Page images
PDF
EPUB

O Hewel 26! by thy master's lib'ral hand
Advanc'd to rural fame! Such Umberslade 27 !
In the sweet labour join'd, with culture fair,
And splendid arts, from Arden's woodland shades 28
The pois'uous damps and savage gloom to chase.

What happy lot attends your calm retreats,
By no scant bound'ry, nor obstructing fence,
Immur'd or circumscrib'd; but spread at large
In open day: save what to cool recess
Is destin'd voluntary, not constrain'd
By sad necessity, and casual state

Of sickly peace! Such as the moated hall,
With close circumference of watry guard,
And pensile bridge proclaim! or, rear'd aloft,
And inaccessible the massy tow'rs,
And narrow circuit of embattled walls,
Rais'd on the mountain precipice! Such thine
O Beaudesert 29! old Montfort's lofty seat!
Haunt of my youthful steps! where I was wont
To range, chanting my rude notes to the wind,
While Somervile disdain'd not to regard
With candid ear, and regulate the strain.

Such was the genius of the Gothic age,
And Norman policy! Such the retreats
Of Britain's ancient nobles! less intent
On rural beauty, and sweet patronage
Of gentle arts, than studious to restrain,
With servile awe, barbarian multitudes;
Or, with confed'rate force, the regal pow'r
Control. Hence proudly they their vassal troops
Assembling, now the fate of empire plann'd :
Now o'er defenceless tribes, with wanton rage,
Tyrannic rul'd; and in their castled halls
Secure, with wild excess their revels kept,
While many a sturdy youth, or beauteous maid,
Sole solace of their parents' drooping age!
Bewail'd their wretched fate, by force compell'd
To these abhorr'd abodes! Hence frequent wars 30,
In ancient annals fam'd! Hence haply feign'd
Th' enchanted castle, and its cursed train
Of giants, spectres, and magicians dire!
Hence gen'rous minds, with indignation fir'd,
And threat'ning fierce revenge, were character'd
By gallant knights on bold achievements bent,
Subduing monsters, and dissolving spells.

Thus, from the rural landscape, learn to know
The various characters of time and place.
To hail, from open scenes, and cultur'd fields,
Fair Liberty, and Freedom's gen'rous reign,
With guardian laws, and polish'd arts adorn'd.
While the portcullis huge, or moated fence,
The sad reverse of savage times betray-
Distrust, barbarity, and Gothic rule.

Would ye, with faultless judgment, learn to plan
The rural seat? To copy, as ye rove,
The well-form'd picture, and correct design?
First shun the false extremes of high and low.
With watry vapours this your fretted walls
Will soon deface; and that, with rough assault,
And frequent tempests shake your tott'ring roof.
Me most the gentle eminence delights
Of healthy champaign, to the sunny south

Fair-op'ning, and with woods, and circling hills,
Nor too remote, nor, with too close embrace,
Stopping the buxom air, behind enclos'd.
But if your lot hath fall'n in fields less fair,
Consult their genius, and, with due regard
To Nature's clear directions, shape your plan.
The site too lofty shelter, and the low
With sunny lawns, and open areas cheer.
The marish drain, and with capacious urns,
And well-conducted streams, refresh the dry.
So shall your lawns with healthful verdure smile,
While others, sick'ning at the sultry blaze,
A russet wild display, or the rank blade,
And matted tufts the careless owner shame.
Seek not, with fruitless cost, the level plain
To raise aloft, nor sink the rising hill.
Each has its charms though diff'rent, each in kind
Improve, not alter. Art with art conceal.
Let no straight terrac'd lines your slopes deform;
No barb'rous walls restrain the bounded sight;
But to the distant fields the closer scene
Connect. The spacious lawn with scatter'd trees
Irregular, in beauteous negligence,

Clothe bountiful. Your unimprison'd eye,
With pleasing freedom, through the lofty maze
Shall rove, and find no dull satiety.

The sportive stream with stiffen'd line avoid
To torture, nor prefer the long canal,
Or labour'd fount, to Nature's easy flow.
Your winding paths, now to the sunny gleam 31
Directed, now with high embow'ring trees
Or fragrant shrubs conceal'd, with frequent seat
And rural structure deck. Their pleasing form
To fancy's eye suggests inhabitants

Of more than mortal make, and their cool shade,
And friendly shelter to refreshment sweet,
And wholesome meditation shall invite.

