“We leave the well-beloved place
Where first we gazed upon the sky.”
The mother, and the members of her family, quit what had been the Rectory, and seek a new home.
But, “ere we go,” the Poet walks in the garden, and seems to be in the company of two spirits, who
“Contend for loving masterdom.”
They do not represent persons, but the place with different associations. The first is the love of the native place; the second, the same love enhanced by the memory of the friend.
The former pleads
“here thy boyhood sung
Long since its matin song.”
The rival affection urges
“Yea, but here
Thy feet have stray’d in after hours
With thy lost friend among the bowers,
And this hath made them trebly dear.”
Through half the day each one prefers a separate appeal by endearing circumstance; but the contest affords no superiority to either; and, as the Poet turns away from the illusion,