ELEGIAC MUSINGS

269

"IN THESE FAIR VALES HATH MANY
A TREE"

Composed 1830.-Published 1835

[Engraven, during my absence in Italy, upon a brass plate inserted in the Stone.-I. F.]

This poem was classed among the "Inscriptions." In 1835 its title was Inscription intended for a Stone in the grounds of Rydal Mount. In 1845, and afterwards, the first line of the poem was its only title.-ED.

IN these fair vales hath many a Tree
At Wordsworth's suit been spared;
And from the builder's hand this Stone,
For some rude beauty of its own,

Was rescued by the Bard:
So let it rest; and time will come
When here the tender-hearted

May heave a gentle sigh for him,

As one of the departed.

The inscription is still preserved on the "brass plate inserted in the stone," within the grounds at Rydal Mount.-ED.

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ELEGIAC MUSINGS

IN THE GROUNDS OF COLEORTON HALL, THE SEAT

*

OF THE LATE SIR G. H. BEAUMONT, BART.

Composed 1830.—Published 1835

In these grounds stands the Parish Church, wherein is a mural monument bearing an inscription which,1 in deference to

1

1837.

upon which,

*Sir George Beaumont died on 7th February 1827.-ED.

1835.

the earnest request of the deceased, is confined to name, dates, and these words :- Enter not into judgment with thy servant,

O Lord!"-W. W.

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[These verses were in part composed on horseback during a storm, while I was on my way from Coleorton to Cambridge : they are alluded to elsewhere. *—I. F.]

One of the "Epitaphs and Elegiac Pieces."-ED.

WITH copious eulogy in prose or rhyme 1
Graven on the tomb we struggle against Time,
Alas, how feebly! but our feelings rise

And still we struggle when a good man dies:
Such offering BEAUMONT dreaded and forbade,
A spirit meek in self-abasement clad.

Yet here at least, though few have numbered days
That shunned so modestly the light of praise,
His graceful manners, and the temperate ray
Of that arch fancy which would round him play,
Brightening a converse never known to swerve
From courtesy and delicate reserve;
That sense, the bland philosophy of life,

Which checked discussion ere it warmed to strife;
Those rare accomplishments,2 and varied powers,
Might have their record among sylvan bowers.
Oh, fled for ever! vanished like a blast

That shook the leaves in myriads as it passed ;-
Gone from this world of earth, air, sea, and sky,
From all its spirit-moving imagery,
Intensely studied with a painter's eye,
A poet's heart; and, for congenial view,
Portrayed with happiest pencil, not untrue

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ΙΟ

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20

* See the Fenwick note to the next poem.--ED.

ELEGIAC MUSINGS

271

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To common recognitions while the line
Flowed in a course of sympathy divine ;-
Oh! severed, too abruptly, from delights
That all the seasons shared with equal rights;-
Rapt in the grace of undismantled age,
From soul-felt music, and the treasured page
Lit by that evening lamp which loved to shed
Its mellow lustre round thy honoured head;
While Friends beheld thee give with eye, voice, mien,
More than theatric force to Shakspeare's scene ;-
If thou hast heard me-if thy Spirit know

*

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Aught of these powers and whence their pleasures flow;
If things in our remembrance held so dear,
And thoughts and projects fondly cherished here,
To thy exalted nature only seem

Time's vanities, light fragments of earth's dream—
Rebuke us not ! The mandate is obeyed

That said, "Let praise be mute where I am laid ;”
The holier deprecation, given in trust

To the cold marble, waits upon thy dust;

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Yet have we found how slowly genuine grief
From silent admiration wins relief.

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Too long abashed thy Name is like a rose

That doth "within itself its sweetness close;" †
A drooping daisy changed into a cup
In which her bright-eyed beauty is shut up.
Within these groves, where still are flitting by

1 1837.

Rebuke us not!

Shakespeare's scene

1835.

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* Sir George Beaumont used frequently to read Shakspeare aloud to his household and friends at Coleorton.-Ed.

+ See, in Constable's "England's Helicon," Dametus' song to his Diaphenia,

stanza 2

Diaphenia like the spreading roses
That in thy sweets all sweet encloses.

Also in Fairfax's translation of Tasso's Godfrey of Bullogne; or the
Recovery of Jerusalem, book ii. stanza 18—

A veil obscured the sunshine of her eyes,
The rose within herself her sweetness closed.

ED.

Shades of the Past, oft noticed with a sigh,
Shall stand a votive Tablet,* haply free,

When towers and temples fall, to speak of Thee!
If sculptured emblems of our mortal doom
Recal not there the wisdom of the Tomb,

Green ivy risen from out the cheerful earth,

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Will 1 fringe the lettered stone; and herbs spring forth,
Whose fragrance, by soft dews and rain unbound,
Shall penetrate the heart without a wound;
While truth and love their purposes fulfil,

Commemorating genius, talent, skill,

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That could not lie concealed where Thou wert known ;

Thy virtues He must judge, and He alone,

The God upon whose mercy they are thrown.

"CHATSWORTH! THY STATELY MANSION, AND THE PRIDE"

Composed 1830.—Published 1835.

[I have reason to remember the day that gave rise to this Sonnet, the 6th of November, 1830. Having undertaken, a great feat for me, to ride my daughter's pony from Westmoreland to Cambridge, that she might have the use of it while on a visit to her uncle at Trinity Lodge, on my way from Bakewell to Matlock I turned aside to Chatsworth, and had scarcely gratified my curiosity by the sight of that celebrated place before there came on a severe storm of wind and rain which continued till I reached Derby, both man and pony in a pitiable plight. For myself, I went to bed at noon-day. In the course of that journey I had to encounter a storm worse if possible, in which the pony could (or would) only make his way slant wise.

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1827.
Shall

1835.

* This "votive Tablet" may still be seen, with its " green ivy," "fringing the lettered stone." Compare the Sonnet To the Author's Portrait, p. 318. -ED.

CHATSWORTH! THY STATELY MANSION 273

I mention this merely to add that notwithstanding this battering I composed, on horseback, the lines to the memory of Sir George Beaumont, suggested during my recent visit to Coleorton.-I. F.]

One of the "Miscellaneous Sonnets."-Ed.

CHATSWORTH! thy stately mansion, and the pride
Of thy domain, strange contrast do present
To house and home in many a craggy rent
Of the wild Peak; where new-born waters glide
Through fields whose thrifty occupants abide
As in a dear and chosen banishment,
With every semblance of entire content;
So kind is simple Nature, fairly tried!

Yet He whose heart in childhood gave her troth
To pastoral dales, thin-set with modest farms,
May learn, if judgment strengthen with his growth,
That, not for Fancy only, pomp hath charms;
And, strenuous to protect from lawless harms
The extremes of favoured life, may honour both.

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VOL. VII

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