192 GEASMEEE. 



It was formerly written Gresmere, sometimes 

 Grismere ; and grise being the old name of the 

 wild swine, the derivation I hope you receive as 

 unobjectionable. What renders it not im- 

 probable is, that the country round in the 

 olden time was covered with wood, and wild 

 boar abounded here. There is a saying in 

 accordance, that once the squirrel could travel 

 from Kendal to Keswick without once touching 

 the ground. 



AMICUS. On the islet, under the shade of the 

 firs, I see a house, but without windows; yet 

 of stone and strongly built. What is it ? 



PISCATOR. A hog-house ; a shelter, how- 

 ever, not for swine, but sheep. It, as his verses 

 tell us, was once a favourite haunt of the 

 Poet : 



Hither does a poet sometimes row 

 His pinnace, a small vagrant barge up-piled 

 With plenteous stores of heath and withered fern, 

 (A lading which he with his sickle cuts 

 Among the mountains,) and beneath this roof, 

 He makes his summer couch, and here at noon 

 Spreads out his limbs, while yet, unshorn, the sheep, 

 Panting beneath the burden of their wool, 

 Lie round him, even as they were a part 

 Of his own household : nor, while from his bed 