To ev'ry structure give its proper site.
Nor, on the dreary heath, the gay alcove,
Nor the lone hermit's cell, or mournful urn,
Build on the sprightly lawn. The grassy slope
And shelter'd border for the cool arcade

Or Tuscan porch reserve. To the chaste dome,
And fair rotunda, give the swelling mount
Of freshest green. If to the Gothic scene
Your taste incline, in the well-water'd vale,
With lofty pines embrown'd, the mimic fane,
And mould'ring abbey's fretted windows, place.
The craggy rock, or precipicious hill,
Shall well become the castle's massy walls.
In royal villas the Palladian arch,
And Grecian portico, with dignity,
Their pride display: ill suits their lofty rank
| The simpler scene. If chance historic deeds
Your fields distinguish, count them doubly fair,
And studious aid, with monumental stone
And faithful comment, fancy's fond review.

Now other hills, with other wonders stor'd,
Invite the search. In vain! unless the Muse
The landscape order. Nor will she decline
The pleasing task. For not to her 't is hard
To soar above the mountain's airy height,
With tow'ring pinions, or, with gentler wing,
T' explore the cool recesses of the vale.

26 The seat of the right hon. the earl of Ply- Her piercing eye extends beyond the reach

mouth.

27 The seat of the right hon. lord Archer.
28 The forest, or woodland part of Warwickshire.
29 So called from its pleasant rural situation.
30 Called the barons' wars.

Of optic tube, levell'd by midnight sage,
At the Moon's disk, or other distant Sun,

31 Hæc amat obscurum, volet hæc sub luce videri. Hor.

And planetary worlds beyond the orb
Of Saturn. Nor can intervening rocks
Impede her search. Alike the sylvan gloom,
Or Earth's profoundest caverns, she pervades,
And, to her fav'rite sons, makes visible
All that may grace, or dignify the song,
Howe'er envelop'd from their mortal ken.
So Uriel, winged regent of the Sun!
Upon its evening beam to Paradise
Came gliding down; so, on its sloping ray,
To his bright charge return'd. So th' heav'nly guest
From Adam's eyes the carnal film remov'd,
On Eden's hill, and purg'd his visual nerve
To see things yet unform'd, and future deeds.
Lo! where the southern hill, with winding course,
Bends tow'rd the west, and from his airy seat
Views four fair provinces in union join'd;
Beneath his feet, conspicuous rais'd, and rude,
A massy pillar rears its shapeless head.
Others in stature less, an area smooth
Enclose, like that on Sarum's ancient plain 32,
And some of middle rank apart are seen:
Distinguish'd those! by courtly character
Of knights, while that the regal title bears 33.
What now the circle drear, and stiffen'd mass
Compose, like us, were animated forms,
With vital warmth, and sense, and thought endued;
A band of warriors brave! Effect accurs'd
Of necromantic art, and spells impure.

So vulgar fame. But clerks, in antique lore
Profoundly skill'd, far other story tell:
And, in its mystic form, temple, or court
Espy, to fabled gods, or throned kings
Devote; or fabric monumental, rais'd
By Saxon hands, or by that Danish chief
Rollo ! the builder in the name imply'd.

Yet to the west the pleasing search pursue,
Where from the vale, Brails lifts his scarry sides,
And Illmington, and Campden's hoary hills
(By Lyttelton's sweet plaint, and thy abode
His matchless Lucia! to the Muse endear'd)
Impress new grandeur on the spreading scene,
With champaign fields, broad plain, and covert vale
Diversify'd by Ceres, some adorn'd
With rich luxuriance of golden grain,
And some in Flora's liv'ry gaily dight,

And some with sylvan honours graceful crown'd.
Witness the forest glades, with stately pride,
Surrounding Sheldon's venerable dome 35!
Witness the sloping lawns of Idlicot 36!
And Honington's irriguous meads! Some wind
Meand'ring round the hills disjoin'd, remote,
Giving full licence to their sportive range;
While distant, but distinct, his Alpine ridge
Malvern erects o'er Esham's vale sublime,
And boldly terminates the finish'd scene.

