LEWESDON HILL.
LEWESDON HILL,
WITH
OTHER POEMS.
BY
THE REV. WILLIAM CROWE,
PUBLIC ORATOR OF THE UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD.
Χαιρ’ ω πεδον αγχιαλον,
Και μ’ ευπλοιᾳ πεμψον αμεμπτως
Ενθ’ ἡ μεγαλη μοιρα κομιζει,
——χῳ πανδαματωρ
Δαιμων, ος ταυτ’ επεκρανεν.
SOPH.
Farewell thy printless sands and pebbly shore!
I hear the white surge beat thy coast no more,
Pure, gentle source of the high, rapturous mood!—
—Where’er, like the great Flood, by thy dread force
Propell’d—shape Thou my calm, my blameless course,
Heaven, Earth, and Ocean’s Lord!—and Father of the Good!
***
A CORRECTED AND MUCH ENLARGED EDITION, WITH NOTES.
LONDON:
JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE-STREET.
1827.
LONDON:
PRINTED BY THOMAS DAVISON, WHITEFRIARS.
ADVERTISEMENT.
The Hill which gives title to the following Poem is situated in the
western part of Dorsetshire. This choice of a subject, to which the
Author was led by his residence near the spot, may seem perhaps to
confine him to topics of mere rural and local description. But he begs
leave here to inform the Reader that he has advanced beyond those narrow
limits to something more general and important. On the other hand he
trusts, that in his farthest excursions the connexion between him and
his subject will easily be traced. The few notes which are subjoined he
thought necessary to elucidate the passages to which they refer. He will
only add in this place, from Hutchins’s History of Dorsetshire, (vol.
i. p. 366), what is there said of Lewesdon (or, as it is now corruptly
called, Lewson): “This and Pillesdon Hill surmount all the hills, though
very high, between them and the sea. Mariners call them the _Cow and
Calf_, in which forms they are fancied to appear, being eminent sea-marks
to those who sail upon the coast.”
To the top of this Hill the Author describes himself as walking on a May
morning.
TO THE
RIGHT REV. FATHER IN GOD JONATHAN,
LORD BISHOP OF ST. ASAPH,
WHO, IN A LEARNED, FREE, AND LIBERAL AGE,
IS HIMSELF MOST HIGHLY DISTINGUISHED
BY EXTENSIVE, USEFUL, AND ELEGANT LEARNING,
BY A DISINTERESTED SUPPORT OF FREEDOM,
AND BY A TRULY CHRISTIAN LIBERALITY OF MIND,
THIS POEM,
WITH ALL RESPECT, IS DEDICATED
BY HIS LORDSHIP’S MOST OBLIGED
AND MOST OBEDIENT SERVANT,
THE AUTHOR.
_Jan. 1788._
CONTENTS.
Page
LEWESDON HILL 1
Notes 41
Inscribed beneath the picture of an ass 61
Ode to the Lyric Muse. Spoken in the Theatre at the installation
of Lord North, chancellor of the university of Oxford 64
Verses intended to have been spoken in the Theatre to the Duke
of Portland, at his installation as chancellor of the
university of Oxford, in the year 1793 70
On the Death of Captain Cook 75
Elegy to the memory of Dr. W. Hayes, professor of music in the
university of Oxford 80
The World. Intended as an apology for not writing. By a Lady 82
The British Theatre. Written in 1775 84
On two Publications, entitled Editions of two of our Poets 89
The Spleen 92
Lines written with a pencil in a lady’s almanac 98
To a young gentlewoman, with Thomson’s Seasons, doubled down at
the story of Palemon and Lavinia 101
Sonnet 103
Sonnet to Petrarch 105
To a lady, who desired some specimens of the author’s poetry 107
Epitaph on a child who died of a scarlet fever in the fifteenth
month of his age, 1802 108
Epitaph on Sir Charles Turner, bart. in the family mausoleum at
Kirk Leatham, Yorkshire 109
Lines written at the tomb of William of Wykeham, in Winchester
cathedral 111
Translation of a Greek inscription upon a fountain 112
From Lucretius
sæpius olim
Religio peperit scelerosa.—Lib. I. v. 83. 114
From Lucretius
Suave, mari magno turbantibus.—Lib. II. v. 1. 117
From Lucretius
Avia Pieridum peragro loca.—Lib. IV. v. 1. 119
Psalm LXXII. abridged, and adapted to a particular tune 120
Midnight Devotion. Written in the great storm, 1822 123
Silbury Hill 125
To the Daisy 127
Fragment 129
From Purchase’s Pilgrimage, versified and designed as a motto
to “Voyages for the Discovery of a N. W. Passage” 131
Fragment 133
The rape of Proserpine 135
Sonnet 137
Song 139
Song 141
Song 142
To a lady going to her family in Ireland 143
To the Sun 144
Song 146
To a lady, fortune-telling with cards 148
Epigram 150
On two English poets, who flourished in the former half of the
last century, and published complimentary verses on each other 152
Verses to the honour of the London Pastrycook, who marked “No
popery” on his pies, &c. 154
On the funeral of ⸺, in a hearse and six, followed by a mourning
coach and four 157
Parody on Dryden’s “Three poets,” &c. 160
Epigram 161
An expostulatory supplication to Death, after the decease of
Dr. Burney 162
On the decease of Horne Tooke 163
Inscription for the granite sarcophagus brought from Alexandria
to the British Museum 164
Inscription for a statue of field-marshal Suworow 166
On field-marshal Suworow. A dialogue 169
On F. W. the king of Prussia’s ineffectual attempt on Warsaw 171
Political advice to the members of the French Convention.
