Page:Poems - Southey (1799) volume 2.djvu/199

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185

ECLOGUE I.

THE OLD MANSION-HOUSE.

STRANGER.Old friend! why, you seem bent on parish duty, Breaking the highway stones,—and 'tis a task Somewhat too hard, methinks, for age like yours.OLD MAN.Why, yes! for one with such a weight of years Upon his back. I've lived here, man and boy, In this same parish, near the full age of manFor I am hard upon threescore and ten. I can remember sixty years agoThe beautifying of this mansion hereWhen my late Lady's father, the old SquireCame to the estate.
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