Still are the praises of the Red-Horse Vale
Unsung; as oft it happens to the mind
Intent on distant themes, while what's more near,
And, nearer, more important, 'scapes its note.

From yonder far-known hill, where the thin turf But ill conceals the ruddy glebe, a form On the bare soil portray'd, like that fam'd steed,

32 Stone-henge.

33 Called the king's stone, or koning stone.

34 Called Roll-rich stones.

35 Weston, the seat of William Sheldon, esq.

Which, in its womb, the fate of Troy conceal'd, O'erlooks the vale.-Ye swains, that wish to learn, Whence rose the strange phenomenon, attend!

Britannia's sons, though now for arts renown'd, A race of ancestors untaught, and rude, Acknowledge; like those naked Indian tribes, Which first Columbus in the Atlantic isles With wonder saw. Alike their early fate, To yield to conquering arms! Imperial Rome Was then to them what Britain is to these, And through the subject land her trophies rear'd.

But haughty Rome, her ancient manners flown, Stoop'd to barbaric rage. O'er her proud walls The Goths prevail, which erst the Punic bands Assail'd in vain, though Canna's bloody field Their valour own'd, and Hannibal their guide! Such is the fate which mightiest empires prove, Unless the virtues of the son preserve What his forefather's ruder courage won!

No Cato now 37 the list'ning senate warm'd To love of virtuous deeds, and public weal. No Scipios led her hardy sons to war, With sense of glory fir'd. Through all her realms Or hostile arms invade, or factions shake Her tott'ring state. From her proud capitol Her tutelary gods retire, and Rome, Imperial Rome, once mistress of the world, A victim falls, so righteous Heav'n ordains, To pride and luxury's all-conq'ring charms.

[fields

Meantime her ancient foes, erewhile restrain'd By Roman arms, from Caledonia's bills Rush like a torrent, with resistless force, O'er Britain's fenceless bounds, and through her Pour the full tide of desolating war. Ætius, thrice consul! now an empty name, In vain her sons invoke. In vain they seek Relief in servitude. Ev'n servitude Its miserable comforts now denies. From shore to shore they fly. The briny flood, A guardian once, their further flight restrains. Some court the boist'rous deep, a milder foe, Some gain the distant shores, and fondly hope In each to find a more indulgent home. The rest, protracting still a wretched life, From Belgia's coast in wild despair invite Its new inhabitants, a Saxon race! On enterprise and martial conquest bent. With joy the Saxons to their aid repair, And soon revenge them on their northern foes, Revenge too dearly bought! These courted guests Give them short space for joy. A hostile look On their fair fields they cast, (for feeble hands Alas! too fair) and seize them for their own. And now again the conquer'd isle assumes Another form; on ev'ry plain and hill New marks exhibiting of servile state, The massy stone with figures quaint inscrib'dOr dyke by Woden 39, or the Mercian king 39,

[blocks in formation]

38 Wansdyke, or Wodensdyke, a boundary of the kingdom of the West Saxons, in Wiltshire.

39 Offa, from whom the boundary between the took its name.

36 The seat of the late baron Legge, now betong-kingdom of the Mercians and the Britons in Wales ing to Robert Ladbroke, esq.

Vast bound'ry made-or thine, O Ashbury 4o!
And Tysoe's 41 wondrous theme, the martial horse,
Carv'd on the yielding turf, armorial sign
Of Hengist, Saxon chief! of Brunswick now,
And with the British lion join'd, the bird
Of Rome surpassing. Studious to preserve
The fav'rite form, the treach'rous conquerors
Their vassal tribes compel, with festive rites,
Its fading figure yearly to renew,

And to the neighb'ring vale impart its name 42.

EDGE-HILL.

BOOK II. NOON.

ARGUMENT.

