Part 8

Compare the reference to the "Shepherd-lord" in the first canto of _The White Doe of Rylstone_, p. 116, and the topographical allusions there, with this _Song_. Compare also the life of Anne Clifford, in Hartley Coleridge's _Lives of Distinguished Northerners_.

_High in the breathless Hall the Minstrel sate, And Emont's murmur mingled with the Song._

Brougham Castle, past which the river Emont flows, is about two miles out of Penrith, on the Appleby Road. It is now a ruin, but was once a place of importance. The larger part of it was built by Roger, Lord Clifford, son of Isabella de Veteripont, who placed over the inner door the inscription, "This made Roger." His grandson added the eastern part. The castle was frequently laid waste by the Scottish Bands, and during the Wars of the Roses. The Earl of Cumberland entertained James I. within it, in 1617, on the occasion of the king's last return from Scotland; but it seems to have "layen ruinous" from that date, and to have suffered much during the civil wars in the reign of Charles I. In 1651-52 it was repaired by Lady Anne Clifford, Countess Dowager of Pembroke, who wrote thus--"After I had been there myself to direct the building of it, did I cause my old decayed castle of Brougham to be repaired, and also the tower called the "Roman Tower," in the same old castle, and the court-house, for keeping my courts in, with some dozen or fourteen rooms to be built in it upon the old foundation." (_Pembroke Memoirs_, i. p. 216.) After the time of the Countess Anne, the castle was neglected, and much of the stone, timber, and lead disposed of at public sales: the wainscotting being purchased by the neighbouring villagers.

_Her thirty years of winter past, The red rose is revived at last._

This refers to the thirty years interval between 1455 (the first battle of St. Albans in the wars of the Roses) and 1485 (the battle of Bosworth and the accession of Henry VII.)

_Both roses flourish, red and white_,

Alluding to the marriage of Henry VII. with Elizabeth, which united the two warring lines of York and Lancaster.

_And it was proved in Bosworth-field._

The battle of Bosworth Field, in Leicestershire, was fought in 1485.

_Not long the Avenger was withstood-- Earth helped him with the cry of blood._

Henry VII.--who, as Henry, Earl of Richmond, last scion of the line of Lancaster, had fled to Brittany--returned with Morton, the exiled Bishop of Ely, landed at Milford, advanced through Wales, and met the royal army at Bosworth, where Richard was slain, and Henry crowned king on the battlefield. The "cry of blood" refers, doubtless, to the murder of the young princes in the Tower.

_How glad is Skipton at this hour-- Though lonely, a deserted Tower._

Skipton is the "capital" of the Craven district of Yorkshire, as Barrow is the capital of the Furness district of Lancashire and Westmoreland. The castle of Skipton was the chief residence of the Cliffords. Architecturally it is of two periods: the round tower dating from the reign of Edward II., and the rest from that of Henry VIII. From the time of Robert de Clifford, who fell at Bannockburn (1314), until the seventeenth century, the estates of the Cliffords extended from Skipton to Brougham Castle--seventy miles--with only a short interruption of ten miles. The "Shepherd-lord" Clifford of this poem was attainted--as explained in Wordsworth's note--by the triumphant House of York. He was "committed by his mother to the care of certain shepherds, whose wives had served her," and who kept him concealed both in Cumberland, and at Londesborough, in Yorkshire, where his mother's (Lady Margaret Vesci) own estates lay. The old "Tower" of Skipton Castle was "deserted" during these years when the "Shepherd-lord" was concealed in Cumberland.

_How glad Pendragon--though the sleep Of years be on her!_

Pendragon Castle, in a narrow dell in the forest of Mallerstang, near the source of the Eden, south of Kirkby-Stephen, was another of the castles of the Cliffords. Its building was traditionally ascribed to Uter Pendragon, of Stonehenge celebrity, who was fabled to have tried to make the Eden flow round the castle of Pendragon: hence the distich--

Let Uter Pendragon do what he can, Eden will run where Eden ran.

