Coleridge wrote that pathetic poem "To a Gentleman." Sir George Beaumont was an rtist of repute and a lover of letters. His inimate and helpful relations to Wordsworth nd Coleridge will be found recorded in Meorials of Coleorton. Page 356. THOUGHT OF A BRITON ON THE SUBJUGATION OF SWITZERLAND. In 1802 Napoleon crushed out the liberties of Switzerland, in 1807 he was master of Europe, nd was making gigantic preparations to inade England. Page 356. To THOMAS CLARKSON, ON THE INAL PASSING OF THE BILL FOR THE ABOITION OF THE SLAVE TRADE. Clarkson's work began when he selected his ubject for his Latin essay at St. John's Colege, Cambridge: Anne liceat invitos in ser itutem dare?" From that time he devoted imself to the abolition of the slave trade. The most powerful opposition arose against im, and not until the accession of Fox, in 806, did the cause gain advantage in Parlianent; in March, 1807, the Government declared he slave trade illegal. Clarkson lived from 1795 to 1806 at Eusmere, ear Ullswater, where the Wordsworths were requent guests. Page 357. THE MOTHER'S RETURN. The Fenwick note here is incorrect, as the poem was written at Coleorton by Dorothy, when Wordsworth and Mary were in Lonlon. Mrs. Wordsworth has a strong impression hat The Mother's Return' was written at Coleorton, where Miss Wordsworth was then staying with the children, during the absence of the former." W. W. Henry Lord Clifford, etc., 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 any thing 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 twenty-five 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 mag nificence by the celebrated Lady Anne Clifford, Countess of Pembroke, etc. 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 this order was issued, the Earl had not consulted the text of Isaiah, 58th chap., 12th verse, 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. W. W. Lines 1-4. Brougham Castle is situated on the river Emont, about one mile and a half from Penrith. It is now in ruins. During the last half of the sixteenth century the castle was neglected, and it suffered much as Furness Abbey has suffered, the stone of which has been used for dwellings. "Brave and bonny' Cumberland during the Border Wars and the Wars of the Roses erected castle after castle, many ruins of which now stand, grim historians of the political life of those days. See "Prelude," vi. 190-220. Line 7. From first battle of St. Albans, 1455, to battle of Bosworth, 1485. Line 13. The marriage of Henry VII. with Elizabeth of York. Line 27. Earth helped 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 much spirit, elegance, and harmony, and have deservedly been reprinted lately in Chalmers's Collection of English Poets. W. W. When Line 36. Skipton. Castle in Yorkshire comprised in the estates of the Cliffords, deserted while the Peasant Lord was attainted. the dissolution of the Monasteries was followed by insurrection the dispossessed Heads were finally repulsed at Skipton by the Earl of Northumberland. Its Line 40. Pendragon. Another of the castles of the Cliffords, near the source of the river Eden, Cumberland, destroyed__in_1685. origin is ascribed to Uther Pendragon, the mighty Briton who withstood so long the ravages of the ruthless Saxons. Tradition says he tried to alter the course of the river to better fortify this castle, but failed. "Let Uther Pendragon do what he can, Lines 44, 45. Brough Cass on the Hillbeck stream, which flows into the Eden, and is pr ably older than the Norman Conquest. Lines 46, 47. And she, etc. Appleby Casti a ruin since 1565. Line 54. The mother of Henry Lord Cliffer was Margaret, daughter of Lord Vesci. Line 73. Carrock's side. Not far from Casta Sowerby, Cumberland. Lines 89-92. Mosedale, etc. The vale of M dale is north of Blencathara (Saddleback mountain not far from Keswick. Glenderan kin rises on the high ground not far from S dleback. Lines 94-100. Sir Lancelot Threlkeld cealed the boy on his estates in Cumberland. In "The Waggoner" we have: "And see beyond that hamlet small The hall is now a ruin, save one portion use as a farmhouse. Line 122. fish. It is imagined by the people of the country that there are two immortal Fist inhabitants of this Tarn, which lies in the mountains not far from Threlkeld. - Blener thara, mentioned before, is the old and proper name of the mountain vulgarly called Sadde back. W. W. Lines 142-145. These lines have a genuine epic ring, and reflect the life of the timetime filled with the prejudices, the passions, and the pomp of war. The Northern Heights seem to have contributed their full share toward all these. In 1584 we find that Cumberland and Westmoreland furnished "Eight thousand three hundred and fifty horsemen, archers, and billmen." The Kendal men are mentioned with honor at the battle of Floden "There are the bows of Kentdale bold Who fierce will fight and never flee." Wordsworth's Muse loves to range "Where untroubled peace and concord dwells," and seldom does she lead him into the fields of chivalry and romance. In but two instances do we have subjects which would permit