Can reach, a theatre immense! adorn'd With ornaments of sweet variety,

By Nature's pencil drawn-the level meads,
A verdant floor! with brightest gems inlaid,
And richly painted flow'rs- the tillag'd plain,
Wide waving to the Sun a rival blaze
Of gold, best source of wealth!-the prouder hills,
With outline fair, in naked pomp display'd,
Round, angular, oblong; and others crown'd
With graceful foliage. Over all her horn
Fair Plenty pours, and cultivation spreads,
Her height'ning lustre. See, beneath her touch,
The smiling harvests rise, with bending line
And wavy ridge, along the dappled glebe

Stretching their lengthen'd beds. Her careful hand
Piles up the yellow grain, or rustling hay
Adust for wintry store-the long-ridg'd mow,
Or shapely pyramid, with conic roof,

Nurses, and adds, with care, the hedge-row elm.
Around her farms and villages she plans
The rural garden, yielding wholesome food
Of simple viands, and the fragrant herb
Medicinal. The well-rang'd orchard now
She orders, or the shelt'ring clump, or tuft

Noon. The mid-scene from the castle on Ratley-Dressing the landscape. She the thick-wove fence hill. More particular accounts of the several parts of this scene, and of whatever is most reinarkable in it. Warwick. Its antiquity. Historical account of the earls of Warwick. Story of Guy. Guy's Cliffe. Kenelworth. Its castle. History of it. Balsal. Wroxal. Coventry. Its environs. Manufactures. Story of Godiva. Per-Of hardy trees, the wintry storms to curb, oration.

THE Sun, whose eastern ray had scarcely gilt
The mountain's brow while up the steep ascent
With early step we climb'd, now wide displays
His radiant orb, and half his daily stage
Hath nearly measur'd. From th' illumin'd vale
The soaring mists are drain'd, and, o'er the hill,
No more breathes grateful the cool, balmy air,
Cheering our search, and urging on our steps
Delightful. See, the languid herds forsake
The burning mead, and creep beneath the shade
Of spreading tree, or shelt'ring hedge-row tall:
Or, in the mantling pool, rude reservoir
Of wintry rains, and the slow, thrifty spring!
Cool their parch'd limbs, and lave their panting sides.
Let us too seek the shade. Yon airy dome,
Beneath whose lofty battlements we found
A covert passage to these sultry realms,
Invites our drooping strength, and well befriends
The pleasing comment on fair Nature's book,
In sumptuous volume, open'd to our view.

Ye sportive nymphs! that o'er the rural scene
Preside, you chief! that haunt the flow'ry banks
Of Avon, where, with more majestic wave,
Warwick's illustrious lord, through the gay meads
His dancing current guides, or round the lawn
Directs th' embroider'd verge of various dyes,
O teach me all its graces to unfold,
And with your praise join his attendant fame.
"T is well! Here shelter'd from the scorching
At large we view the subject vale sublime,
And unimpeded. Hence its limits trace
Stretching, in wanton bound'ry, from the foot
Of this green mountain, far as human ken

[heat,

40 Ashbury, in Berkshire, near which is the figure of a horse cut on the side of a hill, in whitish earth, which gives name to the neighbouring valley.

41 The figure of the red horse, here described, is in the parish of Tysoe.

42 Called, from this figure, the Vale of RedHorse.

Or guard the sweet retreat of village swain,
With health and plenty crown'd. Fair Science next,
Her offspring! adds towns, cities, vaulted domes,
And splendid palaces, and chases large,
With lake, and planted grove. Hence Warwick, fair
With rising buildings, Coventry's tall spires,
And Kenelworth! thy stately castle rose,
Which still, in ruin, charms th' astonish'd sight.
To crown the beauteous scene, the curtain'd sky,
Its canopy divine of azure tint,

Spreads heav'nly fair, and softens ev'ry charm.
Now yet again, with accurate survey,
The level plain, hills rising various, woods,
And meadows green, the simple cot, and towns,
Nurs'ries of arts and commerce! Warwick, fair
With rising buildings, Coventry's tall spires,
Magnificent in ruin Kenelworth!

And still more distant scenes, with legends strange,
And smoky arts, taught in the dusky schools
Of Tubal's sons, attentive let us scan,
And all their charms and mysteries explore.

