gl'^ CORNELL UNIVERSITY LIBRARY THE WORDSWORTH COLLECTION Cornell University Library The original of tiiis book is in tine Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924103708875 (The very Centre of the Lake District.) By the opening of the New Eoad around Thirlmere, another most beautiful Excursion has been added to those which can most conveniently be made from the Patronised hy H.B.H. the Prince of Wales, Duhe of Connaiight, and the Jfobility. The only Hotel in Grasmere situated near the Lalte. ™dove''c"ottage ■" Wordsworth's late Residence. BOiLTIJNTC^, FIS1=[IJ^(^, c^c. POSTING IM ALL ITS BBAXCHES. mm-R-mm^ or cojicjibs To Ullswater, Coniston, Langdales, Keswick and round Thirlmere during the Season, Omnibuses meet the Steamers at Waterhead, Ambleside. MRS. BROWN, Proprietress. ESTABLISHED 1875. C. BRANTHWAITE, Auctioneer, ^ Appraiser, HOUSE & LAND AGENT, Every information on application. May he obtained of Booksellers in the hake District. Thirlmere to Manchester A Compendious History of the Promotion, Progress, and Construction of the great Thirlmere Waterworks Scheme And of the Sources from whence Manchester has been hitherto suppHed BY J". "\AriI_iS03Sr, B. J^. (XDXJI^.) Price Sixpence. Published by G. Middleton, Avihleside. Established 1847. Registered Plumber, DECORATOR, PAPERHANGER, GILDER, Sanitary Engineer and Hot Water Fitter, BELL-HANGEE, GLAZIER, &c. Oak Bank— Apartments. Post Office, Qrasmere. J. C. HODGSON, Stationer & New^sagent. * — VISITORS WILL FIND A CHOICE SELECTION OF VIEWS, GUIDE BOOKS, MAPS, &c. Dress Goods. Stuffs. Pkints. Skirts. Waterpeoofs. Jackets. Corsets. Hosiery. Underclothing. Gloves. Straws. Flowers. Millinery. Dressmaking. E.IBBONS. Lace. • Wools. Parasols. Linens. Calicoes. Umbrellas. Haberdashery. Outfits. Shirts. Collars. Scarfs. Bats. Tailoring. I Established over Half a Century. Invites Visitors to the Lakes to inspect his Stock of DRAPERY which will be found well suited for Presents, for Home Work, and for all immediate wants. The Cloths, Rugs, Hose, Skirt- ings, Worsteds, and Fingerings, are mostly of District make and wear splendidly. The Plain Drapery is selected from the best English, Irish, and Scotch houses. Fancy Drapery from both British and Foreign Manufactories. All articles are marked in Plain Figures at Ready-money prices. Market Place, Ambleside. * ExdctJy opposite the Queen's Hotel. MIDDLETON'S Illusteated ^anblTDok t0 ^vE%mtvt. 'Tis mine to rove . . . Where peace to Grasmere's lonely island leads, To willowy hedge-rows, and to emerald meads ; Leads to her bridge, rude Church, and cottaged grounds. Her rocky sheepwalks, and her woodland bounds. M'ordsworth. Ambleside : Printed and Published by George Middleton, Old Mill Bridge. 1894. LOor d Visitors to Grasmere have long felt the want of more information than is embodied in general guides to the Lakes. This handbook is an attempt to fill the vacancy. In the first chapter an endeavour has been made to unravel the history of Grasmere Church, a task which, remarkably, has not previously been undertaken. Mr. William Fuller, of Grasmere, carefully searched the registers and sxipplied many valuable particulars ; and it may be here added that the chapter on Grasmere Eush- bearing has been almost entirely written by him. k'O x/ Grasmere. HE observation of many years goes to prove that there is one vale in the Lake Country uppermost in the minds of visitors — one vale in which a few hours at least must be spent even if all other places of interest are hurried through or wholly neglected — and that most attractive of vales is Grasmere. Its loveliness took Gray captive whilst on his pedestrian tour in 1769, and with this bard's visit Grasmere may be said to have emerged from obscurity. Soon afterwards other famous men, as is well known, yielded to its spell. Gray's first view of Grasmere was on entering from Dunmail Eaise, and he thus beautifully describes it: — " I now began to see Helm Crag, distinguished from its rugged neighbours not so much by its height as by the strange broken outlines of its top, like some gigantic building demolished and the stones that composed it flung across each other in wild confusion. Just beyond it opens one of the sweetest landscapes that art ever attempted to imitate. The bosom of the mountains spreading here into a broad basin dis- covers in the midst Grasmere Water. Its margin is hollowed into small bays, with bold eminences, some of rock, some of turf, that half conceal and vary the figure of the little lake they command. From the shore a low promontory pushes itself far into the water, and on it stands a white village with the Parish Church rising in the midst of it. Hanging inclosures, corn fields, and meadows green as an emerald, with their trees and hedges, and cattle, fill up the whole space from the edge of the Avater ; 4 MIDDLETON S HAND-BOOK TO G^^ASBIEEE. and just opposite to you is a large farm-house at the bottom of a steep, smooth lawn, embosomed in old woods which climb half-way up the mountain side, and discover above them a broken line of crags that 'crown the scene. Not a single red tile, no gentleman's flaring house, or garden walls, break in upon the repose of this little unsuspected paradise ; but all is peace, rusticity, and happy poverty, in its neatest, most becoming, attire." This charming description is not marred by Gray's creation of a "promontory" — in reality even the semblance of one does not exist ; however, when it is borne in mind that he is picturing his first view of the valley from a station a little below the Raise we should not withhold from him credit for strict faithfulness, as from his standpoint the island would appear joined with the mainland, giving a striking impression of " a low promontory pushing itself far into the water." The visitor will find many delightful nooks in and around Grasmere, and cannot meet with a much more convenient centre from which to take excursions to other vales or for mountain climbing. It is interesting to notice how sincerely and in- tensely loved Grasmere has been by some of our renowned men. Evidently red tiles, gentlemen's flaring houses, or high garden walls, would have been regarded by Gray as an intrusion ; Wordsworth could not endure a big boathouse on the lake's margin, and the prospect of the iron horse ap- proaching within nine miles drew from him the vigorous sonnet "Is then no nook of English ground secure from rash assault ? " De Quincey was wounded by the building of a fence wall along the lake shore ; and Mrs. Hemans, fearful of impending injury to GKASMERE. O Grasmere's " dreamy loveliness," thus prays for the preservation of its beauty : — Fair scene — Oh ! ne'er may man with touch unhallowed, jar The perfect music of the charm serene ! Still, still unchanged, may one sweet region wear Smiles that subdue the soul to love, and tears, and prayer. GEiSMEEE FROM RED BANK. Grasmere happily is not without jealous admirers at the present time. Through their efforts a quarry blemish at its southern boundary was recently checked from becoming a greater eyesore, and doubt- less every effort will in future be made to preserve the perfect charm of this " one sweet region." Grasmere Chnrch. f I This church, dedicated to St. Oswald, is one j-'-i of the rudest ecclesiastical edifices in rural England, and never fails to impress visitors to the vale. It is an archffiological treasure, hallowed by many centuries of sacred associations ; and, not- withstanding its simple structure, it will be found worthy of more than a passing glance, for if the observer will bear in mind that our forefathers stamped their life and character in their architecture and craftsmanship this venerable fabric will tell him much that is interesting of the old dalesmen and the times they lived in perhaps more correctly than any written record could do. The " rude and antique majesty " of the interior of the Church excited the imagination of Words- worth. In Book V. of the Excursion (first published in 1814) he thus beautifully describes it with but little poetic licence : As chanced, the portals of the sacred Pile Stood open ; and we entered. On pry frame. At such transition from the fervid air, A grateful coolness fell, that seemed to strike The heart, in concert with that temperate awe And natural reverence which the place inspired. Not raised in nice proportions was the Pile, But large and massy ; for duration built ; With pillars crowded, and the roof upheld By naked rafters intricately crossed, Like leafless underboughs, in some thick wood, All withered by the depth of shade above. Admonitory texts inscribed the walls, GKASMEEE CHURCH. 