NOTES.

MISCELLANEOUS POEMS.

Page 98.

To the Daisy.

THIS poem, and two others to the same flower, were written in the year 1802; which is mentioned, because in some of the ideas, though not in the manner in which those ideas are connected, and likewise even in some of the expressions, there is a resemblance to a poem (lately published) of Mr. Montgomery's, entitled, "A Field Flower." This being said, Mr. Montgomery will not think any apology due to him. I cannot, however, help addressing him in the words of the father of English poets:

"Though it happe me to rehersin

That ye han in your freshe songis saied,
Forberith me, and beth not ill apaied,
Sith that ye se I doe it in the honour

Of Love, and eke in service of the Flour."

p. 112.

The Seven Sisters.

1807.

The story of this poem is from the German of FREDERICA BRUN.

p. 126.

The Horn of Egremont Castle.

This story is a Cumberland tradition; I have heard it also related of the Hall of Hutton John, an ancient residence of the Huddlestones, in a sequestered valley upon the river Dacor.

p. 154.

Song at the feast of Brougham Castle.

Henry, Lord Clifford, &c. &c., who is the subject of this poem, was the son of John, Lord Clifford, who was slain at Towton Field, which John, Lord Clifford, as is known to the reader of English history, was the person who, after the battle of Wakefield, slew, in the pursuit, the young Earl of Rutland, son of the Duke of York, who had fallen in the battle, "in part of revenge "" (say the authors of the History of Cumberland and Westmoreland); "for the earl's father had slain his." A deed which worthily blemished the author (saith Speed); but who, as he adds, "dare promise anything temperate of himself in the heat of martial fury? chiefly, when it was resolved not to leave any branch of the York line standing; for so one maketh this lord to speak." This, no doubt, I would observe by the bye, was an action sufficiently in the vindictive spirit of the times, and yet not altogether so bad as represented; for the earl was no child, as some writers would have him, but able to bear arms, being sixteen or seventeen years of age, as is evident from this (say the Memoirs of the Countess of Pembroke, who was laudably anxious to wipe away, as far as could be, this stigma from the illustrious name to which she was born), that he was the next child to King Edward the Fourth, which his mother had by Richard, Duke of York, and that king was then eighteen years of age and for the small distance betwixt her children, see Austin Vincent in his book of Nobility, p. 622, where he writes of them all. It may further be observed, that Lord Clifford, who was then himself only twentyfive years of age, had been a leading man and commander, two or three

years together in the army of Lancaster, before this time; and therefore would be less likely to think that the Earl of Rutland might be entitled to mercy from his youth. But, independent of this act, at best a cruel and savage one, the family of Clifford had done enough to draw upon them the vehement hatred of the house of York: so that after the battle of Towton there was no hope for them but in flight and concealment. Henry, the subject of the poem, was deprived of his estate and honours during the space of twenty-four years; all which time he lived as a shepherd in Yorkshire, or in Cumberland, where the estate of his father-in-law (Sir Lancelot Threlkeld) lay. He was restored to his estate and honours in the first year of Henry the Seventh. It is recorded that, "when called to parliament, he behaved nobly and wisely; but otherwise came seldom to London or the court; and rather delighted to live in the country, where he repaired several of his castles, which had gone to decay during the late troubles." Thus far is chiefly collected from Nicholson and Burn; and I can add, from my own knowledge, that there is a tradition current in the village of Threlkeld and its neighbourhood, his principal retreat, that, in the course of his shepherd life, he had acquired great astronomical knowledge. I cannot conclude this note without adding a word upon the subject of those numerous and noble feudal edifices spoken of in the poem, the ruins of some of which are, at this day, so great an ornament to that interesting country. The Cliffords had always been distinguished for an honourable pride in these castles; and we have seen, that after the wars of York and Lancaster they were rebuilt. In the civil wars of Charles the First they were again laid waste, and again restored almost to their former magnificence by the celebrated Lady Anne Clifford, Countess of Pembroke, &c. &c. Not more than twenty-five years after this was done, when the estates of Clifford had passed into the family of Tufton, three of these castles, namely, Brough, Brougham, and Pendragon, were demolished, and the timber and other materials sold by Thomas, Earl of Thanet. We will hope that, when the order was issued, the earl had not consulted the text of Isaiah, chap. lviii. v. 12, to which the inscription placed over the gate of Pendragon Castle, by the Countess of Pembroke (I believe his grandmother), at the time she repaired that structure, refers the reader:-" And they that shall be of thee shall build the old waste places: thou shalt raise up the foundations of many generations, and thou shalt be called the repairer of the breach, the restorer of paths to dwell in." The Earl of Thanet, the present possessor of the estates, with a due respect for the memory of his ancestors, and a proper sense of the value and beauty of these remains of antiquity, has (I am told) given orders that they shall be preserved from all depredations.