A dialogue 176
Written when Buonaparte was altering the governments of Germany 178
Suggested by reading Dryden’s Britannia Rediviva, a poem on the
prince born on the 10th of June, 1688 179
Succession 183
Epigram 186
On the increase of human life 188
Ode to the king of France. 1823 189
Verses spoken in the Theatre, Oxford, at the installation of the
chancellor, Lord Grenville, July 10, 1810, by Henry Crowe, a
commoner of Wadham College 193
Ad Musas 198
Ηως
Εργων ἡγητειρα, βιου προπολε θνητοισιν—Or. Hym. 199
Jepthæ Votum 202
Palmyra 204
Ad Hyacinthum. 1791 206
Romulus. Scriptus 1803 208
Helena Insula 215
On Captain Sir M. Murray, wounded at the Westminster election 221
Amnestia Infida 222
Psalm CXIV. 223
Psalm CXXXIII. 225
Psalm CXXXVII. 226
In obitum senis academici, Thomæ Pryor, Armigeri 228
In obitum J. N. Oxoniensis, 1783 229
Bene est cui Deus dederit
Parca quod satis est manu.—Hor. Lib. 3. Od. 16. 230
ΕΙΣ ΚΟΣΣΥΦΟΝ 232
Inscriptio in Horto auctoris apud Alton in com. Wilt. 234
Epicedium 237
De Seipso, mandatum auctoris 239
LEWESDON HILL.
Up to thy Summit, LEWESDON, to the brow
Of yon proud rising, where the lonely thorn
Bends from the rude South-east with top cut sheer
By his keen breath, along the narrow track,
By which the scanty-pastured sheep ascend
Up to thy furze-clad summit, let me climb,—
My morning exercise,—and thence look round
Upon the variegated scene, of hills
And woods and fruitful vales, and villages
Half hid in tufted orchards, and the sea
Boundless, and studded thick with many a sail.
Ye dew-fed vapours, nightly balm, exhaled
From earth, young herbs and flowers, that in the morn
Ascend as incense to the Lord of day,
I come to breathe your odours; while they float
Yet near this surface, let me walk embathed
In your invisible perfumes, to health
So friendly, nor less grateful to the mind,
Administering sweet peace and cheerfulness.
How changed is thy appearance, beauteous hill!
Thou hast put off thy wintry garb, brown heath
And russet fern, thy seemly-colour’d cloak
To bide the hoary frosts and dripping rains
Of chill December, and art gaily robed
In livery of the spring: upon thy brow
A cap of flowery hawthorn, and thy neck
Mantled with new-sprung furze and spangles thick
Of golden bloom: nor lack thee tufted woods
Adown thy sides: tall oaks of lusty green,
The darker fir, light ash, and the nesh tops
Of the young hazel join, to form thy skirts
In many a wavy fold of verdant wreath:—
So gorgeously hath Nature drest thee up
Against the birth of May: and, vested so,
Thou dost appear more gracefully array’d
Than Fashion’s worshippers, whose gaudy shows,
Fantastical as are a sick man’s dreams,
From vanity to costly vanity
Change ofter than the moon. Thy comely dress,
From sad to gay returning with the year,
Shall grace thee still till Nature’s self shall change.
These are the beauties of thy woodland scene
At each return of spring: yet some[1] delight
Rather to view the change; and fondly gaze
On fading colours, and the thousand tints
Which Autumn lays upon the varying leaf:
I like them not, for all their boasted hues
Are kin to Sickliness; mortal Decay
Is drinking up their vital juice; that gone,
They turn to sear and yellow. Should I praise
Such false complexions, and for beauty take
A look consumption-bred? As soon, if gray
Were mixt in young Louisa’s tresses brown,
I’d call it beautiful variety,
And therefore dote on her. Yet I can spy
A beauty in that fruitful change, when comes
The yellow Autumn and the hopes o’ the year
Brings on to golden ripeness; nor dispraise
The pure and spotless form of that sharp time,
When January spreads a pall of snow
O’er the dead face of th’ undistinguish’d earth.
Then stand I in the hollow comb beneath,
And bless this friendly mount, that weather-fends
My reed-roof’d cottage, while the wintry blast
From the thick north comes howling: till the Spring
Return, who leads my devious steps abroad,
To climb, as now, to LEWESDON’S airy top.
Above the noise and stir of yonder fields
Uplifted, on this height I feel the mind
Expand itself in wider liberty.
The distant sounds break gently on my sense,
Soothing to meditation: so methinks,
Even so, sequester’d from the noisy world,
Could I wear out this transitory being
In peaceful contemplation and calm ease.
But Conscience, which still censures on our acts,
That awful voice within us, and the sense
Of an Hereafter, wake and rouse us up
From such unshaped retirement; which were else
A blest condition on this earthly stage.
For who would make his life a life of toil
For wealth, o’erbalanced with a thousand cares;
Or power, which base compliance must uphold;
Or honour, lavish’d most on courtly slaves;
Or fame, vain breath of a misjudging world;
Who for such perishable gaudes would put
A yoke upon his free unbroken spirit,
And gall himself with trammels and the rubs
Of this world’s business; so he might stand clear
Of judgment and the tax of idleness
In that dread audit, when his mortal hours
(Which now with soft and silent stealth pace by)
Must all be counted for? But, for this fear,
And to remove, according to our power,
The wants and evils of our brother’s state,
’Tis meet we justle with the world; content,
If by our sovereign Master we be found
At last not profitless: for worldly meed,
Given or withheld, I deem of it alike.
From this proud eminence on all sides round
Th’ unbroken prospect opens to my view,
On all sides large; save only where the head
Of Pillesdon rises, Pillesdon’s lofty Pen:
So call (still rendering to his ancient name
Observance due) that rival Height south-west,
Which like a rampire bounds the vale beneath.
There woods, there blooming orchards, there are seen
Herds ranging, or at rest beneath the shade
Of some wide-branching oak; there goodly fields
Of corn, and verdant pasture, whence the kine
Returning with their milky treasure home
Store the rich dairy: such fair plenty fills
The pleasant vale of Marshwood, pleasant now,
Since that the Spring has deck’d anew the meads
With flowery vesture, and the warmer sun
Their foggy moistness drain’d; in wintry days
Cold, vapourish, miry, wet, and to the flocks
Unfriendly, when autumnal rains begin
To drench the spungy turf: but ere that time
The careful shepherd moves to healthier soil,
Rechasing, lest his tender ewes should coath[2]
In the dank pasturage. Yet not the fields
Of _Evesham_, nor that ample valley named
Of the _White Horse_, its antique monument
Carved in the chalky bourne, for beauty and wealth
Might equal, though surpassing in extent,
This fertile vale, in length from LEWESDON’S base
Extended to the sea, and water’d well
By many a rill; but chief with thy clear stream,
Thou nameless Rivulet, who, from the side
Of LEWESDON softly welling forth, dost trip
Adown the valley, wandering sportively.
