CHAP. VI. POEM OF ' ESKDALE.' 351 



He did, however, contrive to run down to Eskdale in 

 the following November. His mother was alive, but 

 that was all. After doing what he could for her com- 

 fort, and providing that all her little wants were properly 

 attended to, he hastened back to his responsible duties in 

 connection with the Ellesmere Canal. When at Lang- 

 holm he called upon his former friends, and recounted 

 with them the incidents of their youth. He was declared 

 to be the same " canty " fellow as ever, and, though he 

 had risen greatly in the world, he was " not a bit set 

 up." He found one of his old fellow- workmen, Frank 

 Beattie, become the principal innkeeper of the place. 

 4 What have you made of your mell and chisels ? " asked 

 Telford. " Oh ! " replied Beattie, " they are all dis- 

 persed perhaps lost." " I have taken better care of 

 mine," said Telford ; " I have them all locked up in a 

 room at Shrewsbury, as well as my old working clothes 

 and leather apron : you know one can never tell what 

 may happen." He was surprised, as most people are 

 who visit the scenes of their youth after a long absence, 

 to see into what small dimensions Langholm had shrunk. 

 That High Street, which before had seemed so big, and 

 that frowning gaol and court-house in the Market Place, 

 were now comparatively paltry to eyes that had been 

 familiar with Shrewsbury, Portsmouth, and London. 

 But he was charmed, as ever, with the sight of the heather 

 hills and the narrow winding valley 



Where deep and low the hamlets lie 

 Beneath their little patch of sky, 

 And little lot of stars. 



On his return southward he was again delighted by the 

 sight of old Gilnockie Castle and the surrounding scenery. 

 As he afterwards wrote to his friend Little, "Broom- 

 holm was in all his glory." Probably one of the results 

 of this visit was the revision of the poem of ' Eskdale,' 

 which he undertook in the course of the following spring, 

 putting in some fresh touches and adding many new 



