Ganges and Nile not excepted,--many springs might claim the honour of
being its head. In my own fancy I have fixed its rise near the noted
Shire-stones placed at the meeting-point of the counties, Westmoreland,
Cumberland, and Lancashire. They stand by the way side on the top of the
Wrynose Pass, and it used to be reckoned a proud thing to say that, by
touching them at the same time with feet and hands, one had been in the
three counties at once. At what point of its course the stream takes the
name of Duddon I do not know. I first became acquainted with the Duddon,
as I have good reason to remember, in early boyhood. Upon the banks of
the Derwent I had learnt to be very fond of angling. Fish abound in that
large river; not so in the small streams in the neighbourhood of
Hawkshead; and I fell into the common delusion that the farther from
home the better sport would be had. Accordingly, one day I attached
myself to a person living in the neighbourhood of Hawkshead, who was
going to try his fortune as an angler near the source of the Duddon. We
fished a great part of the day with very sorry success, the rain pouring
torrents, and long before we got home I was worn out with fatigue; and,
if the good man had not carried me on his back, I must have lain down
under the best shelter I could find. Little did I think then it would be
my lot to celebrate, in a strain of love and admiration, the stream
which for many years I never thought of without recollections of
disappointment and distress.
During my college vacation, and two or three years afterwards, before
taking my Bachelor's degree, I was several times resident in the house
of a near relative who lived in the small town of Broughton. I passed
many delightful hours upon the banks of this river, which becomes an
estuary about a mile from that place. The remembrances of that period
are the subject of the 21st sonnet. The subject of the 27th is in fact
taken from a tradition belonging to Rydal Hall, which once stood, as is
believed, upon a rocky and woody hill on the right hand as you go from
Rydal to Ambleside, and was deserted from the superstitious fear here
described, and the present site fortunately chosen instead. The present
hall was erected by Sir Michael le Fleming, and it may be hoped that at
some future time there will be an edifice more worthy of so beautiful a
position. With regard to the 30th sonnet it is odd enough that this
imagination was realised in the year 1840 when I made a tour through
that district with my wife and daughter, Miss Fenwick and her niece, and
Mr. and Mrs. Quillinan. Before our return from Seathwaite Chapel the
party separated. Mrs. Wordsworth, while most of us went further up the
stream, chose an opposite direction, having told us that we should
overtake her on our way to Ulpha. But she was tempted out of the main
road to ascend a rocky eminence near it, thinking it impossible we
should pass without seeing her. This, however, unfortunately happened,
and then ensued vexation and distress, especially to me, which I should
be ashamed to have recorded, for I lost my temper entirely. Neither I
nor those that were with me saw her again till we reached the Inn at
Broughton, seven miles. This may perhaps in some degree excuse my
irritability on the occasion, for I could not but think she had been
much to blame. It appeared, however, on explanation that she had
remained on the rock, calling out and waving her handkerchief as we were
passing, in order that we also might ascend and enjoy a prospect which
had much charmed her. "But on we went, her signals proving vain." How
then could she reach Broughton before us? When we found she had not gone
on before to Ulpha Kirk, Mr. Quillinan went back in one of the carriages
in search of her. He met her on the road, took her up, and by a shorter
way conveyed her to Broughton, where we were all re-united and spent a
happy evening.
I have many affecting remembrances connected with this stream. Those I
forbear to mention; especially things that occurred on its banks during
the later part of that visit to the sea-side, of which the former part
is detailed in my Epistle to Sir George Beaumont.--I. F.]
* * * * *
The River Duddon rises upon Wrynose Fell, on the confines of
Westmoreland, Cumberland, and Lancashire; and, having served[427] as a
boundary to the two last[428] counties for the space of about
twenty-five miles, enters the Irish Sea, between the Isle of Walney and
the Lordship of Millum.--W. W. 1820.[EQ]
TO THE REV. DR. WORDSWORTH[429][ER]
(WITH THE SONNETS TO THE RIVER DUDDON, AND OTHER POEMS IN THIS
COLLECTION, 1820[430])
The Minstrels played their Christmas tune
To-night beneath my cottage-eaves;
While, smitten by a lofty moon,
The encircling laurels, thick with leaves,
Gave back a rich and dazzling sheen, 5
That overpowered their natural green.
