That lessens day by day, and one will soon destroy. } “No! I would have thee, Brother, all my own, 380 To grow beside me as my trees have grown: For ever near me, pleasant in my sight, And, in my mind, my pride and my delight. “Yet will I tell thee, Richard: had I found Thy mind dependent and thy heart unsound; Hadst thou been poor, obsequious, and disposed With any wish or measure to have closed; Willing on me, and gladly, to attend, The younger brother, the convenient friend: Thy speculation its reward had made 390 Like other ventures—thou hadst gain’d in trade. What reason urged, or Jacques esteem’d thy due, Thine had it been, and I, a trader too, Had paid my debt, and home my Brother sent, Nor glad nor sorry that he came or went; Who to his wife and children would have told, They had an uncle, and the man was old; Till every girl and boy had learn’d to prate Of uncle George, his gout, and his estate. “Thus had we parted; but as now thou art, 400 I must not lose thee—No! I cannot part; Is it in human nature to consent, To give up all the good that heaven has lent, All social ease and comfort to forego, And live again the solitary? No! “We part no more, dear Richard! thou wilt need Thy Brother’s help to teach thy boys to read; And I should love to hear Matilda’s psalm, To keep my spirit in a morning calm, And feel the soft devotion that prepares 410 The soul to rise above its earthly cares. Then thou and I, an independent two, May have our parties, and defend them too; Thy liberal notions, and my loyal fears, Will give us subjects for our future years; We will for truth alone contend and read, And our good Jacques shall oversee our creed. “Such were my views; and I had quickly made Some bold attempts my Brother to persuade To think as I did; but I knew too well 420 Whose now thou wert, with whom thou wert to dwell; And why, I said, return him doubtful home, Six months to argue if he then would come Some six months after? and, beside, I know That all the happy are of course the slow; And thou at home art happy, there wilt stay, } Dallying ’twixt will and will-not many a day, } And fret the gloss of hope, and hope itself, away. } “Jacques is my friend; to him I gave my heart: ‘You see my Brother, see I would not part; 430 Wilt thou an embassy of love disdain? Go to this sister, and my views explain; Gloss o’er my failings; paint me with a grace That Love beholds; put meaning in my face; Describe that dwelling; talk how well we live, And all its glory to our village give; Praise the kind sisters whom we love so much, And thine own virtues like an artist touch. “‘Tell her, and here my secret purpose show, That no dependence shall my sister know; 440 Hers all the freedom that she loves shall be, And mine the debt—then press her to agree;