George seem’d amaz’d; and speechless for awhile,
Sat brooding o’er it[172] on the gateway-stile:
A thousand things came flitting in his brain:
He thought, as thousands would, of her being slain
In childhood’s sweet simplicity!
And pray’d to God to solve the mystery.
Thus he at once his cause to Heaven resign’d:
And Heaven as soon consoled his harass’d mind;
For scarcely were his pray’rs (in silence said)
Gone forth on high, (whilst ’round his daughter play’d,)