342. ‘Near fresh Streams.’ [Sonnet XVII. l. 12.]
The early propagators of Christianity were accustomed to preach near rivers for the convenience of baptism.
343. The Clergy. [Sonnet XIX.]
Having spoken of the zeal, disinterestedness, and temperance of the clergy of those times, Bede thus proceeds: — ’Unde et in magna erat veneratione tempore illo religionis habitus, ita ut ubicunque clericus aliquis, aut monachus adveniret, gaudeutur ab omnibus tanquam Dei famulus exciperetur. Etiam si in itinere pergens inveniretur, accurrebant, et flexâ cervice, vel manu signari, vel ore illius se benedici, gaudebant. Verbis quoque horum exhortatoriis diligenter auditum praebebant.’ — Lib. iii. cap. 26.
343a. Bede. [Sonnet XIII. l. 14.]
He expired dictating the last words of a translation of St. John’s Gospel.
344. Zeal.
‘The people work like congregated bees!’ [Sonnet XXIV. l. 2.]
See in Turner’s History, vol. iii. p. 528, the account of the erection of Ramsey Monastery. Penances were removable by the performance of acts of charity and benevolence.
345. Alfred.
— — ’pain narrows not his cares.’ [Sonnet XXVI. l. 10.]
Through the whole of his life, Alfred was subject to grievous maladies.
346. Crown and Cowl.
‘Woe to the Crown that doth the Cowl obey.’ [Sonnet XXXIX. l.1.]
The violent measures carried on under the influence of Dunstan, for strengthening the Benedictine Order, were a leading cause of the second series of Danish invasions. See Turner.
347. The Council of Clermont.
— — ’in awe-stricken countries far and nigh ... that voice resounds. [Sonnet XXXIII. ll. 13-14.]
The decision of this Council was believed to be instantly known in remote parts of Europe.
PART II. TO THE CLOSE OF THE TROUBLES IN THE REIGN OF CHARLES I.
348. Cistertian Monastery. [Sonnet III.]
‘Here man more purely lives,’ &c.
‘Bonum est nos hic esse, quia homo vivit purius, cadit rarius, surgit velocius, incedit cautius, quiescit securius, moritur felicius, purgatur utius, praemiatur copiosius.’ — Bernard. ‘This sentence,’ says Dr. Whitaker, ‘is usually inscribed in some conspicuous part of the Cistertian houses.’
349. Waldenses.
‘Whom obloquy pursues with hideous bark.’ [Sonnet XIV. l. 8.]
The list of foul names bestowed upon those poor creatures is long and curious; — and, as is, alas! too natural, most of the opprobrious appellations are drawn from circumstances into which they were forced by their persecutors, who even consolidated their miseries into one reproachful term, calling them Patarenians, or Paturins, from pati, to suffer.
Dwellers with wolves, she names them, for the pine And green oak are their covert; as the gloom Of night oft foils their enemy’s design, She calls them Riders on the flying broom; Sorcerers, whose frame and aspect have become One and the same through practices malign.
350. Borrowed Lines.
‘And the green lizard and the gilded newt Lead unmolested lives, and die of age.’ [Sonnet XXI. ll. 7-8.]
These two lines are adopted from a MS., written about 1770, which accidentally fell into my possession. The close of the preceding Sonnet ‘On Monastic Voluptuousness’ is taken from the same source, as is the verse, ‘Where Venus sits,’ &c., and the line, ‘Once ye were holy, ye are holy still,’ in a subsequent Sonnet.
351. Transfiguration.
‘One (like those prophets whom God sent of old) Transfigured,’ &c. [Sonnet XXXIV. ll. 4-5.]