In the Countess of Pembroke's _Memoirs_ (vol. i. pp. 22, 228), we are told that Idonea de Veteripont "made a great part of her residence in Westmoreland at Brough Castle, near Stanemore, and at Pendragon Castle, in Mallerstang." The castle was burned and destroyed by Scottish raiders in 1341, and for 140 years it was in a ruinous state. It is probably to this that reference is made in the phrase, "though the sleep of years be on her." During the attainder of Henry Lord Clifford, in the reign of Edward IV., part of this estate of Mallerstang was granted to Sir William Parr of Kendal Castle. It was again destroyed during the civil wars of the Stuarts, and was restored, along with Skipton and Brougham, by Lady Anne Clifford, in 1660, who put up an inscription "... Repaired in 1660, so as she came to lye in it herself for a little while in October 1661, after it had lain ruinous without timber or any other covering since 1541. Isaiah, chap. lviii. ver. 12." It was again demolished in 1685.

_Rejoiced is Brough, right glad I deem Beside her little humble stream._

Brough--the Verterae of the Romans--is called, for distinction's sake, "Brough-under-Stainmore" (or "Stanemore"). The "little humble stream" is Hillbeck, formerly Hellebeck--(it was said to derive its name from the waters rushing or "helleing" down the channel)--which descends from Warcop Fell, runs through Market Brough, and joins the Eden below it. The date of the building of the castle of Brough is uncertain, but it is probably older than the Conquest. It was sacked by the Scottish King William in 1174. It was "one of the chief residences" of Idonea de Veteripont (above referred to); for "then it was in its prime." (_Pemb. Mem._, vol. i. p. 22.) Probably she rebuilt it, and changed it from a tower--like Pendragon--into a castle. In the _Pembroke Memoirs_ (i. p. 108), we read of its subsequent destruction by fire. "A great misfortune befell Henry Lord Clifford, some two years before his death, which happened in 1521; his ancient and great castle of Brough-under-Stanemore was set on fire by a casual mischance, a little after he had kept a great Christmas there, so as all the timber and lead were utterly consumed, and nothing left but the bare walls, which since are more and more consumed, and quite ruinated." This same Countess Anne Pembroke began to repair it in April 1660, "at her exceeding great charge and cost." She put up an inscription over the gate similar to the one which she inscribed at Pendragon.

_And she that keepeth watch and ward Her statelier Eden's course to guard._

Doubtless Appleby Castle. Its origin is equally uncertain. Before 1422, John Lord Clifford, "builded that strong and fine artificial gate-house, all arched with stone, and decorated with the arms of the Veteriponts, Cliffords, and Percys, which with several parts of the castle walls was defaced and broken down in the civil war of 1648." His successor, Thomas, Lord Clifford, "built the chiefest part of the castle towards the east, as the hall, the chapel, and the great chamber." This was in 1454. The Countess Anne Pembroke wrote of Appleby Castle thus (_Pemb. Mem._, vol. i. p. 187): "In 1651 I continued to live in Appleby Castle a whole year, and spent much time in repairing it and Brougham Castle, to make them as habitable as I could, though Brougham was very ruinous, and much out of repair. And in this year, the 21st of April, I helped to lay the foundation stone of the middle wall of the great tower of Appleby Castle, called "Cæsar's Tower," to the end it might be repaired again, and made habitable, if it pleased God (Is. lviii. 12), after it had stood without a roof or covering, or one chamber habitable in it, since about 1567," etc. etc.

_One fair House by Emont's side._

Brougham Castle.

_Him, and his Lady-mother dear!_

Lady Margaret, daughter and heiress of Lord Vesci, who married John, Lord Clifford--the Clifford of Shakespeare's _Henry VI._ He was killed at Ferrybridge near Knottingley in 1461. Their son was Henry, "the Shepherd-lord." His mother is buried in Londesborough Church, near Market Weighton.

_Now Who is he that bounds with joy On Carrock's side, a Shepherd-boy?_

Carrock-fell is three miles south-west from Castle Sowerby, in Cumberland.

_The Boy must part from Mosedale's groves, And leave Blencathara's rugged coves._

There are many "Mosedales" in the English Lake District. The one referred to here is to the north of Blencathara or Saddleback.

