- 20 But hear she could, and from our stores I took, Librarian meet! at her desire our book. Full twenty volumes--I would not exceed The modest truth--were there for me to read; These a long shelf contain’d, and they were found Books truly speaking, volumes fairly bound; The rest--for some of other kinds remain’d, And these a board beneath the shelf contain’d-- Had their deficiencies in part; they lack’d One side or both, or were no longer back’d; 30 But now became degraded from their place, And were but pamphlets of a bulkier race. Yet had we pamphlets, an inviting store, From sixpence downwards--nay, a part were more; Learning abundance, and the various kinds For relaxation--food for different minds; A piece of Wingate--thanks for all we have-- What we of figures needed, fully gave; Culpepper, new in numbers, cost but thrice The ancient volume’s unassuming price, 40 But told what planet o’er each herb had power, And how to take it in the lucky hour. “History we had--wars, treasons, treaties, crimes, From Julius Cæsar to the present times; Questions and answers, teaching what to ask And what reply--a kind, laborious task; A scholar’s book it was, who, giving, swore It held the whole he wish’d to know, and more. “And we had poets, hymns and songs divine; The most we read not, but allow’d them fine. 50 “Our tracts were many, on the boldest themes-- We had our metaphysics, spirits, dreams, Visions and warnings, and portentous sights Seen, though but dimly, in the doleful nights, When the good wife her wintry vigil keeps, And thinks alone of him at sea, and weeps. “Add to all these our works in single sheets, That our Cassandras sing about the streets. These, as I read, the grave good man would say,