First view, but cautious, the vast precipice;
Lest, startled at the giddy height, thy sense
Swimming forsake thee, and thy trembling limbs,
Unnerv'd, and fault'ring, threaten dang'rous lapse.
Along th' indented bank, the forest tribes,
The thin-leav'd ash, dark oak, and glossy beech,
Of polish'd rind, their branching boughs extend,
With blended tints and amicable strife,
Forming a checker'd shade. Below, the lawns,
With spacious sweep and wild declivity,
To yellow plains their sloping verdure join. [herds
There, white with flocks, and in her num'rous
Exulting, Chadsunt's pastures', large and fair,
Salute the sight, and witness to the fame
Of Litchfield's mitred saint. The furzy heaths
Succeed; close refuge of the tim'rous hare,
Or prowling fox, but refuge insecure!
From their dark covert oft the hunter-train
Rouse them unwilling, and o'er hill and dale,
With wild tumultuous joy, their steps pursue.

I The seat of James Newsam Craggs, esq. 2 St. Chadd.

Just vengeance on the midnight thief! and life
With life aton'd! But that poor, trembling wretch!
"Who doubts if now she lives," what hath she done;
Guiltless of blood, and impotent of wrong?
How num'rous, how insatiate yet her foes!
Ev'n in these thickets, where she vainly sought
A safe retreat from man's unfeeling race,
The busy hound, to blood and slaughter train'd,
Snuffs her sweet vapour, and, to murth'rous rage
By mad'ning sounds impell'd, in her close seat
With fury tears her, and her corse devours:
Or scares her o'er the fields, and, by the scent,
With keen desire of reeking gore inflam'd,
Loud bellowing tortures her with deathful cries.
Nor more secure her path! Man even there,
Watching, with foul intent, her secret haunts,
Plants instruments of death, and round her neck
The fatal snare entwines. Thus innocence,
In human things, by wily fraud ensnar'd,
Oft helpless falls, while the bold plund'rer 'scapes.
Next the wide champaign, and the cheerful downs
Claim notice; chiefly thine, O Chesterton 3 !
Pre-eminent. Nor 'scape the roving eye
Thy solemn wood, and Roman vestiges,
Encampment green, or military road!
Amusive to the grave historic mind.
Thee Tachbroke 4 joins with venerable shade.
Nor distant far, in Saxon annals fam'd,
The rural court of Offa, Mercian king!
Where, sever'd from its trunk, low lies the head
Of brave Fermundus, slain by coward hands,
As on the turf supine in sleep he lay,
Nor wist it sleep from which to wake no more!
Now Warwick claims the song; supremely fair
In this fair realm; conspicuous rais'd to view
On the firm rock, a beauteous eminence
For health and pleasure form'd. Full to the south
A stately range of high embattled walls
And lofty tow'rs, and precipices vast,
Its guardian worth and ancient pomp confess".
The northern hills 7, where Superstition long
Her gloomy rites maintain'd, a tranquil scene
Of gentler arts, and pleasures more refin'd,
Displays. Lawns, parks, and meadows fair,
And groves around their mingled graces join,
And Avon pours his tributary stream.

On thee contending kings their bounty pour'd,
And call'd the favour'd city by their names.
Thy worth the Romans publish'd9, when to thee
Their legions they consign'd. Thee, Ethelflede 1o,
Thy guardian fair! with royal grace restor❜d,
When Pagan foes had raz'd thy goodly streets.
A monarch's care, those walls to learning rais'd ",