Alas, how soon thy little course will end!
How soon thy infant stream shall lose itself
In the salt mass of waters, ere it grow
To name or greatness! Yet it flows along
Untainted with the commerce of the world,
Nor passing by the noisy haunts of men;
But through sequester’d meads, a little space,
Winds secretly, and in its wanton path
May cheer some drooping flower, or minister
Of its cool water to the thirsty lamb:
Then falls into the ravenous sea, as pure
As when it issued from its native hill.
So to thine early grave didst thou run on,
Spotless Francesca, so, after short course,
Thine innocent and playful infancy
Was swallowed up in death, and thy pure spirit
In that illimitable gulf which bounds
Our mortal continent. But not there lost,
Not there extinguish’d, as some falsely teach,
Who can talk much and learnedly of life,
Who know our frame and fashion, who can tell
The substance and the properties of man,
As they had seen him made,—aye and stood by
Spies on Heaven’s work. They also can discourse
Wisely, to prove that what must be must be,
And show how thoughts are jogg’d out of the brain
By a mechanical impulse; pushing on
The minds of us, poor unaccountables,
To fatal resolution. Know they not,
That in this mortal life, whate’er it be,
We take the path that leads to good or evil,
And therein find our bliss or misery?
And this includes all reasonable ends
Of knowledge or of being; farther to go
Is toil unprofitable, and th’ effect
Most perilous wandering. Yet of this be sure,
Where freedom is not, there no virtue is:
If there be none, this world is all a cheat,
And the divine stability of Heaven
(That assured seat for good men after death)
Is but a transient cloud, display’d so fair
To cherish virtuous hope, but at our need
Eludes the sense, and fools our honest faith,
Vanishing in a lie. If this be so,
Were it not better to be born a beast,
Only to feel what is, and thus to ’scape
The aguish fear that shakes the afflicted breast
With sore anxiety of what shall be—
And all for nought? Since our most wicked act
Is not our sin, and our religious awe
Delusion, if that strong Necessity
Chains up our will. But that the mind is free,
The Mind herself, best judge of her own state,
Is feelingly convinced; nor to be moved
By subtle words, that may perplex the head,
But ne’er persuade the heart. Vain argument,
That with false weapons of Philosophy
Fights against Hope, and Sense, and Nature’s strength!
See how the Sun, here clouded, afar off
Pours down the golden radiance of his light
Upon the enridged sea; where the black ship
Sails on the phosphor-seeming waves. So fair,
But falsely-flattering, was yon surface calm,
When forth for India sail’d, in evil time,
That Vessel, whose disastrous fate, when told,
Fill’d every breast with horror, and each eye
With piteous tears, so cruel was the loss[3].
Methinks I see her, as, by the wintry storm
Shatter’d and driven along past yonder Isle,
She strove, her latest hope, by strength or art,
To gain the port within it, or at worst
To shun that harbourless and hollow coast
From Portland eastward to the Promontory[4],
Where still St. Alban’s high built chapel stands.
But art nor strength avail her—on she drives,
In storm and darkness to the fatal coast:
And there ’mong rocks and high-o’erhanging cliffs
Dash’d piteously, with all her precious freight
Was lost, by Neptune’s wild and foamy jaws
Swallow’d up quick! The richliest-laden ship
Of spicy Ternate, or that Annual, sent
To the Philippines o’er the Southern main
From Acapulco, carrying massy gold,
Were poor to this;—freighted with hopeful Youth,
And Beauty, and high Courage undismayed
By mortal terrors, and paternal Love
Strong, and unconquerable even in death—
Alas, they perish’d all, all in one hour!
Now yonder high way view, wide-beaten, bare
With ceaseless tread of men and beasts, and track
Of many indenting wheels, heavy and light,
That in their different courses as they pass,
Rush violently down precipitate,
Or slowly turn, oft resting, up the steep.
Mark how that road, with mazes serpentine,
From Shipton’s[5] bottom to the lofty down
Winds like a path of pleasure, drawn by art
Through park or flowery garden for delight.
Nor less delightful this—if, while he mounts
Not wearied, the free Journeyer will pause
To view the prospect oft, as oft to see
Beauty still changing: yet not so contrived
By fancy, or choice, but of necessity,
By soft gradations of ascent to lead
The labouring and way-worn feet along,
And make their toil less toilsome. Half way up,
Or nearer to the top, behold a cot,
O’er which the branchy trees, those sycamores,
Wave gently: at their roots a rustic bench
Invites to short refreshment, and to taste
What grateful beverage the house may yield
After fatigue, or dusty heat; thence call’d
The TRAVELLER’S REST. Welcome, embower’d seat,
Friendly repose to the slow passenger
Ascending, ere he takes his sultry way
Along th’ interminable road, stretch’d out
Over th’ unshelter’d down; or when at last
He has that hard and solitary path
Measured by painful steps. And blest are they,
Who in life’s toilsome journey may make pause
After a march of glory: yet not such
As rise in causeless war, troubling the world
By their mad quarrel, and in fields of blood
Hail’d victors, thence renown’d, and call’d on earth
Kings, heroes, demi-gods, but in high Heaven
Thieves, ruffians, murderers; these find no repose:
Thee rather, patriot Conqueror, to thee
Belongs such rest; who in the western world,
Thine own deliver’d country, for thyself
Hast planted an immortal grove, and there,
Upon the glorious mount of Liberty
Reposing, sit’st beneath the palmy shade.
And Thou, not less renown’d in like attempt
Of high achievement, though thy virtue fail’d
To save thy little country, Patriot Prince,
Hero, Philosopher—what more could they
Who wisely chose thee, PAOLI, to bless
Thy native Isle, long struggling to be free?
