e death gave occasion to this poem was named Charles
Gough, and had come early in the Spring to Patterdale for the sake of
angling. While attempting to cross over Helvellyn to Grasmere he slipped
from a steep part of the rock where the ice was not thawed, and
perished. His body was discovered as described in this poem. Walter
Scott heard of the accident, and both he and I, without either of us
knowing that the other had taken up the subject, each wrote a poem in
admiration of the dog's fidelity. His contains a most beautiful stanza:

'How long didst thou think that his silence was slumber!
When the wind waved his garment how oft didst thou start!'

I will add that the sentiment in the last four lines of the last stanza
of my verses was uttered by a shepherd with such exactness, that a
traveller, who afterwards reported his account in print, was induced to
question the man whether he had read them, which he had not.

437. *_Ode to Duty_. [XIX.]

This Ode, written in 1805, is on the model of Gray's 'Ode to Adversity,'
which is copied from Horace's 'Ode to Fortune.'

Many and many a time have I been twitted by my wife and sister for
having forgotten this dedication of myself to the stern law-giver.
Transgressor indeed I have been, from hour to hour, from day to day; I
would fain hope however not more flagrantly or in a worse way than most
of my tuneful brethren. But these last words are in a wrong strain. We
should be rigorous to ourselves, and forbearing, if not indulgent, to
others, and if we make comparisons at all it ought to be with those who
have morally excelled us. [In pencil--But is not the first stanza of
Gray's from a chorus of Aeschylus? And is not Horace's Ode also modelled
on the Greek?]

438. *_Character of the Happy Warrior_. [XX.]

The course of the great war with the French naturally fixed one's
attention upon the military character; and, to the honour of our
country, there are many illustrious instances of the qualities that
constitute its highest excellence. Lord Nelson carried most of the
virtues that the trials he was exposed to in his department of the
service necessarily call forth and sustain, if they do not produce the
contrary vices. But his public life was stained with one great crime, so
that, though many passages of these lines were suggested by what was
generally known as excellent in his conduct, I have not been able to
connect his name with the poem as I could wish, or ev