of the full epic treatment. In this poem he does not dwell, as Scott would have done, upon the mustering of the forces, the description of the leaders, the shock of battle, and the deeds of prowess, but up those qualities of the Shepherd Lord which distinguish him as a man and by which he was endeared to all. The treatment is subjective rather than objective; and in its rapid more ment from the jubilate at the opening, throngh the various phases of family fortune, to the slowly moving, meditative stanzas at the close the poem is representative of that variety of form and feeling of which Wordsworth va master. This is, I take it, what Coleridge means when he says: From no contemporary writer could The events upon which the poem is based curred in 1569, the twelfth year of the reign Queen Elizabeth, as given in the old ballad Percy Reliques, "The Rising of the North." e imprisonment of Mary Queen of Scots bittered her followers in the north and a plan e her marriage to the Duke of Norfolk and e restoration of the old faith was formed by iny of the English nobles, among them the irls of Northumberland and Westmoreland. hen this was known to Elizabeth she sent orfolk to the Tower and summoned the Earls appear at court. But instead of complying e Earls gathered their vassals at Brancepeth istle in Yorkshire, where they were joined by e head of the ancient family, Richard Norton, d his eight sons. They entered Durham, had ass said, and then set out for York. On their ay they laid siege to Barnard Castle, which was ld by Sir George Bowes, a follower of Elizath. While this was taking place Sussex came rainst them from York and the insurgents, sing heart, returned towards the Border and e Earls escaped into Scotland. Norton and s sons fell into the hands of Sussex and were ut to death. These are the events of the d ballad, but Wordsworth's poem centres its terest about the fate of the Nortons and the d tradition of that sole survivor, Emily with er White Doe. The scenery surrounding the old Hall, the netities of the famous Priory, and the decay ancient chivalry are impressive to the modern sitor. The Poem of The White Doe of Rylstone' founded on a local tradition, and on the Bald in Percy's Collection, entitled 'The Rising f the North.' The tradition is as follows: About this time,' not long after the Dissoluon, a White Doe,' say the aged people of ne neighbourhood, long continued to make a eekly pilgrimage from Rylstone over the fells f Bolton, and was constantly found in the Abbey Churchyard during divine service; after he close of which she returned home as regu larly as the rest of the congregation."" - DR. WHITAKER'S History of the Deanery of Craven. Rylstone was the property and residence of the Nortons, distinguished in that ill-advised and unfortunate Insurrection; which led me to connect with this tradition the principal cir cumstances of their fate, as recorded in the Ballad. "Bolton Priory,' says Dr. Whitaker in his excellent book, The History and Antiquities of the Deanery of Craven, stands upon a beautiful curvature of the Wharf, on a level sufficiently elevated to protect it from inundations, and low enough for every purpose of picturesque effect. "Opposite to the East window of the Priory Church, the river washes the foot of a rock nearly perpendicular, and of the richest purple, where several of the mineral beds, which break out instead of maintaining their usual inclination to the horizon, are twisted by some inconceivable process into undulating and spiral lines. To the South all is soft and delicious; the eye reposes upon a few rich pastures, a moderate reach of the river, sufficiently tranquil to form a mirror to the sun, and the bounding hills beyond, neither too near nor too lofty to exclude, even in winter, any portion of his rays. 666 But after all, the glories of Bolton are on the North. Whatever the most fastidious taste could require to constitute a perfect landscape, is not only found here, but in its proper place. In front, and immediately under the eye, is a smooth expanse of park-like enclosure, spotted with native elm, ash, etc., of the finest growth: on the right a skirting oak wood, with jutting points of grey rock; on the left a rising copse. Still forward are seen the aged groves of Bolton Park, the growth of centuries; and farther yet, the barren and rocky distances of Simon-seat and Barden Fell contrasted with the warmth, fertility, and luxuriant foliage of the valley below. 466 About half a mile above Bolton the valley closes, and either side of the Wharf is overhung by solemn woods, from which huge perpendicular masses of grey rock jut out at intervals. "This sequestered scene was almost inaccessible till of late, that ridings have been cut on both sides of the river, and the most interesting points laid open by judicious thinnings in the woods. Here a tributary stream rushes from a waterfall, and bursts through a woody glen to mingle its waters with the Wharf: there the Wharf itself is nearly lost in a deep cleft in the rock, and next becomes a horned flood enclosing a woody island sometimes it reposes for a moment, and then resumes its native character, lively, irregular, and impetuous. 