There is a comfort in the strength of love; 'Twill make a thing endurable, which else Would break the heart:--Old Michael found it so. I have convers'd with more than one who well Remember the Old Man, and what he was Years after he had heard this heavy news. His bodily frame had been from youth to age Of an unusual strength. Among the rocks He went, and still look'd up upon the sun. And listen'd to the wind; and as before Perform'd all kinds of labour for his Sheep, And for the land his small inheritance. And to that hollow Dell from time to time Did he repair, to build the Fold of which His flock had need. 'Tis not forgotten yet The pity which was then in every heart For the Old Man--ands 'tis believ'd by all That many and many a day he thither went, And never lifted up a single stone. There, by the Sheep-fold, sometimes was he seen Sitting alone, with that his faithful Dog, Then old, beside him, lying at his feet. The length of full seven years from time to time He at the building of this Sheep-fold wrought, And left the work unfinished when he died. Three years, or little more, did Isabel, Survive her Husband: at her death the estate Was sold, and went into a Stranger's hand. The Cottage which was nam'd The Evening Star Is gone, the ploughshare has been through the ground On which it stood; great changes have been wrought In all the neighbourhood, yet the Oak is left That grew beside their Door; and the remains Of the unfinished Sheep-fold may be seen Beside the boisterous brook of Green-head Gill. NOTES TO THE POEM of THE BROTHERS. NOTE I. Page 26--line 20 "There were two springs that bubbled side by side." The impressive circumstance here described, actually took place some years ago in this country, upon an eminence called Kidstow Pike, one of the highest of the mountains that surround Hawes-water. The summit of the pike was stricken by lightning; and every trace of one of the fountains disappeared, while the other continued to flow as before. NOTE II. Page 29--line 5 "The thought of death sits easy on the man," &c. There is not any thing more worthy of remark in the manners of the inhabitants of these mountains, than the tranquillity, I might say indifference, with which they think and talk upon the subject of death. Some of the country church-yards, as here described, do not contain a single tombstone, and most of them have a very small number. NOTES TO THE POEM OF MICHAEL. NOTE I. Page 213--line 14 "There's Richard Bateman," &c. This story alluded to here is well known in the country. The chapel is called Ings Chapel; and is on the right hand side of the road leading from Kendal to Ambleside. NOTE II.