But Heaven allow’d not—yet may’st thou repose
After thy glorious toil, secure of fame
Well-earn’d by virtue: while ambitious France,
Who stretch’d her lawless hand to seize thine isle,
Enjoys not rest or glory; with her prey
Gorged but not satisfied, and craving still
Against th’ intent of Nature. See Her now
Upon the adverse shore, her Norman coast,
Plying[6] her monstrous labour unrestrained!
A rank of castles in the rough sea sunk,
With towery shape and height, and armed heads
Uprising o’er the surge; and these between,
Unmeasurable mass of ponderous rock
Projected many a mile to rear her wall
Midst the deep waters. She, the mighty work
Still urging, in her arrogant attempt,
As with a lordly voice to the Ocean cries,
‘Hitherto come, no farther; here be staid
‘The raging of thy waves; within this bound
‘Be all my haven’—and therewith takes in
A space of amplest circuit, wide and deep,
Won from the straiten’d main: nor less in strength
Than in dimensions, giant-like in both,—
On each side flank’d with citadels and towers
And rocky walls, and arches massy proof
Against the storm of war. Compared with this
Less[7] and less hazardous emprize achieved
Resistless Alexander, when he cast
The strong foundations of that high-raised mound
Deep in the hostile waves, his martial way,
Built on before him up to sea-girt Tyre.
Nor[8] aught so bold, so vast, so wonderful,
At Athos or the fetter’d Hellespont,
Imagined in his pride that Asian vain,
Xerxes,—but ere he turn’d from Salamis
Flying through the blood-red waves in one poor bark,
Retarded by thick-weltering carcasses.
Nor[9] yet that elder work (if work it were,
Not fable) raised upon the Phrygian shore,
(Where lay the fleet confederate against Troy,
A thousand ships behind the vasty mole
All shelter’d) could with this compare, though built
It seem’d, of greatness worthy to create
Envy in the immortals; and at last
Not overthrown without th’ embattled aid
Of angry Neptune. So may He once more
Rise from his troubled bed, and send his waves,
Urged on to fury by contending winds,
With horned violence to push and whelm
This pile, usurping on his watry reign!
From hostile shores returning, glad I look
On native scenes again; and first salute
Thee, Burton[10], and thy lofty cliff, where oft
The nightly blaze is kindled; further seen
Than erst was that love-tended cresset, hung
Beside the Hellespont: yet not like that
Inviting to the hospitable arms
Of Beauty and Youth, but lighted up, the sign
Of danger, and of ambush’d foes to warn
The stealth-approaching Vessel, homeward bound
From Havre or the Norman isles, with freight
Of wines and hotter drinks, the trash of France,
Forbidden merchandize. Such fraud to quell
Many a light skiff and well-appointed sloop
Lies hovering near the coast, or hid behind
Some curved promontory, in hope to seize
These contraband: vain hope! on that high shore
Station’d, th’ associates of their lawless trade
Keep watch, and to their fellows off at sea
Give the known signal; they with fearful haste
Observant, put about the ship, and plunge
Into concealing darkness. As a fox,
That from the cry of hounds and hunters’ din
Runs crafty down the wind, and steals away
Forth from his cover, hopeful so t’ elude
The not yet following pack,—if chance the shout
Of eager or unpractised boy betray
His meditated flight, back he retires
To shelter him in the thick wood: so these
Retiring, ply to south, and shun the land
Too perilous to approach: and oft at sea
Secure (or ever nigh the guarded coast
They venture) to the trackless deep they trust
Their forfeitable cargo, rundlets small,
Together link’d upon their cable’s length,
And to the shelving bottom sunk and fixt
By stony weights; till happier hour arrive
To land it on the vacant beach unrisk’d.
But what is yonder Hill[11], whose dusky brow
Wears, like a regal diadem, the round
Of ancient battlements and ramparts high,
And frowns upon the vales? I know thee not—
Thou hast no name, no honourable note,
No chronicle of all thy warlike pride,
To testify what once thou wert, how great,
How glorious, and how fear’d. So perish all,
Who seek their greatness in dominion held
Over their fellows, or the pomp of war,
And be as thou forgotten, and their fame
Cancell’d like thine! But thee in after times
Reclaim’d to culture, Shepherds visited,
And call’d thee Orgarston; so thee they call’d
Of Orgar, Saxon Earl, the wealthy sire
Of fair Elfrida; She, whose happy Bard
Has with his gentle witchery so wrought
Upon our sense, that we can see no more
Her mad ambition, treacherous cruelty,
And purple robes of state with royal blood
Inhospitably stain’d; but in their place
Pure faith, soft manners, filial duty meek,
Connubial love, and stoles of saintly white.
Sure ’tis all false what poets fondly tell
Of rural innocence and village love;
Else had thy simple annals, Nethercombe,
Who bosom’d in the vale below dost look
This morn so cheerful, been unstain’d with crimes,
Which the pale rustic shudders to relate.
There lived, the blessing of her father’s age,—
I fable not, nor will with fabled names
Varnish a melancholy tale all true,—
A lowly maid; lowly, but like that flower,
Which grows in lowly place, and thence has name,
Lily o’ the vale, within her parent leaves
As in retreat she lives; yet fair and sweet
Above the gaudiest Blooms, that flaunt abroad,
And play with every wanton breath of Heaven.
Thus innocent, her beauties caught the eye
Of a young villager, whose vows of love
Soon won her easy faith: her sire meantime,
Alas! nor knowing nor suspecting ought,
Till that her shape, erewhile so graceful seen,
(Dian first rising after change was not
More delicate) betray’d her secret act,
And grew to guilty fulness: then farewell
Her maiden dignity, and comely pride,
And virtuous reputation. But this loss
Worse follow’d, loss of shame, and wilful wreck
Of what was left her yet of good, or fair,
Or decent: now her meek and gentle voice
To petulant turn’d; her simply-neat attire
To sluttish tawdry: her once timid eye
Grew fix’d, and parley’d wantonly with those
It look’d on. Change detestable! For she,
Erewhile the light of her fond father’s house,
Became a grievous darkness: but his heart
Endured not long; all in despair he went
Into the chambers of the grave, to seek
A comfortless repose from sorrow and shame.
What then befell this daughter desolate?
