Part 16

In the quarto edition of 1815 the following lines precede the extract from Lord Bacon; and in the edition of 1820 they follow it. In 1827 they were transferred to the "Miscellaneous Sonnets."

_"Weak is the will of Man, his judgement blind; Remembrance persecutes, and Hope betrays; Heavy is woe;--and joy, for human kind, A mournful thing, so transient is the blaze!"-- Thus might he paint our lot of mortal days Who wants the glorious faculty, assigned To elevate the more-than-reasoning Mind, And colour life's dark cloud with orient rays. Imagination is that sacred power, Imagination lofty and refined: 'Tis her's to pluck the amaranthine Flower Of Faith, and round the Sufferer's temples bind Wreaths that endure affliction's heaviest shower, And do not shrink from sorrow's keenest wind._ ED.

[F] See his _Essays_, XVI., "Of Atheism." Wordsworth's quotation is not quite accurate.--ED.

[G] It is to be regretted that at the present day Bolton Abbey wants this ornament: but the Poem, according to the imagination of the Poet, is composed in Queen Elizabeth's time. "Formerly," says Dr. Whitaker, "over the Transept was a tower. This is proved not only from the mention of bells at the Dissolution, when they could have had no other place, but from the pointed roof of the choir, which must have terminated westward, in some building of superior height to the ridge."--W. W. 1815.

[H] See note I. at the end of the poem, p. 196.--ED.

[I] See note I. at the end of the poem, p. 196.--ED.

[J] The Nave of the Church having been reserved at the Dissolution, for the use of the Saxon Cure, is still a parochial Chapel; and, at this day, is as well kept as the neatest English Cathedral.--W. W. 1815.

[K] "At a small distance from the great gateway stood the Prior's Oak, which was felled about the year 1720, and sold for 70_l._ According to the price of wood at that time, it could scarcely have contained less than 1400 feet of timber."--W. W. 1815.

This note is quoted from Whitaker.--ED.

The place where this Oak tree grew is uncertain. Whitaker says it stood "at a small distance from the great gateway." This old entrance or gateway to the Abbey was through a part of the modern and now inhabited structure of Bolton Hall, under the Tower; and the old sexton at the Abbey told me that the tree stood near that gateway, at some distance from the ruins of the Abbey.--ED.

[L] Of Wharfedale at Bolton, Henry Crabb Robinson says, in his _Diary_ (September 1818), "This valley has been very little adorned, and it needs no other accident to grace it than sunshine."--ED.

[M] Compare the lines in the sonnet _At Furness Abbey_ (composed in 1844)--

A soothing spirit follows in the way That Nature takes, her counter-work pursuing. ED.

[N] Roses still grow plentifully among the ruins, although they are not abundant in the district.--ED.

[O] This is not topographical. No "warrior carved in stone" is now to be seen among the ruins of Bolton Abbey, whatever may have been the case in 1807; nor can Francis Norton's grave be discovered in the Abbey grounds.--ED.

[P] The detail of this tradition may be found in Dr. Whitaker's book, and in the Poem, _The Force of Prayer_, etc. [p. 204].--W. W. 1815.

[Q] Compare _The Boy of Egremond_, by Samuel Rogers.--ED.

[R] "At the East end of the North aisle of Bolton Priory Church is a chantry belonging to Bethmesly Hall, and a vault, where, according to tradition, the Claphams" (who inherited this estate, by the female line from the Mauliverers) "were interred upright." John de Clapham, of whom this ferocious act is recorded, was a name of great note in his time; "he was a vehement partisan of the House of Lancaster, in whom the spirit of his chieftains, the Cliffords, seemed to survive."--W. W. 1815.

This quotation is from Dr. Whitaker's _History of the Deanery of Craven_.--ED.

[S] In 1868, when this chapel was under restoration, a vault was discovered at the eastern end of the north aisle, with evident signs of several bodies having been buried upright. On the site of this vault the organ is now placed. The chapel was restored by the late Duke of Devonshire.--ED.

[T] In the second volume of Poems published by the author, will be found one, entitled, _Song at the Feast of Brougham Castle, upon the Restoration of Lord Clifford, the Shepherd, to the Estates and Honours of his Ancestors_. To that Poem is annexed an account of this personage [p. 89], chiefly extracted from Burn's and Nicholson's History of Cumberland and Westmoreland. It gives me pleasure to add these further particulars concerning him from Dr. Whitaker, who says, "he retired to the solitude of Barden, where he seems to have enlarged the tower out of a common keeper's lodge, and where he found a retreat equally favourable to taste, to instruction, and to devotion. The narrow limits of his residence shew that he had learned to despise the pomp of greatness, and that a small train of servants could suffice him, who had lived to the age of thirty a servant himself. I think this nobleman resided here almost entirely when in Yorkshire, for all his charters which I have seen are dated at Barden.

"His early habits, and the want of those artificial measures of time which even shepherds now possess, had given him a turn for observing the motions of the heavenly bodies, and, having purchased such an apparatus as could then be procured, he amused and informed himself by those pursuits, with the aid of the Canons of Bolton, some of whom are said to have been well versed in what was then known of the science.

"I suspect this nobleman to have been sometimes occupied in a more visionary pursuit, and probably in the same company.

"For, from the family evidences, I have met with two MSS. on the subject of Alchemy, which, from the character, spelling, etc., may almost certainly be referred to the reign of Henry the Seventh. If these were originally deposited with the MSS. of the Cliffords, it might have been for the use of this nobleman. If they were brought from Bolton at the Dissolution, they must have been the work of those Canons whom he almost exclusively conversed with.

"In these peaceful employments Lord Clifford spent the whole reign of Henry the Seventh, and the first years of his son. But in the year 1513, when almost sixty years old, he was appointed to a principal command over the army which fought at Flodden, and shewed that the military genius of the family had neither been chilled in him by age, nor extinguished by habits of peace.

"He survived the battle of Flodden ten years, and died April 23d, 1523, 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.