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XXXVIII.

THE RIVER EDEN, CUMBERLAND.

EDEN! till now thy beauty had I viewed
By glimpses only, and confess with shame
That verse of mine, whate'er its varying mood,
Repeats but once the sound of thy sweet name:
Yet fetched from Paradise that honour came, 5
Rightfully borne; for Nature gives thee flowers
That have no rivals among British bowers;
And thy bold rocks are worthy of their fame.
Measuring thy course, fair Stream! at length I

pay

To my life's neighbour dues of neighbourhood; But I have traced thee on thy winding way 11 With pleasure sometimes by this thought restrained

For things far off we toil, while many a good Not sought, because too near, is never gained.

XXXIX.

MONUMENT OF MRS. HOWARD,
(by Nollekens,)

In Wetheral Church, near Corby, on the banks of the Eden.

STRETCHED on the dying Mother's lap, lies dead Her new-born Babe; dire ending of bright hope!

But Sculpture here, with the divinest scope
Of luminous faith, heavenward hath raised that

head

So patiently; and through one hand has spread A touch so tender for the insensate Child- 6 (Earth's lingering love to parting reconciled, Brief parting, for the spirit is all but fled)—

That we, who contemplate the turns of life
Through this still medium, are consoled and
cheered;

Feel with the Mother, think the severed Wife
Is less to be lamented than revered;

And own that Art, triumphant over strife
And pain, hath powers to Eternity endeared.

XL.

SUGGESTED BY THE FOREGOING.

TRANQUILLITY! the sovereign aim wert thou
In heathen schools of philosophic lore;
Heart-stricken by stern destiny of yore

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The Tragic Muse thee served with thoughtful

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And what of hope Elysium could allow
Was fondly seized by Sculpture, to restore
Peace to the Mourner. But when He who wore
The crown of thorns around his bleeding brow
Warmed our sad being with celestial light,
Then Arts which still had drawn a softening

grace

From shadowy fountains of the Infinite
Communed with that Idea face to face :
And move around it now as planets run,
Each in its orbit round the central Sun.

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XLI.

NUNNERY.

THE floods are roused, and will not soon be

weary;

Down from the Pennine Alps' how fiercely

sweeps

1 The chain of Crossfell.

CROGLIN, the stately Eden's tributary!
He raves, or through some moody passage creeps
Plotting new mischief-out again he leaps
Into broad light, and sends, through regions

airy,

5

That voice which soothed the Nuns while on the steeps

They knelt in prayer, or sang to blissful Mary. That union ceased: then, cleaving easy walks Through crags, and smoothing paths beset with

danger,

Came studious Taste; and many a pensive

stranger

ΙΟ

Dreams on the banks, and to the river talks. What change shall happen next to Nunnery Dell?

Canal, and Viaduct, and Railway, tell!

XLII.

5

STEAMBOATS, VIADUCTS, AND RAILWAYS. MOTIONS and Means, on land and sea at war With old poetic feeling, not for this, Shall ye, by Poets even, be judged amiss! Nor shall your presence, howsoe'er it mar The loveliness of Nature, prove a bar To the Mind's gaining that prophetic sense Of future change, that point of vision, whence May be discovered what in soul ye are. In spite of all that beauty may disown In your harsh features, Nature doth embrace 10 Her lawful offspring in Man's art; and Time, Pleased with your triumphs o'er his brother Space,

Accepts from your bold hands the proffered

crown

Of hope, and smiles on you with cheer sublime.

XLIII.

THE MONUMENT COMMONLY CALLED LONG MEG
AND HER DAUGHTERS, NEAR THE RIVER EDEN.

A WEIGHT of awe, not easy to be borne,
Fell suddenly upon my Spirit—cast
From the dread bosom of the unknown past,
When first I saw that family forlorn.

Speak Thou, whose massy strength and stature

scorn

The power of years-pre-eminent, and placed Apart, to overlook the circle vast

5

Speak, Giant-mother! tell it to the Morn
While she dispels the cumbrous shades of
Night;

Let the Moon hear, emerging from a cloud; 10
At whose behest uprose on British ground
That Sisterhood, in hieroglyphic round
Forth-shadowing, some have deemed, the infinite
The inviolable God, that tames the proud!1
1821. (?)

XLIV.

LOWTHER.

LOWTHER! in thy majestic Pile are seen
Cathedral pomp and grace, in apt accord
With the baronial castle's sterner mien;
Union significant of God adored,

And charters won and guarded by the sword 5
Of ancient honour; whence that goodly state
Of polity which wise men venerate,

And will maintain, if God his help afford.
Hourly the democratic torrent swells;
For airy promises and hopes suborned

1 See Note.

ΙΟ

The strength of backward-looking thoughts is scorned.

Fall if ye must, ye Towers and Pinnacles,
With what ye symbolise; authentic Story
Will say, Ye disappeared with England's Glory!

XLV.

TO THE EARL OF LONSDALE.

"Magistratus indicat virum."

5

LONSDALE! it were unworthy of a Guest,
Whose heart with gratitude to thee inclines,
If he should speak, by fancy touched, of signs
On thy Abode harmoniously imprest,
Yet be unmoved with wishes to attest
How in thy mind and moral frame agree
Fortitude, and that Christian Charity
Which, filling, consecrates the human breast.
And if the Motto on thy 'scutcheon teach
With truth, "THE MAGISTRACY SHOWS THE
MAN;"

ΙΟ

That searching test thy public course has stood;
As will be owned alike by bad and good,
Soon as the measuring of life's little span
Shall place thy virtues out of Envy's reach.'

XLVI.

THE SOMNAMBULIST.

LIST, ye who pass by Lyulph's Tower1
At eve; how softly then

Doth Aira-force, that torrent hoarse,

1 See Note.

2 A pleasure-house built by the late Duke of Norfolk upon the banks of Ullswater. FORCE is the word used in the Lake District for Water-fall.

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