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NOTES.

We have been dwelling upon images of peace in the moral world, that have brought us again to the quiet enclosure of consecrated ground, in which this venerable pair lie interred. sounding brook, that rolls close by the churchThe yard, without disturbing feeling or meditation, is now unfortunately laid bare; but not long ago it participated, with the chapel, the shade of some stately ash-trees, which will not spring again. While the spectator from this spot is looking round upon the girdle of stony mountains that encompasses the vale,-masses of rock, out of which monuments for all men that ever existed might have been hewn-it would surprise him to be told, as with truth he might be, that the plain blue slab dedicated to the memory of this aged pair is a production of a quarry in North Wales. It was sent as a mark of respect by one of their descendants from the vale of Festiniog, a region almost as beautiful as that in which it now lies!

with ice, did he remain reading or writing till the day dawned. He taught the children in the chapel, for there was no schoolhouse. Yet in used to send the children in parties either to his that cold, damp place he never had a fire. He own fire at home, or make them run up the mountain side.

passionate admirer of Nature; she was his "It may be further mentioned, that he was a engaged on the mountains, it was his greatest mother, and he was a dutiful child. pleasure to view the rising sun; and in tranquil While evenings, as it slided behind the hills, he blessed its departure. He was skilled in fossils and plants; a constant observer of the stars and made many experiments on its nature and prowinds: the atmosphere was his delight. He perties. In summer he used to gather a multitude of flies and insects, and, by his entertaining They shared all his daily employments, and description, amuse and instruct his children. lence from his observations on the works and derived many sentiments of love and benevoproductions of nature. Whether they were following him in the field, or surrounding him in school, he took every opportunity of storing their minds with useful information. Nor was the circle of his influence confined to Seathwaite. Many a distant mother has told her child of Mr Walker, and begged him to be as good a man.

Upon the Seathwaite Brook, at a small distance from the parsonage, has been erected a mill for spinning yarn; it is a mean and disagrecable object, though not unimportant to the spectator, as calling to mind the momentous changes wrought by such inventions in the frame of society-changes which have proved especially unfavourable to these mountain solitudes. So much had been effected by those new powers, before the subject of the preceding biographical sketch closed his life, that their operation could not escape his notice, and doubtless excited touching reflections upon the comparatively insignificant results of his own pleasure of seeing and hearing that venerable "Once, when I was very young, I had the manual industry. But Robert Walker was not a man of times and circumstances: had he lived calmness, the force, the perspicuity of his serold man in his 90th year, and even then, the at a later period, the principle of duty would mon, sanctified and adorned by the wisdom of have produced application as unremitting the grey hairs, and the authority of virtue, had same energy of character would have been dis- such an effect upon my mind, that I never played, though in many instances with widely-see a hoary-headed clergyman, without thinkdifferent effects.

With pleasure I annex, as illustrative and confirmatory of the above account, extracts from a paper in the Christian Remembrancer, October, 1819: it bears an assumed signature, but is known to be the work of the Rev. Robert Bamford, vicar of Bishopton, in the county of Durham; a great-grandson of Mr Walker, whose worth it commemorates, by a record not the less valuable for being written in very early youth.

"His house was a nursery of virtue. All the inmates were industrious, and cleanly, and happy. Sobriety, neatness, quietness, characterised the whole family. No railings, no idleness, no indulgence of passion were permitted Every child, however young, had its appointed engagements; every hand was busy. Knitting, spinning, reading, writing, mending clothes, making shoes, were by the different children constantly performing. The father himself sitting amongst them, and guiding their thoughts, was engaged in the same occupations.