‘M. Latimer suffered his keeper very quietly to pull off his hose, and his other array, which to looke unto was very simple: and being stripped unto his shrowd, he seemed as comely a person to them that were present, as one should lightly see: and whereas in his clothes hee appeared a withered and crooked sillie (weak) olde man, he now stood bolt upright, as comely a father as one might lightly behold.... Then they brought a faggotte, kindled with fire, and laid the same downe at doctor Ridley’s feete. To whome M. Latimer spake in this manner, “Bee of good comfort, master Ridley, and play the man: wee shall this day light such a candle by God’s grace in England, as I trust shall never bee put out.”‘ — Fox’s Acts, &c.
Similar alterations in the outward figure and deportment of persons brought to like trial were not uncommon. See note to the above passage in Dr. Wordsworth’s Ecclesiastical Biography, for an example in an humble Welsh fisherman.
352. Craft.
— — ’craftily incites The overweening, personates the mad.’ [Sonnet XLI. l. 11.]
A common device in religious and political conflicts. See Strype in support of this instance.
353. The Virgin Mountain. [Sonnet XLIII.]
Jung-frau.
354. Laud. [Sonnet XLV.]
In this age a word cannot be said in praise of Laud, or even in compassion for his fate, without incurring a charge of bigotry; but fearless of such imputation, I concur with Hume, ‘that it is sufficient for his vindication to observe that his errors were the most excusable of all those which prevailed during that zealous period.’ A key to the right understanding of those parts of his conduct that brought the most odium upon him in his own time, may be found in the following passage of his speech before the bar of the House of Peers: — ’Ever since I came in place, I have laboured nothing more than that the external publick worship of God, so much slighted in divers parts of this kingdom, might be preserved, and that with as much decency and uniformity as might be. For I evidently saw that the publick neglect of God’s service in the outward face of it, and the nasty lying of many places dedicated to that service, had almost cast a damp upon the true and inward worship of God, which while we live in the body, needs external helps, and all little enough to keep it in any vigour.’
PART III. FROM THE RESTORATION TO THE PRESENT TIME.
355. The Pilgrim Fathers. [Sonnet XIII.]
American episcopacy, in union with the church in England, strictly belongs to the general subject; and I here make my acknowledgments to my American friends, Bishop Doane, and Mr. Henry Reed of Philadelphia, for having suggested to me the propriety of adverting to it, and pointed out the virtues and intellectual qualities of Bishop White, which so eminently fitted him for the great work he undertook. Bishop White was consecrated at Lambeth, Feb. 4, 1787, by Archbishop Moor; and before his long life was closed, twenty-six bishops had been consecrated in America, by himself. For his character and opinions, see his own numerous Works, and a ‘Sermon in commemoration of him, by George Washington Doane, Bishop of New Jersey.’
356. The Clergyman.
‘A genial hearth — — And a refined rusticity, belong To the neat mansion.’ [Sonnet XVIII. ll. 1-3.]
Among the benefits arising, as Mr. Coleridge has well observed, from a Church Establishment of endowments corresponding with the wealth of the country to which it belongs, may be reckoned as eminently important, the examples of civility and refinement which the Clergy stationed at intervals, afford to the whole people. The Established clergy in many parts of England have long been, as they continue to be, the principal bulwark against barbarism, and the link which unites the sequestered peasantry with the intellectual advancement of the age. Nor is it below the dignity of the subject to observe, that their taste, as acting upon rural residences and scenery often furnishes models which country gentlemen, who are more at liberty to follow the caprices of fashion, might profit by. The precincts of an old residence must be treated by ecclesiastics with respect, both from prudence and necessity. I remember being much pleased, some years ago, at Rose Castle, the rural seat of the See of Carlisle, with a style of garden and architecture, which, if the place had belonged to a wealthy layman, would no doubt have been swept away. A parsonage-house generally stands not far from the church; this proximity imposes favourable restraints, and sometimes suggests an affecting union of the accommodations and elegances of life with the outward signs of piety a
nd mortality. With pleasure I recall to mind a happy instance of this in the residence of an old and much-valued Friend in Oxfordshire. The house and church stand parallel to each other, at a small distance; a circular lawn or rather grass-plot, spreads between them; shrubs and trees curve from each side of the dwelling, veiling, but not hiding, the church. From the front of this dwelling, no part of the burial-ground is seen; but as you wind by the side of the shrubs towards the steeple-end of the church, the eye catches a single, small, low, monumental headstone, moss-grown, sinking into, and gently inclining towards the earth. Advance, and the churchyard, populous and gay with glittering tombstones, opens upon the view. This humble and beautiful parsonage called forth a tribute, for which see the seventh of the ‘Miscellaneous Sonnets,’ Part III.