7 Each, in its ornamental scroll, enclosed ; Each also crowned with winged heads — a pair Of rudely-painted Cherubim. The floor Of nave and aisle, in unpretending guise, Was occupied by oaken benches ranged In seemly rows ; the chaneel only showed Some vain distinctions, marks of earthly state By immemorial privilege allowed ; Though with the Encincture's special sanctity But ill according. An heraldic shield. Varying its tincture with the changeful light, Imbued the altar- window ; fixed aloft A faded hatchment hung, and one by time Yet undiscoloured. A capacious pew Of sculptured oak stood here, with drapery lined ; And marble monuments were here displayed Thronging the walls ; and on the floor beneath Sepulchral stones appeared, with emblems graven And foot-worn epitaiDhs, and some with small And shining efiigies of brass inlaid. The "pillars crowded" strike the visitor even more than the " naked rafters intricately crossed," but the latter possess the key to the history of the former, as will presently be pointed out. On enter- ing by the Porch on the south we are standing in the oldest part of the building, for this part — Tower, Nave, and Chancel — at one period formed the entire Church. The only original window remaining — the small one at the south-western corner of the Nave — indicates the twelfth or thirteenth century as the date of this portion." It would seem that a century or two subsequently the North Aisle was added ; however, in making the addition, the north wall was not pulled down, but, to connect the Nave with the Aisle, it was rudely pierced. Thus were evolved the lower set of arches. It may be * A drawing of the exterior, made in 1821, shows the other two windows on the south side of the Nave exactly similar. 8 MIDDLETON S HANDBOOK. TO GEASMEEE. mentioned that the braces in the roof of the Aisle show rather more artistic skill than those of the Nave. Here also, in the roof- tree, is the key previously alluded to. It will be noticed that the rafters both of Nave and Aisle contain the notches into which fitted the bars that carried the old roof, a double -span one, for Nave and Aisle had each its own gable, a wide gutter between them running along the top of 'the lower line of arches. At this period the outline of the roof, as may be gathered from the above description, re- sembled an inverted W, thus — M. Evidently this double roof was found to be unsatisfactory, as snow would accumulate in the partition, and, in thawing, water would leak into the Church, causing the earthen floor to become miry. So, in course of time, the two roofs were thrown into one, and the upper tier of arches built presumably to support it. A quaint appearance is given by the columns of the upper arches being built on the crowns of the low^er ; and the Aisle being a yard narrower than the Nave an odd-looking break was necessitated in the Aisle section of the roof as viewed from the north-east or east. The date of the conversion of the twin-roof into a single gable can only be conjectured, for no positive record of the work can be found, although the Churchwardens' Accounts exist from 1661 to 1735, and from 1790 to the present time — one book, covering fifty-five years, being missing from the parish chest* The most interesting items relating * During research for ihe purposes of this chapter the missing account book turned up in private hands, but there is still a gap of about fifteen years owing to some leaves having been lost. 11 8 18 37 1 11 24 1 4 11 12 7 17 5 15 1 13 6 GEASMERE CHURCH. 9 to work done to the fabric occur in 1814. About this period the average amount of the Church- wardens' expenditure was £6 or £7 per annum, but in the year referred to it rose to £110 13s. 7d. These are some of the entries : Lady Fleming, for wood for Church roof £ 11 Jno. Barrow, for laths . . Mr. Braithwaite, for slates James Heaviside, for slating Dan Jopson, for work Edw. Bowness Jno. Watson, iron work . . Jno. Keen, ale for the workmen Some old wood and slates were sold for £7 17s. The above particulars, evidently including ale at the rearing after the local custom, might lead one to suppose that the reconstruction of the roof took place in 1814 ; but, when the evidence is con- sidered, there is reason to believe that that work occupied the parish not in recent times, but some centuries back, so long ago in fact that the one- span roof in 1814 showed such signs of decrepitude as to need strengthening and reslating. In 1809 (five years previous to the above great expenditure) William Green, the well-known Lake Country artist, published at Ambleside an etching of Grasmere Church which shows very clearly the single gable ; and there being no entry in the record of sums ex- pended in 1814 for building the upper tier of arches, it is forced upon the judgment that the roof was not reconstructed in the restoration of that year. The Eev. E. Jefferies, officiating clergyman of the Parish of Grasmere from the year 1840 to 1878, says that about "the former date I had special interest and opportunities for enquiries from the oldest 10 middleton's handbook to grasmere. inhabitants (and some were very old) as to dates and facts pertaining to Grasmere Parish Church, with which I was so long connected. Of the date of the present roof timbers, and of the date of certain structural alterations observable in the roof itself, there was no record, remembrance, or tradition, save that these ran far back to periods in the last century. The only modern timbers in the present Church roof are one set of principal beams placed in the Chancel at my expense when I was enabled in 1851 to reconstruct the whole east wall, etc., of the Church." In the Museum at Kendal is preserved the only sculptured stone found in taking down the east wall. It represents a human face very plainly carved upon a square block of freestone. Also, in the same Museum, is a specimen of carved wood from this Church. Perhaps more interesting to the visitor will be a brief account of the changes made since Words- worth described the Church in the lines from the Exclusion already quoted. The " admonitory texts," painted on framed panels in 1741, remain unchanged. The " oaken benches ranged in seemly rows " have all disappeared, save the end of one bearing the date 1635, which is preserved near the organ. Most of them were cleared out in 1841, when upwards of £300 was spent in what was termed by the acting committee as "a restoration retaining as far as is consistent with essential comfort the primitive character of the edifice." The floor throughout the Church was raised to a level with the external ground, the roof put into a thoroughly efficient state, all the windows (excepting one on the south-west of the Porch) taken out and new ones substituted, the GKASMERE CHURCH. 