And at length in the hollow he came, as he rode, To the forester Robin's trim cottage abode. And there stood the youth, ruddy, stalwart, and curled:-- "--Ha, Robin! this looks not like strife with the world!"-- "No! and please you, good father, _she's_ coming to-morrow!" "--Well! a blessing on both of you!--keep you from sorrow." So he reached his fair Abbey by Calder's sweet stream, Well believing all troubles in life are a dream; Looked around on his park and his fertile domain, With a thought to his cellars, a glance at his grain; While the stream through his meadow-lands rippled and purled; And exclaimed, "What a place is a sorrowful world!" And the Abbot of Calder that night o'er his bowl Felt a peace passing speech in the depths of his soul. And he dreamt mid the noise and the merry uproar Of the brethren beneath--all his fasting was o'er; That earth's many woes had to darkness been driven; And the sweet woods of Calder were gardens in Heaven. NOTES TO "THE ABBOT OF CALDER." On the northern bank of the river Calder, in a deeply secluded vale, sheltered by majestic forest trees, which rise from the skirts of level and luxuriant meadows to the tops of the surrounding hills, stands the ruined Abbey and home of that little colony of Monks, who, with their Abbot Gerold at their head, were detached from the mother Abbey of Furness in 1134 to begin their fortunes under the auspices of Ranulph de Meschines (the second of the name) their powerful neighbour and founder. Here they contrived to live "in some discomfort and great poverty for four years, when an army of Scots under King David despoiled the lately begun Abbey and carried away all its possessions. Finding they could get no help elsewhere, the hapless thirteen resolved to return to the maternal monastery" for refuge. This happened about the third year of King Stephen. The Abbot of Furness refused to receive Gerold and his companions, reproaching them with cowardice for abandoning their monastery, and alleging that it was rather the love of that ease and plenty which they expected in Furness, than the devastation of the Scottish army, that forced them from Calder. Some writers say that the Abbot of Furness insisted that Gerold should divest himself of his authority, and absolve the monks from their obedience to him, as a condition of their receiving any relief. This, Gerold and his companions refused to do, and turning their faces from Furness, they, with the remains of their broken fortune, which consisted of little more than some clothes and a few books, with one cart and eight oxen, taking providence for their guide, went in quest of better hospitality.