Through hill and valley every breeze
Had sunk to rest with folded wings:
Keen was the air, but could not freeze,
Nor check, the music of the strings; 10
So stout and hardy were the band
That scraped the chords with strenuous hand!
And who but listened?--till was paid
Respect to every Inmate's claim:
The greeting given, the music played, 15
In honour of each household name,
Duly pronounced with lusty call,
And "merry Christmas" wished to all!
O Brother! I revere the choice
That took thee from thy native hills; 20
And it is given thee to rejoice:
Though public care full often tills
(Heaven only witness of the toil)
A barren and ungrateful soil.
Yet, would that Thou, with me and mine, 25
Hadst heard this never-failing rite;
And seen on other faces shine
A true revival of the light
Which Nature and these rustic Powers,
In simple childhood, spread through ours! 30
For pleasure hath not ceased to wait
On these expected annual rounds;
Whether the rich man's sumptuous gate
Call forth the unelaborate sounds,
Or they are offered at the door 35
That guards the lowliest of the poor.
How touching, when, at midnight, sweep
Snow-muffled winds, and all is dark,
To hear--and sink again to sleep!
Or, at an earlier call, to mark, 40
By blazing fire, the still suspense
Of self-complacent innocence;
The mutual nod,--the grave disguise
Of hearts with gladness brimming o'er;
And some unbidden tears that rise 45
For names once heard, and heard no more;
Tears brightened by the serenade
For infant in the cradle laid.
Ah! not for emerald fields alone,
With ambient streams more pure and bright 50
Than fabled Cytherea's zone[ES]
Glittering before the Thunderer's sight,
Is to my heart of hearts endeared
The ground where we were born and reared!
Hail, ancient Manners! sure defence, 55
Where they survive, of wholesome laws;
Remnants of love whose modest sense
Thus into narrow room withdraws;
Hail, Usages of pristine mould,
And ye that guard them, Mountains old! 60
Bear with me, Brother! quench the thought
That slights this passion, or condemns;
If thee fond Fancy ever brought
From the proud margin of the Thames,
And Lambeth's venerable towers,[ET] 65
To humbler streams, and greener bowers.
Yes, they can make, who fail to find,
Short leisure even in busiest days;
Moments, to cast a look behind,
And profit by those kindly rays 70
That through the clouds do sometimes steal,
And all the far-off past reveal.
Hence, while the imperial City's din
Beats frequent on thy satiate ear,
A pleased attention I may win 75
To agitations less severe,
That neither overwhelm nor cloy,
But fill the hollow vale with joy![EU]
VARIANTS:
[Footnote 427: 1837.
... and, serving 1820.
]
[Footnote 428: 1827.
... latter 1820.
]
[Footnote 429: 1827.
To the Rev. Dr. W----. 1820.
]
[Footnote 430: The date, 1820, was first inserted in the edition of
1837.]
FOOTNOTES:
[Footnote EQ: Wordsworth delighted in tracing the course of rivers all
the way from their source to the sea. On November 12, 1808, Southey
wrote to his son, "If I go" (it was to Workington) "it will be with
Wordsworth, for the sake of tracing the Derwent the whole way." (See
_Selections from the Letters of Robert Southey_, vol. ii. p. 108.)--ED.]
[Footnote ER: In the first edition of 1820, this dedicatory poem is not
placed at the beginning of the series, but between the lines _Composed
at Cora Linn_, and _Repentance_. The whole volume, however,--including
many other poems besides those on the Duddon, and the _Topographical
Description of the Country of the Lakes in the North of England_--is
dedicated thus, "To the Rev. Christopher Wordsworth, D.D., etc. etc.,
these sonnets called forth by one of the most beautiful streams of his
native county, are respectfully inscribed, by his affectionate brother,
William Wordsworth."--ED.]