P. 154.

Earth help'd him with the cry of blood.

This line is from the "Battle of Bosworth Field," by Sir John Beaumont (brother to the dramatist), whose poems are written with so much spirit, elegance, and harmony.

P. 156.

And both the undying fish that swim
Through Bowscale Tarn, &c.

It is imagined by the people of the country that there are two immortal fish, inhabitants of this tarn, which lies in the mountains not far from Threlkeld. Blencathara, mentioned before, is the old and proper name of the mountain vulgarly called Saddle Back.

p. 157.

Armour rusting in his halls
On the blood of Clifford calls.

The martial character of the Cliffords is well known to the readers of English history; but it may not be improper here to say, by way of comment on these lines, and what follows, that, besides several others who perished in the same manner, the four immediate progenitors of the person in whose hearing this is supposed to be spoken all died in the field.

THE EXCURSION.

Page 281.

Much did he see of men.

"We learn from Cæsar and other Roman writers, that the travelling merchants who frequented Gaul and other barbarous countries, either newly conquered by the Roman arms, or bordering on the Roman conquests, were ever the first to make the inhabitants of those countries familiarly acquainted with the Roman modes of life, and to inspire them with an inclination to follow the Roman fashions, and to enjoy Roman conveniences. In North America, travelling merchants from the settlements have done, and continue to do, much more towards civilizing the Indian natives than all the missionaries, Papist or Protestant, who have ever been sent among them."-Heron's Journey in Scotland.

p. 313.

Lost in unsearchable Eternity!

Since this paragraph was composed, I have read with much pleasure, in Burnet's "Theory of the Earth," a passage expressing corresponding sentiments, excited by objects of a similar nature.

p. 329.

Of Mississippi, or that northern stream.

"A man is supposed to improve by going out into the World, by visiting London. Artificial man does; he extends with his sphere; but, alas, that sphere is microscopic; it is formed of minutiæ, and he surrenders his genuine vision to the artist, in order to embrace it in his ken. His bodily senses grow acute, even to barren and inhuman pruriency; while his mental become proportionally obtuse. The reverse is the man of mind: he who is placed in the sphere of nature and of God might be a mock at Tattersall's and Brooks's, and a sneer at St. James's; he would certainly be swallowed alive by the first Pizarro that crossed him.-But when he walks along the river of Amazons; when he rests his eye on the unrivalled Andes; when he measures the long and watered Savannah; or contemplates, from a sudden promontory, the distant, vast Pacific-and feels himself a freeman in this vast theatre, and commanding each readyproduced fruit of this wilderness, and each progeny of this stream-his exaltation is not less than imperial. He is as gentle, too, as he is great: his emotions of tenderness keep pace with his elevation of sentiment; for he says, 'These were made by a good Being, who, unsought by me, placed me here to enjoy them.' He becomes at once a child and a king. His mind is in himself; from hence he argues, and from hence he acts, and he argues unerringly, and acts magisterially: his mind in himself is also in his God; and therefore he loves, and therefore he soars."-From the notes upon The Hurricane, a poem, by William Gilbert.

The reader, I am sure, will thank me for the above quotation, which, though from a strange book, is one of the finest passages of modern English prose.

p. 334.

'Tis by comparison, an easy task
Earth to despise, &c.

See, upon this subject, Baxter's most interesting review of his own opinions and sentiments in the decline of life. It may be found (lately reprinted) in Dr. Wordsworth's "Ecclesiastical Biography."

p. 335.

Alas! the endowment of immortal power

Is match'd unequally with custom, time, &c.

This subject is treated at length in the Ode-"Intimations of Immor tality," p. 266.

p. 337.

Knowing the heart of man is set to be, &c.