_And quit the flowers that summer brings To Glenderamakin's lofty springs._

The river Glenderamakin rises in the lofty ground to the north of Blencathara.

_--Give Sir Lancelot Threlkeld praise!_ ... _Thou tree of covert and of rest For this young Bird that is distrest._

It was on Sir Lancelot Threlkeld's estates in Cumberland that the young Lord was concealed, disguised as a shepherd-boy. He was the "tree of covert" for the young "Bird" Henry Clifford. Compare _The Waggoner_, ll. 628-39 (vol. iii. p. 100)--

And see, beyond that hamlet small, The ruined towers of Threlkeld-hall, Lurking in a double shade, By trees and lingering twilight made! There, at Blencathara's rugged feet, Sir Lancelot gave a safe retreat To noble Clifford; from annoy Concealed the persecuted boy, Well pleased in rustic garb to feed His flock, and pipe on shepherd's reed Among this multitude of hills, Crags, woodlands, waterfalls, and rills.

The old hall of Threlkeld has long been a ruin. Its only habitable part has been a farmhouse for many years.

_And both the undying fish that swim Through Bowscale-tarn did wait on him._

Bowscale Tarn is to the north of Blencathara. Its stream joins the Caldew river.

_And into caves where Faeries sing He hath entered._

Compare the previous reference to Blencathara's "rugged coves." There are many such on this mountain.

_Alas! the impassioned minstrel did not know How, by Heaven's grace, this Clifford's heart was framed: How he, long forced in humble walks to go, Was softened into feeling, soothed, and tamed._

After restoration to his ancestral estates, the Shepherd-lord preferred to live in comparative retirement. He spent most of his time at Barden Tower (see notes to _The White Doe of Rylstone_), which he enlarged, and where he lived with a small retinue. He was much at Bolton (which was close at hand), and there he studied astronomy and alchemy, aided by the monks. It is to the time when he lived at Threlkeld, however--wandering as a shepherd-boy, over the ridges and around the coves of Blencathara, amongst the groves of Mosedale, and by the lofty springs of Glenderamakin--that Wordsworth refers in the lines,

_Love had he found in huts where poor men lie; His daily teachers had been woods and rills, The silence that is in the starry sky, The sleep that is among the lonely hills._

He was at Flodden in 1513, when nearly sixty years of age, leading there the "flower of Craven."

From Penigent to Pendle Hill, From Linton to long Addingham, And all that Craven's coasts did till, They with the lusty Clifford came.

Compare, in the first canto of _The White Doe of Rylstone_ (p. 117)--

when he, with spear and shield, Rode full of years to Flodden-field.

He died in 1523, and was buried in the choir of Bolton Priory.

The following is Sarah Coleridge's criticism of the _Song at the Feast of Brougham Castle_, in the editorial note to her father's _Biographia Literaria_ (vol. ii. ch. ix. p. 152, ed. 1847):--

"The transitions and vicissitudes in this noble lyric I have always thought rendered it one of the finest specimens of modern subjective poetry which our age has seen. The ode commences in a tone of high gratulation and festivity--a tone not only glad, but _comparatively_ even jocund and light-hearted. The Clifford is restored to the home, the honours and estates of his ancestors. Then it sinks and falls away to the remembrance of tribulation--times of war and bloodshed, flight and terror, and hiding away from the enemy--times of poverty and distress, when the Clifford was brought, a little child, to the shelter of a northern valley. After a while it emerges from those depths of sorrow--gradually rises into a strain of elevated tranquillity and contemplative rapture; through the power of imagination, the beautiful and impressive aspects of nature are brought into relationship with the spirit of him, whose fortunes and character form the subject of the piece, and are represented as gladdening and exalting it, whilst they keep it _pure and unspotted from the world_. Suddenly the Poet is carried on with greater animation and passion: he has returned to the point whence he started--flung himself back into the tide of stirring life and moving events. All is to come over again, struggle and conflict, chances and changes of war, victory and triumph, overthrow and desolation. I know nothing, in lyric poetry, more beautiful or affecting than the final transition from this part of the ode, with its rapid metre, to the slow elegiac stanzas at the end, when, from the warlike fervour and eagerness, the jubilant strain which has just been described, the Poet passes back into the sublime silence of Nature, gathering amid her deep and quiet bosom a more subdued and solemn tenderness than he had manifested before; it is as if from the heights of the imaginative intellect, his spirit had retreated into the recesses of a profoundly thoughtful Christian heart."

