aged about 70. I shall endeavour to appropriate to him a tomb, vault,
and chantry, in the choir of the church of Bolton, as I should be sorry
to believe that he was deposited when dead at a distance from the place
which in his life-time he loved so well.
"By his last will he appointed his body to be interred at Shap if he
died in Westmoreland; or at Bolton if he died in Yorkshire."
With respect to the Canons of Bolton, Dr. Whitaker shews from MSS. that
not only alchemy but astronomy was a favourite pursuit with them.--W. W.
1815.
[U] Barden Tower is on the western bank of the Wharfe, fully two miles
north-west of Bolton Priory, above the Strid. At the time of the
restoration of the Shepherd-lord, Barden Tower was only a keeper's
forest lodge. It is so hidden in trees, and so retired, that the
situation is most accurately described as
the shy recess
Of Barden's lowly quietness. ED.
[V] The year 1569.--ED.
[W] Percy, Earl of Northumberland, and Neville, Earl of Westmoreland--the
two peers who joined in support of the Duke of Norfolk's marriage with
Queen Mary, with a view to the restoration of Catholicism in England.
See note III. p. 198.--ED.
[X] Compare _Twelfth Night_, act I. scene i. l. 4--
That strain again! it had a dying fall. ED.
[Y] See the Old Ballad,--_The Rising of the North_.--W. W. 1827.
This Ballad is printed in Wordsworth's note, p. 186. The reference here
is to the lines--
But, father, I will wend with you,
Unarm'd and naked will I bee. ED.
[Z] The site of Rylstone Hall is still recognisable, but the building is
gone. It was not at Rylstone, but at Ripon, that the Nortons raised
their banner in November 1569; but their tenantry at Rylstone rose with
them at the same time.--ED.
[AA] Brancepeth Castle stands near the river Were, a few miles from the
city of Durham. It formerly belonged to the Nevilles, Earls of
Westmoreland. See Dr. Percy's account.--W. W. 1815.
[BB] The tower of the Cathedral of Durham, of which St. Cuthbert is the
patron saint.--ED.
[CC] Now Raby Castle, a seat of the Duke of Cleveland in the county of
Durham.--ED.
[DD] From the old Ballad.--W. W. 1820.
The lines are--
At Wetherbye they mustered their host,
Thirteen thousand fair to see. ED.
[EE] The village of Clifford is three miles from Wetherby, where the
host was mustered.--ED.
[FF] From the old Ballad.--W. W. 1820.
The line referred to is--
Against soe many could not stay. ED.
[GG] See note V. p. 200.--ED.
[HH] See the Historians for the account of this memorable battle,
usually denominated the Battle of the Standard.--W. W. 1815.
It was fought at Northallerton in 1137, under Archbishop Thurston of
York. See note VI. p. 200.--ED.
[II] "In the night before the battle of Durham was strucken and begun,
the 17th day of October, _anno_ 1346, there did appear to John Fosser,
then Prior of the abbey of Durham, a Vision, commanding him to take the
holy Corporax-cloth, wherewith St. Cuthbert did cover the chalice when
he used to say mass, and to put the same holy relique like to a
banner-cloth upon the point of a spear, and the next morning to go and
repair to a place on the west side of the city of Durham, called the Red
Hills, where the Maid's Bower wont to be, and there to remain and abide
till the end of the battle. To which vision, the Prior obeying, and
taking the same for a revelation of God's grace and mercy by the
mediation of holy St. Cuthbert, did accordingly the next morning, with
the monks of the said abbey, repair to the said Red Hills, and there
most devoutly humbling and prostrating themselves in prayer for the
victory in the said battle: (a great multitude of the Scots running and
pressing by them, with intention to have spoiled them, yet had no power
to commit any violence under such holy persons, so occupied in prayer,
being protected and defended 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 atchieved that day."
This battle was afterwards called the Battle of Neville's Cross from the
following circumstance:--
"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. 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 shewed 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 was called KATHARINE, being a
French woman, (as is most credibly reported by eye-witnesses,) 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. 1815.
[JJ] Compare _An Evening Walk_, ll. 365, 366 (vol. i. p. 31)--
The song of mountain-streams, unheard by day,
Now hardly heard, beguiles my homeward way.
Also _The Excursion_ (book iv. ll. 1173, 1174)--
The little rills, and waters numberless,
Inaudible by daylight.
And Wordsworth's sonnet beginning--
The unremitting voice of nightly streams
That wastes so oft, we think, its tuneful powers.
Compare also in Gray's _Tour in the Lakes_, "At distance, heard the
murmur of many waterfalls, not audible in the daytime."--ED.
[KK] Compare Milton's Sonnet on his Blindness, l. 14--
They also serve who only stand and wait. ED.
[LL] In the limestone ridges and hills of the Craven district of
Yorkshire there are many caverns and underground recesses, such as the
Yordas cave referred to in _The Prelude_ (vol. iii. p. 289).--ED.
[MM] The Towers of Barnard Castle on the Tees in Yorkshire.--ED.
[NN] 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 high. Breaches have been
industriously made in all the sides, almost to the ground, to render it
untenable.
"But Norton Tower was probably a sort of pleasure-house in summer, as
there are, adjoining to it, several large mounds, (two of them are
pretty entire,) of which no other account can be given than that they
were butts for large companies of archers.
"The place is savagely wild, and admirably adapted to the uses of a
watch-tower."--W. W. 1815. (See note VII. p. 201.)--ED.
The remains of Norton Tower are not in the highest point of the Rylstone
Fells, but on one of the western ridges: and there are now only four
bare roofless rectangular walls. It was originally both a watch-tower
and a hunting-tower. Looking towards Malham to the north and north-west,
the view is exactly as described in the poem.--ED.
[OO] This extract was first prefixed to canto seventh in the edition of
1837.--ED.
[PP] "After the attainder of Richard Norton, his estates were forfeited
to the crown, where they remained till the 2d or 3d of James; they were
then granted to Francis Earl of Cumberland." From an accurate survey
made at that time, several particulars have been extracted by Dr. W. It
appears that the mansion-house was then in decay. "Immediately adjoining
is a close, called the Vivery, so called undoubtedly from the French
Vivier, or modern Latin Viverium; for there are near the house large
remains of a pleasure-ground, such as were introduced in the earlier
part of Elizabeth's time, with topiary works, fish-ponds, an island,
etc. The whole township was ranged by an hundred and thirty red deer,
the property of the Lord, which, together with the wood, had, after the
attainder of Mr. Norton, been committed to Sir Stephen Tempest. The
wood, it seems, had been abandoned to depredations, before which time it
appears that the neighbourhood must have exhibited a forest-like and
sylvan scene. In this survey, among the old tenants, is mentioned one
Richard Kitchen, butler to Mr. Norton, who rose in rebellion with his
master, and was executed at Ripon."--W. W. 1815.
[QQ] There are two small streams which rise near Rylstone. One, called
Rylstone beck, flows westwards into the Aire. Another makes its way
eastwards towards the Wharfe, joins Linton beck, and so enters Wharfe
between Linton Church and Grassington Bridge. It is to the latter that
Wordsworth refers, although the former is now called Rylstone beck.--ED.
[RR] "At the extremity of the parish of Burnsal, the valley of Wharf
forks off into two great branches, one of which retains the name of
Wharfdale to the source of the river; the other is usually called
Littondale, but more anciently and properly Amerdale. Dern-brook, which
runs along an obscure valley from the N. W., is derived from a Teutonic
word, signifying concealment."--Dr. WHITAKER.--W. W. 1815.
The valley of Littondale, as is shown in Wordsworth's note, once bore
the name of Amerdale. Though the name is not now given to the beck, it
survives, singularly enough, in one pool in the stream, where it joins
the Wharfe, which is still called "Amerdale Dub."--ED.
[SS] From this valley of Litton a small lateral one runs up in a
south-westerly direction at Arncliffe, making a "deep fork," and is
called Dernbrook. Dern means seclusion, and two or three miles up this
ghyll is a farm-house bearing the name of Dernbrook House. "The phrase
'By lurking Dernbrook's pathless side' is so appropriate," says the late
incumbent of Arncliffe, the Ven. Archdeacon Boyd, in a letter to the
editor, "that it would almost seem that Wordsworth had been there." Mr.
Boyd adds, "In the illustrated edition of _The White Doe_, published by
Longmans a few years ago, there is an illustration by Birket Foster of
the Dernbrook House, the original of which I had the honour to supply.
It is but a short distance--two or three miles--from Malham Tarn."--ED.
[TT] On one of the bells of Rylstone church, which seems co-eval with
the building of the tower, is this cypher, =J. N.= for John Norton, and
the motto, "=God us ayde.="--W. W. 1815.
"A ring, bearing the same motto, was sold at a sale of antiquities from
Bramhope Manor, Feb. 1865. The Norton Shield of Arms is in Rylstone
Church." (See Murray's _Yorkshire_.)--ED.
[UU] Which is thus described by Dr. Whitaker:--"On the plain summit of
the hill are the foundations of a strong wall, stretching from the S. W.
to the N. E. corner of the tower, and to the edge of a very deep glen.
From this glen, a ditch, several hundred yards long, runs south to
another deep and rugged ravine. On the N. and W. where the banks are
very steep, no wall or mound is discoverable, paling being the only
fence that would stand on such ground.
"From the Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border, it appears that such pounds
for deer, sheep, etc., were far from being uncommon in the south of
Scotland. The principle of them was something like that of a wire
mouse-trap. On the declivity of a steep hill, the bottom and sides of
which were fenced so as to be impassable, a wall was constructed nearly
level with the surface on the outside, yet so high within that without
wings it was impossible to escape in the opposite direction. Care was
probably taken that these enclosures should contain better feed than the
neighbouring parks or forests; and whoever is acquainted with the habits
of these sequacious animals, will easily conceive, that if the leader
was once tempted to descend into the snare, an herd would follow."
I cannot conclude without recommending to the notice of all lovers of
beautiful scenery--Bolton Abbey and its neighbourhood. This enchanting
spot belongs to the Duke of Devonshire; and the superintendance of it
has for some years been entrusted to the Rev. William Carr, who has most
skilfully opened out its features; and in whatever he has added, has
done justice to the place by working with an invisible hand of art in
the very spirit of nature.--W. W. 1815.
[VV] The late Archdeacon of Craven wrote to me of this, "There never can
have been a Lady Chapel in the usual place at Bolton, for the altar was
close to the east window. I never heard of a Saint Mary's _shrine_; but,
most probably, the church was dedicated to St. Mary, in which case she"
(the Lady Emily) "would be speaking of the building. In proof of this,
the Priory of Embsay was dedicated to St. Mary; and naturally the
dedication, on the removal from Embsay to Bolton, would be renewed. See
Whitaker, p. 369, in extracting from the compotus, 'Comp. Monasterii be'
Mar' de Boulton in Craven.'" It may be added that the whole church being
dedicated to St. Mary--as in the case of the Cistercian buildings--there
would be no Lady Chapel. The mention in detail of "prostrate altars,"
"shrines defaced," "fret-work imagery," "plates of ornamental brass,"
and "sculptured Forms of Warriors" in the closing canto of _The White
Doe_ is--like the "one sequestered hillock green" where Francis Norton
was supposed to "sleep in his last abode"--part of the imaginative
drapery of the poem.--ED.
[WW] Compare Sackville's _Ferrex and Porrex_, iv. 2; Lord Surrey's lines
beginning, "Give place, ye lovers"; and George Turberville's poem which
begins, "You want no skill."--ED.
[XX] Camden expressly says that he was violently attached to the
Catholic Religion.--W. W. 1815.
THE FORCE OF PRAYER;[A] OR, THE FOUNDING OF BOLTON PRIORY
A TRADITION
Composed 1807.--Published 1815
[An appendage to _The White Doe_. My friend, Mr. Rogers, has also
written on the subject.[B] The story is preserved in Dr. Whitaker's
_History of Craven_--a topographical writer of first-rate merit in all
that concerns the past; but such was his aversion from the modern
spirit, as shown in the spread of manufactories in those districts of
which he treats, that his readers are left entirely ignorant both of the
progress of these arts and their real bearing upon the comfort, virtues,
and happiness of the inhabitants. While wandering on foot through the
fertile valleys and over the moorlands of the Apennine that divide
Yorkshire from Lancashire, I used to be delighted with observing the
number of substantial cottages that had sprung up on every side, each
having its little plot of fertile ground won from the surrounding waste.
A bright and warm fire, if needed, was always to be found in these
dwellings. The father was at his loom; the children looked healthy and
happy. Is it not to be feared that the increase of mechanic power had
done away with many of these blessings, and substituted many ills? Alas!
if these evils grow, how are they to be checked, and where is the remedy
to be found? Political economy will not supply it; that is certain; we
must look to something deeper, purer, and higher.--I. F.]
Included among the "Poems of Sentiment and Reflection."--ED.
"=What is good for a bootless bene?="
With these dark words begins my Tale;
And their meaning is, whence can comfort spring
When Prayer is of no avail?
"=What is good for a bootless bene?=" 5
The Falconer to the Lady said;
And she made answer "ENDLESS SORROW!"
For she knew that her Son was dead.
She knew it by[1] the Falconer's words,
And from the look of the Falconer's eye; 10
And from the love which was in her soul
For her youthful Romilly.
--Young Romilly through Barden woods
Is ranging high and low;
And holds a greyhound in a leash, 15
To let slip upon buck or doe.
The pair[2] have reached that fearful chasm,
How tempting to bestride!
For lordly Wharf is there pent in
With rocks on either side. 20
The[3] striding-place is called THE STRID,
A name which it took of yore:
A thousand years hath it borne that name,
And shall a thousand more.
And hither is young Romilly come, 25
And what may now forbid
That he, perhaps for the hundredth time,
Shall bound across THE STRID?
He sprang in glee,--for what cared he 29
That the river was strong, and the rocks were steep?--
But the greyhound in the leash hung back,
And checked him in his leap.
The Boy is in the arms of Wharf,
And strangled by[4] a merciless force;
For never more was young Romilly seen 35
Till he rose a lifeless corse.
Now there is[5] stillness in the vale,
And long,[6] unspeaking, sorrow:
Wharf shall be to pitying hearts
A name more sad than Yarrow. 40
If for a lover the Lady wept,
A solace she might borrow
From death, and from the passion of death:--
Old Wharf might heal her sorrow.
She weeps not for the wedding-day 45
Which was to be to-morrow:
Her hope was a further-looking hope,
And hers is a mother's sorrow.
He was a tree that stood alone,
And proudly did its branches wave; 50
And the root of this delightful tree
Was in her husband's grave!
Long, long in darkness did she sit,
And her first words were, "Let there be
In Bolton, on the field of Wharf, 55
A stately Priory!"
The stately Priory was reared;[C]
And Wharf, as he moved along,
To matins joined a mournful voice,
Nor failed at even-song. 60
And the Lady prayed in heaviness
That looked not for relief!
But slowly did her succour come,
And a patience to her grief.
Oh! there is never sorrow of heart 65
That shall lack a timely end,
If but to God we turn, and ask
Of Him to be our friend![D]
There were few variations in the text of this poem, from 1815 to 1850;
but I have found, in a letter of Dorothy Wordsworth's to her friend Miss
Jane Pollard, the mother of Lady Monteagle--who kindly sent it to me--an
earlier version, which differs considerably from the form in which it
was first published in 1815. The letter is dated October 18th, 1807, and
the poem is as follows:--
"_What is good for a bootless bene?_"
The Lady answer'd, "_endless sorrow_."
_Her_ words are plain; but the Falconer's words
Are a path that is dark to travel thorough.
These words I bring from the Banks of Wharf,
Dark words to front an ancient tale:
And their meaning is, whence can comfort spring
When prayer is of no avail?
"What is good for a bootless bene?"
The Falconer to the Lady said,
And she made answer as ye have heard,
For she knew that her Son was dead.
She knew it from the Falconer's words
And from the look of the Falconer's eye,
And from the love that was in her heart
For her youthful Romelli.
Young Romelli to the Woods is gone,
And who doth on his steps attend?
He hath a greyhound in a leash,
A chosen forest Friend.
And they have reach'd that famous Chasm
Where he who dares may stride
Across the River Wharf, pent in
With rocks on either side.
And that striding place is call'd THE STRID,
A name which it took of yore;
A thousand years hath it borne that name,
And shall a thousand more.
And thither is young Romelli come;
And what may now forbid
That He, perhaps for the hundredth time,
Shall bound across the Strid?
He sprang in glee; for what cared he
That the River was strong, and the Rocks were steep?
But the greyhound in the Leash hung back
And check'd him in his leap.
The Boy is in the arms of Wharf,
And strangled with a merciless force;
For never more was young Romelli seen,
Till he was a lifeless corse.
Now is there stillness in the vale
And long unspeaking sorrow,
Wharf has buried fonder hopes
Than e'er were drown'd in Yarrow.[E]
If for a Lover the Lady wept
A comfort she might borrow
From death, and from the passion of death;
Old Wharf might heal her sorrow.
She weeps not for the Wedding-day
That was to be to-morrow,[F]
Her hope was a farther-looking hope
And hers is a Mother's sorrow.
Oh was he not a comely tree?
And proudly did his branches wave;
And the Root of this delightful Tree
Is in her Husband's grave.
Long, long in darkness did she sit,
And her first word was, "Let there be
At Bolton, in the Fields of Wharf
A stately Priory."
And the stately Priory was rear'd,
And Wharf as he moved along,
To Matins joined a mournful voice,
Nor fail'd at Even-song.
And the Lady pray'd in heaviness
That wish'd not for relief;
But slowly did her succour come,
And a patience to her grief.
Oh! there is never sorrow of heart
That shall lack a timely end,
If but to God we turn, and ask
Of him to be our Friend.
The poem of Samuel Rogers, to which Wordsworth refers in the Fenwick
note, is named _The Boy of Egremond_. It begins--
"Say, what remains when Hope is fled?"
She answered, "endless weeping!"
In a letter to Wordsworth in 1815, Charles Lamb wrote thus of _The Force
of Prayer_, "Young Romilly is divine; the reasons of his mother's grief
being remediless. I never saw parental love carried up so high, towering
above the other loves. Shakspeare had done something for the filial in
Cordelia, and, by implication, for the fatherly too, in Lear's
resentment; he left it for you to explore the depths of the maternal
heart.... When I first opened upon the just mentioned poem, in a
careless tone, I said to Mary, as if putting a riddle, '_What is good
for a bootless bene?_' To which, with infinite presence of mind (as the
jest-book has it), she answered, 'A shoeless pea.' It was the first joke
she ever made.... I never felt deeply in my life if that poem did not
make me feel, both lately and when I read it in MS." (_The Letters of
Charles Lamb_, edited by Alfred Ainger, vol. i. p. 288.)--ED.
VARIANTS:
[1] 1820.
... from ... 1815.
[2] 1820.
And the Pair ... 1815.
[3] 1850.
This ... 1815.
[4] 1820.
... with ... 1815.
[5] 1820.
Now is there ... 1815.
[6] 1815.
And deep ... 1827.
The text of 1837 returns to that of 1815.
FOOTNOTES:
[A] See _The White Doe of Rylstone_.--W. W. 1820.
[B] Charles Lamb wrote to Wordsworth, May 1819, of Rogers--"He has been
re-writing your Poem of the Strid, and publishing it at the end of his
'Human Life.' Tie him up to the cart, hangman, while you are about it."
(_The Letters of Charles Lamb_, edited by Alfred Ainger, vol. ii. p.
20.)--ED.
[C] The Lady Alice De Romilly built not only Bolton Priory, but the nave
of Carlisle Cathedral, and the chancel of Crosthwaite Parish Church at
Keswick.--ED.
[D] "Young Romilly" was a son of Fitz Duncan, Earl of Murray in
Scotland, whose Cumbrian estates extended from Dunmail Raise to St.
Bees. This "Boy of Egremond" was second cousin of Malcolm, King of
Scotland; and by the marriage of Fitz Duncan's sister (Matilda the Good)
with Henry I. of England, he stood in the same relation to Henry II. of
England. Fitz Duncan married Alice, the only daughter and heiress of
Robert de Romilly, lord of Skipton. Compare Ferguson's _History of
Cumberland_, p. 175.--ED.
[E] Alluding to a Ballad of Logan's.--W. W. 1807.
[F] From the same Ballad.--W. W. 1807.
COMPOSED WHILE THE AUTHOR WAS ENGAGED IN WRITING A TRACT, OCCASIONED BY
THE CONVENTION OF CINTRA. 1808
Composed 1808.--Published 1815
This sonnet was included among those "dedicated to Liberty."--ED.