666 The cleft mentioned above is the tremendous STRID. This chasm, being incapable of receiving the winter floods, has formed on either side a broad strand of naked gritstone full of rock-basins, or 'pots of the Linn," which bear witness to the restless impetuosity of so many Northern torrents. But, if here Wharf is lost to the eye, it amply repays another sense by its deep and solemn roar, like "the Voice of the angry Spirit of the Waters," heard far above and beneath, amidst the silence of the surrounding woods. "The terminating object of the landscape is the remains of Barden Tower, interesting from their form and situation, and still more so from the recollections which they excite.'" W. W. DEDICATION. In this poem the author suggests the kind of interpretation to which the spiritual romance of the White Doe is susceptible. Line 1. In trellised shed, etc. In the garden at Dove Cottage. Page 362. Action is transitory." This aud the five lines that follow were either read or recited by me, more than thirty years since, to the late Mr. Hazlitt, who quoted some expressions in them (imperfectly remembered) in a work of his published several years ago. W. W. These six lines are from The Borderers," act iii. 405-410. CANTO FIRST. Line 1. 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." W. W. Line 27. A Chapel. 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. W. W. This chapel still stands; the rest of the church is a ruin. Line 34. 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 70l. According to the price of wood at that time, it could scarcely have contained less than 1400 feet of timber. W. W. The location of the tree is not now known. Line 58. A solitary Doe. A White Doe, say the aged people of the neighbourhood, long continued to make a weekly pilgrimage from Rylstone over the fells of Bolton, and was constantly found in the Abbey Churchyard during divine service. W. W., 1713. Line 126. She sees a warrior carved in stone. No record of this can now be found at Bolton. It may have been only a creation of the poet. Line 170. It was a solitary mound. The grave of Francis Norton cannot be found. Line 226. When Lady Aäliza mourned. The detail of this tradition may be found in Dr. Whitaker's book, and in a Poem of this Collection, The Force of Prayer." W. W. Line 242. yon chantry door. At the East end of the North aisle of Bolton Priory Ca is a chantry belonging to Bethmesly Hall a a vault where, according to tradition, the C hams (who inherited this estate, by the fe line, from the Mauleverers) were interred right. John de Clapham, of whom this te cious act is recorded, was a man of great at in his time: he was a vehement partisa the house of Lancaster, in whom the spiri his chieftains, the Cliffords, seemed to survi W. W. Line 268. Who loved the Shepherd-l meet. Among these Poems will be foun entitled, "Song at the Feast of Bron Castle, upon the Restoration of Lord Clif the Shepherd, to the Estates and Honours his Ancestors." To that Poem is annexed account of this personage, chiefly extra from Burn and Nicholson's History of Cust land and Westmoreland. It gives me please to add these further particulars concerning from Dr. Whitaker, who says he retireit the solitude of Barden, where he seems to br enlarged the tower out of a common keepe lodge, and where he found a retreat eq favourable to taste, to instruction, and to de tion. The narrow limits of his residence s that he had learned to despise the pomp d greatness, and that a small train of servi could suffice him, who had lived to the agthirty a servant himself. I think this r man resided here almost entirely when in Yes shire, for all his charters which I have seen dated at Barden. "His early habits, and the want of th artificial measures of time which even she herds now possess, had given him a tum observing the motions of the heavenly bod and, having purchased such an apparatus could then be procured, he amused and formed himself by those pursuits, with the of the Canons of Bolton, some of whom said to have been well versed in what was the known of the science. I suspect this nobleman to have been s times occupied in a more visionary pursuit, probably in the same company. For, from the family evidences, I have re with two MSS. on the subject of Aicher which, from the character, spelling, etc., almost certainly be referred to the reit Henry the Seventh. If these were origina deposited with the MSS. of the Cliffords might have been for the use of this nobleTM* If they were brought from Bolton at the De lution, they must have been the work of the Canons whom he almost exclusively conversed with. In these peaceful employments Lord C ford spent the whole reign of Henry the Sevent and the first years of his son. But in the ye 1513, when almost sixty years old, he was pointed to a principal command over the a which fought at Flodden, and showed that t military genius of the family had neither be chilled in him by age, nor extinguished by hal of peace. survived the battle of