357. Rush-bearing. [Sonnet XXXII.]
This is still continued in many churches in Westmoreland. It takes place in the month of July, when the floor of the stalls is strewn with fresh rushes; and hence it is called the ‘Rush-bearing.’
358. George Dyer.
‘Teaching us to forget them or forgive.’ [Sonnet XXXV. l. 10.]
This is borrowed from an affecting passage in Mr. George Dyer’s History of Cambridge.
359. Apprehension.
— — ’had we, like them, endured Sore stress of apprehension.’ [Sonnet XXXVII. l. 6.]
See Burnet, who is unusually animated on this subject; the east wind, so anxiously expected and prayed for, was called the ‘Protestant wind.’
360. The Cross.
‘Yet will we not conceal the precious Cross, Like men ashamed.’ [Sonnet XL. ll. 9-10.]
The Lutherans have retained the Cross within their churches: it is to be regretted that we have not done the same.
361. Monte Rosa.
Or like the Alpine Mount, that takes its name From roseate hues,’ &c. [Sonnet XLVI. ll. 5-6.]
Some say that Monte Rosa takes its name from a belt of rock at its summit — a very unpoetical and scarcely a probable supposition.
XV. ‘YARROW REVISITED,’ AND OTHER POEMS.
COMPOSED (TWO EXCEPTED) DURING A TOUR IN SCOTLAND, AND ON THE ENGLISH BORDER, IN THE AUTUMN OF 1831.
362. Dedication.
TO SAMUEL ROGERS, ESQ.
As a testimony of friendship, and acknowledgment of intellectual obligations, these Memorials are affectionately inscribed.
Rydal Mount, Dec. 11, 1834.
The following stanzas [‘Yarrow Revisited’] are a memorial of a day passed with Sir Walter Scott, and other friends, visiting the banks of the Yarrow under his guidance, immediately before his departure from Abbotsford for Naples.
The title ‘Yarrow Revisited’ will stand in no need of explanation, for Readers acquainted with the Author’s previous poems suggested by that celebrated stream.
363. Yarrow Revisited.
I first became acquainted with this great and amiable man (Sir Walter Scott) in the year 1803, when my sister and I, making a tour in Scotland, were hospitably received by him in Lasswade, upon the banks of the Esk, where he was then living. We saw a good deal of him in the course of the following week. The particulars are given in my sister’s journal of that tour.
(2) *Ibid.
