222    THE EARLY LIFE OF ROBERT SOUTHEY
Bell, whom he somewhat resembles, and so showing the
way to grace, is made to serve as a warning by going mad
in the end of his sin. In The Cross Roads, however, theme,
didactic purpose, and manner so closely resemble Words-
worth at his worst that the reader may well wonder whether
he has not stumbled upon a fugitive number from the
Lyrical Ballads. This poem was written at Westbury in
1798, and has the inevitable note stating that "the circum-
stance related in the following Ballad happened about forty
years ago in a village adjacent to Bristol. A person who
was present at the funeral told me the story and the par-
ticulars of the interment, as I have versified them."  The
poem then begins in the veritable "lake" style.
"There was an old man breaking stones
To mend the turnpike way,
He sat him down beside a brook
And out his bread and cheese he took,
For now it was mid-day.
"He lent his back against a post,
His feet the brook ran by;
And there were water-cresses growing,
And pleasant was the water's flowing
For he was hot and dry.
"A soldier with his knapsack on
Came travelling o'er the down,
The sun was strong and he was tired,
And he of the old man inquired
How far to Bristol town.
"Half an hour's walk for a young man
By lanes, and fields, and stiles.
But you the foot-path do not know,
And if along the road you go
Why, then, 'tis three good miles.