3 A seat of the right hon. lord Willoughby de Broke, so called from its being a Roman station on the Foss-Way.

4 A seat of sir Walter Bagot, bart.

These an asylum to declining age1
A Leicester's love proclaim. Nor pass unsung
The train of gallant chiefs, by thy lov'd name
Distinguish'd, and by deeds of high renown
Gracing the lofty title. Arthgal 13 first,
And brave Morvidus, fam'd in Druid song,
And British annals. Fair Felicia's sire,
Rohand! and with her join'd in wedded love,
Immortal Guy! who near Wintonia's walls
With that gigantic braggard Colebrand hight!*
For a long summer's day sole fight maintain❜d.
But huge gigantic size, and braggart oaths,
And sword, or massy club, dismay'd thee not.
Thy skill the stroke eluded, or thy shield
Harmless receiv'd, while on his batter'd sides
Fell thick thy galling blows, till from his hands
Down dropp'd the pond'rous weapon, and himself
Prostrate, to thy keen blade his grizly head
Reluctant yielded. Lamentations loud,
And shouts victorious, in strange concert join'd,
Proclaim the champion's fall. Thee Athelstan
His great deliverer owns, and meditates
With honours fair, and festive pomp to crown.
But other meed thy thoughtful mind employ'd,
Intent in heav'nly solitude to spend
The precious eve of life. Yet shall the Muse
Thy deed record, and on her patriot list
Enrol thy name, though many a Saxon chief
She leaves unsung.
A Norman race succeeds,
To thee, fair town 14! by charitable deeds
And pious gifts endear'd. The Beauchamps too
Thou claim'st, for arms and courtly manners fam'd!
Him chief's, whom three imperial Henrys crown'd
With envied honours. Mirror fair was he
Of valour, and of knightly feats, achiev'd
In tilt and tournament. Thee Nevil 16 boasts
For bold exploits renown'd, with civil strife
When Britain's bleeding realm her weakness
And half her nobles in the contest slain [mourn'd,
Of York and Lancaster. He, sworn to both,
As int'rest tempted, or resentment fir'd,
To Henry now, and now to Edward join'd
His pow'rful aid; now both to empire rais'd,
Now from their summit pluck'd, till in the strife
By Edward's conquering arms at length he fell.
Thou, Clarence 17, next, and next thy hapless son,
The last Plantagenet 18, awhile appears
To dignify the list; both sacrific'd
To barb'rous policy! Proud Dudley 19 now

12 The hospital.

13 The first earl of Warwick, and one of the knights of king Arthur's round table.

14 Henry de Novo Burgo, the first Norman earl, founded the priory at Warwick, and Roger, his son, built and endowed the church of St. Mary.

15 Richard earl of Warwick, in the reigns of king Henry IV. V. and VI. was governor of Calais, and

5 Offchurch, the seat of Whitwick Knightley, lieutenant-general of France. He founded the lady's

[blocks in formation]

chapel, and lies interred there, under a very magnificent monument.

16 Called Make-king. He was killed at the battle of Barnet.

17 He married the earl of Warwick's daughter, and was put to death by his brother, Edward IV. 18 Beheaded in the Tower, by Henry VII. under a pretence of favouring the escape of Peter War

10 She rebuilt it when it had been destroyed by beck. the Danes.

The free-school.

19 Made earl of Warwick by Edward VI. and

afterwards duke of Northumberland.

From Edward's hand the bright distinction bore,
But soon to Mary paid his forfeit head,
And in his fate a wretched race involv'd:
Thee chief, thee wept by ev'ry gentle Muse,
Fair Jane 20! untimely doom'd to bloody death,
For treason not thy own. To Rich's line
Was then transferr'd th' illustrious name, to thine,
O Greville 22! last. Late may it there remain!
With promise fair, as now, (more fair what heart
Parental craves?) of long, transmissive worth,
Proud Warwick's name, with growing fame to grace,
And crown, with lasting joy, her castled hill.

Hail, stately pile; fit mansion for the great!
Worthy the lofty title! Worthy him 23,
To Beauchamp's gallant race allied! the friend
Of gentle Sidney! to whose long desert,
In royal councils prov'd, his sov'reign's gift
Consign'd the lofty structure: worthy he!
The lofty structure's splendour to restore.

Nor less intent who now, by lineal right,
His place sustains, with reparations bold,
And well-attemper'd dignity to grace

Th' embattled walls. Nor spares his gen'rous mind
The cost of rural work, plantation large,
Forest, or fragrant shrub; or shelter'd walks,
Or ample, verdant lawns, where the sleek deer
Sport on the brink of Avon's flood, or graze
Beneath the rising walls; magnificence
With grace uniting, and enlarg'd delight
Of prospect fair, and Nature's smiling scenes!
Still is the colouring faint. O! could my verse,
Like their Louisa's 24 pencil'd shades, describe
The tow'rs, the woods, the lawns, the winding stream,
Fair like her form, and like her birth sublime!
Not Windsor's royal scenes by Denham sung,
Or that more tuneful bard on Twick'nam's shore,
Should boast a loftier strain, but in my verse
Their fame should live, as lives, proportion'd true,
Their beauteous image in her graven lines.
Transporting theme! on which I still could waste
The ling'ring hours, and still protract the song
With new delight; but thy example, Guy!
Calls me from scenes of pomp, and earthly pride,
To muse with thee in thy sequester'd cell 25.