11 Cliurcli and Chancel re-seated with half-inch deal pews, and the Tower arch walled up to form a Vestry. The Queen dowager contributed £50 to these alterations. Previous to this " restoration " the sexes were divided at Divine Service. The women entered by the south door and sat in the Nave ; the men entered by the western door and sat in the North Aisle. But now this door — the "men's door," as it was termed- — was built up and the people all sat together in family style. Another great change was made soon after the ap- pointment of a new Rector in 1878. In 1881 all the pews, except the " capacious pew of sculptured oak,'' which still remains, were removed, and the present substantial oak benches erected. The Tower arch was again opened out, the old western door again made a reality, and the east end of the Church was decorated. At the same time the Font was removed from its proper place near the great door to its present place under the Tower. The work was done throughout by the village workmen, and the cost, £660, was wholly voluntarily contributed. The new Pulpit, Font Cover, and Fald Stool (Litany Desk) were placed in the Church in 1884. The brass Lectern was given in 1889 by Miss Agar in memory of Miss Agar, of Silver How. The Font is very ancient though much defaced, and the local tradition is that it came from Furness Abbey, but its size is hardly sufficient to susLain the story. It is set upon old stones re-dressed. The organ, built by Wilkinson & Sons, of Kendal, was opened 21st April, 1872. It was purchased with subscriptions collected mainly by Mr. W. Fuller, 12 MIDDLE ton's HANDBOOK TO GRASMERE. schoolmaster and organist. The "great organ" contams eight stops and has slides for two more. The "swell organ," containing eight stops, was added in 1882. When in the Churchyard the visitor should notice the Tower. Formerly the exterior was roughcast, but in 1891 the roughcast was stripped off and the walls were "pointed" with cement. It was then discovered that pieces of freestone were mixed in with the native stone, and this seems not unworthy evidence to support the tradition which says that the fabric was raised upon the site of a Saxon Church. But the most interesting discovery was the old sharp pitch of the original roof. This has been preserved, and the tabling may be noticed on the eastern side of the Tower. There are three bells, none of which are dated earlier than 1731 ; however old records mention the existence of good bells in Grasmere Church long anterior to this. They are rung from the basement of the Tower. The inscriptions are • 1. Re-cast at the expense of Mks. Doeothy Knott, 1809. T. Meaes & Son, of Lonjjon. 2. Soli Deo Gloria, 1731. E. Settler, Ebor. 3. Gloeia in Altissimis Deo. E. Settlee, Ebor. E. Hied, H. E. HiRD, Jno. Wilson, Will Rigg, Geo. Macker- eth. 1731. In the oldest book of Churchwardens' Accounts are the following payments : 1731. For the articles about ye bells, 3/- 1731. Charges when ye bells was taken down, 1/- 1732. Towards casting the bells and other charges, £40 3s. 9id. 1733. Towards casting the bells and other charges, £49 3s. GRASMERE CHURCH. 13 From the foregoing it would appear that the bells were re-cast in 1731, and the small one again in 1809. For many years, from 1662 onwards, occur the entries " Ringing upon Gunpowder Treason Day, 1/-;" " Ringing upon Coronation Day, 1/- ; " " Ringing upon 29th of May, 2/6." The registers are old. There is a parchment register of baptisms, marriages, and burials, defect- ive at the beginning, but complete and perfectly legible from 1570 to 1687, and other registers perfect from 1687 to the present time. The Rev. H. M. Fletcher, the present Rector, submitted the oldest register to an expert attached to the British Museum (MSS. Department), who copied the first few folios. The early registers are valuable to the local his- torian, for they contain notes of great interest. One of the most disastrous accidents that ever happened on Windermere is chronicled in the Church's archives thus : " The xxth of Octob : 1635 theis were all drowned in Windermer Water in one boate comeinge over from Hawkshead " [names follow] . Forty- seven persons — a wedding party — were drowned, as well as several horses, through the ferry-boat capsizing. A few of the earliest entries are here appended, as the old spelling of Grasmere, Langdale, Ambleside, etc., is worthy of notice. The Christening of John Grige, sonne of Kobert of Loughrige. The Christening of Henri Knoth, sonne of Edward of Gresmere. The Christening of John Yowdall, sonne of Edward of [illegible] . March. 10. The Christening of Margarett Jackson, doughter of Robert of Langden. 11. The Christening of Agnes Knoth, doughter of George of Gresmere. 14 midCleton's handbook to GRASMERE. 23. The Christening of Thomas Saterwhet, sonne of Nicholas of Langden. 30. The Christening of EHzabeth Hyrd, doughter of Eobert of Gresmere. 1571. Aprill. The Christening of Mabel Newton, doughter of Eichard of Amilsyde. 30. The Christening of Elizabeth Herrison, doughter of Eobert of Amilsyde. The entries appear numerous for this early period, but it must be remembered that for long Grasmere Church served for Ambleside, Langdalo, Eydal, and Loughrigg, as well as for Grasmere. Up to 1881 sittings were allotted to all these places, and were distinguished by initials painted on the pew doors. In the Chancel are two carved chairs with dates-— one T. L., 1677, and the other M. B., 1703. These were presented by the Eev. E. Jefferies. Fixed on the Chancel wall is " S. Oswaldus Poor Box," a very interesting specimen of antique carved work, bearing date 1648. Also at this end of the Church will be seen a Piscina, with modern freestone canopy. It is a drain where, in pre-Reformatioii times, the priest rinsed the sacred vessels. Some years ago it was found lower down in the wall covered with plaster. The recess in the west wall of the Porch, where was placed the Holy Water Stoup, likewise carries the mind back to the pre- Reformation period. Tablets in memory of members of the le Fleming family, of Eydal Hall, will be noticed upon the Chancel wall together with their crest. But, of the several memorials in the Church, the one which excites the greatest interest is Wordsworth's, with medallion portrait by Woolner. It faces the Pulpit, and bears the following epitaph : GRASMERE CHURCH. 16 TO THE MEMORY OF WILLIAM WOEDSWORTH, A TRUE PHILOSOPHER AND POET, WHO, BY THE SPECIAL GIFT AND CALLING OF ALMIGHTY GOD, WHETHER HE DISCOURSED ON MAN OR NATURE, FAILED NOT TO LIFT UP THE HEART TO HOLY THINGS, TIRED NOT OF MAINTAINING THE CAUSE I OF THE POOR AND SIMPLE, AND SO, IN PERILOUS TIMES WAS RAISED UP TO BE A CHIEF MINISTER, NOT ONLY OF NOBLEST POESY, BUT OF HIGH AND SACRED TRUTH, THIS MEMORIAL IS PLACED HERE BY HIS FRIENDS AND NEIGHBOURS IN TESTIMONY OF RESPECT, AFFECTION, AND GRATITUDE. ANNO MDCCCLI. Above the Chancel door is a marble tablet by Chan- trey in memory of the first wife of Wordsworth's son-in-law. It has been supposed that the epitaph thereon was the production of Wordsworth ; how- ever there seems scarcely room to doubt that it is Quillinan's own — the spirit, the sentiment, and the composition point to this conclusion, and in the absence of direct proof to the contrary should be so accepted. The inscription is here given : In the burial ground of this Church are deposited the remains of JEMIMA ANNE DEBORAH, second daughter of Sir EGERTON BRYDGES, of Denton Court, Kent, Bart. ; she departed this life at the Ivy Cottage, Rydal, May 25, 1822, aged 28 years. This memorial is erected by her husband, EDWARD QUILLINAN. These vales were saddened with no common gloom