For He, the partner of her earliest fault,
Had left her, false perhaps, or in dislike
Of her light carriage. What could then befall,
What else, but of her self-injurious life
The too sad penance—hopeless penury,
Loathsome disease unpitied, and thereto
The brand of all-avoided infamy
Set on her, like the fearful token o’er
A plague-infested house:—at length to death
Impatient and distract she made bold way.
Fain would I view thee, Corscombe, fain would hail
The ground where Hollis[12] lies; his choice retreat,
Where, from the busy world withdrawn, he lived
To generous Virtue, and the holy love
Of Liberty, a dedicated spirit;
And left his ashes there; still honouring
Thy fields, with title given of patriot names,
But more with his untitled sepulchre.
That envious ridge conceals thee from my sight,
Which, passing o’er thy place north-east, looks on
To Sherburne’s ancient towers and rich domains,
The noble Digby’s mansion; where he dwells
Inviolate, and fearless of thy curse,
War-glutted Osmund,[13] superstitious Lord!
Who with Heaven’s justice for a bloody life
Madest thy presumptuous bargain; giving more
Than thy just having to redeem thy guilt,
And darest bid th’ Almighty to become
The minister of thy curse. But sure it fell,
So bigots fondly judged, full sure it fell
With sacred vengeance pointed on the head
Of many a bold usurper: chief on thine
(Favourite of Fortune once, but last her thrall),
Accomplish’d[14] Raleigh! in that lawless day
When, like a goodly hart, thou wert beset
With crafty blood-hounds, lurching for thy life,
While as they feign’d to chase thee fairly down;
And that foul Scot, the minion-kissing King,
Pursued with havoc in the tyrannous hunt.
How is it vanish’d in a hasty spleen,
The Tor of Glastonbury! Even but now
I saw the hoary pile cresting the top
Of that north-western hill; and in this Now
A cloud hath pass’d on it, and its dim bulk
Becomes annihilate, or if not, a spot
Which the strain’d vision tires itself to find.
And even so fares it with the things of earth
Which seem most constant: there will come the cloud
That shall infold them up, and leave their place
A seat for Emptiness. Our narrow ken
Reaches too far, when all that we behold
Is but the havoc of wide-wasting Time,
Or what he soon shall spoil. His outspread wings
(Which bear him like an eagle o’er the earth)
Are plumed in front so downy soft, they seem
To foster what they touch, and mortal fools
Rejoice beneath their hovering: woe the while!
For in that indefatigable flight
The multitudinous strokes incessantly
Bruise all beneath their cope, and mark on all
His secret injury; on the front of man
Gray hairs and wrinkles; still as Time speeds on
Hard and more hard his iron pennons beat
With ceaseless violence; nor overpass,
Till all the creatures of this nether world
Are one wide quarry: following dark behind,
The cormorant Oblivion swallows up
The carcasses that Time has made his prey.
But, hark! the village clock strikes nine—the chimes
Merrily follow, tuneful to the sense
Of the pleased clown attentive, while they make
False-measured melody on crazy bells.
O wond’rous Power of modulated sound!
Which, like the air (whose all-obedient shape
Thou makest thy slave), canst subtilly pervade
The yielded avenues of sense, unlock
The close affections, by some fairy path
Winning an easy way through every ear,
And with thine unsubstantial quality
Holding in mighty chains the hearts of all;
All, but some cold and sullen-temper’d spirits,
Who feel no touch of sympathy or love.
Yet what is music, and the blended power
Of voice with instruments of wind and string?
What but an empty pageant of sweet noise?
’Tis past: and all that it has left behind
Is but an echo dwelling in the ear
Of the toy-taken fancy, and beside,
A void and countless hour in life’s brief day.
But ill accords my verse with the delights
Of this gay month:—and see the Villagers
Assembling jocund in their best attire
To grace this genial morn. Now I descend
To join the worldly crowd; perchance to talk,
To think, to act as they: then all these thoughts,
That lift th’ expanded heart above this spot
To heavenly musing, these shall pass away
(Even as this goodly prospect from my view)
Hidden by near and earthy-rooted cares.
So passeth human life—our better mind
Is as a Sunday’s garment, then put on
When we have nought to do; but at our work
We wear a worse for thrift. Of this enough:
To-morrow for severer thought; but now
To breakfast, and keep festival to-day.
NOTES.
Note 1, page 4, line 10.
_At each return of spring: yet some delight, &c._
An adventitious beauty, arising from that gradual decay, which loosens
the withering leaf, gilds the autumnal landscape with a temporary
splendor superior to the verdure of spring, or the luxuriance of summer.
The infinitely various and ever-changing hues of the leaves at this
season, melting into every soft gradation of tint and shade, have long
engaged the imitation of the painter, and are equally happy ornaments in
the description of the poet.—Aikin’s Essay on the Character of Thompson’s
Seasons, prefixed to his edition of them, 1791.
Note 2, p. 10, line 7.
_Rechasing, lest his tender ewes should coath._
To _coath_, Skinner says, is a word common in Lincolnshire, and
signifies, to _faint_. He derives it from the Anglo-Saxon coðe, a
_disease_. In Dorsetshire it is in common use, but it is used of sheep
only: a _coathed_ sheep is a _rotten_ sheep; to _coath_ is to _take the
rot. Rechasing_ is also a term in that county appropriated to flocks:
_to chase and rechase_ is to drive sheep at certain times from one sort
of ground to another, or from one parish to another.
The author having ventured to introduce some provincial and other terms,
takes this occasion to say, that it is a liberty in which he has not
indulged himself, but when he conceived them to be allowable for the sake
of ornament or expression.
Note 3, page 16, line 4.
_With piteous tears, so cruel was the loss._
The distressful condition of the Halswell here alluded to is thus
circumstantially described in the narrative of her loss, p. 13.