Here the calm scene lulls the tumultuous breast

20 Lady Jane Grey, married to a son of the earl of Warwick.

21 Robert lord Rich, created earl of Warwick by James I.

22 Greville lord Brook, first created earl Brook of Warwick castle, and afterwards earl of Warwick, by king George II.

23 Sir Fulke Greville, made baron Brook of Beauchamp's-court, by James I. had the castle of Warwick, then in a ruinous condition, granted to him; upon which he laid out 20,000l. He lies buried in a neat octagon building, on the north side of the chancel at Warwick, under a fine marble monument, on which is the following very significant, laconic inscription:

"TROPHOEVM PECCATI!

FULKE GREVILLE, Servant to Queen ELIZABETH, Counsellor to King JAMES, and Friend to Sir PHILIP SIDNEY."

24 The right hon. lady Louisa Greville, daughter to the right hon. the earl of Warwick.

25 Called Guy's Cliff, the seat of the right hon. lady Mary Greatheed.

To sweet composure. Here the gliding stream,
That winds its wat'ry path in many a maze,
As loth to leave the enchanted spot, invites
To moralize on fleeting time and life,
With all its treacherous sweets and fading joys,
In emblem shown, by many a short-liv'd flow'r,
That on its margin smiles, and smiling falls
To join its paren earth. Here let me delve,
Near thine, my chamber in the peaceful rock,
And think no more of gilded palaces,
And luxury of sense. From the till'd glebe,
Or ever-teeming brook, my frugal meal
I'll gain, and slake my thirst at yonder spring.
Like thee, I'll climb the steep, and mark the scene
How fair! how passing fair! in grateful strains
Singing the praises of creative love.

Like thee, I'll tend the call of mattin bell 26
To early orisons, and latest tune

My evening song to that more wondrous love,
Which sav'd us from the grand apostate's wiles,
And righteous vengeance of Almighty ire,
Justly incens'd. O, pow'r of grace divine!
When mercy met with truth, with justice, peace.
Thou, holy hermit! in this league secure,
Did'st wait Death's vanquish'd spectre as a friend,
To change thy mortal coil for heav'nly bliss.

Next, Kenelworth! thy fame invites the song.
Assemblage sweet of social and serene!
But chiefly two fair streets, in adverse rows,
Their lengthen'd fronts extend, reflecting each
Beauty on each reciprocal. Between,

A verdant valley, slop'd from either side,
Forms the mid-space, where gently gliding flows
A crystal stream, beneath the mould'ring base
Of an old abbey's venerable walls.

Still further in the vale her castle lifts
Its stately tow'rs, and tott'ring battlements,
Dress'd with the rampant ivy's uncheck'd growth
Luxuriant. Here let us pause awhile,
To read the melancholy tale of pomp
Laid low in dust, and, from historic page,
Compose its epitaph. Hail, Clinton 27! hail!
Thy Norman founder still yon neighb'ring Green 28,
And massy walls, with style imperial grac'd 29,
Record. The Montforts 30 thee with hardy deeds,
And memorable siege by Henry's arms 31,
And senatorial acts, that bear thy name,
Distinguish. Thee the bold Lancastrian line 32,
A royal train! from valiant Gaunt deriv'd,
Grace with new lustre; till Eliza's hand
Transferr'd thy walls to Leicester's favour'd earl 33,
He long, beneath thy roof, the maiden queen,

26 Here was anciently an oratory, where, tradition says, Guy spent the latter part of his life in devotional exercises.

27 Geoffry de Clinton, who built both the castle and the adjoining monastery, Tem. Hen. I. 28 Clinton Green.

29 Cæsar's Tower.

30 The Montforts, earls of Leicester, of which Simon de Montfort, and his son Henry, were killed at the battle of Evesham.

31 Henry III. who besieged this castle, and called a convention here, which passed an act for redeeming forfeited estates, called Dictum de Kenelworth. 32 From whom a part of this structure is called Lancaster's Buildings.

33 Granted by queen Elizabeth to Dudley earl of Leicester.

« PreviousContinue »