When good Jemima perished in her bloom. When, such the awful will of heaven, she died By flames breathed on her from her own fireside. On earth we dimly see, and but in part We know, yet faith sustains the sorrowing heart ; 16 MIDDLETOn's handbook to GEASMEEEo And she, the pure, the patient, and the meek Might have fit epitaph could feelings speak ; If words could tell and monuments record. How treasures lost are inwardly deplored. No name by grief's fond eloquence adorned More than Jemima's would be praised and mourned : The tender virtues of her blameless life. Bright in the daughter, brighter in the wife, And in the cheerful mother brightest shone — That light hath passed away — the will of God be done. In 1893 two windows in the south wall were taken out and pictorial ones substituted ; these are to perpetuate the memory of the Eev. Canon Olivier and the wife of Major Olivier, E.E. One represents the Raising of Lazarus and the other the Ministry of the Angels. The windows are in the Perpen- dicular style, designed by Messrs. Paley & Austin, of Lancaster, and executed — the glass by Messrs. HoUi- day, of London, and the masonry by Mr. Thomas Newton, of Ambleside. Whilst the south wall was being broken the opportunity was taken of baring the outside and having it " pointed " with cement to match the Tower. It is intended to so treat the whole of the walls as funds permit. At the same time a damaged stone in the ancient (and only re- maining original) window, near the Porch, was replaced. Specially-selected freestone was used throughout the work. During the erection of these memorial windows the workmen exposed some medallions inscribed with Scripture sentences. One near the Pulj^it bore this apt quotation : " How shall they hear without a Preacher? How shall they preach except they be sent ? ' ' These and many other sentences were painted on the walls when the Church was " beauti- fied " in 1687. In that year James Addison, of GEASMEEE CHUP.CH. 17 Hornby, Lancashire, agreed with Henry Fleming, Parson of Grasmere, the Churchwardens, and pa- rishioners, to plaster and Avhitewash the Church and " well and decently to paint ye Tenne Com- mandments, Creed, Lord's Prayer, and thirty sen- tences, together with the King's Arms, in proper colours, to colour ye Pulpit a good green colour, and also to flourish the pillars and over all the arches and doors well and sufficiently " for the sum of £9 10s. Addison's cheerful artistic work after standing fifty-four years was obliterated by the whitewash brush; then, by way of more sober ornament, the texts now hanging on the walls were introduced. Doubtless the Church officials of Gras- mere soon after 1684 visited Kendal Parish Church and, being charmed with its new decoration, deter- mined to bring their sanctuary up to its standard. To show how nearly alike the two Churches were "beautified" the substance of a memorandum, dated 18th June, 3 684, extracted from the Kendal Churchwardens' Books, is here given : " It is agreed by and between James Addison, of Hornby, in ye County of Lancashire, painter, and the Ch: wardens, &c., of the whole p-ish of Kendall . . . that for and in consideration of ye sum of Thirty Pounds of Currant Inglish money . . . the said James shall furthwth well and sufficiently beautifie the Church, vi2;t., plaister it wthin where waiiteing, whitening all through with Size soe that it shall not grime or •spoil mens Cloathes, well writeing of Sentences and florishing them Decently and in good Order, And he ?ilso to make anew the King's Amies and the Ten Gommandmts, and to do them soe well as they shall not peel or fail for the space of twenty yeares next hereafter comeing." Later on in the same year 18 middleton's handbook to GKASMERn:. the Churchwardens of Kendal Parish resolved " that James Addison shall have for his Extraordinary paines in beautifying the Church the sum of Six Pounds, in consideracon whereof the said James is sufficiently to make green the Font and Pulpit and beautifie the Cornise under the King's Armes." Addison's work stood well for 145 years, surviving the twenty years' stipulation by a century and a quarter. The whole of it was to be seen up to 1829, in which year Kendal Parish Church was partially restored ; however, the Ten Commandments and the King's Arras existed 166 years — till the restoration of 1850-52. Writing some years ago, one who dis- tinctly remembered this "beautified" Church thus refers to it (and his descriptive observations are presumably equally applicable to Grasmere Church of the period 1687-1741) : "I must confess that I have many a time read those sentences with pleasure, and gazed with awe and admiration on their quaint embellishments, ]3lentifully garnished, as they were, with divers and sundry fat Cherubim and Seraphim, green hissing serpents, flying dragons, and flourishes without end. These sentences (or texts of Scripture, for such they were,) were written in black letter within oval and other shaped compartments, formed of embroiderments in green, yellow, and black. They occupied nearly every available space on the interior of the walls of the Church." From the facts here supplied it will be gathered that when Wordsworth settled at Dove Cottage in 1799 there would be old people living around him who could recall to mind the Addison-decoration of their Church, and no doubt he would be told of its features and referred to Kendal Parish Church for an exact (all but in magnitude) counterpart. In the GRASMEEE CHURCH. 19 light of this knowledge, these few lines from Words- worth's description of Grasmere Church will appear divested of what has been thought a play of fancy : Admonitory texts inscribed the walls, Each, in its ornamental scroll, enclosed ; Each also crowned with winged heads — a pair Of rudely-painted Cherubim. It might not be uninteresting to glance at the Church's ecclesiastical history. Although precise dates of the stages of its development are involved in the mists of Time, yet sufficient facts are known to give us a fair idea of its rise to the dignity of a mother Church, and it will perhaps serve the curios- ity of the visitor if these facts are briefly stated. Before the Conquest Grasmere had embraced Chris- tianity and possessed its Church. The first record we find is to the effect that the Conqueror presented to Ivo de Talebois, in virtue of his marriage with Lucy, sister of the two Saxon earls Edwin and Morcar, a large portion of North Lancashire and so much of Westmorland as goes under the designation of the Barony of Kendal, which district includes Grasmere. Grasmere Church at this time was a dependency upon that of Kendal, and when Ivo gave the Church of Kendal to St. Mary's Abbey, York, Grasmere was bound to pay the said Abbey a pen- sion of £1 13s. 4d. In 1376 the Chapel of " Gris- mere " was valued at £10. The patronage had belonged to Joan de Coupland, and was subsequently the prerogative of the successive lords of the Kich- mond Fee till after the Dissolution of the Monas- teries, when it was bartered by the Crown to the Bellinghams. In 1574 it was sold by Alan Belling^ ham for £100 to William Fleming, of Rydal Hall, 20 middleton's haxdbook to geasmeee. whose heirs have continued in possession to the present time. In 1535 the Bectory of Grasmere — previously alhided to as a Chapel of Ease merely — was valued in the King's Books at £28 lis. 5|-d. Thus, from this latter record, we gather that Gras- mere had, ere the commencement of her registers, been detached from Kendal. It exercised spiritual charge over Ambleside Above Stock, Langdale, and Rydal and Loughrigg, as well as over the village in which St. Oswald's is planted. As the population increased and Christianity spread, Grasmere, in its turn, became more circumscribed, and now has dis- cipline only over its own delightful vale ; yet, for legal and topographical purposes, its old parish boundary continues to be recognised. The dedi- cation to St. Oswald is supposed to have arisen from a v^^ell in the locality which carried this saint's name. The well would most likely derive its name from St. Oswald himself baptising at the place. Oswald was killed in battle with the heathen Penda, at Maserfeld, on August 5th, a.d. 642, after a reign of eight years. He had lived a devout life ; and dying as he did, by the hands of the heathen invader. Christian people called him a martyr. He had been canonised by the Church, and for cen- turies his festival was observed on the anniversary of his death. Wordsworth's Lake District Residences. 1779-1785. Hawksliead — Dame Tyson's, during attendance at the Grammar School. 1799-1808. Grasmere— Dove Cottage, Town End. 1808-1811. Grasmere— Allan Bank. 1811-1813. Grasmere — The Parsonage. 1813-1850. Eydal-Eydal Mount. . ^^.^jLJm^ifti^iiii^Xi^ilc i»a^smi3$>--i^'<'. V *\' * J 4 ,"* ^: ' ''.^^^ betore carrying me ueau lu tiitsu laeu lcbuj.liq-^±i:>.^^. It may be remarked that the ivy-covered one of 20 MIDDLETOX'S HANDBOOK TO GEASMERE. wli^c/i 1,^,\.„ 1>„„^ „ x: .T • . Lake Distriet Ppoperty Jlgeney. JOSEPH SAUL, Auctioneer, Valuer, & Sharebroker, Insurance and Shipping Agent, ESTAELISHED 1882. Every information given to parties in want of Eesi- dences for Kent or Purchase in any part of the Lake District (Lists Free). Property Carefully Managed, Rents Collected, Auctions of every description undertaken. District Agent to the National Telephone Co. 1811-1813. Grasmere— The Parsonage 1813-1850. Eydal-Eydal Mount. Grasmere Chnrchyard. TT^EW country burial grounds are so rich in « ^ 1^ memorials of the great as is this sacred nook. Half a century ago Grasmere Churchyard was little visited but by the dalespeople ; but now many thousands of pilgrim feet from all parts of the world are annually attracted by the graves of William Wordsworth, Dorothy Wordsworth, Hartley Coleridge, and others whose names are revered by an ever- increasing circle of admirers. The Churchyard is now crowded with memorial stones ; but it was otherwise when Wordsworth first kncAV it. He thus described it : — Green is the Churchj'ard, beautiful and green, Ridge rising gently by the side of ridge, A heaving surface, almost -wholly free From interruption of sepulchral stones. And mantled o'er with aboriginal turf And everlasting flowers. These Dalesmen trust The lingering gleam of their departed lives To oral record, and the silent heart ; Depositories faithful and more kind Than fondest epitaph. There are two entrances to the sacred ground, one near the Church Bridge, and the other on the north side. The north entrance is by what is called the lych-gate. He in Saxon meaning a corpse. Only ancient Churchyards have lych-gates ; they are covered gateways of dimensions that admit of mourners resting under the shelter of the roof before carrying the dead to their last resting-place. It may be remarked that the ivy-covered one of 22 biibdleton's handbook to GEASMEEE. Grasmere also served as a porch to the village mixed school, for Mrs. Nelson's cottage a generation ago was the school-house, the door of which was under the lych-gate roof. The peat-house at the Other end of the gateway is familiar to old Grasmere residents as a place of punishment, the schoolmaster having utilised it for incarcerating unruly boys and girls. Wordsworth lies in the S.E. corner of the Church- yard, the family plot being surrounded by low palisades. Owing to the turf on the Bard's grave being downtrodden by careless feet, a fence of some kind was considered necessary, hence the iron guard. The plot is shaded by yews that possess an in- teresting history. It appears that when Sir George Beaumont sold Loughrigg Tarn he placed the purchase money (twenty pounds) at the disposal of Wordsworth for any local use which he thought proper. In giving an account of its disbursement, the Poet says : " Accordingly I resolved to plant yew trees in the Churchyard, and had four pretty strong large oak inclosures made, in each of which was planted, under my own eye, and principally if not entirely by my own hand, two young trees, with the intention of leaving the one that throve the best to stand. Many years after, Mr. Barber, who will long be remembered in Grasmere ; Mr. Greenwood, the chief landed proprietor ; and myself, had four other inclosures made in the Churchyard at our own expense, in each of which was planted a tree taken from its neighbour, and they all stand thriving admirably May the trees be taken care of hereafter when we are all gone, and some of them will perhaps at some far distant time rival in majesty the yew of Lorton and those which I have described GKASMERE CHURCHYARD. 23 as growing in Borrowclale, where they are all to be seen in grand assemblage." Like most ancient Chm'chyards, the one of Grasmere formerly possessed a yew of splendid proportions, but this was blown down " in a very great winde " Dec. 18, 1687. It seems impossible for Wordsworth to have chosen a more fitting resting-place, and all lovers of the beautiful Lake region which he delighted in rejoice that he did choose it. The old rude church, with bare, bald tower is here ; Beneath its shadow high-born Botha flows ; Botha, remembering well who slumbers near, And with cool murmur lulling his repose. Botha, remembering well who slumbers near. His hills, his lakes, his streams are with him yet. Surely the heart that read her own heart clear Nature forgets not soon ; 'tis we forget. Lovers of our feathered songsters will be interested to know that within the pale surrounding the sacred dust of the Poet and those dearest to him lies buried a canary-goldfinch. The bird was brought by Mr. and Mrs. Quillinan from Paris, and became famous as a sweet and vigorous singer. Mrs. Quillinan was much attached to it, and it would seem that the affec- tion was mutual and deep-seated, for after her death " His note became a sound to seek," and it pined away. On February 26th, 1848, a few months after his wife's death, Mr. Quillinan composed some verses on the bird, of which two are here quoted : From day to day, from week to week. He miss'd his friend and pined away ; His note became a sound to seek, A fitful effort at a lay. And when he died, this very morn, Of moss I made his winding-sheet. And, in a mood the wise may scorn, Her bird I buried at her feet. 24 MIDDLETOn's HANB-SOOli tO (5EAS:MEfifi. Quillinan was attracted to the Lakes partly for the love of the scenery but yet more for the love of the society of the Poet. Accordmg to his wish he is buried between the graves of the two he had loved best on earth. His first wife was the second daughter of Sir Egerton Brydges, of Denton Court, near Dover. She died at Glen Eothay (then Ivy Cottage), Rydal, from injuries received through her dressing gown having caught fire — " Fate's blameless victim in her bloom of youth." There is a monument to her memory in the Church. Nineteen years later Quillinan married at Bath the daughter of Words- Worth ; but shortly afterwards, as the epitaphs tell, Death became busy, first calling Dora, then Wordsworth, then Quillinan, then Dorothy, then Mrs. Wordsworth. After visiting Wordsworth's plot, the grave of Hartley Coleridge, the site of which was chosen by Wordsworth, near by will claim the notice of admirers of poetic genius. The aged residents of this and the neighbouring vales were all intimate with Hartley, and all revere his memory. Words- Worth's exquisite lines " To Hartley Coleridge," which show the almost prophetic insight the great Poet had into the recesses of a child's heart, will be recalled. To the end of his days the " Fairy Yoyager " did preserve " a young lamb's heart," and many are the stories told of his innocent, child- like nature-. His poems- — and they are a treasure — breathe his life. On the margin of a number of the London Magazme he penned the following charac- teristic observations on the choice of a grave : — I have no particular choice of a Churchyard, but I would repose, if possible, where there were no proud monuments, no new-fangled obelisks or mausoleums, heathen in everything GEASMEKE CHURCHYARD. 