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154
LAYS OF MANY LANDS.




THE VASSAL'S LAMENT FOR THE FALLEN TREE.



"Here (at Brereton in Cheshire) is one thing incredibly strange, but attested, as I myself have heard, by many persons, and commonly believed. Before any heir of this family dies, there are seen, in a lake adjoining, the bodies of trees swimming on the water for several days."
Camden's Britannia.


    Yes! I have seen the ancient oak
        On the dark deep water cast,
    And it was not fell'd by the woodman's stroke,
        Or the rush of the sweeping blast;
For the axe might never touch that tree,
And the air was still as a summer-sea.

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