Page:Peter Bell (Wordsworth).djvu/98

82 —Here ends my Tale:—for in a trice

Arrived a neighbour with his horse;

Peter went forth with him straightway;

And, with due care, ere break of day

Together they brought back the Corse.

And many years did this poor Ass,

Whom once it was my luck to see

Cropping the shrubs of Leming-Lane,

Help by his labour to maintain

The Widow, and her family.

And Peter Bell, who, till that night,

Had been the wildest of his clan,

Forsook his crimes, repressed his folly,

And, after ten months' melancholy,

Became a good and honest man.