Professor Henry Reed said of this poem--"Had he never written another ode, this alone would set him at the head of the lyric poets of England."--ED.

VARIANTS:

[1] 1815.

... sorrows ... 1807.

[2] 1827.

... hath ... 1807.

[3] 1807.

... royalty. 1815.

The text of 1820 returns to that of 1807.

[4] 1845.

Though she is but a lonely Tower! Silent, deserted of her best, Without an Inmate or a Guest, 1807.

Deserted, emptied of her best. MS.

To vacancy and silence left; Of all her guardian sons bereft-- 1820.

[5] 1836.

Knight, Squire, or Yeoman, Page, or Groom; 1807.

[6] 1807.

... on vale and hill: MS.

[7] 1845.

... solemn ... 1807.

[8] 1845. This line was previously three lines--

And a chearful company, That learn'd of him submissive ways; And comforted his private days. 1807.

A spirit-soothing company, 1836.

[9] 1836.

They moved about in open sight, To and fro, for his delight. 1807.

[10] 1836.

On ... 1807.

[11] 1807.

... heard ... MS.

[12] 1836.

And the Caves ... 1807.

[13] 1836.

Face of thing ... 1807.

[14] C. and 1840.

And, if Men report him right, He can whisper words of might. 1807.

He could whisper ... 1827.

And, if that men report him right, He could whisper ... 1836.

[15] 1845.

Alas! the fervent Harper did not know That for a tranquil Soul the Lay was framed, Who, long compell'd in humble walks to go, 1807.

[16] 1807.

... of ... MS.

FOOTNOTES:

[A] Compare _Hudibras_, part II. canto i. ll. 567-8--

That shall infuse Eternal Spring And everlasting flourishing. ED.

[B] This line is from _The Battle of Bosworth Field_, by Sir John Beaumont (Brother to the Dramatist), whose poems are written with so much spirit, elegance, and harmony, that it is supposed, as the Book is very scarce, a new edition of it would be acceptable to Scholars and Men of taste, and, accordingly, it is in contemplation to give one.--W. W. 1807.

Beaumont's line in _The Battle of Bosworth Field_ is--

The earth assists thee with the cry of blood. ED.

[C] "No three words could better describe the gulfs on the side of Saddleback." (H. D. Rawnsley.)

[D] "Rugged patches of Hawkweed, golden rod, and white water ranunculus in the pools." (H. D. Rawnsley.)

[E] The eagle nested in Borrowdale as late as 1785.--ED.

[F] It is imagined by the people of the Country that there are two immortal Fish, Inhabitants of this Tarn, which lies in the mountains not far from Threlkeld. Blencathara, mentioned before, is the old and proper name of the mountain vulgarly called Saddle-back.--W. W. 1807.

[G] The martial character of the Cliffords is well known to the readers of English History; but it may not be improper here to say, by way of comment on these lines and what follows, that, besides several others who perished in the same manner, the four immediate Progenitors of the person in whose hearing this is supposed to be spoken, all died in the Field.--W. W. 1807.

Compare _The Borderers_, act III. l. 56 (vol. i. p. 173)--

They say, Lord Clifford is a savage man. ED.

[H] He was killed at Ferrybridge the day before the battle of Towton.--ED.

