William Crowe

“ Why challenge a reluctant foe,
Rushing to war, war unprovoked, again?
Examine well thine own estate,
And check thy hostile march before it be too late.
When first thou wert an exile from thy home,
Unbroken was thy strength, thy health not wasted; [190]
But couldst thou now endure to roam,
When both thy health and strength thou hast outlasted? ”

“ He has that hard and solitary path [20]
Measured by painful steps. And blest are they,
Who in life’s toilsome journey may make pause
After a march of glory: yet not such
As rise in causeless war, troubling the world
By their mad quarrel, and in fields of blood
Hail’d victors, thence renown’d, and call’d on earth
Kings, heroes, demi-gods, but in high Heaven
Thieves, ruffians, murderers; these find no repose:
Thee rather, patriot Conqueror, to thee
Belongs such rest ”

“ From earth, young herbs and flowers, that in the morn
Ascend as incense to the Lord of day,
I come to breathe your odours; while they float
Yet near this surface, let me walk embathed
In your invisible perfumes, to health
So friendly, nor less grateful to the mind,
Administering sweet peace and cheerfulness. [3]
How changed is thy appearance, beauteous hill! ”

“ Th’ imperious victor oft, unsatisfied
With bloody spoil and tyrannous conquest, dares
To challenge fame and honour; and too oft
The poet, bending low, to lawless pow’r
Hath paid unseemly reverence, yea, and brought
Streams clearest of th’ Aonian fount to wash
Blood-stain’d Ambition. If the stroke of war
Fell certain on the guilty head, none else,
If they that make the cause might taste th’ effect,
And drink, themselves, the bitter cup they mix,
Then might the bard (tho’ child of peace) delight
To twine fresh wreaths around the Conqueror’s brow ”

“ Was early train’d to Virtue and to Truth;—
Who liberal arts and useful Science wooes,
And by the Muse beloved, protects the Muse;
Whose patient labour and unabated zeal
Pursues that nobles tend, his Country’s Weal;— [197]
Watchful, and resolute in her defence
With counsel sage, and manly eloquence?—
For Him fair Fame her clearest voice shall raise
Till her high trumpet labours in his praise.
He ’bove the Conqueror’s name shall be renown’d,
Him Glory still shall follow, and around
Laurels unstain’d, unfading palms, shall spread,
Such as are now prepared for Grenville’s honour’d head. ”

“ John Coldwell, of a physitian, became a bishop, I have heard by more than a good many; and I will briefly handle it, and as tenderly as I can; bearing myself equal between the living (Sir Walter Raleigh) and the dead (Bishop Coldwell) . Yet the manifest judgements of God on both of them I may not pass over with silence. And to speak first of the knight, who carried off the Spolia opima of the bishoprick. ”

“ An adventitious beauty, arising from that gradual decay, which loosens the withering leaf, gilds the autumnal landscape with a temporary splendor superior to the verdure of spring, or the luxuriance of summer. The infinitely various and ever-changing hues of the leaves at this season, melting into every soft gradation of tint and shade, have long engaged the imitation of the painter, and are equally happy ornaments in the description of the poet.—Aikin’s Essay on the Character of Thompson’s Seasons, prefixed to his edition of them, 1791. ”

“ And when the servant of the man of God was risen early, and gone forth, behold, an Host compassed the city both with horses and chariots. And his servant said unto him, Alas, my master! how shall we do? And he answered, fear not; for they that be with us are more than they that be with them. And Elisha prayed, and said, Lord, I pray thee, open his eyes, that he may see. ”

“ The works now carrying on at Cherburgh, (A. D. 1787) to make a haven for ships of war, are principally the following. Of these however it is not intended to give a full description; but only to mention some particulars, from which an idea may be formed of the greatness of the scheme.
In the open sea, above a league from the town, and within half a mile west of a rock called L’isle Pelée, a pier is begun, with design of conducting it on to the shore somewhat beyond Point Hommet, about two miles westward of Cherburgh. ”

