Oun, and agrees to escort him in his
rambles after the first few shots. He accordingly soon resigns his
gun to the keeper Oswald, whose position as one who
"came into possession
Of the head-keepership by due succession
Thro' sire and grandsire, who, when one was dead,
Left his right heir-male keeper in his stead,"
Mr. Cayley evidently regards with some complacence. The friends enter
a boat: here, while sailing along a rivulet that winds through the
estate, St. Oun falls to talking of wealth, its value and
insufficiency, of death, and life, and fame; and coming at length to
ask after the history of Sir Reginald's past life, he suggests "this
true epic opening for relation:"
"'The sun, from his meridian heights declining
Mirrored his richest tints upon the shining
Bosom of a lake. In a light shallop, two
_Young men, whose dress,_ etcaetera, _proclaims,_
Etcaetera,--so would write G.P.R. James--
Glided in silence o'er the waters blue,
Skirting the wooded slopes. Upward they gazed
On Nornyth's ancient pile, whose windows blazed
"'In sunset rays, whose crimson fulgence streamed
Across the flood: wrapped in deep thought they seemed.
'You are pensive, Reginald,' at length thus spake
The helmsman: 'ha! it is the mystic power
Fraught by the sacred stillness of the hour:
Forgive me if your reverie I break,
Craving, with friendship's sympathy, to share
_Your spirit's burden, be it joy or care.
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