1808

The poems referring to Coleorton are all transferred to the year 1807, and _The Force of Prayer_ was written in that year. Those composed in 1808 were few in number. With the exception of _The White Doe of Rylstone_--to which additions were made in that year--they include only the two sonnets _Composed while the Author was engaged in writing a Tract, occasioned by the Convention of Cintra_, and the fragment on _George and Sarah Green_. The latter poem Wordsworth gave to De Quincey, who published it in his "Recollections of Grasmere," which appeared in _Tait's Edinburgh Magazine_ in September 1839; but it never found a place in any edition of Wordsworth's own poems. In this edition it is printed in the appendix to volume viii.

The reasons which have led me to assign _The White Doe of Rylstone_ to the year 1808, are stated in a note to the poem (see p. 191). I infer that it was practically finished in April 1808, because Dorothy Wordsworth, in a letter to Lady Beaumont, dated April 20, 1808, says, "The poem is to be published. Longman has consented--in spite of the odium under which my brother labours as a poet--to give him 100 guineas for 1000 copies, according to his demand." She gives no indication of the name of the poem referred to. As it must, however, have been one which was to be published separately, she can only refer to _The White Doe_ or to _The Excursion_; but the latter poem was not finished in 1808.

It is probable, from the remark made in a subsequent letter to Lady Beaumont, February 1810, that Wordsworth intended either to add to what he had written in 1808, or to alter some passages before publication; or by "completing" the poem, he may have meant simply adding the Dedication, which was not written till 1815.

All things considered, it seems the best arrangement that the poems of 1808 should begin with _The White Doe of Rylstone_. In the year 1891 I edited this poem for the Clarendon Press. A few additional details have come to light since then, and are introduced into the notes. S. T. Coleridge's criticism of the poem in _Biographia Literaria_, vol. ii. chap. xxii. p. 176 (edition 1817), should be consulted.--ED.

THE WHITE DOE OF RYLSTONE;

OR, THE FATE OF THE NORTONS

Composed 1807-10.--Published 1815

ADVERTISEMENT

During the Summer of 1807, I visited, for the first time, the beautiful country that surrounds Bolton Priory, in Yorkshire; and the Poem of the WHITE DOE, founded upon a Tradition connected with that place, was composed at the close of the same year.--W. W.[A]

[The earlier half of this poem was composed at Stockton-upon-Tees, when Mrs. Wordsworth and I were on a visit to her eldest brother, Mr. Hutchinson, at the close of the year 1807. The country is flat, and the weather was rough. I was accustomed every day to walk to and fro under the shelter of a row of stacks, in a field at a small distance from the town, and there poured forth my verses aloud as freely as they would come. Mrs. Wordsworth reminds me that her brother stood upon the punctilio of not sitting down to dinner till I joined the party; and it frequently happened that I did not make my appearance till too late, so that she was made uncomfortable. I here beg her pardon for this and similar transgressions during the whole course of our wedded life. To my beloved sister the same apology is due.

When, from the visit just mentioned, we returned to Town-end, Grasmere, I proceeded with the poem; and it may be worth while to note, as a caution to others who may cast their eye on these memoranda, that the skin having been rubbed off my heel by my wearing too tight a shoe, though I desisted from walking, I found that the irritation of the wounded part was kept up, by the act of composition, to a degree that made it necessary to give my constitution a holiday. A rapid cure was the consequence. Poetic excitement, when accompanied by protracted labour in composition, has throughout my life brought on more or less bodily derangement. Nevertheless, I am at the close of my seventy-third year, in what may be called excellent health; so that intellectual labour is not necessarily unfavourable to longevity. But perhaps I ought here to add that mine has been generally carried on out of doors.

Let me here say a few words of this poem in the way of criticism. The subject being taken from feudal times has led to its being compared to some of Walter Scott's poems that belong to the same age and state of society. The comparison is inconsiderate. Sir Walter pursued the customary and very natural course of conducting an action, presenting various turns of fortune, to some outstanding point on which the mind might rest as a termination or catastrophe. The course I have attempted to pursue is entirely different. Everything that is attempted by the principal personages in _The White Doe_ fails, so far as its object is external and substantial. So far as it is moral and spiritual it succeeds. The heroine of the poem knows that her duty is not to interfere with the current of events, either to forward or delay them, but

to abide The shock, and finally secure O'er pain and grief a triumph pure.