University of Virginia Library

“Thou seemest liker to an Earl,”
His father said; “but come to meat,
To hungry men are bannocks sweet.”
So by his father's side he sat,
And of that homely cheer he ate,
Remembered well; and oft he sighed
To think how far away and wide
The years had set him from all this,
And how that all-devouring bliss
Had made the simple life of old
As a dull tale too often told.
But as he sat thereby, full oft
The goodwife's eyes waxed sad and soft,
Beholding him; she muttered low: