“Meantime their suit such favour found
At Raby’s stately hall;
Earl Neville and his princely spouse
Now gladly pardon all.
She, suppliant at her nephew’s throne,
The royal grace implored;
To all the honours of his race
The Percy was restored!”
Mr. Surtees has written a ballad full of the true spirit of that
composition, suggested by a scene in Raby Park--Langley Dale; a
beautiful dale and ancient chase, belonging to Raby Castle. An old
tower, close by the park, is said to have been the residence of a
mistress of the last Earl of Westmoreland. Mr. Surtees’s ballad,
however, rather connects itself with the general circumstances of “The
Rising of the North” than with this particular incident, and, like “The
Flowers of the Forest,” perpetuates a natural and beautiful sentiment,
which must have been deeply and long felt, on beholding Raby after that
fatal event. With this poem we will close our visit to Raby.