regarded with as much respect as a rabbit's, this was perhaps why the mass of the people regarded poaching as a proof of spirit rather than an infringement of the laws and why so many reckless fellows gave their lives to outwitting game ke-pe.s.The squire and farmer talk

How round their regions nightly pilfers walk,"(1) but the poo people hoght hese same pilfers heroes.

Crabbe's story Smugglers and Poachers (2) shows very clearly the poacher's life. We are introduced to two brothers, James "prudent and reserved" who in time became Rich, both as slayer of the Baron's game and as protector..."(3)

Robert,

"Fond of advente, wanton as the wave,

He loved the danger and the law to brave; (4)

The y both loved the same woman, which adds to the dramatic interest of the story, and accounts for the intense hatred with which James, the game keeper, pursues his brother who is he favored one in the fiar one's eyes. At first Robert is only a smugg l., late, he becomes a poacher.

(1) Cabbe II. 93.

(3) Ibid. 256.

(2) Ibid. VIII. Tales of the Hall XXI (4) Ibid. 254.

Poor Rachel shudder'd, smuggling she could name

Without confusion,

for she felt not shame;

But poachers were her terror, and a wood

Which they frequented had been mark'd by blood.(1)

A winter came,

When the stern keeper told of stolen game:

Throughout the woods the poaching dogs had been,

Fresh aid was sought, and nightly on the lands the

Walk'd on their watch a strong, determined bands: Pardon was offer'd and a promised pay

To him who would the desperate gang betray.

A few were seized- the rest escaped by flight:

Yet they resisted boldly ere they fled,

And blows were dealt around, and blood was shed;

Two groaning helpers on the earth were laid

When more arived the lawful cause to aid:

Then four determined men were seized and bound,

And Robert in this desperate number found:(2)

Now James had vowed the law should take its course,

(1He would not stay it, if he did not force;

Crabbe VIII. 260.

(2) Ibid. 260-61.

He could hid witness, if he plesed withdraw,

Or he could arm with certain death the law. (1) This fact he hols over Rachel and finally pursuades her to marry him in order to save Robert's life Escaped from prison Robert and the gang of poachers go at their desperate sport again. James "had spies about," grave,

ε

sober men, whom none prsumed to doubt! (2)

The y learn the place of the poachers' meeting and there is a desperate encounter in the woods between the outlaws and the game keeper and his men in which James and Robert are both killed.

Condition of the Poor.

In 1783 Crabbe published the Village. In it he shows the peculiar bent of his genius. He has found his subject; it is the one which he takes up in all his

later poems. It is a subject which belongs especially to him, one which he knew thoroughly and which no one else

ever cared to write of.

Crabbe wrote of country life in a very unconvention

al way.

To him it was not ideal. He thought that poets

(1) Crabbe VIII. 262. (2) Ibid. 269.