The passage quoted from Daniel is taken from a poem addressed to the Lady Margaret, Countess of Cumberland, and the two last lines, printed in italics, are by him translated from Seneca. The whole poem is very beautiful.

p. 376.

And spires whose 'silent finger points to heaven.'

An instinctive taste teaches men to build their churches in flat countries with spire-steeples, which, as they cannot be referred to any other object, point, as with silent finger, to the sky and stars, and sometimes, when they reflect the brazen light of a rich, though rainy sunset, appear like a pyramid of flame burning heavenward. See "The Friend," by S. T. Coleridge, No. 14, p. 223.

p. 420.

Perish the roses and the flowers of kings.

The "Transit gloria mundi" is finely expressed in the Introduction to the foundation-charters of some of the ancient abbeys. Some expressions here used are taken from that of the abbey of St. Mary's, Furness, the translation of which is as follows:

"Considering every day the uncertainty of life, that the roses and flowers of kings, emperors, and dukes, and the crowns and palms of all the great, wither and decay; and that all things, with an uninterrupted course, tend to dissolution and death: I therefore," &c.

p. 424.

Earth has lent

Her waters, Air her breezes.

In treating this subject, it was impossible not to recollect, with gratitude, the pleasing picture which, in his poem of "The Fleece," the excellent and amiable Dyer has given of the influences of manufacturing industry upon the face of this island. He wrote at a time when machinery was first beginning to be introduced, and his benevolent heart prompted him to augur from it nothing but good. Truth has compelled me to dwell upon the baneful effects arising out of an ill-regulated and excessive application of powers so admirable in themselves.

p. 439.

Binding herself by statute.

The discovery of Dr. Bell affords marvellons facilities for carrying this into effect; and it is impossible to over-rate the benefit which might accrue to humanity from the universal application of this simple engine under an enlightened and conscientious government.

Page 453.

THE WHITE DOE OF RYLSTONE.

From Bolton's old monastic tower.

It is to be regretted that at the present day Bolton Abbey wants this ornament: but the poem, according to the imagination of the Poet, is composed in Queen Elizabeth's time. "Formerly," says Dr. Whitaker, "over the transept was a tower." This is proved not only from the mention of bells at the dissolution, when they could have had no other place, but from the pointed roof of the choir, which must have terminated westward in some building of superior height to the ridge.

p. 453.

A rural chapel, neatly dress'd.

"The nave of the church having been reserved at the dissolution, for the use of the Saxon cure, is still a parochial chapel; and at this day is as well kept as the neatest English cathedral."

p. 453.

Who sate in the shade of the Prior's Oak.

"At a small distance from the great gateway stood the Prior's Oak, which was felled about the year 1720, and sold for £70. According to the price of wood at that time, it could scarcely have contained less than 1,400 feet of timber."

p. 457.

When Lady Aäliza mourn'd.

The detail of this tradition may be found in Dr. Whitaker's book, and in the poem, "The Force of Prayer," p. 185.

p. 457.

Pass, pass who will, yon chantry door.

"At the east end of the north aisle of Bolton Priory Church is a chantry belonging to Bethmesly Hall, and a vault where, according to tradition, the Claphams (who inherited this estate, by the female line, from the Mauleverers) were interred upright." John de Clapham, of whom this ferocious act is recorded, was a name of great note in his time; "he was a vehement partisan of the house of Lancaster, in whom the spirit of his chieftains, the Cliffords, seemed to survive."

p. 458.

Who loved the shepherd lord to meet.

See note (p. 491) on song at the feast of Brougham Castle.

p. 464.

Ye watchmen upon Brancepeth Towers. Brancepeth Castle stands near the river Were, a few miles from the city of Durham. It formerly belonged to the Nevilles, Earls of Westmoreland. p. 469.

Of mitred Thurston, what a host
He conquer'd!

See the historians for the account of this memorable battle, usually denominated the Battle of the Standard.

p. 475.

An edifice of warlike frame

Stands single (Norton Tower its name).

It is so called to this day, and is thus described by Dr. Whitaker:-"Rylstone Fell yet exhibits a monument of the old warfare between the Nortons and Cliffords. On a point of very high ground, commanding an immense prospect, and protected by two deep ravines, are the remains of