“Thursday the 5th, at two in the morning, the wind came to the southward,
blew fresh, and the weather was very thick; at noon Portland was seen,
bearing N. by E. distance two or three leagues; at eight at night it
blew a strong gale at S. and at this time the Portland lights were seen
bearing N. W. distance four or five leagues, when they wore ship, and
got her head to the westward; but finding they lost ground upon that
tack, they wore again, and kept stretching on eastward, in hopes to have
weathered Peverel-point, in which case they intended to have anchored in
Studland Bay: at 11 at night it cleared, and they saw St. Alban’s-head
a mile and a half to the leeward of them; upon which they took in sail
immediately, and let go the small bower anchor, which brought up the
ship at a whole cable, and she rode for about an hour, but then drove;
they now let go the sheet anchor, and wore away a whole cable, and the
ship rode for about two hours longer, when she drove again. They were
then driving very fast on shore, and might expect every moment to strike!”
Note 4, page 16, line 10.
_From Portland eastward to the Promontory._
“Not far from this (Encombe) stands _St. Aldene_’s Chapel; which took
name from the dedication to St. Adeline, the first bishop of Sherbourne
in this shire: but now it serves for a sea-mark.”—Coker’s Survey of
Dorsetshire, p. 47.
“Near the sea is the high land of _St. Aldhelm_’s, commonly called _St.
Alban_’s, a noted sea-mark. The cliff here is 147 yards perpendicular. On
this promontory, about a mile south of _Worth_, stands a chapel of the
same name.” Hutchins’s Dorsetsh. vol. i. p. 228. But this headland is not
marked by name in Hutchins’s map. “The very utter part of _St. Aldhelm_’s
point is five miles from _Sandwich_ (_Swanwich_).”—Lel. Itin. vol. iii.
p. 53.
Note 5, page 18, line 6.
_From Shipton’s bottom to the lofty down._
Shipton is a hill, which, according to common report, is so called from
its shape; the top of it being formed like a ship with the keel upwards.
It stands three miles from Bridport on the road towards London; which
road passes by the foot of it to the North.
Note 6, page 22, line 1.
_Plying her monstrous labour unrestrained._
The works now carrying on at Cherburgh, (A. D. 1787) to make a haven
for ships of war, are principally the following. Of these however it
is not intended to give a full description; but only to mention some
particulars, from which an idea may be formed of the greatness of the
scheme.
In the open sea, above a league from the town, and within half a mile
west of a rock called _L’isle Pelée_, a pier is begun, with design of
conducting it on to the shore somewhat beyond _Point Hommet_, about
two miles westward of Cherburgh. In order to this, a strong frame of
timber-work, of the shape of a truncated cone, having been constructed on
the beach, was buoyed out, and sunk in a depth of water; which at lowest
ebb is 35 feet, and where the tide rises near 20 feet. The diameter of
this cone at bottom is about 60 yards, its height 70 feet; and the area
on its top large enough to receive a battery of cannon, with which it is
hereafter to be fortified. Its solid contents are 2500 French toises;
which, in our measure (allowing the French foot to be to the English as
144 to 135), will amount to 24,250 cubic yards nearly. Several other
cones, of equal dimensions, are sunk at convenient distances from each
other, forming the line of the pier: their number, when complete, it
is said, will be forty. As soon as any one of these is carried to its
place, it is filled with stones, which are dug from mount _Rouille_ and
other rocks near the coast, and brought on horses to the shore: whence
they are conveyed to the cones in vessels of forty, sixty, or eighty
tons burden. In like manner, but with much greater labour and expense,
the spaces between the cones are filled up with stones thrown loosely
into the sea, till the heap is raised above the water. On this mass, as
on a foundation, a wall of masonry-work is to be erected. The length
of the whole is near five miles. On _L’isle Pelée_ and _Point Hommet_
before-mentioned large fortifications are constructed bomb-proof, to
defend the haven and pier. It is the opinion of some persons that
this stupendous mole may be injured or destroyed by what is called a
ground-sea, _i. e._ a sea when the waters are agitated to the bottom: and
this happens when a strong wind, after having put the waves in motion,
suddenly shifts to the opposite quarter. The description given in the
Poem of this vast undertaking closes with an allusion to this opinion.
Note 7, page 23, lines 5 and 6.
_Less and less hazardous emprize achieved_
_Resistless Alexander._
Quint. Curt. lib. 4, cap. 2, 3.
Note 8, page 23, line 10.
_Nor aught so bold, so vast, so wonderful._
——creditur olim
Velificatus Athos—
Densa cadavera prora.
JUV. Sat. x. v. 173. 186.
Note 9, page 24, line 2.
_Nor yet that elder work._
——τειχος εδειμαν,——
——αμαλδυνηται Αχαιων.
HOM. IL. vii. v. 436. 463.
Ὡσ ὁ μεν εν κλισιησι,—
——καλλιροον ὑδωρ.
IL. xii. v. 1, 33.
Note 10, page 25, line 3.
_Thee, Burton, and thy lofty cliff._
Burton is a village near the sea, lying S. E. from Lewesdon, and about
two miles S. of Shipton hill before mentioned. The cliff is among the
loftiest of all upon that coast; and smugglers often take advantage of
its height for the purpose related in the poem.
Note 11, page 27, line 11.
_But what is yonder Hill, whose dusky brow._
“Eggardon Hill is a very high hill, and gives name to the hundred. Mr.
Coker says it is uncertain whether it takes its name from Edgar, king of
the West Saxons, or from Orgarus, earl of Cornwall: and indeed this last
derivation is the truest; there being little reason to doubt that it is
the old _Orgarestone_. The camp on the brow of this hill is a large and
strong fortification, and seems to be Roman.”—Hutchins’s Dorset, vol.
i. p. 289; where there is an engraving of this camp. But Hutchins has
misrepresented Mr. Coker, who indeed prefers the derivation from Orgar.
His words are these: “That it takes name from Edgar, the West Saxon king,
I dare not affirm, having nothing to prove it but the nearnesse of the
name. It better likes me to think this the place which in Doomsday-book
is called Orgareston; but whether it take name from Orgareus, earl of
Cornwall, I know not; though I think I should run into no great error to
believe it.”—Coker’s Survey of Dorsetshire, p. 26.
Note 12, page 33, line 2.