"He sate up late, and rose early; when the family were at rest, he retired to a little room which he had built on the roof of his house. He had slated it, and fitted it up with shelves for his books, his stock of cloth, wearing apparel, and his utensils. There many a cold winter's night, without fire, while the roof was glazed

no dissenter or methodist to interfere in the ing of Mr Walker. instruction of the souls committed to his cure: He allowed and so successful were his exertions, that he had not one dissenter of any denomination whatever in the whole parish. Though he avoided all religious controversies, yet when age had silvered his head, and virtuous piety had secured to his appearance reverence and silent honour, no one, however determined listened to his discourse on ecclesiastical history in his hatred of apostolic descent, could have and ancient times, without thinking, that one of the beloved apostles had returned to mortality, and in that vale of peace had come to exemplify the beauty of holiness in the life and character of Mr Walker.

He

previous to her death, his health and spirits "Until the sickness of his wife, a few months and faculties were unimpared. But this misfortune gave him such a shock, that his concept sight, still preserved their powers. stitution gradually decayed. His senses, exdeath. His voice faltered: he always looked never preached with steadiness after his wife's at the seat she had used. He could not pass her tomb without tears. alone, sad and melancholy, though still among his friends kind and good-humoured. He went He became, when

to bed about 12 o'clock the night before his death. As his custom was, he went, tottering and leaning upon his daughter's arm, to examine the heavens, and meditate a few moments in the open air. How clear the moon shines to-night' He said these words, sighed, and laid down. At six next morning he was found a corpse. Many a tear, and many a heavy heart, and many a grateful blessing followed him to the grave."

Having mentioned in this narrative the vale of Loweswater as a place where Mr Walker taught school, I will add a few memoranda from its parish register, respecting a person apparently of desires as moderate, with whom he must have been intimate during his resi

dence there.

"Let him that would, ascend the tottering seat
Of courtly grandeur, and become as great
As are his mounting wishes; but for me,
Let sweet repose and rest my portion be.
HENRY FOREST, Curate."

"Honour, the idol which the most adore,
Receives no homage from my knee;
Content in privacy I value more
Than all uneasy dignity."

"Henry Forest came to Loweswater, 1708, being 25 years of age."

"This curacy was twice augmented by Queen Anne's Bounty. The first payment, with great difficulty, was paid to Mr John Curwen of London, on the 9th of May, 1724, deposited by me, Henry Forest, Curate of Loweswater. Ye said 9th of May, ye said Mr Curwen went to the office, and saw my name registered there, &c. This, by the Providence of God, came by lot to this poor place.

Abbey Church-yard during divine service; after the close of which she returned home as regularly as the rest of the congregation."DR WHITAKER'S History of the Deanery of Craven.-Rylstone was the property and residence of the Nortons, distinguished in that ill-advised and unfortunate Insurrection; which led me to connect with this tradition the principal circumstances of their fate, as recorded in the Ballad.

"Bolton Priory?" says Dr Whitaker in his excellent book, The History and Antiquities of the Deanery of Craven, "stands upon a beautiful curvature of the Wharf, on a level sufficiently elevated to protect it from inundations, and low enough for every purpose of picturesque effect.

Church the river washes the foot of a rock Opposite,to the East window of the Priory nearly perpendicular, and of the richest purple, where several of the mineral beds, which break out, instead of maintaining their usual inclination to the horizon, are twisted by some inconceivable process into undulating and spiral lines. To the South all is soft and delicious; the eye reposes upon a few rich pastures, a moderate reach of the river, sufficiently tranquil to form a mirror to the sun, and the bounding hills beyond, neither too near nor too lofty to exclude, even in winter, any portion of his rays.

"But, after all, the glories of Bolton are on the North. Whatever the most fastidious taste could require to constitute a perfect landscape, is not only found here, but in its proper place. In front, and immediately under the eye, is a smooth expanse of park-like enclosure, spotted with native elm, ash, &c. of the finest growth: on the right a skirting oak wood, with jutting points of grey rock; on the left a rising copse. Still forward, are seen the aged groves of Bolton Park, the growth of centuries; and farther yet, the barren and rocky distances of SimonHe died in 1741, having been curate thirty-seat and Barden Fell contrasted with the four years. It is not improbable that H. Forest warmth, fertility, and luxuriant foliage of the was the gentleman who assisted Robert Walker valley below. in his classical studies at Loweswater.

