She spoke, she kept, with truth most rare,
Her purpose nobly wild,
And made, by her maternal care,
A hero of her child.


* * * * *




THE GOAT.


BALLAD THE FOURTEENTH.

"Can mothers of our English isle,
The pride of all the earth,
From any tribe of tender brutes,
A mother's duly learn?"
So to a shepherd of the Alps,
A guest of noble birth,
A traveller of English race
Said on the swain's return;

When bringing to his simple cot
A Goat of signal grace,
He, to his foreign guest, display'd
The ornament she wore;