[Footnote ES: The fields and streams were those around Cockermouth and
Hawkshead. It was near the island Cythera that Aphrodite was said,
according to some legends, to have risen from the sea-foam. Hence the
term "Cytherea's zone." The "Thunderer" is, of course, Jupiter
Tonans.--ED.]
[Footnote ET: Dr. Christopher Wordsworth, afterwards Master of Trinity
College, Cambridge, was then Rector of Lambeth parish.--ED.]
I
"NOT ENVYING LATIAN SHADES--IF YET THEY THROW"
Not envying Latian shades--if yet they throw
A grateful coolness round that crystal Spring,
Blandusia, prattling--as when long ago
The Sabine Bard was moved her praise to sing;[431][EV]
Careless of flowers that in perennial blow 5
Round the moist marge of Persian fountains cling;
Heedless of Alpine torrents thundering
Through ice-built arches[432] radiant as heaven's bow;
I seek the birth-place of a native Stream.--[EW]
All hail, ye mountains! hail, thou morning light! 10
Better to breathe at large on this clear height
Than toil[433] in needless sleep from dream to dream:
Pure flow the verse, pure, vigorous, free, and bright,
For Duddon, long-loved Duddon, is my theme!
VARIANTS:
[Footnote 431: 1837.
Not envying shades which haply yet may throw
A grateful coolness round that rocky spring,
Blandusia, once responsive to the string
Of the Horatian lyre with babbling flow; 1820.
]
FOOTNOTES:
[Footnote EU: With this last stanza compare what Charles Lamb wrote to
Dorothy Wordsworth on May 25, 1820, after reading the poem: "I have
traced the Duddon in thought and with repetition along the banks (alas!)
of the Lea--(unpoetical name): it is always flowing and murmuring in my
ears." (_Letters of Charles Lamb_, edited by Alfred Ainger, vol. ii. p.
56.)--ED.]
[Footnote EV: See Horace, _Carmina_ III. 13, _Ad fontem Blandusiæ_:
... unde loquaces
Lymphæ desiliunt tuæ,
and compare _Epistolae_ I. 16, 9.--ED.]
[Footnote 432: 1837.
Through icy portals ... 1820.
]
[Footnote EW: Mr. Herbert Rix--late Assistant Secretary to the Royal
Society--has made a very minute and careful study of the Duddon
Valley--repeated during many seasons--with the object of localising the
allusions in the sonnets. I am indebted to him for the following notes,
which bear his name.
The Rev. Canon Rawnsley has also studied the Duddon Valley with great
care, and I place his comments beside those of Mr. Rix, both when they
are supplementary, and when they differ from the conclusions come to by
Mr. Rix.--ED.
"The Duddon rises on Wrynose Fell, near to the 'Three-Shire Stone,'
where Westmoreland, Cumberland, and Lancashire meet, though which of the
rills descending from the heights above Wrynose Gap and uniting to form
the streamlet which flows along the pass, is to be regarded as the
ultimate source, or which of them the poet may have followed, it would
perhaps be difficult to say. More than one takes its rise in just such a
spot as we find described in the second and third sonnets, where the
'lofty waste' is haunted by the Spirit of 'Desolation,' where the
'whistling blast' sweeps bleakly by, and where 'naked stones,' such as
the poet chose for his seat, are scattered all around. James Thorne, in
his _Rambles by Rivers_ (London, 1844, p. 10), has given a rough woodcut
of the source of the Duddon." (Herbert Rix.)
