book I
. canto viii. stanza xliv. l. 9--
That blisse may not abide in state of mortall men. ED.
[E] The above extract, which, in 1837 and subsequent editions, follows the Dedication of the poem to Mrs. Wordsworth, is taken from the tragedy of _The Borderers_, act III. line 405 (vol. i. p. 187). In the prefatory note to _The Borderers_--published in 1842--Wordsworth says he would not have made use of these lines in _The White Doe of Rylstone_ if he could have foreseen the time when he would be induced to publish the tragedy. It is signed M. S. in the 1837-43 editions.
In a note to the edition of 1837, he says, "'Action is transitory,' etc. 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."
In the quarto edition of 1815 the following lines precede the extract from Lord Bacon; and in the edition of 1820 they follow it. In 1827 they were transferred to the "Miscellaneous Sonnets."
_"Weak is the will of Man, his judgement blind; Remembrance persecutes, and Hope betrays; Heavy is woe;--and joy, for human kind, A mournful thing, so transient is the blaze!"-- Thus might he paint our lot of mortal days Who wants the glorious faculty, assigned To elevate the more-than-reasoning Mind, And colour life's dark cloud with orient rays. Imagination is that sacred power, Imagination lofty and refined: 'Tis her's to pluck the amaranthine Flower Of Faith, and round the Sufferer's temples bind Wreaths that endure affliction's heaviest shower, And do not shrink from sorrow's keenest wind._ ED.
[F] See his _Essays_, XVI., "Of Atheism." Wordsworth's quotation is not quite accurate.--ED.
[G] 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."--W. W. 1815.
[H] See note I. at the end of the poem, p. 196.--ED.
[I] See note I. at the end of the poem, p. 196.--ED.
[J] 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.--W. W. 1815.
[K] "At a small distance from the great gateway stood the Prior's Oak, which was felled about the year 1720, and sold for 70_l._ According to the price of wood at that time, it could scarcely have contained less than 1400 feet of timber."--W. W. 1815.
This note is quoted from Whitaker.--ED.
The place where this Oak tree grew is uncertain. Whitaker says it stood "at a small distance from the great gateway." This old entrance or gateway to the Abbey was through a part of the modern and now inhabited structure of Bolton Hall, under the Tower; and the old sexton at the Abbey told me that the tree stood near that gateway, at some distance from the ruins of the Abbey.--ED.
[L] Of Wharfedale at Bolton, Henry Crabb Robinson says, in his _Diary_ (September 1818), "This valley has been very little adorned, and it needs no other accident to grace it than sunshine."--ED.
[M] Compare the lines in the sonnet _At Furness Abbey_ (composed in 1844)--
A soothing spirit follows in the way That Nature takes, her counter-work pursuing. ED.
[N] Roses still grow plentifully among the ruins, although they are not abundant in the district.--ED.
[O] This is not topographical. No "warrior carved in stone" is now to be seen among the ruins of Bolton Abbey, whatever may have been the case in 1807; nor can Francis Norton's grave be discovered in the Abbey grounds.--ED.
[P] The detail of this tradition may be found in Dr. Whitaker's book, and in the Poem, _The Force of Prayer_, etc. [p. 204].--W. W. 1815.
[Q] Compare _The Boy of Egremond_, by Samuel Rogers.--ED.
[R] "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 Mauliverers) "were interred upright." John de Clapham, of whom this ferocious act is recorded, was a name 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."--W. W. 1815.
This quotation is from Dr. Whitaker's _History of the Deanery of Craven_.--ED.
[S] In 1868, when this chapel was under restoration, a vault was discovered at the eastern end of the north aisle, with evident signs of several bodies having been buried upright. On the site of this vault the organ is now placed. The chapel was restored by the late Duke of Devonshire.--ED.
[T] In the second volume of Poems published by the author, will be found one, entitled, _Song at the Feast of Brougham Castle, upon the Restoration of Lord Clifford, the Shepherd, to the Estates and Honours of his Ancestors_. To that Poem is annexed an account of this personage [p. 89], chiefly extracted from Burn's and Nicholson's History of Cumberland and Westmoreland. It gives 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 shew 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.
"For, from the family evidences, I have met with two MSS. on the subject of Alchemy, which, from the character, spelling, etc., 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 sixty years old, he was appointed to a principal command over the army which fought at Flodden, and shewed that the military genius of the family had neither been chilled in him by age, nor extinguished by habits of peace.
"He survived the battle of Flodden ten years, and died April 23d, 1523, aged about 70. I shall 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 life-time 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 shews from MSS. that not only alchemy but astronomy was a favourite pursuit with them.--W. W. 1815.
[U] Barden Tower is on the western bank of the Wharfe, fully two miles north-west of Bolton Priory, above the Strid. At the time of the restoration of the Shepherd-lord, Barden Tower was only a keeper's forest lodge. It is so hidden in trees, and so retired, that the situation is most accurately described as
the shy recess Of Barden's lowly quietness. ED.
[V] The year 1569.--ED.
[W] Percy, Earl of Northumberland, and Neville, Earl of Westmoreland--the two peers who joined in support of the Duke of Norfolk's marriage with Queen Mary, with a view to the restoration of Catholicism in England. See note III. p. 198.--ED.
[X] Compare _Twelfth Night_, act I. scene i. l. 4--
That strain again! it had a dying fall. ED.
[Y] See the Old Ballad,--_The Rising of the North_.--W. W. 1827.
This Ballad is printed in Wordsworth's note, p. 186. The reference here is to the lines--
But, father, I will wend with you, Unarm'd and naked will I bee. ED.
[Z] The site of Rylstone Hall is still recognisable, but the building is gone. It was not at Rylstone, but at Ripon, that the Nortons raised their banner in November 1569; but their tenantry at Rylstone rose with them at the same time.--ED.
[AA] 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.--W. W. 1815.
[BB] The tower of the Cathedral of Durham, of which St. Cuthbert is the patron saint.--ED.
[CC] Now Raby Castle, a seat of the Duke of Cleveland in the county of Durham.--ED.
[DD] From the old Ballad.--W. W. 1820.
The lines are--
At Wetherbye they mustered their host, Thirteen thousand fair to see. ED.
[EE] The village of Clifford is three miles from Wetherby, where the host was mustered.--ED.
[FF] From the old Ballad.--W. W. 1820.
The line referred to is--
Against soe many could not stay. ED.
[GG] See note V. p. 200.--ED.
[HH] See the Historians for the account of this memorable battle, usually denominated the Battle of the Standard.--W. W. 1815.
It was fought at Northallerton in 1137, under Archbishop Thurston of York. See note VI. p. 200.--ED.
[II] "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-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 persons, 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 atchieved that day."
This battle was afterwards called the Battle of Neville's Cross from the following circumstance:--
"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 in the midst of the same banner-cloth was the said holy relique and corporax-cloth enclosed, etc. etc., and so sumptuously finished, and absolutely 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 shewed 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 WHITTINGHAM, whose wife was 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."--Extracted from a book entitled, _Durham 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.--W. W. 1815.
[JJ] Compare _An Evening Walk_, ll. 365, 366 (vol. i. p. 31)--
The song of mountain-streams, unheard by day, Now hardly heard, beguiles my homeward way.
Also _The Excursion_ (