Hæc testor H. Forest."

In another place he records, that the sycamore trees were planted in the church-yard in

1710.

To this parish register is prefixed a motto, of which the following verses are a part: "Invigilate viri, tacito nam tempora gressu Diffugiunt, nulloque sono convertitur annus; Utendum est ætate, cito pede præterit ætas."

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"Ábout half a mile above Bolton the valley closes, and either side of the Wharf is overhung by solemn woods, from which huge perpendícular masses of grey rock jut out at intervals.

"This sequestered scene was almost inaccessible till of late, that ridings have been cut on both sides of the river, and the most interesting points laid open by judicious thinnings in the woods. Here a tributary stream rushes from a waterfall, and bursts through a woody glen to mingle its waters with the Wharf: there the Wharf itself is nearly lost in a deep cleft in the rock, and next becomes a horned flood enclosing a woody island-sometimes it reposes for a moment, and then resumes its native character, lively, irregular, and impetuous.

"The cleft mentioned above is the tremendous STRID. This chasm, being incapable of receiving the winter floods, has formed on either side a broad strand of naked gritstone full of rock-basins, or 'pots of the Linn,' which bear witness to the restless impetuosity of so many Northern torrents. But, if here Wharf is lost to the eye, it amply repays another sense by its deep and solemn roar, like the Voice of the angry Spirit of the Waters,' heard far above

and beneath, amidst the silence of the surrounding woods.

"The terminating object of the landscape is the remains of Barden Tower, interesting from their form and situation, and still more so from the recollections which they excite."

Page 235.

"Action is transitory-"

This and the five lines that follow were either read or recited by me, more than thirty years since, to the late Mr Hazlitt, who quoted some expressions in them (imperfectly remembered) in a work of his published several years ago.

Page 235.

"From Bolton's old monastic Tower"

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."

Page 235.

"A Chapel, like a wild bird's nest," "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."

Page 235.

"Who sate in the shade of the Prior's Oak!" "At a small distance from the great gateway stood the Prior's Oak, which was felled about the year 1720 and sold for £70. According to the price of wood at that time, it could scarcely have contained less than 1400 feet of timber."

Pago 236.

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the Shepherd, to the Estates and Honours of his Ancestors. To that Poem is annexed an account of this personage, chiefly extracted from Burns and Nicholson's History of Cumberland and Westmoreland. It give 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 show 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.

with two MSS. on the subject of Alchemy, "For, from the family evidences, I have met which, from the character, spelling, &c., 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 60 years old, he was apwhich fought at Flodden, and showed that the pointed to a principal command over the army Col-military genius of the family had neither been chilled in him by age, nor extinguished by habits of peace.

"When Lady Aäliza mourned" The detail of this tradition may be found in Dr Whitaker's book, and in a Poem of this lection, "The Force of Prayer."

Page 237. "Pass, pass who will, yon chantry door;" "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 Mauleverers) were interred upright." John de Clapham, of whom this ferocious act is recorded, was a man 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."

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"He survived the battle of Flodden ten years, and died April 23d, 1523, aged about I shall 70. 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 lifetime 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 shows from MSS. that not only alchemy but astronomy was a favourite pursuit with them.

Page 239.

"Now joy for you who from the towers
Of Brancepeth look in doubt and fear,"
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.

Page 241.

"Of mitred Thurston-what a Host He conquered!"

See the Historians for the account of this memorable battle, usually denominated the Battle of the Standard.

Page 241.

in the midst of the same banner-cloth was the
said holy relique and corporax-cloth enclosed,
&c. &c., and so sumptuously finished, and ab-
solutely 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 showed 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 WHIT-
TINGHAM, whose wife, 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.'
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.
Page 243.

"An edifice of warlike frame

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"In that other day of Neville's Cross?" "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-Extracted from a book entitled, "Durham 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 per; sons, 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 achieved that day.'

