Page:Notes and Queries - Series 12 - Volume 4.djvu/73

 12 S. IV. MARCH, 1918.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

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embellished in narration," noting his par- ticular displeasure with ' The Thorn ' before paying his respects to ' The Ancient Mariner.' Then he goes on to describe with at least as much detail what he regards as " the better part of the volume." ' The Foster- Mother's Tale,' he says, "is in the best style of dramatic narrative. ' The Dun- geon ' and ' Lines upon a Yew-Tree Seat ' are beautiful." The tale of ' The Female Vagrant ' he calls admirable ; and in the whole range of English poetry he recollects scarcely anything superior to a part of ' Tintern Abbey.' The conclusion is that

" the experiment has failed, not because the language of conversation is little adapted to the purposes of poetic pleasure, but because it has been tried upon uninteresting subjects. Yet every piece discovers genius ; and, ill as the author has frequently employed his talents, they certainly rank him with the best of living poets."

Perhaps even now there might be found discerning students of the first volume of ' Lyrical Ballads ' who would not radically disagree with the reviewer of October, 1798. It is not appropriate to cite in this con- nexion, as Prof. Harper does, Lamb's dis- appointment with the article, for Lamb, it must be repeated, finds fault with the critic's attitude towards ' The Ancient Mariner,' but has nothing to say abovit the remarks on Wordsworth, except to enforce, by the way, the Reviewer's praise of ' Tintern Abbey.' It is clear that Southey took this volume of poems more seriously than any other he ever reviewed for The Critical. Doubtless, his tone would have been more generous if he had written his article several years later, when he was on cordial terms with both poets. As it stands, however, his review, while patently, perhaps wilfully, deaf to the magic of ' The Ancient Mariner;' must be acquitted of malice or inordinate condescension toward Wordsworth.

The same circumstances which account for Southey 's severity toward Coleridge would seem to point convincingly to his responsibility for a brief review in the same number (pp. 232-4) of ' Blank Verse by Charles Lloyd and Charles Lamb.' It is done, as we should expect Southey to do it, with fine feeling and deep appreciation. The sentiments of the following sentences, and the graceful cadence of the first, are characteristic :

" They will become dear to such as have felt the evils of life and known the consolations of Christianity ; and they will bo treasured in the memory of those who are capable of under- standing the excellence of poetry."

" We recommend it to those who can derive delight from contemplating ' the finest features of the mind ' and from seeing the best feelings of our nature expressed with earnestness and ardour."

Besides, a considerable familiarity with Lamb's life is implied in this passage :

" Mr. Lamb describes no longer, as in his first productions, ' Vain loves and wanderings with a fair-haired maid.' His present pieces imply past sufferings and present resignation."

JACOB ZEITLIN. University of Illinois.

(To be continued.)

MARGARET DOUGLAS

(AFTERWARDS RICHARDSON)

AND THE YOUNG PRETENDER.

WHILE I was in Cumberland in 1877, ex- ploring the Roman Wall, I stayed on the night of June 30 at Brampton, which town I reached at 5.20 P.M. In the course of the evening a Mr. Cheesbrough of that place, who had become quite blind, called at the inn to tell what he knew about the Wall ; but he went on to relate many local tradi- tions, particularly about Margaret Douglas, who had " come with the Pretender " in 1745, and was present when the keys of Carlisle Castle were presented to Prince Charles in a house in High Cross Street, Brampton, otherwise called Souter Row. The house was called the Freemasons' Arms, and was then (1877) occupied by Mr. George Rowntree, grocer. The gravestone of Mar- garet (who seems to have been a sort of prototype of Sir Walter's Meg Merrilies) was dug up by one Parker, while looking for a Roman road in or near the churchyard. It had been defaced by order of "Chancellor Ramshaw," the vicar having reported it as being profane and unfit to remain in the churchyard. Its being there placed as an epitaph was a condition attached by her will on devising her property to her husband's nephew " Dicky Richardson," whom she used to make to come and play cards with her on Sundays. She was a tall, handsome, dark, gaunt woman ; she used to walk about at night with a gold-headed cane, and she was accounted a witch. Her epitaph was repeated to me by Mr. Cheesbrough, and taken down in my notebook as follows : Here rest my old bones, iny vexation now ends, I have lived far too long for myself and my friends. As for churchyards and grounds which the parsons

call holy, 'Tis a rank piece of priestcraft and founded in

folly.