But hearken! fancy's dinner-bell Thy wave-o'er baffled efforts try; On Hartland soon the setting sun And clouds like distant mountains bound XVIII. Suppose our palfreys in their stall, The tyrant care, in wine is drowned, Betake us to the lyre's: While in his folio our RECLUSE, NOTES TO THE POETICAL INDUCTION. NOTE I. And palfrey of the Burrows breed. BRAUNTON BURROWS, once celebrated for a peculiarly hardy breed of horses, of small stature, but great utility. NOTE II. The Muse's gallant grey. Ante citos quantum Pegasus ibat equos. OVIDII. EPIST. EX PONTO LIB. IV. 7, NOTE III. Fitz-James's feat. No foot Fitz-James in stirrup staid, But wreathed his left hand in the mane, And lightly bounded from the plain. LADY OF THE LAKE, CANTO V. NOTE IV. The Lamps of Braunton shore. It is a little below the light-houses, lately erected upon the sea-border of Braunton Burrows, that the rivers Taw and Torridge, pour their united waters into Bideford Bay. A fact quaintly noticed by Risdon, in his Chorographical Survey of Devon; but it would appear that these rivers had a genteeler, or more aimiable way of going to sea in those days, for his notice of them runs thus:" Hereby is the union of the two notable rivers, Taw and Torridge, that, hand in hand, with mutual affection, slip into the sea. NOTE V. Appledore's dark point, I ween, So proud of old record. This event is thus briefly related in the Saxon Chronicle. "And in this same winter was the brother of Ingwere, and Healfdene, (i. e. Ubba) on the West Seaxes, in Defena shire, with XXIII ships, and they slew him there, and DCCC men with him, and XL, (one MSS says LX) men of his army and there was the war fan taken that they call Reafen." Asser, Alfred's favorite bishop, and also his biographer, is more minute. The Castle of Odun, earl of Devon, was a poor place it seems, though walled sufficiently to keep out the Danes; but it was not supplied with water, which led Ubba to expect that Odun must surrender, if blockaded. Odun, however, made a gallant sally before day break, defeated the Danes, slew Ubba, and took the Raven, a banner worked in one noontide by Ubba's three sisters. This Raven was reported to possess the magical power of clapping or drooping its wing, according to the success, or ill fortune about to attend those who fought under its auspices. In a MSS note to an old History of England, lately shewn me by a friend, I find the following particulars of this event:- "This Castle (Kenwith) stood on a hill to the N.W. of Northam, overlooking the entrance of Burnstaple Bar, and still retains its ancient name, though none of the walls remain, being now called Kenny Castle. The spot where the battle was fought, was at the turning of the lane that leads to Northam, as you enter from the S.E., and is remembered by a large stone, still called bloody stone. The Danes were pursued by the garrison down to the waterside, where Hubba, their captain, was slain. The place is still remembered by the name of Hubba's stone," a rock on the river-beach of Appledore. It is well ascertained, that this victory over the Danes, enabled the followers of king Alfred (then a fugitive in the recesses of Atheleingly Island) to assemble the royal forces, and take the field with such success as eventually restored him to his throne. NOTE VI. A very Dune in death. The Danes, about the period alluded to in the poem, seem to have led a very amphibious kind of life, "One foot at sea, and one on shore, To one thing constant never;" Save and except plunder. "Stern Lochlin's sons of roving war, LAY OF THE LAST MINSTREL. NOTE VII. Promontorium Herculis. Hartland Point is thus denominated in the earlier maps of this Island. NOTE VIII. Some Arabian-desert-dream. The preceding lines in the stanza which concludes with the above, embody the observation made by a visitor at the author's, on his return from a stroll over Braunton Burrows; and such an impression is, I believe, pretty general on a first gaze at the sandhills, as seen from the interior of the Burrows; but this desolate effect is, of course, lost upon the natives, and on those who are initiated into the mysteries of Braunton Topography. Upon the border of the Burrows, near the marsh, there are the remains, (now but one small corner of a building, and barely sufficient to mark the spot) of a chapel dedicated to St. Ann. It is rather a singular coincidence, with reference to this stanza altogether, that since it was written, THE AUTHOR OF WAVERLY, has dedicated the 12th chap. of his 2d vol. of The Pirate, to the description of a spot, in its material points, bearing a close resemblance to Braunton Burrows, could we recover a little more form and feature from the ravages of time, for the Chapel of St. Ann. NOTE IX. Dark de Stael. The author once possessed a black mare, which was named by a facetious friend after the celebrated authoress, who, independent of her literary celebrity, had the honor of being persecuted by Napoleon, and coaxed by Alexander.See Ten Years' Exile, by Madame De Stael. NOTE X. The wild waves whist. SHAKESPEARE'S TEMPEST, ACT I. NOTE XI. Folio art hath deckt. The earliest editions of The Cave were illustrated by various drawings, or rather sketches of the local scenery, antiquities of Braunton, &c. &c., which the Editor regrets not being able, at the present moment, to get multiplied for the press, to accompany this number. NOTE XII. A landlord's tale. Legend of Montrose, 3d series, Tales of my Landlord, then under perusal at the author's, wherein (to epitomize) are so finely recorded :— The soft sounding clarshech of fair Annot Lyle. The sword of Montrose, and the state of Argyle; Sir Dugald Dalgetty, and noble Gustavus, . And Ronald the child of the mist'-heaven save us! |