This battle was afterwards called the Battle of Neville's Cross from the following circum

stance:

"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

Stands single-Norton Tower its name— scribed by Dr Whitaker:-"Rylstone Fell yet It is so called to this day, and is thus deexhibits 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 about four feet thick. It seems to have been Norton. The walls are of strong grout-work, three stories high. Breaches have been industriously made in all the sides, almost to the ground, to render it untenable.

pleasure-house in summer, as there are, adjoin"But Norton Tower was probably a sort of ing 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."

Page 246.

-"despoil and desolation

O'er Rylstone's fair domain have blown;" "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 Vivarium; for there are near the house large remains of a pleasure-ground, such as were introduced in the carlier part of Elizabeth's time, with topiary works, fish-ponds, an island, &c. 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,

NOTES.

it seems, had been abandoned to depredations,
before which time it appears that the neigh-
bourhood 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."
Page 247.

"In the deep fork of Amerdale;"
"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. Dernbrook, which
runs along an obscure valley from the N.W., is
derived from a Teutonic word, signifying con-
cealment."-Dr WHITAKER.

Page 248.

"When the Bells of Rylstone played

Their Sabbath music-"God us apde!'" On one of the bells of Rylstone church, which seems coeval with the building of the tower is this cypher, ".." for John Norton, and the motto, "God us apde."

Page 248.

"The rock-encircled Pound" grassy 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 could stand on such ground.

From the Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border, it appears that such pounds for deer, sheep, &c. 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, a 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 superintendence 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.

Page 250.
"Ecclesiastical Sonnets."

It

accompanied a much-beloved and honoured Friend in a walk through different parts of his estate, with a view to fix upon the site of a new Church which he intended to erect. was one of the most beautiful mornings of a mild season, our feelings were in harmony with the cherishing influences of the scene; and such being our purpose, we were naturally led to look back upon past events with wonder Not long afterwards, some of the Sonnets and gratitude, and on the future with hope. which will be found towards the close of this series were produced as a private memorial of that morning's occupation.

in Parliament about that time, kept my thoughts The Catholic Question, which was agitated in the same course; and it struck me that certain points in the Ecclesiastical History of our Country might advantageously be presented to view in verse. Accordingly, I took up the subject, and what I now offer to the reader was the result.

agreeably surprised to find that my friend, Mr When this work was far advanced, I was Southey, had been engaged with similar views in writing a concise History of the Church in England. If our Productions, thus unintentionally coinciding, shall be found to illustrate each other, it will prove a high gratification to me, which I am sure my friend will participate. W. WORDSWORTH. RYDAL MOUNT, January 24, 1822.

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point of the subject to another without shocks
For the convenience of passing from one
of a series of Sonnets: but the Reader, it is to
of abruptness, this work has taken the shape
be hoped, will find that the pictures are often
so closely connected as to have jointly the
bears upon the Poet only-its difficulty.
effect of passages of a poem in a form of stanza
to which there is no objection but one that

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port of this opinion, but they are unconvincing. Stillingfleet adduces many arguments in supThe latter part of this Sonnet refers to a favourite notion of Roman Catholic writers, that Joseph of Arimathea and his companions brought Christianity into Britain, and built a after, in a passage upon the dissolution of monrude church at Glastonbury; alluded to here

asteries.

Page 251.

"That Hill, whose flowery platform," &c. This hill at St Alban's must have been an

object of great interest to the imagination of the venerable Bede, who thus describes it, with a delicate feeling, delightful to meet with in his works: "Variis herbarum floribus in that rude age, traces of which are frequent depictus imò usquequaque vestitus, in quo abruptum, quem lateribus longè latèque denihil repentè arduum, nihil præceps, nihil ductum in modum æquoris natura complanat, dignum videlicet eum pro insitâ sibi specie venustatis jam olim reddens, qui beati martyris

During the month of December, 1820, I cruore dicaretur.'

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