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In the grey sky hath left his lingering The wind with terror while they roar is

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Fair parks spread wide where Adam Bell might deign

XXIII.

FANCY AND TRADITION.

[Composed 1833.-Published 1835.]

THE Lovers took within this ancient grove

With Clym o' the Clough, were they alive Their last embrace; beside those crystal again,

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springs

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power that perishes, and rights that Were only History licensed to take note fade.

XXII.

HART'S-HORN TREE, NEAR PENRITH.

Of things gone by, her meagre monu

ΙΟ

ments
Would ill suffice for persons and events:
There is an ampler page for man to quote,
A readier book of manifold contents,

ERE stood an Oak, that long had borne Studied alike in palace and in cot.
affixed

his huge trunk, or, with more subtle

art,

mong its withering topmost branches mixed,

he palmy antlers of a hunted Hart,

XXIV.

COUNTESS' PILLAR.

On the roadside between Penrith and Appleby, there stands a pillar with the following inscription:

Thom the Dog Hercules pursued-his "This pillar was erected, in the year 1656, by

part

5

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Anne Countess Dowager of Pembroke, &c. for a memorial of her last parting with her pious mother, Margaret Countess Dowager of Cumberland, on the 2d of April, 1616; in memory whereof she hath left an annuity of £4 to be distributed to the poor of the parish of Brougham, every 24 day of April for ever, upon the stone table placed hard by. Laus Deo!"

WHILE the Poor gather round, till the
end of time

May this bright flower of Charity display
Its bloom, unfolding at the appointed day;
Flower than the loveliest of the vernal
prime

Lovelier-transplanted from heaven's
purest clime!

5 "Charity never faileth:" on that creed, More than on written testament or deed, The pious Lady built with hope sublime.

Alms on this stone to be dealt out, for ever!

That yet survive ensculptured on the walls

"LAUS DEO." Many a Stranger passing Of palaces, or temples, 'mid the wreck by

ΙΟ

Has with that Parting mixed a filial sigh, Blest its humane Memorial's fond endeavour;

Of famed Persepolis; each following each
As might beseem a stately embassy,
In set array; these bearing in their hands
Ensign of civil power, weapon of war,

And, fastening on those lines an eye tear- Or gift to be presented at the throne

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Unless they chasten fancies that presume Its impulse took-that sorrow-stricker Too high, or idle agitations lull!

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door,

Whence, as a current from its fountain head,

Our thoughts have issued, and our feeling flowed,

Receiving, willingly or not, fresh strengt From kindred sources; while around sighed

(Life's three first seasons having passe away)

Leaf-scattering winds; and hoar-fro sprinklings fell

(Foretaste of winter) on the moorlan heights;

And every day brought with it tiding

new

Of rash change, ominous for the pab
weal.

Hence, if dejection has too oft encroache
Upon that sweet and tender melancholy
Which may itself be cherished and d

ressed

More than enough; a fault so natural (Even with the young, the hopeful, or

gay)

For prompt forgiveness will not sue vain.

The White Doe of Rylstone;

OR,

The Fate of the Nortons.

[Composed 1807-1808.-Published 1815 (4to); collective ed. 1820.]

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 conBected with that place, was composed at the close of the same year.

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50

This tragic Story cheered us; for it speaks
Of female patience winning firm repose;
And, of the recompense that conscience seeks,
A bright, encouraging, example shows;
Needful when o'er wide realms the tempest breaks,
Needful amid life's ordinary woes;-

Hence not for them unfitted who would bless 55
A happy hour with holier happiness.

He serves the Muses erringly and ill,
Whose aim is pleasure light and fugitive:
O, that my mind were equal to fulfil

The comprehensive mandate which they give-60
Vain aspiration of an earnest will!
Yet in this moral Strain a power may live,
Beloved Wife? such solace to impart
As it hath yielded to thy tender heart.
RYDAL MOUNT, WESTMORELAND,
April 20, 1815.

"Action is transitory-a step, a blow,
The motion of a muscle-this way or that-
"Tis done; and in the after-vacancy
We wonder at ourselves like men betrayed:
Suffering is permanent, obscure and dark,
And has the nature of infinity 1.

Yet through that darkness (infinite though it seem
And irremoveable) gracious openings lie,
By which the soul-with patient steps of thought
Now toiling, wafted now on wings of prayer-
May pass in hope, and, though from mortal bonds
Yet undelivered, rise with sure ascent
Even to the fountain-head of peace divine."

"They that deny a God destroy Man's nobility: for certainly Man is of kin to the Beast by his Body, and if he be not of kin to God by his Spirit, he is a base ignoble Creature. It destroys likewise Magnanimity, and the raising of humane Nature: for take an example of a Dog, and mark what a generosity and courage he will put on, when he finds himself maintained by a Man, who to him is instead of a God, or Melior Natura. Which courage is manifestly such as that Creature without that confidence of a better Nature

than his own could never attain. So Man, when he resteth and assureth himself upon Divine protection and favour, gathereth a force and faith

which human Nature in itself could not obtain." LORD BACON.

Canto First.

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A moment ends the fervent din, And all is hushed, without and within; For though the priest, more tranquilly, 5 Recites the holy liturgy,

FROM Bolton's old monastic tower
The bells ring loud with gladsome power;
The sun shines bright; the fields are gay
With people in their best array
Of stole and doublet, hood and scarf,
Along the banks of crystal Wharf,
Through the Vale retired and lowly,
Trooping to that summons holy.
And, up among the moorlands, see
What sprinklings of blithe company!
Of lasses and of shepherd grooms,
That down the steep hills force their way,
Like cattle through the budded brooms;
Path, or no path, what care they?
And thus in joyous mood they hie
To Bolton's mouldering Priory.

10

The only voice which you can hear
Is the river murmuring near.
-When soft!--the dusky trees between
And down the path through the ope

green,

Where is no living thing to be seen: And through yon gateway, where

found,

Beneath the arch with ivy bound, 15 Free entrance to the churchyard groundComes gliding in with lovely gleam, Comes gliding in serene and slow, Soft and silent as a dream, A solitary Doe!

1 These six lines ("Action is transitory. infinity") are quoted from the Tragedy of The Borderers, Act III., Scene v. (ll. 1539-1544). The entire passage ("Action ... divine") was added in 1837.- ED.

White she is as lily of June,
And beauteous as the silver moon

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