“ Is feelingly convinced; nor to be moved
By subtle words, that may perplex the head,
But ne’er persuade the heart. Vain argument,
That with false weapons of Philosophy
Fights against Hope, and Sense, and Nature’s strength! ”

“ Osmund, a Norman knight, who had served William Duke of Normandy from his youth, in all his wars against the French king, and the duke’s (William’s) subjects, with much valour and discretion, for all his faithful service (when his master had by conquest obteyned the crown of England) was rewarded with many great gifts; among the which was the earldome of Dorsett, and the gift of many other possessions, whereof the castle and baronie of Sherburne were parcell. ”

“ To which gift he annexed this curse:—
“‘That whosoever should take those lands from the bishoprick, or diminish them in great or in small, should be accursed, not only in this world, but also in the world to come; unless in his life-time he made restitution thereof.’ And so he died bishop of Sarum.”
Those lands continued in the possession of his successors till the reign of King Stephen, who took them away: “whereupon (says this account) his prosperity forsook him.” ”

“ On L’isle Pelée and Point Hommet before-mentioned large fortifications are constructed bomb-proof, to defend the haven and pier. It is the opinion of some persons that this stupendous mole may be injured or destroyed by what is called a ground-sea, i. e. a sea when the waters are agitated to the bottom: and this happens when a strong wind, after having put the waves in motion, suddenly shifts to the opposite quarter. ”

“ The Hill which gives title to the following Poem is situated in the western part of Dorsetshire. This choice of a subject, to which the Author was led by his residence near the spot, may seem perhaps to confine him to topics of mere rural and local description. But he begs leave here to inform the Reader that he has advanced beyond those narrow limits to something more general and important. On the other hand he trusts, that in his farthest excursions the connexion between him and his subject [vi] will easily be traced. ”

“ Three Poets, born in different lands and ages,
Three different Heroes took to grace their pages:
The first, a Buonaparte, fierce to fight;
The next, a Methodistic Hypocrite:
No human character combined more evil,
So Milton for his Hero took the Devil. ”

“ And, once above the rest, being talking of it (of the commodiousness of the place, of the strength of the seat, and how easily it might be got from the bishoprick) , suddenly over and over came his horse, that his very face (which was then thought a very good face) plowed up the earth where he fell. This fall was ominous, I make no question; and himself was apt to construe it so. But his brother Adrian would needs have him interpret it as a conqueror, that his fall presaged the quiet possession of it. ”

“ There was a fountain in Arcadia, which had the reputation of creating an aversion to wine in whoever happened to bathe in it, although the water was innocent and wholesome to drink: and the tradition was, that it had received this singular property from Melampus, a celebrated physician of antiquity, when he made use of it to cure certain Arcadian princesses, the daughters of Prœtus, of a strange species of madness. These young ladies fancied themselves to be changed into cows. ”

“ And veil’d his head: but now he silence broke,
And thus in slow and sober tones he spoke.
“The Babe, your present care, shall have a name
That all his life will follow him with shame. [182]
Both He, and whomsoe’er he shall engender,
Will be deem’d spurious, and be call’d Pretender.” ”

“ Rechasing, lest his tender ewes should coath.
To coath, Skinner says, is a word common in Lincolnshire, and signifies, to faint. He derives it from the Anglo-Saxon coðe, a disease. In Dorsetshire it is in common use, but it is used of sheep only: a coathed sheep is a rotten sheep; to coath is to take the rot. [44] Rechasing is also a term in that county appropriated to flocks: to chase and rechase is to drive sheep at certain times from one sort of ground to another, or from one parish to another. ”

“ But what is yonder Hill, whose dusky brow.
“Eggardon Hill is a very high hill, and gives name [49] to the hundred. Mr. Coker says it is uncertain whether it takes its name from Edgar, king of the West Saxons, or from Orgarus, earl of Cornwall: and indeed this last derivation is the truest; there being little reason to doubt that it is the old Orgarestone. The camp on the brow of this hill is a large and strong fortification, and seems to be Roman.”—Hutchins’s Dorset, vol. ”