Flodden ten nd died April 23d, 1523, aged about 70. endeavour to appropriate to him a tomb, and chantry, in the choir of the church on, as I should be sorry to believe that deposited, when dead, at a distance e place which in his lifetime he loved so his last will he appointed his body to -rred at Shap, if he died in Westmoreor at Bolton, if he died in Yorkshire." I respect to the Canons of Bolton, Dr. ker shows from MSS. that not only albut astronomy was a favourite pursuit em. W. W. 294. Barden's lowly quietness. Barden at about three miles from Bolton Priory, t bank of the Wharf. TO SECOND. Line 16. inner of the Five Wounds. Banner. Called 43. Rylstone-hall. Of this there are few remains to be seen. TO THIRD, Line 2. Of Brancepeth. epeth Castle stands near the river Were, miles from the city of Durham. It forbelonged to the Nevilles, Earls of Westand. See Dr. Percy's account. W. W. e 103. Raby Hall. Raby Castle, Dures 123, 124. From the old ballad. W. W. e 131. Clifford-moor. Not far from Weth e 203. From the old ballad. W. W. es 207, 208. Lord Dacre. Howard's aid. orth Castle in Cumberland has over its nce the arms of Dacre and Howard. je 221. mitred Thurston. See the Histofor the account of this memorable battle, ly denominated the Battle of the StandW. W. 12 235. In that other day of Neville's Cross. the night before the battle of Durham was ken and begun, the 17th day of October, 1346, there did appear to John Fosser, Prior of the abbey of Durham, a Vision, manding him to take the holy Corporax1, wherewith St. Cuthbert did cover the ice when he used to say mass, and to put same holy relique like to a banner-cloth the point of a spear, and the next mornto go and repair to a place on the west side he city of Durham, called the Red Hills, re the Maid's Bower wont to be, and there emain and abide till the end of the battle. which vision the Prior obeying, and taking same for a revelation of God's grace and cy by the mediation of Holy St. Cuthbert, accordingly the next morning, with the iks of the said abbey, repair to the said Red is, and there most devoutly humbling and strating themselves in prayer for the victory the said battle: (a great multitude of the ts running and pressing by them, with intento have spoiled them, yet had no power to amit any violence under such holy persons, ecupied in prayer, being protected and deded by the mighty Providence of Almighty God, and by the mediation of Holy St. Cuthbert, and the presence of the holy relique). And, after many conflicts and warlike exploits there had and done between the English men and the King of Scots and his company, the said battle ended, and the victory was obtained, to the great overthrow and confusion of the Scots, their enemies: And then the said Prior and monks accompanied with Ralph Lord Nevil, and John Nevil his son, and the Lord Percy, and many other nobles of England, returned home and went to the abbey church, there joining in hearty prayer and thanksgiving to God and Holy St. Cuthbert for the victory achieved that day." This battle was afterwards called the Battle of Neville's Cross from the foliowing circum stance: "On the west side of the city of Durham, where two roads pass each other, a most notable, famous, and goodly cross of stone-work was erected and set up to the honour of God for the victory there obtained in the field of battle, and known by the name of Nevil's Cross, and built at the sole cost of the Lord Ralph Nevil, one of the most excellent and chief persons in the said battle." The Relique of St. Cuthbert afterwards became of great importance in military events. For soon after this battle, says the same author, "The Prior caused a goodly and sumptuous banner to be made" (which is then described at great length), "and in the midst of the same banner-cloth was the said holy relique and corporax-cloth enclosed, etc., and so sumptuously finished, and absolutely perfected, this banner was dedicated to Holy St. Cuthbert, of intent and purpose that for the future it should be carried to any battle, as occasion should serve; and was never carried and showed at any battle but by the especial grace of God Almighty, and the mediation of Holy St. Cuthbert, it brought home victory; which banner-cloth, after the dissolution of the abbey, fell into the possession of Dean WHITTINGHAM, whose wife, called KATHARINE, being a French woman (as is most credibly reported by eyewitnesses), did most injuriously burn the same in her fire, to the open contempt and disgrace of all ancient and goodly reliques." -Extracted from a book entitled Durham Cathedral, as it stood before the Dissolution of the Monastery. It appears, from the old metrical History, that the above-mentioned banner was carried by the Earl of Surrey to Flodden Field. W. W. CANTO FOURTH. Line 179. Barnard's Towers. On the Tees, Yorkshire. CANTO FIFTH. Line 6. Norton Tower. 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 a square tower, expressly said by Dodsworth to have been built by Richard Norton. The walls are of strong grout-work, about four feet thick. It seems to have been three stories |