_The ground where Hollis lies; his choice retreat._
“Mr. Hollis, in order to preserve the memory of those heroes and patriots
for whom he had a veneration, as the assertors and defenders of his
country, called many of the farms and fields in his estate at Corscombe
by their names; and by these names they are still distinguished. In the
middle of one of those fields, not far from his house, he ordered his
corpse to be deposited in a grave ten feet deep; and that the field
should be immediately ploughed over, that no trace of his burial-place
might remain.”—Memoirs of Thomas Hollis, Esq. vol. i. p. 481.
Note 13, page 34, line 1.
_War-glutted Osmund, superstitious lord!_
Of the strange curse belonging to Shireburne-Castle. From a MS. of
the late Bishop of Ely (Bishop John More) now in the Royal Library at
Cambridge.
“Osmund, a Norman knight, who had served _William_ Duke of _Normandy_
from his youth, in all his wars against the French king, and the duke’s
(_William_’s) subjects, with much valour and discretion, for all his
faithful service (when his master had by conquest obteyned the crown
of England) was rewarded with many great gifts; among the which was
the earldome of _Dorsett_, and the gift of many other possessions,
whereof the castle and baronie of _Sherburne_ were parcell. But Osmund,
in the declyninge of his age, calling to mynde the great effusion of
blood which, from his infancie, he had shedd; he resolved to leave all
worldly delights, and betake himself to a religious life, the better
to contemplate on his former sinnes, and to obteyn pardon for them.
And, with much importunitie, having gotten leave of the kinge (who was
unwilling to want the assistance of so grave and worthy a counsellor)
to resign his temporal honors; and having obteyned the bishoprick of
_Sarum_, he gave _Sherburne_, with other lands, to the bishoprick. To
which gift he annexed this curse:—
“‘That whosoever should take those lands from the bishoprick, or
diminish them in great or in small, should be accursed, not only in this
world, but also in the world to come; unless in his life-time he made
restitution thereof.’ And so he died bishop of Sarum.”
Those lands continued in the possession of his successors till the reign
of King Stephen, who took them away: “whereupon (says this account) his
prosperity forsook him.” King Stephen being dead, “these lands came into
the hands of some of the _Montagues_ (after earles of _Sarum_), who
whilest they held the same, underwent many disasters. For one or other
of them fell by misfortune. And finally, all the males of them became
extinct, and the earldome received an end in their name. So ill was their
success.”
After this the lands were restored to the bishoprick; but were taken away
a second time by the Duke of Somerset, in the reign of Edward VI.; “when
the duke, being hunting in the parke of _Sherburne_, he was sent for
presently unto the kinge (to whome he was protector) and at his coming
up to _London_, was forthwith committed unto the _Tower_, and shortly
after lost his head.” The lands then, in a suit at law, were adjudged to
the Bishop of Sarum; and so remained, “till Sir Walter Raleigh procured
a grant of them; he afterwards unfortunately lost them, and at last his
head also. Upon his attainder they came, by the king’s gift, to Prince
_Henry_; who died not long after the possession thereof. After Prince
_Henry_’s death, the Earle of _Somerset_ (_Carr_) did possesse them.
Finally, he lost them, and many other fortunes.”—Peck’s Desid. Cur. Lib.
14. No. 6.
Note 14, page 34, line 11.
_Accomplish’d Raleigh! in that lawless day._
“How Dr. _John Coldwell_, of a physitian, became a bishop, I have heard
by more than a good many; and I will briefly handle it, and as tenderly
as I can; bearing myself equal between the living (Sir _Walter Raleigh_)
and the dead (Bishop _Coldwell_). Yet the manifest judgements of God
on both of them I may not pass over with silence. And to speak first
of the knight, who carried off the _Spolia opima_ of the bishoprick.
He, having gotten _Sherborne_ castle, park, and parsonage, was in those
days in so great favour with the queen, as I may boldly say, that with
less suit than he was fain to make to her, ere he could perfect this
his purchase, and with less money than he bestowed since in _Sherborne_
(in building, and buying out leases, and in drawing the river through
rocks into his garden), he might, very justly, and without offence of
either church or state, have compassed a much better purchase. Also, as
I have been truly informed, he had a presage before he first attempted
it, which did foreshow it would turn to his ruin, and might have kept
him from meddling with it, _Si mens non læva fuisset_: for, as he was
riding post between _Plymouth_ and the court (as many times he did upon
no small employments), this castle being right in the way, he cast such
an eye upon it as _Ahab_ did upon _Naboth_’s vineyard. And, once above
the rest, being talking of it (of the commodiousness of the place,
of the strength of the seat, and how easily it might be got from the
bishoprick), suddenly over and over came his horse, that his very face
(which was then thought a very good face) plowed up the earth where he
fell. This fall was ominous, I make no question; and himself was apt to
construe it so. But his brother _Adrian_ would needs have him interpret
it as a conqueror, that his fall presaged the quiet possession of it.
And accordingly, for the present, it so fell out. So that with much
labor, cost, envy, and obloquy, he got it _habendum et tenendum_ to him
and his heirs. But see what became of him. In the public joy and jubilee
of the whole realm (when favor, peace, and pardon, were offered even to
offenders), he who in wit, in wealth, in courage, was inferior to few,
fell suddenly (I cannot tell how) into such a downfall of despair, as his
greatest enemy would not have wished him so much harm, as he would have
done himself. Can any man be so willfully blind as not to see, and say,
_Digitus Dei hic est_!”—Harrington’s Brief View, p. 88.
* * * * *
To these Notes are added the following, taken from Æschylus, to show the
resemblance between the expressions of that author and certain passages
in this poem.
——Let me walk embathed
In your invisible perfumes.—P. 2, v. 16.
Τις οδμα προσεπτα μ’ αφεγγης; Prom. Vinc. 115.
——For worldly meed,
Given or withheld, I deem of it alike.—P. 8, v. 98.
ου δ’ αινειν ειτε με ψεγειν θελεις,
Ομοιον. Agam. 1412.
The aguish fear that shakes th’ afflicted breast
With sore anxiety of what shall be—
And all for nought.—P. 14, v. 179.
ματαιος εκ γυκτων φοβας
Κινει, ταρασσει, και διωκεται πολεως
Χαλχηκλατῳ πλαστιγγι λυμανθεν δεμας. Choeph. 286.