"I was fortunate in seeking the 'birth-place of a native stream' after a
very heavy fall of rain, and I followed the left hand branch to a basin,
from which in winter time a full stream must pass with force, to judge
by the deep channel-bed of white and bleached stones which the water has
carved out of the peat-moss for itself. There was the clear height, and
from it was seen quite distinctly Brathay Vale, and a glimpse of Duddon
Vale at Cockley Beck, and of Windermere Lake below Lowwood, and the bare
Yorkshire hills far away to the east-south-east." (H. D. Rawnsley.)
]
II
"CHILD OF THE CLOUDS! REMOTE FROM EVERY TAINT"
Child of the clouds! remote from every taint
Of sordid industry thy lot is cast;
Thine are the honours of the lofty waste;[A]
Not seldom, when with heat the valleys faint,
Thy handmaid Frost with spangled tissue quaint 5
Thy cradle decks;--to chant thy birth, thou hast
No meaner Poet than the whistling Blast,
And Desolation is thy Patron-saint![EX]
She guards thee, ruthless Power! who would not spare
Those mighty forests, once the bison's screen, 10
Where stalked the huge deer to his shaggy lair[EY]
Through paths and alleys roofed with darkest[434] green
Thousands of years before the silent air
Was pierced by whizzing shaft of hunter keen!
VARIANTS:
[Footnote 433: 1837.
Better to breathe upon this aëry height
Than pass ... 1820.
]
FOOTNOTES:
[Footnote EX: See note [EV] to the previous sonnet.--ED.]
III
"HOW SHALL I PAINT THEE?--BE THIS NAKED STONE"
How shall I paint thee?--Be this naked stone
My seat, while I give way to such intent;
Pleased could my verse, a speaking monument,
Make to the eyes of men thy features known.
But as of all those tripping lambs not one 5
Outruns his fellows, so hath Nature lent
To thy beginning nought that doth present
Peculiar ground[435] for hope to build upon.
To dignify the spot that gives thee birth,
No sign of hoar Antiquity's esteem 10
Appears, and none of modern Fortune's care;
Yet thou thyself hast round thee shed a gleam
Of brilliant moss, instinct with freshness rare;[EZ]
Prompt offering to thy Foster-mother, Earth!
VARIANTS:
[Footnote 434: 1845.
... sombre ... 1820.
]
[Footnote 435: 1837.
... grounds ... 1820.
]
FOOTNOTES:
[Footnote EY: The deer alluded to is the Leigh, a gigantic species long
since extinct.--W. W. 1820.
"As one looks upon the peat-moss, with its fragments of birch trees laid
bare by the stream, one could easily imagine that the poet had been led,
as he gazed, to think of
Those mighty forests, once the bison's screen,
Where stalked the huge deer to his shaggy lair."
(H. D. Rawnsley.)
]
[Footnote EZ: "'A gleam of brilliant moss' refers, no doubt, to the
_Sphagnum_, or Bog-moss, which grows here in large patches, very
noticeable among the sombre heather, and which shines like gold when the
sunlight is upon it." (Herbert Rix.)
"On the edge of the saucer-like hollow, into which the rillets that make
the stream descend, are glacier-banded rock outcrops, and on one of
these is a rock perché, to which instinctively I turned for a seat. The
lines in Sonnet III.--
How shall I paint thee?--Be this naked stone
My seat,
at once suggested themselves to me; and below me, as I sat, gleamed the
'brilliant moss, instinct with freshness rare,' which the poet's eyes
had rejoiced in, so many years ago." (H. D. Rawnsley.)]
IV
"TAKE, CRADLED NURSLING OF THE MOUNTAIN, TAKE"
Take, cradled Nursling of the mountain, take
This parting glance, no negligent adieu![FA]
A Protean change seems wrought while I pursue
The curves, a loosely-scattered chain doth make;
Or rather thou appear'st[436] a glittering snake, 5
Silent, and to the gazer's eye untrue,
Thridding with sinuous lapse the rushes, through
Dwarf willows gliding, and by ferny brake.