In the autumn of 1831, my daughter and I set off from Rydal to visit Sir Walter Scott, before his departure for Italy. This journey had been delayed, by an inflammation in my eyes, till we found that the time appointed for his leaving home would be too near for him to receive us without considerable inconvenience. Nevertheless, we proceeded, and reached Abbotsford on Monday. I was then scarcely able to lift up my eyes to the light. How sadly changed did I find him from the man I had seen so healthy, gay, and hopeful a few years before, when he said at the inn at Paterdale, in my presence, his daughter Anne also being there, with Mr. Lockhart, my own wife and daughter, and Mr. Quillinan, ‘I mean to live till I am eighty, and shall write as long as I live.’ Though we had none of us the least thought of the cloud of misfortune which was then going to break upon his head, I was startled, and almost shocked, at that bold saying, which could scarcely be uttered by such a man, sanguine as he was, without a momentary forgetfulness of the instability of human life. But to return to Abbotsford. The inmates and guests we found there were Sir Walter, Major Scott, Anne Scott, and Mr. and Mrs. Lockhart; Mr. Liddell, his lady and brother, and Mr. Allan, the painter, and Mr. Laidlaw, a very old friend of Sir Walter’s. One of Burns’s sons, an officer in the Indian service, had left the house a day or two before, and had kindly expressed his regret that he could not wait my arrival, a regret that I may truly say was mutual. In the evening, Mr. and Mrs. Liddell sang, and Mrs. Lockhart chaunted old ballads to her harp; and Mr. Allan, hanging over the back of a chair, told and acted odd stories in a humorous way. With this exhibition, and his daughter’s singing, Sir Walter was much amused, and, indeed, were we all, as far as circumstances would allow. But what is most worthy of mention is the admirable demeanour of Major Scott during that evening. He had much to suffer from the sight of his father’s infirmities and from the great change that was about to take place at the residence he had built, and where he had long lived in so much prosperity and happiness. But what struck me most was the patient kindness with which he supported himself under the many fretful expressions that his sister Anne addressed to him or uttered in his hearing, and she, poor thing, as mistress of that house, had been subject, after her mother’s death, to a heavier load of care and responsibility, and greater sacrifices of time, than one of such a constitution of body and mind was able to bear. Of this Dora and I were made so sensible, that as soon as we had crossed the Tweed on our departure, we gave vent at the same moment to our apprehensions that her brain would fail and she would go out of her mind, or that she would sink under the trials she had passed and those which awaited her.
On Tuesday morning, Sir Walter Scott accompanied us, and most of the party, to Newark Castle, on the Yarrow. When we alighted from the carriages, he walked pretty stoutly, and had great pleasure in revisiting these his favourite haunts. Of that excursion, the verses, ‘Yarrow Revisited’ are a memorial. Notwithstanding the romance that pervades Sir Walter’s works, and attaches to many of his habits, there is too much pressure of fact for these verses to harmonise, as much as I could wish, with the two preceding poems. On our return in the afternoon, we had to cross the Tweed, directly opposite Abbotsford. The wheels of our carriage grated upon the pebbles in the bed of the stream, that there flows somewhat rapidly. A rich, but sad light, of rather a purple than a golden hue, was spread over the Eildon Hills at that moment; and, thinking it probable that it might be the last time Sir Walter would cross the stream, I was not a little moved, and expressed some of my feelings in the sonnet beginning,
‘A trouble, not of clouds,’ &c.
At noon on Thursday we left Abbotsford, and on the morning of that day, Sir Walter and I had a serious conversation, tête-à-tête, when he spoke with gratitude of the happy life which, upon the whole, he had led. He had written in my daughter’s album, before he came into the breakfast-room that morning, a few stanzas addressed to her; and while putting the book into her hand, in his own Study, standing by his desk, he said to her in my presence, ‘I should not have done any thing of this kind, but for your father’s sake; they are probably the last verses I shall ever write.’ They show how much his mind was impaired; not by the strain of thought, but by the execution, some of the lines being imperfect, and one stanza wanting corresponding rhymes. One letter, the initial S., had been omitted in the spelling of his own name. In this interview, also, it was that, upon my expressing a hope of his health being benefited by the climate of the country to which he was going, and by the interest he would take in the classic remembrances of Italy, he made use of the quotation from ‘Yarrow Revisited,’ as recorded by me in the ‘Musings at Aquapendente,’ six years afterwards.
Mr. Lockhart has mentioned in his life of him, what I heard from several quarters while abroad, both at Rome and elsewhere, that lit
tle seemed to interest him but what he could collect or heard of the fugitive Stuarts, and their adherents who had followed them into exile. Both the ‘Yarrow Revisited’ and the ‘Sonnet’ were sent him before his departure from England. Some further particulars of the conversations which occurred during this visit I should have set down, had they not been already accurately recorded by Mr. Lockhart.
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