25 but taste, and not Cliristian in that. Nothing that betokened aristocracy, unless it were the venerable memorial of some old family long extinct. If the village school adjoined the Churchyard, so much the better. But all this must be as He will. I am greatly pleased with the fancy of Anaxagoras, whose sole request of the people of Lampsacus was, that the children might have a holiday on the anniversary of his death. But I would have the holiday on the day of my funeral. I would connect the happiness of childhood with the peace of the dead, not with the struggles of the dying. Two artists, William Green and William Hull, are also buried here. The former, who published a Guide to the Lakes in two rolumes, settled at Ambleside in 1800. His epitaph was written by Wordsworth, and the yews which shade the Poet also shade Greeii. William Hull, who became widely known, was eminently successful in his Lake Country landscapes. He lived for some years at Eydal, where he studied with assiduity and devotion the beauteous scenes around him. Epitaphs will likewise be found here of Arthur Hugh Clough, who possessed fine poetic talents, and of Anne Jemima Clough, his sister. Miss Clough, the first principal of Newnham College, will be ever remembered for her work in the higher education of women. It is interesting to know that she, for some time previous to 1862, kept a school for young ladies at Ambleside, where she had Mrs. Humphrey Ward amongst her pupils. There are other " sepulchral stones " here that will probably attract the attention of visitors, in- cluding one to the memory of Sir John Eichardson, the Arctic explorer. Two may be particularly pointed out as marking the spots where lie buried persons whose names are associated with pathetic 26 middleton's handbook to geasmeee. stories. The stone to the memory of George and Sarah Green recalls a sad mcident which has been recorded by Wordsworth in poetry and by De Quincey in prose. Who weeps for strangers ? many wept For George and Sarah Green ; Wept for that pair's unhappy fate, Whose graves may here be seen. On October 10th, 1810, Louis Simond, a Frenchman, visited Easedale with Wordsworth for a guide. In his Journal is this account of the fate of the Greens, the particulars having doubtless been furnished by the Poet : — We were shown in the valley north-west of Grasmere a lone cottage, inhabited last winter by a poor peasant of the name of Green, his wife, and nine children. The father and mother had gone to a cattle sale in Langdale, separated from their vale by a mountain. There was a fall of snow. The evening came on, and they did not return. The youngest child was only a few months old, the eldest a girl about ten years old ; she took care to feed the baby with a Kttle milk which happened to be in the house. The next day she pro- cured from a neighbouring farm some more milk. The father and mother not yet returned, another night passed in the same manner. The following day the little girl, going again for her supply of milk, was questioned, — her situation dis- covered, and strong suspicions of the accident. The alarm spreading in the valley, fifty people set out to explore the hill, and soon discovered the bodies. It appeared that, having lost the track, the unfortunate couple had wandered higher up in the mountain ; that the husband had fallen from a rock, and from appearances had died from the fall. The woman, warned by the fall, had reached the bottom of the rock by a circuitous way, and groped about for him a great while, the snow being all trodden down. She had lost her shoes, which were found in different places ; and, sinking at last under fatigue and cold, died the easy death ordinary in such cases. Some persons thought afterwards they recollected having heard distant screams in the mountain during the storm, but GKASMEEE CHURCHYAED, 27 they did not suspect the cause ; nor, if they had, would they probably have been in time to afford assistance. The bodies, followed by all the inhabitants of the valley, and by the nine orphans, were buried in the same grave. The latter have since been adopted, or at least taken care of, by the people of the neighbourhood. The other stone to which " a story appertains " is a somewhat conspicuous monument surmounted with an urn, and is near to Wordsworth's grave. It was erected to perpetuate the memory of Louisa Ann, the wife of James Wrigley Lewis, but is composed of so perishable a material (plaster) that it could not stand for long even an Egyptian climate, hence its present dilapidated condition, the in- scription not being decipherable. Mr. Shimmin, whose curiosity the monument long excited, gives the following romantic account of it : — It was several months . . . before I was able to learn anything very satisfactory about this tombstone ; at length through the good offices of a dear old friend who is "gone before " I was put in communication with a gentleman who supplied the following facts which comprise the story of this tombstone so far as I have been able to make it out. The monument, carefully packed, was sent from London to Lancaster by one of the traders. No claimant appearing for them, and the agents not being able to learn by whom they were shipped, they remained in the Trader's Company thirty- four years. Mr. Thos. Dewhurst, of Lancaster, who was agent for the Company, was the person who had the packages opened, as up to this time neither he nor anybody else knew what they contained. On withdrawing from business Mr. Dewhurst became more and more interested in this monument; and resolved if no relative could be found, he would erect it over the grave of poor Louisa Ann, at his own cost. Much time and correspondence were devoted to enquiry concerning the family, but nothing very satisfactory was gathered. This much was learned : the family had been in affluent circum- stances, but scarcely a vestige of them remained, and those were in such a position as rendered it hopeless that they ever GEASMERE CHURCHYARD. 29 could undertake the expense of erecting the monument. Mr. Dewhurst never knew any of the family, but his researches brought out the facts, that Louisa was the daughter of a wealthy man, a man of standing in the country, and one who had raised a troop of soldiers in the great war during the last century. She was a beautiful girl, and had eloped with an officer of the army, who took her to Ambleside, where she gave birth to a boy (who, it is said, 1858, still survives), and here her husband left her Dejected, because forsaken, her spirits sank, her health gave way, and she fell before that terrible mower — consumption. Thus sickened, thus died poor Louisa Ann, and she was buried in Grasmere Churchyard. Having learned this, the next and the most difficult matter was to find out her burial-place. Again and again did this worthy old friend journey to Grasmere, until success rewarded all his labours. The word " satisfaction " cannot half express the feelings of his heart when he found the poor dust so long unmarked would be at length honoured by the erection of the monument destined to preserve her memory. To have the packages transported from Lancaster to Grasmere, and to superintend their erection, was to complete his labour of disinterested love. There it stands, and what I have stated now reveals the name of the "unknown friend" of poor Louisa Ann. A list of epitaphs likely to interest the visitor is appended, beginning with those within the rail surrounding the Wordsworth ground, where there are nine head stones, three flat stones, and seven foot stones. 