Starts from a dizzy steep the undaunted Rill
Robed instantly in garb of[437] snow-white foam; 10
And laughing dares the Adventurer, who hath clomb
So high, a rival purpose to fulfil;
Else let the dastard backward wend, and roam,
Seeking less bold achievement, where he will![FB]
VARIANTS:
[Footnote 436: 1820.
... I behold ... C.
]
[Footnote 437: 1820.
Leaps instantly enrobed in ... C.
]
FOOTNOTES:
[Footnote FA: "The 'parting glance' of this sonnet would naturally be
taken just before rounding the brow of the hill. The path drops somewhat
suddenly, so that two or three steps bring the traveller from a level
whence looking backward the 'sinuous lapse' of the stream may be seen
for some distance, to a stage where it is entirely hidden from view. Or,
more likely, the 'sinuous lapse' is that which lies below the spectator,
as he stands at this point of vantage, and looks down into Wrynose
Bottom. The 'Protean change' is then the contrast between the 'cradled
Nursling' as the poet looks back into Wrynose Gap, and the
'loosely-scattered chain' or 'glittering snake' which he sees below him,
as he turns and looks down into Wrynose Bottom. These similes are
accurately descriptive of the river so seen, especially towards evening
when the western light is on the water. From this point the Duddon
descends to the valley by a quick series of falls. The first of these
falls--a very pretty cascade just at the edge of the hill--is probably
the 'dizzy steep' mentioned in the sonnet." (Herbert Rix.)]
V
"SOLE LISTENER, DUDDON! TO THE BREEZE THAT PLAYED"
Sole listener, Duddon! to the breeze that played
With thy clear voice, I caught the fitful sound
Wafted o'er sullen moss and craggy mound--
Unfruitful solitudes, that seemed to upbraid
The sun in heaven!--but now, to form a shade 5
For Thee, green alders have together wound
Their foliage; ashes flung their arms around;
And birch-trees risen in silver colonnade.
And thou hast also tempted here to rise,
'Mid sheltering pines, this Cottage rude and grey; 10
Whose ruddy children, by the mother's eyes
Carelessly watched, sport through the summer day,
Thy pleased associates:--light as endless May
On infant bosoms lonely Nature lies.[FC]
FOOTNOTES:
[Footnote FB: "As I went towards the road which leads down from the
Three Shire Stones to Cockley Beck, I constantly found myself repeating
Sonnet number IV.
The stream seemed now 'a loosely-scattered chain to make,' now to
'appear a glittering snake,' silently 'thridding with sinuous lapse the
rushes, through' (if we might call the bog-myrtle bushes dwarf willows)
'dwarf willows gliding, and by ferny brake.'
I regained the main road, and took a parting, 'no negligent adieu' at
the 'cradled nursling'; and saw the cascade at the grotto--wherefrom I
first began to track the 'nursling' to its upland cradle--as white as
snow in May. There, thought I, is the sight that suggested the line--
Starts from a dizzy steep the undaunted Rill.
But, if the poet had needed suggestion of such a picture, and he had
been at my side, he would have seen in three other directions, from the
place where I was standing, three 'cataracts blowing their trumpets from
the steep.' And I could have been induced to follow three other streams
up into the Fells towards the north for the birth-place of the 'cradled
nursling.'
As I descended towards Cockley Beck I constantly looked for the
'rushes,' the 'dwarf willows,' and the 'ferny brake,' spoken of in
Sonnet IV., constantly looked for some other spot where I might take a
'parting glance' of the stream, which would satisfy the requirements of
the description in Sonnet IV.; but I found none.
One thing is worth mentioning. Wordsworth is describing the Duddon as a
Cumberland stream, _his native stream_, and he is accurate as ever. For
one is struck, in descending from the Three Shire Stones to Cockley
Beck, at the way in which all the feeders of the Duddon rise to the
north on the Cumbrian Fells, and how comparatively waterless are the
slopes of Grey Friars, on the southern or Lancashire side of the pass."
(H. D. Rawnsley.)]
