Large was the mansion, fall'n by varying fate From lordly grandeur and manorial state; Where once the manor's lord supreme had rule, Now reign'd the master of the village school: No more was heard around, at earliest morn, The echoing clangor of the huntsman's horn; No more the eager hounds, with deep'ning cry, Yell'd in the exulting hope of pastime nigh; The squire no more obey'd the morning call, Nor favourite spaniels fill'd the sportsman's hall; For he, the last descendant of his race, Slept with his fathers, and forgot the chace. Fall'n was the mansion: o'er the village poor The lordly landlord tyrannized no more; For now, in petty greatness o'er the school, The mighty master held despotic rule: With trembling silence all his deeds we saw, His look a mandate, and his word a law; Severe his voice, severely grave his mien, And wond'rous strict he was, and wond'rous wise, I ween. Even now, thro' many a long long year, I trace The hour when first in awe I view'd his face; Even now recall my entrance at the dome, 'Twas the first day I ever left my home! Years intervening have not worn away The deep remembrance of that distant day; Effac'd the vestige of my earliest fears, A mother's fondness, and a mother's tears; When close she prest me to her sorrowing heart, As loath as even I myself to part. But time to youthful sorrow yields relief, Each various object weans the child from grief: Like April showers the tears of youth descend, Sudden they fall, and suddenly they end; Serener pleasure gilds the following hour, As brighter gleams the sun when past the April shower. Methinks ev'n now the interview I see, Recall the mistress' smile, the master's glee: Much of my future happiness they said, Much of the easy life the scholars led; Of spacious play-ground, and of wholsome air, The best instruction, and the tenderest care; And when I follow'd from the garden door My father, 'till with tears I saw no more, How civilly they eas'd my parting pain, And never spake so civilly again!