"'Tis strange," observed the Solitary, "strange It seems, and scarcely less than pitiful, That in a land where charity provides For all that[545] can no longer feed themselves, A man like this should choose to bring his shame 380 To the parental door; and with his sighs Infect the air which he had freely breathed In happy infancy. He could not pine, Through lack of converse;[546] no--he must have found Abundant exercise for thought and speech, 385 In his dividual being, self-reviewed, Self-catechised, self-punished.--Some there are Who, drawing near their final home, and much And daily longing that the same were reached, Would rather shun than seek the fellowship 390 Of kindred mould.--Such haply here are laid?" "Yes," said the Priest, "the Genius of our hills-- Who seems, by these stupendous barriers cast Round his domain, desirous not alone To keep his own, but also to exclude 395 All other progeny--doth sometimes lure, Even by his[547] studied depth of privacy, The unhappy alien hoping to obtain Concealment, or seduced by wish to find, In place from outward molestation free, 400 Helps to internal ease. Of many such Could I discourse; but as their stay was brief, So their departure only left behind Fancies, and loose conjectures. Other trace Survives, for worthy mention, of a pair 405 Who, from the pressure of their several fates, Meeting as strangers, in a petty town[HJ] Whose blue roofs ornament a distant reach Of this far-winding vale,[HJ] remained as friends 409 True to their choice; and gave their bones in trust To this loved cemetery, here to lodge With unescutcheoned privacy interred Far from the family vault.--A Chieftain one[HK] By right of birth; within whose spotless breast The fire of ancient Caledonia burned: 415 He, with the foremost whose impatience hailed The Stuart, landing to resume, by force Of arms, the crown which bigotry had lost, Aroused his clan; and, fighting at their head, With his brave sword endeavoured to prevent 420 Culloden's fatal overthrow. Escaped From that disastrous rout, to foreign shores He fled; and when the lenient hand of time Those troubles had appeased, he sought and gained, For his obscured condition, an obscure 425 Retreat, within this nook of English ground.