“ He will only add in this place, from Hutchins’s History of Dorsetshire, (vol. i. p. 366) , what is there said of Lewesdon (or, as it is now corruptly called, Lewson) : “This and Pillesdon Hill surmount all the hills, though very high, between them and the sea. Mariners call them the Cow and Calf, in which forms they are fancied to appear, being eminent sea-marks to those who sail upon the coast.”
To the top of this Hill the Author describes himself as walking on a May morning. ”

“ The cliff here is 147 yards perpendicular. On this promontory, about a mile south of Worth, stands a chapel of the same name.” Hutchins’s Dorsetsh. vol. i. p. 228. But this headland is not marked by name in Hutchins’s map. “The very utter part of St. Aldhelm’s point is five miles from Sandwich (Swanwich) .”—Lel. Itin. vol. iii. p. 53.
Note 5, page 18, line 6.
From Shipton’s bottom to the lofty down.
Shipton is a hill, which, according to common report, is so called from its shape; the top of it being [46] formed like a ship with the keel upwards. ”

“ Coker, who indeed prefers the derivation from Orgar. His words are these: “That it takes name from Edgar, the West Saxon king, I dare not affirm, having nothing to prove it but the nearnesse of the name. It better likes me to think this the place which in Doomsday-book is called Orgareston; but whether it take name from Orgareus, earl of Cornwall, I know not; though I think I should run into no great error to believe it.”—Coker’s Survey of Dorsetshire, p. 26. ”

“ Thee, Burton, and thy lofty cliff.
Burton is a village near the sea, lying S. E. from Lewesdon, and about two miles S. of Shipton hill before mentioned. The cliff is among the loftiest of all upon that coast; and smugglers often take advantage of its height for the purpose related in the poem. ”

“ The diameter of this cone at bottom is about 60 yards, its height 70 feet; and the area on its top large enough to receive a battery of cannon, with which it is hereafter to be fortified. Its solid contents are 2500 French toises; which, in our measure (allowing the French foot to be to the English as 144 to 135) , will amount to 24,250 cubic yards nearly. Several other cones, of [47] equal dimensions, are sunk at convenient distances from each other, forming the line of the pier: their number, when complete, it is said, will be forty. ”

“ Whether he kill’d more men [29] or lice.
[27] It is related of him, that in his march to the attack of Oczakow, he proceeded with such rapidity at the head of his men, that they began to murmur at the fatigues which they endured. The marshal, apprised of the circumstance, after a long day’s march, drew up his men in a hollow square, and addressing them said, that “his legs had that day discovered some symptoms of mutiny, as they refused to second the impulses of his mind, which urged him forward to the attack of the enemy’s fortress.” ”

“ And finally, all the males of them became extinct, and the earldome received an end in their name. So ill was their success.”
After this the lands were restored to the bishoprick; but were taken away a second time by the Duke of Somerset, in the reign of Edward VI.; “when the duke, being hunting in the parke of Sherburne, he was sent for presently unto the kinge (to whome he was protector) and at his coming up to London, was forthwith committed unto the Tower, and shortly after lost his head.” The lands then, in a suit at law, were adjudged to the Bishop of Sarum ”

“ But, casting off his veil, naked he stood,
And Truth’s resplendent form abash’d they view’d.
[183]
SUCCESSION.
After a bad oft comes a worse;
Evil on evil, curse on curse:
So James to Charles succeeds, who fitter? ”

“ But Osmund, in the declyninge of his age, calling to mynde the great effusion of blood which, from his infancie, he had shedd; he resolved to leave all worldly delights, and betake himself to a religious life, the better to contemplate on his former sinnes, and to obteyn pardon for them. And, with much importunitie, having gotten leave of the kinge (who was unwilling to want the assistance of so grave and worthy a counsellor) to resign his temporal honors; and having obteyned the [51] bishoprick of Sarum, he gave Sherburne, with other lands, to the bishoprick. ”

“ Adeline, the first bishop of Sherbourne in this shire: but now it serves for a sea-mark.”—Coker’s Survey of Dorsetshire, p. 47.
“Near the sea is the high land of St. Aldhelm’s, commonly called St. Alban’s, a noted sea-mark. ”