1. Wordsworth. — Here lie the remains of Catharine, daughter of William and Mary Wordsworth. She was born September 6th, 1808, and died June 4th, 1812.—" Suffer the httle children to come unto Me, and forbid them not, for of such is the kingdom of God." 2. Wordsworth. — Here lieth the body of Thoivias, the son of William and Mary Wordsworth. He 30 middleton's handbook to geasmeke. died on the 1st of December, A.D. 1812. Six months to six years added he remain'd , Upon this sinful earth, by sin unstain'd, 0, blessed Lord, whose mercy then remov'd A child that every eye that look'd on lov'd. Support us ; teach us calmly to resign What we possess'd and now is wholly thine. 3. Wordsworth. — In memory of WilliAxM, infant son of William and Fanny Wordsworth, born July 13th, and died at CarHsle October 5th, 1851. — " He shall gather the lambs with His arm and shall carry them in His bosom." Isaiah c. 40, V. 11. 4. Wordsworth. — William Wordsworth, 1883. Fanny Wordsworth, 1888. 5. ■ Wordsworth. — Dorothy Wordsworth, 1855. 6. Hutchinson — Wordsworth. — Near the graves of two young children, removed from a family to which through life she was devoted, here lies the body of Sarah Hutchinson, the beloved sister and faithful friend of mourners who have caused this stone to be erected with an earnest wish that their own remains may be laid by her side, and a humble hope that through Christ they may together be made partakers of the same blessed resurrection. She was born at Penrith 1st January, 1776, and died at Rydal 23rd June, 1835. In fulfilment of that wish GRASMEEE CHURCHYAKD. 31 ■ are now gathered near her the remams of William Wordsworth, born at Cockermouth, 7th April, 1770, Died at Rydal 23rd April, 1850. And of Dorothy Wordsworth, born at Cocker- mouth 25th December, 1771, Died at Eydal 25th January, 1855. And finally of Mary Wordsworth, wife of William Wordsworth, and sister of Sarah Hutchinson, Born at Penrith August 16th, 1770, Died at Rydal Mount January 17th, 1859. 7. Wordsworth. — William Wordsworth, 1850. Mary Wordsworth, 1859. •Quillinan. — Dora Quillinan, 9th day of July, 1847. — " Him that cometh unto Me I will in no wise cast out." St. John, 6th chap., 37th ver, '9. Quillinan. — Edward Quillinan, Born at Oporto August 12th, 1791, died at Loughrigg Holme, July 8th, 1851. 10. ■Quillinan. — Jemima Anne D. Quillinan, Died May 25th, 1822, Aged 27. Near this grave rests Dora, the Daughter of William and Mary Wordsworth, of Rydal Mount, wife of Edward Quillinan. She was born the 16th of August, 1804, Married 11th of May, 1841. She died on the 9th of July, 1847. — "Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection and the life." St. John XI., XXV. E.Q. 32 middleton's handbook to geasmeee. 11. Quillinan. — Sacred to the beloved memory of EoTHA Quillinan, died at Loughrigg Holme, Eydal, 1st February, 1876, aged 54. — " Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God." 12. Quillinan. — And of Jemima Kathaeine Quillinan, her sister, Born October 9th, 1819, Died at • Loughrigg Holme January 28th, 1891. Clough. — In memory of Anne Clough, a native of Pontefract, Yorkshire, and the widow of James Butler Clough, of Liverpool. She died at Eller How, Ambleside, on the 12th of June, 1860, aged 65 years. Through many a scene of weal and woe Her changeful life was passed ; But ever did her heart o'erflow, With love e'en to the last ! She poured it on a chosen few. Who now can but deplore The fond affection they have lost, And know on earth no more. •■ But trustfully and yearningly They look to heaven above, Ah ! lives not there, now free from care, Their lost one's faithful love ? "Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was, and the spirit shall return to God who gave it." Clough. — In memory of Aethur Hugh Clough, sometime fellow of Oriel College, Oxford, the beloved son of James Butlee and Anne Clough, this remembrance in his own country is placed GEASMERE CHURCHYARD. 33 on his mother's grave by those to whom hfe was made happy by his presence and his love. He is buried in the Swiss Cemetery at Florence, where he died Novr, 13th, 1851, aged 42. Now, dearest, that thy brows are cold, We see thee what thou art, and know Thy likeness to the wise below, Thy kindred with the great of old. Also in memory of Anne Jemima Clough, Prin- cipal of Newnham College, Cambridge, only daughter of James Butler and Anne Clough. She was born January 20th, 1820, Died at Cambridge February 27th, 1892, and is buried in Granschester Churchyard. — " The righteous and the wise, and their works, are in the hand of God." E. side, between Wordsworth's grave and the Church. Coleridge.—" By Thy Cross and Passion, Good Lord, deliver us." — Hartley Coleridge, born September xixth, A.D. mdccxcvi., deceased January viith, A.D. mdcccxlix. — The stones which mark the grave of Hartley Coleridge, eldest son of Samuel Taylor Coleridge, were erected by his surviving brother and sister, towards the close of the year mdcccl. E. side, near Wordsworth's grave. Dixon. — In affectionate remembrance of James Dixon, born 19th July, 1799, died 4th April, 1878. He was for 33 years the faithful Servant of Mr. and Mrs. Wordsworth, of Eydal Mount, and for upwards of half-a-century the much valued friend of the family. 84 middleton's handbook to grasmere. Green. — To the memory of John Hartley, who died at Brigham, near Keswick, Nov. 26, 1848, aged 73. — Also of Agnes, his wife, who died at Braithwaite July 5th, 1842, Aged 67.— Also of George and Sarah Green, parents of the above Agnes, who perished in the snow on Langdale Fell March 19th, 1808, George Green aged GG, Sarah Green aged 43. — " Christ our Salvation." — Also of Jane, Avife of Wilson Cole, and daughter of John and Agnes Hartley, who died 25th Aug., 1879, aged 68 years. Green. — Sacred to the memory of William Green, the last 23 years of whose life were passed in this neighbourhood ; where by his skill and industry as an artist he produced faithful repre- sentations of the country and lasting memorials of its more perishable features. He was born at Manchester, and died at Ambleside on the 29th day of April, 1823, in the 63 year of his age. Deeply lamented by a numerous family, and universally respected. His afflicted widow caused this stone to be erected. E. side. Hull. — "Thou hast made me glad through Thy works." William Hull, artist, who fell asleep 15th March, 1880, aged 59. Lewis. — To the memory of Louisa Ann, the wafe of James Wrigley Lewis, and only daughter of John Clark Langmead, Esquire, and Louisa Ann, his wife, of Plymouth, Born 15th June, GEASMERE CHURCHYARD. 35 1790, Died 24tli May, 1812.— Erected by T.D., of Lancaster, her unknown friend, May, 1847. Stranger ! whoe'er thou art. If chance hath led thee to this lonely spot. Or, stealing pensively from pleasure's path. Thou lov'st to linger in these haunts of silence, Pause at this sacred shrine ; Here, 'neath this stone, rests the cold dust of one Whose ardent virtues and superior charms From every mortal drew the meed of praise. In love and admiraton ; In spring's bright morn of life, While yet the roseblush flourished on her cheek, While hope's bland accents harmonized her soul. She drooped and languished ; Ungenial frost Nipped the sweet bud as fresh and fair it grew, Sepulchring all its blossoms ; Seven mournful months She pressed the couch of death, While pale consumption chairged her beauteous form. Corrosive, mining all her strength within, Drained her warm heart, And bent her to the grave. Richardson. — Sacred to the memory of Sir John Richardson, born at Dumfries November 5th, 1787, died at Lancrigg June 5th, 18G5.