106

TO THE LADY FLEMING.

Where shady hamlet, town that breathes
Its busy smoke in social wreaths,

No rampart's stern defence require,
Nought but the heaven-directed spire,
And steeple tower 1 (with pealing bells
Far-heard) our only citadels.

1 1827.

II.

O Lady! from a noble line

Of chieftains sprung,* who stoutly bore
The spear, yet gave to works divine
A bounteous help in days of yore,
(As records mouldering in the Dell
Of Nightshade † haply yet may tell ;)
Thee kindred aspirations moved
To build, within a vale beloved,
For Him upon whose high behests

All peace depends, all safety rests.

Or steeple tower

MS. Letter to Lady Beaumont.

The Fleming family is descended from Sir Michael le Fleming, a relative of Baldwin, Earl of Flanders, a brother-in-law of William the Conqueror. This Sir Michael le Fleming, who came over with the Conqueror, was sent into Cumberland against the Scots, and was rewarded for his services by the gift of several manors in Copeland, Cumberland.—ED. + Bekangs Ghyll-or the dell of Nightshade-in which stands St Mary's Abbey in Low Furness.-W. W., 1827.

In the edition of 1827, the stanzas III. and IV. are numbered Iv. and III. respectively.-ED.

TO THE LADY FLEMING.

Lifting her1 front with modest grace
To make a fair recess more fair;
And to exalt the passing hour;
Or soothe it with a healing power
Drawn from the Sacrifice fulfilled
Before this rugged soil was tilled,
Or human habitation rose

To interrupt the deep repose!*

IV.

Well may the villagers rejoice!
Nor heat, nor cold, nor weary ways,
Will be a hindrance to the voice

That would unite in prayer and praise;
More duly shall wild wandering Youth
Receive the curb of sacred truth,

Shall tottering Age, bent earthward, hear
The Promise, with uplifted ear;
And all shall welcome the new ray
Imparted to their sabbath-day.

107

1

1832.

V.

Nor deem the Poet's hope misplaced,

His fancy cheated-that can see

A shade upon the future cast,

Of time's pathetic sanctity;

Even strangers, slackening here their pace,
Shall hail this work of pious care,
Lifting its

Compare Glen-Almain

A convent, even a hermit's cell,
Would break the silence of this Dell.

1827.

---Vol. II., p. 342.—ED.

108

TO THE LADY FLEMING.

Can hear the monitory clock

Sound o'er the lake with gentle shock1
At evening,* when the ground beneath
Is ruffled o'er with cells of death;
Where happy generations lie,

Here tutored for eternity.

VI.

Lives there a man whose sole delights
Are trivial pomp and city noise,

Hardening a heart that loathes or slights
What every natural heart enjoys?
Who never caught a noon-tide dream
From murmur of a running stream;
Could strip, for aught the prospect yields
To him, their verdure from the fields;
And take the radiance from the clouds
In which the sun his setting shrouds.†

1 1832.

VII.

A soul so pitiably forlorn,

If such do on this earth abide,
May season apathy with scorn,
May turn indifference to pride;

Not yet the corner stone is laid
With solemn rite; but fancy sees

The tower time-stricken, and in shade
Embosomed of coeval trees;

Hears, o'er the lake, the warning clock

As it shall sound with gentle shock

* Compare the last stanza of The Wishing Gate.-ED.

+ Compare the Ode on Immortality, xi.-ED.

1827.

TO THE LADY FLEMING.

And still be not unblest-compared
With him who grovels, self-debarred 1
From all that lies within the scope
Of holy faith and christian hope;
Or, shipwrecked, kindles on the coast
False fires, that others may be lost.2

VIII.

Alas! that such perverted zeal

Should spread on Britain's favoured ground! 3

That public order, private weal,

Should e'er have felt or feared a wound

From champions of the desperate law

Which from their own blind hearts they draw;

Who tempt their reason to deny

God, whom their passions dare defy,5

And boast that they alone are free

Who reach this dire extremity!

IX.

But turn we from these 'bold bad' men;
The way, mild Lady! that hath led
Down to their 'dark opprobrious den,'

4

109

MS. Letter to Lady Beaumont.

1832.

1845 returns to text of 1827.

on Britain's happy ground.

$ 1827.

From Scoffers leagued in desperate plot

To make their own the general lot. MS. Letter to Lady Beaumont.

passions do deny.

MS. Letter to Lady Beaumont.

110

ON THE SAME OCCASION.

Is all too rough for Thee to tread.
Softly as morning vapours glide

Down Rydal-cove from Fairfield's side,1
Should move the tenor of his song

Who means to charity no wrong;

Whose offering gladly would accord

With this day's work, in thought and word

X.

Heaven prosper it! may peace, and love,
And hope, and consolation, fall,
Through its meek influence, from above,
And penetrate the hearts of all;
All who, around the hallowed Fane,
Shall sojourn in this fair domain;
Grateful to Thee, while service pure,
And ancient ordinance, shall endure,
For opportunity bestowed

To kneel together, and adore their God!

Oh! gather whencesoe'er ye safely may
The help which slackening Piety requires ;
Nor deem that he perforce must go astray

Who treads upon the footmarks of his sires.

Our churches, invariably perhaps, stand east and west, but why is by few persons exactly known; nor, that the degree of deviation from due east often noticeable in the ancient ones was determined, in each

1 1832.

Through Rydal Cove from Fairfield's side.

Through Mosedale-Cove from Carrock's side,

MS. Letter to Lady
Beaumont.

1827.