To shun that harbourless and hollow coast.—P. 16, v. 204.
μολοντες αλιμενον χθονα
Ες νυκτ’ αποστειχοντος ἡλιου, φιλει
Ωδινα τικτειν νυξ χυβερνητῃ σοφῳ. Supplices, 775.
——the promontory
Where still St. Alban’s high-built chapel stands.—P. 16. v. 205.
Την αιπυνωτον αμφι Δωδωνην, ινα
Μαντεια θωκος τ’ εστι Θεσπρωτου Διος. Prom. Vinct. 829.
Was lost, by Neptune’s wild and foamy jaws
Swallow’d up quick.—P. 17, v. 211.
ενθεν εκραγησονταιν ποτε
Ποταμοι πυρος δαπτοντες αγριαις γναθοις. Prom. Vinct. 367.
Alas! they perish’d all: all in one hour!—P. 17, v. 220.
In the Persæ the Chorus demand of Xerxes what was become of his friends
the Nobles; he answers, “I left them wrecked on the shores of Salamis:”
they ask farther, “Where is Pharnuchus and Ariomardus? Where is the royal
Sebalces?” &c. Xerxes replies,
Ιω, ιω, μοι μοι
παντες
Ενι πιτυλῳ,
(Ε, ε, ε,) τλαμονες
Ασπαιρουσι χερσῳ. 978.
——flank’d with citadels and towers,
And rocky walls, and arches massy-proof
Against the storm of war.—P. 23, v. 292.
Συ δ’ ωστε νηος κεδνος διακοστροφος
Φραξαι πολισμα, πριν καταιγισαι πνοας
Αρεος. Sept. cont. Theb. 62.
With horned violence to push and whelm
This pile.—P. 24, v. 319.
ἁι δε, κερωτυπουμεναι βιᾳ
Χειμωνοτυφῳ, συν ζαλῃ τ’ ομβροκτυπῳ. Agam. 664.
Χειμωνοτυφῳ; so I read the passage, instead of Χειμωνι, τυφω, κτλ.
In the Supplices of this author there is a similar phrase on a similar
subject,
Πεμψατε ποντονδ’, ενθα δε λαιλαπι
Χειμωνοτυπῳ, βροντη στεροπη
Τ’, ομβροφοροισι τ’ ανεμοις αγριας
Αλος αντησαντες ολοιντο. 34.
In the Clouds of Aristophanes, A. 1. S. 4, this word occurs,
ἑκατογκεφαλατυφω, and the Scholiast says, in τυφων or τυφως the first
syllable is long.
To generous Virtue, and the holy love
Of liberty, a dedicated spirit.—P. 33, v. 433.
In the Eumenides the Fury calls Orestes
δαιμοναν σκια
Εμοι τραφεις τε και καθιερωμενος. 303.
So fares it with the things of earth
Which seem most constant: there will come the cloud
That shall enfold them up.—P. 35, v. 466.
Ιω βροτεια πραγματ’· ευτυχουντα μεν
Σκια τις αντρεψειεν. Agam. 1336.
The multitudinous strokes incessantly
Bruise all, &c.—P. 36, v. 478.
There is a singular similarity in the length of the words here, and in
the following passage of the Choephori, where Electra speaks of the
murder of her father; intending, perhaps, to express the multitude of
wounds by the polysyllabic term;
πολυπλαγκτα δ’ ην ιδειν
Επασσυτεροτριβη τα χερος ορεγματα. 423.
POEMS.
INSCRIBED BENEATH THE PICTURE OF AN ASS.
Meek animal, whose simple mien
Provokes th’ insulting eye of Spleen
To mock the melancholy trait
Of patience in thy front display’d,
By thy Great Author fitly so pourtray’d,
To character the sorrows of thy fate;
Say, Heir of misery, what to thee
Is life?—A long, long, gloomy stage
Through the sad vale of labour and of pain!
No pleasure hath thine youth, no rest thine age,
Nor in the vasty round of this terrene
Hast thou a friend to set thee free,
Till Death, perhaps too late,
In the dark evening of thy cheerless day,
Shall take thee, fainting on thy way,
From the rude storm of unresisted hate.
Yet dares the erroneous crowd to mark
With folly thy despised race,
Th’ ungovernable pack, who bark
With impious howlings in Heaven’s awful face,
If e’er on their impatient head
Affliction’s bitter show’r is shed.
But ’tis the weakness of thy kind
Meekly to bear the inevitable sway;
The wisdom of the human mind
Is to murmur and obey.
ODE TO THE LYRIC MUSE.
SPOKEN IN THE THEATRE AT THE INSTALLATION OF LORD NORTH, CHANCELLOR OF
THE UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD.
STROPHE I.
Fair sov’reign of the golden lyre,
Descend, Thalia, from th’ enchanted grove
Of Mona, where thou lov’st to rove,
List’ning the echoes of thy Druid quire;
The ling’ring sounds that yet respire
Waked by the breezes of the Western main;
And bring some high and solemn strain,
Such as was heard that solemn day
When Rome’s dread Eagle stoop’d to prey
On Mona’s free-born sons, while Liberty
Struck on the magic harp her dying song.—
Dealing vengeance on her foes,
The mortal Genius of battle rose,
And call’d Despair and Death to lead her host along.
STROPHE II.
O, Muse divine! whene’er thy strain
Devotes the tyrant head to shame,
The Patriot Virtues brighten in thy train;
And Glory hears the loud appeal;
And thou, unconquerable flame,
First-born of ancient Freedom, Public Zeal:
Thou in the dark and dreary hour
When Tyranny her dragon-wing outspread,
And Sloth a sullen influence shed,
And every coward Vice that loves the night
Revell’d on Corsica’s ill-fated shore;
Thou didst one dauntless heart inflame,
Lo, PAOLI, father of his country, came,
And with a giant-voice
Cried, “Liberty!” unto the drowsy race
That slept in Slav’ry’s dull embrace;
Roused at the sound, they hail’d thy glorious choice,
And ev’ry manly breast
Shook off the unnerving load of rest;
And Virtue chasing the foul forms of night,
Rose like a summer sun, and shed a golden light.
ANTISTROPHE I.