HERE, where, of havoc tired and rash undoing, That Nature takes, her counter-work pursuing. And, on the mouldered walls, how bright, how gay, Where, Cavendish,† thine seems nothing but a name! In the chancel of the church at Furness Abbey, ivy almost covers the north wall. In the Belfry and in the Chapter House, it is the same. The "tower," referred to in the sonnet, is evidently the belfry tower to the west. It is still 66 grass-crowned." The sonnet was doubtless composed on the spot, and if Wordsworth ascended to the top of the belfry tower, he might have seen the morning sunlight strike the small remaining fragment of the central tower. But it is more likely that he looked up from the nave, or choir, of the church to the belfry, when he spoke of the sun's first smile gleaming from the top of the tall tower. 'Flowers " -crowfoot, campanulas, &c.—still luxuriate on the mouldered walls. With the line, compare, "Fall to prevent or beautify decay," "Nature softening and concealing, 66 in the description of Bolton Abbey in The White Doe of Rylstone.—ED. + Furness Abbey is the property of the Duke of Devonshire, whose family name is Cavendish.-ED. 1845. The Poems of 1845 include one "on the Naming of Places," The Westmoreland Girl (addressed to the Poet's grandchildren), several fragments addressed to Mrs Wordsworth and to friends, The Cuckoo Clock and one or two Sonnets. FORTH from a jutting ridge, around whose base Rising to no ambitious height; yet both, O'er lake and stream, mountain and flowery mead, Ever beheld. Up-led with mutual help, To one or other brow of those twin Peaks Were two adventurous Sisters wont to climb, And took no note of the hour while thence they gazed, * These two rocks rise to the left of the lower high-road from Grasmere to Rydal, after it leaves the former lake and turns eastwards towards the latter. They are still "heath" clad, and covered with the coppice of the old Bane Riggs Wood, so named because the shortest road from Ambleside to Grasmere used to pass through it; "bain" or "bane" signifying, in the Westmoreland dialect, a short cut. Dr Cradock wrote of them thus:"They are now difficult of approach, being enclosed in a wood, with dense undergrowth, and surrounded by a high, well-built wall. They can be well seen from the lower road, from a spot close to the three-mile stone from Ambleside. They are some fifty or sixty feet above the road, about twenty yards apart, and separated by a slight depression of, say, ten feet. The view from the easterly one is now much preferable, as it is less encumbered with shrubs; and for that reason also is more heath-clad. The twin rocks are also well seen, though at a farther distance, from the hill in White Moss Common between the roads, which Dr Arnold used to call 'Old Corruption,' and 'Bit-by-bit Reform.' Doubtless the rocks were far more easily approached fifty years ago, when walls, if any, were low and ill-built. It is probable, however, that even then they were enclosed and protected; for heath will not grow on the Grasmere hills. on places much frequented by sheep." The best view of these heath clad rocks from the lower carriage road is at a spot two or three yards to the west of a large rock on the roadside near the milestone. The view of them from the Loughrigg Terrace walks is also interesting. The two sisters were Mary and Sarah Hutchinson (Mrs Wordsworth and her sister).—ED. And frequent sharer of their calm delight * This Westmoreland Girl was Sarah Mackereth of Wyke Cottage, Grasmere. She married a man named Davis, and died in 1872 at Broughton in Furness. The swollen "flood" from which she rescued the lamb, was Wyke Gill beck, which descends from the centre of Silver Howe. The picturesque cottage, with round chimney,- -a yew tree and Scotch fir behind it,-is on the western side of the road from Grasmere over to Langdale by Red Bank. The Mackereths have been a well-known West But, as chanced, a Cottage-maiden Whirled adown the rocky channel, Peace and rest, as seems, before them Only in the lake below. Oh! it was a frightful current Whose fierce wrath the Girl had braved; Saved by courage that with danger Grew, by strength the gift of love, Came with succour from above. PART II. Now, to a maturer Audience, So, unwatched by love maternal, moreland family for some hundred years. They belong to the "gentry of the soil,” and have been parish clerks in Grasmere for generations. One of them was the tenant of the Swan Inn referred to in The Waggoner-the host who painted, with his own hand, the "famous swan," used as a sign. (See Vol. III., p. 80). The story of The Blind Highland Boy, which gave rise to the poem bearing that name, was told to Wordsworth by one of these Mackereths of Grasmere. (See the Fenwick note, Vol. II., p. 368.)—ED. Spare your blame,—remembrance makes him Loth to rule by strict command; Still upon his cheek are living Dear caresses given in pity, Time passed on; the Child was happy, Scarcely less than sacred passions, Anglers, bent on reckless pastime, Both for tiny harmless minnow And the fierce and sharp-toothed pike. Merciful protectress, kindling Into anger or disdain; Many a captive hath she rescued, Listen yet awhile;-with patience Yes, the wild Girl of the mountains |