The _Swiss Goatherd_ was a boy met by the travellers at Brunnen. Mrs. Wordsworth thus wrote of him in her Journal:--"20th Aug.--... Mountains rising through vapour into the sky in front, and looking back, the two Mythen towering in great majesty. The Peasants, inhabitants of these paradisaical retreats, very civil, and seemed gratified by our eagerness in quest of the interests they live among. Young men, seated in one of these spacious sheds, making merry after having ended their diversions. The target seen everywhere. In one of the sheds as we ascended, found four goats chewing the cud, a little boy attending, all on the bench. He looked so pensive that we became much interested about him, but D. could not make him understand a single word. William gave him 1/2 a ----; for which unexpected and unsolicited gift the boy thanked him 'a hundred thousand times.' I afterwards gave him a second piece, and the same expression of thanks was repeated. The longer we looked at the subdued countenance of this little Boy, the more we felt for his solitary condition. Here, with those four mute companions, he had passed his day. The beauty of the scenery he was among was nothing to him; and no doubt he knew of and had heard the sound of the merriment in the vales below. When we repassed the shed, it was empty." (Journal, vol. ii.) In Dorothy Wordsworth's briefer record of the same incident, the following occurs:--"In one of these [sheds] we found four goats (how bright in the cool shade) beside their keeper, then sitting on the bench, an elegant-featured Boy--dark like an Italian, ragged, silent, pensive, and timid. We gave him a few rapps, still he was silent; then a few more, and he pronounced in German four words intelligible to English ears, 'a hundred thousand thanks'; but his pale cheek wanted the ready smile of the beggar's. It seemed as if none of his pleasures were social, except what he might have with his dumb companions." (Journal, vol. ii.) With this poem compare Smollett's _Ode to Leven Water_, and see note to l. 448 of _Descriptive Sketches_.--ED.] XXV THE LAST SUPPER, BY LEONARDO DA VINCI, IN THE REFECTORY OF THE CONVENT OF MARIA DELLA GRAZIA--MILAN Tho' searching damps and many an envious flaw Have marred this Work; the calm ethereal grace, The love deep-seated in the Saviour's face, The mercy, goodness, have not failed to awe The Elements; as they do melt and thaw 5 The heart of the Beholder--and erase (At least for one rapt moment) every trace Of disobedience to the primal law. The annunciation of the dreadful truth Made to the Twelve, survives: lip, forehead, cheek,[527] 10 And hand reposing on the board in ruth Of what it utters,[IH] while the unguilty seek Unquestionable meanings--still bespeak A labour worthy of eternal youth! _Though searching damps and many an envious flaw Have marred this Work_;