VI
FLOWERS
Ere yet our course was graced with social trees
It lacked not old remains of hawthorn bowers,
Where small birds warbled to their paramours;
And, earlier still, was heard the hum of bees;
I saw them ply their harmless robberies, 5
And caught the fragrance which the sundry flowers,
Fed by the stream with soft perpetual showers,
Plenteously yielded to the vagrant breeze.
There bloomed the strawberry of the wilderness;
The trembling eyebright showed her sapphire blue,[FD]
The thyme her purple, like the blush of Even; 11
And if the breath of some to no caress
Invited, forth they peeped so fair to view,
All kinds alike seemed favourites of Heaven.[FE]
FOOTNOTES:
[Footnote FC: "Sonnet V. is generally taken to be descriptive of Cockley
Beck. Here, as we emerge from Wrynose Bottom, the first _trees_ meet the
eye after a full two miles of monotony and stones, and here, too, is the
first _cottage_ where the 'ruddy children' of another generation 'sport
through the summer day.' The cottage itself is not indeed surrounded at
the present time by 'sheltering pines'--that is a feature which applies
better to another cottage half a mile lower down the stream--but they
may, of course, have disappeared since Wordsworth's day; indeed, I was
informed in 1885, by a woman then living in the cottage, that many which
formerly stood behind the cottage had been felled within her own memory.
A very accurate picture of the cottage and neighbouring bridge is given
in Harry Goodwin's _Through the Wordsworth Country_. There is also a
sketch at page 15 of Thorne's _Rambles by Rivers_." (Herbert Rix.)
* * * * *
"Wordsworth would probably have in his mind most of the few cots and
farms in the upper reaches of the Duddon Vale as he wrote his Sonnet v.
Half-a-mile south, the 'craggy mound' of the castle-like rock would rear
out of mid-valley impressively enough. The larches that now sway and
whisper about Cockley Beck, or on the little mound to the east of it,
would then only be tiny trees. The birches may have risen in 'silver
colonnade,' but now a few ashes, a few poplars, a few alders are the
only trees near. Still, for the most part, the term 'unfruitful
solitudes' characterises the spot; and as the traveller at Cockley Beck
looks north and east, these solitudes become impressively solemn from
the dark desolation of craggy fell-side and utter treelessness." (H. D.
Rawnsley.)]
[Footnote FD:
There bloomed the strawberry of the wilderness;
The trembling eyebright showed her sapphire blue.
These two lines are in a great measure taken from _The Beauties of
Spring, a Juvenile Poem_, by the Rev. Joseph Sympson, author of _The
Vision of Alfred_, etc. He was a native of Cumberland, and was educated
in the vale of Grasmere, and at Hawkshead school: his poems are little
known, but they contain passages of splendid description; and the
versification of his _Vision of Alfred_ is harmonious and animated. The
present severe season,[438] with its amusements, reminds me of some
lines which I will transcribe as a favourable specimen. In describing
the motions of the Sylphs, that constitute the strange machinery of his
_Vision of Alfred_, he uses the following illustrative simile:--
Glancing from their plumes
A changeful light the azure vault illumes.
Less varying hues beneath the Pole adorn
The streamy glories of the Boreal morn,
That wavering to and fro their radiance shed
On Bothnia's gulf with glassy ice o'erspread,
Where the lone native, as he homeward glides,
On polish'd sandals o'er the imprisoned tides,
And still the balance of his frame preserves,
Wheel'd on alternate foot in lengthening curves,
Sees at a glance, above him and below,
Two rival heav'ns with equal splendour glow.
Sphered in the centre of the world he seems,
For all around with soft effulgence gleams;
Stars, moons, and meteors, ray opposed to ray,
And solemn midnight pours the blaze of day.
He was a man of ardent feeling, and his faculties of mind, particularly
his memory, were extraordinary. Brief notices of his life ought to find
a place in the History of Westmoreland.--W. W. 1820.]