— "Wait on the Lord, be of good courage, and He shall strengthen thine heart. Wait, I say, on the Lord." Psalm 27th, 14 verse. — " Eejoicing in hope, patient in tribulation, continuing instant in prayer." Eomans xii., 12 verse. Walker — Thompson — Tyson — Garnett. — ' ' In the midst of life we are in death." Here lie the bodies of John Walker, aged 28 years ; George Thompson, aged 27 years ; Isaac Tyson, 36 middleton's handbook to gkasmere. aged 20 years ; Thomas Garnett, aged .20 years. They were fellow-workmen, carpenters at one establishment at Waterhead, and were all sud- denly called into eternity by the upsetting of a sail-boat on Lake Windermere, opposite to Belle Grange, on the 13th day of July, 1851. The three first were members of the Loyal Windermere Lodge of the Society of Oddfellows, Ambleside. As a tribute to their worth, and as a mark of esteem for the departed, their sorrowing brethren of the Society and sym- pathising friends have erected this stone to their memory. May they rest in peace. To Wordsworth. Tliere have been poets that in verse display The elemental forms of human passions : Poets have been, to whom the fickle fashions And all the wilful humours of the day Have furnish'd matter for a polish'd lay : And many are the smooth elaborate tribe Who, emulous of thee, the shape describe. And fain would every shifting hue pourtray Of restless Nature. But, thou mighty Seer ! 'Tis thine to celebrate the thoughts that make The life of souls, the truths for whose sweet sake We to ourselves and to our God are dear. Of Nature's inner shrine thou art the priest. Where most she works when we perceive her least. Hartley Coleridge. Grasmere Rnshbearing. *Zr'SSOCIATED with Grasmere Church is the ^«J-» Rushbearing, which now takes place annually on the Saturday after August 5th, S. Oswald's Day. At one time Rushbearings were quite common, especially in the north of England, but in the present century they have died out in all but a very few places. Indeed it may be claimed for Grasmere that it is the only place where the custom appears to have an unbroken record from remote ages. The parish registers of Grasmere have been searched, and among the accounts, in 1682, is a charge for " Ale bestowed on ye Rushbearers and others 2/-." This charge appears in every successive year's account up to 1830, when it appears as " Gingerbread for Rushbearers 6/8 " — -later, as " Cakes for the Rush- bearers 9/4," and so on down to 1857, when a collection was made among the parishioners and visitors for the rushbearers and band. Much has been written as to the origin of this interesting custom, but the simplest explanation is probably the best. In olden time the floors not only of the Churches but of the houses were strewn with rushes, and the custom appears "to have lingered in Churches after newer methods had found place in the houses. The rushes, or " sieves " as they are locally termed, were cut as soon as the hay harvest was finished. They were taken to Church and strewn over the earth in the low open seats. A writer in Hone's Year Book says he found the seat floors of Grasmere Church all unpaved in 1828. The event being an annual one, and, coming at the 38 middleton's handbook to gras:.:eee. end of harvest, no doubt would be made the occasion of decorating the Church as well as feasting and jollity. After the strewing of the rushes ceased — with the introduction of pews and floors in 1841, the decorations were continued with the rest of the festive observances. Here is a very interesting account of Grasmere Eushbearing, recorded in Hone's Table Book, by T. Q. M., who joTu^neyed from Craven to Keswick, arriving at Grasmere July 21st, 1827 : " The Church door was open and I discovered that the vihagers were strewing the floors with fresh rushes. During the whole of this day, I observed the children busily employed in preparing garlands of such wild flowers as the beautiful valley produces for the evening procession, which commenced at 9 p.m. in the following order : — The children, chiefly girls, holding these garlands paraded through the village preceded by the Union Band (thanks to the great drijm for thisniforma- tion). They then entered the Church, when the three largest garlands were placed on the Altar, and the remaining ones in various other parts of the place. In the procession I observed the Opium Eater, Mr. Barber (an opulent gentleman residing in the neighbourhood), Mr. and Mrs. Wordsworth, Miss Wordsworth, and Miss Dora Wordsworth. Wordsworth is the chief supporter of these rustic ceremonies. The procession over, the party adjourned to the ball-room, a hay-loft, at my worthy friend Mr. Bell's, where the country lads and lasses tripped it merrily and heavily. They called the amusement dancing, but I called it thumping, for he who could make the greatest noise seemed to be esteemed the best dancer, and on the present occasion I think Mr. Pooley, the schoolmaster, bore away the palm. Billy Dawson, the fiddler, boasted to us of having been the officiating minstrel at this ceremony for the last six-and-forty years. He made grievous complaints of the outlandish tunes which the ' Union Band chaps ' intro- duce. In the procession of this evening they annoyed Billy by playing the ' Hunter's Chorus ' in friskets. ' Who ' says Billy, ' can keep timff with such a queer thing ?' Amongst the gentlemen dancers was one Dan Birkett. He introduced him- GRASMEEE RUSHBEARING. 39 self to us by seizing my coat-collar and saying, ' I'm old Dan Birkett, of Wythburn, sixty-six years old, not a better jigger in Westmorland.' No, thought I, nor a greater toss-pot. On my relating this to an old man present, he told me not to judge of Westmorland manners by Dan's, 'for,' said he, 'yousee, sir, he's a Statesman, and has been to Lunnon, and so takes liberties.' In Westmorland, farmers residing on their own estate are called Statesmen. The dance was kept up till a quarter to twelve, when a livery servant entered and delivered the following verbal message to Billy : ' Master's respects, and will thank you to lend him the fiddle-stick.' Billy took the hint — the Sabbath was now at hand, and the Pastor of the Parish had adopted this gentle mode of appriz- ing the assembled revellers that they ought to cease their revelry. The servant departed with the fiddle-stick, the chandelier was removed, and when the village clock struck twelve not an individual was to be seen out of doors in the village." The Rushbearing continued to be observed in much the same fashion for the next 50 years. When the writer first saw tlie celebration, in 1864, a few modifications liad taken place. The garlands carried in the procession were borne by the village school children and were all made with a foundation of moss or rushes decked with natural flowers — mostly from the gardens, but a few wild. The children assembled at six o'clock and arranged their garlands on the low Churchyard wall. They were afterwards carried in procession round the village and then taken into the Church, when they were nailed to the pews next to the passages. The " Rushbearing Hymn " was sung and the ceremony at Church was at an end. Each rushbearer received two pieces of gingerbread on leaving Church. The young men always had a bout at wrestling, and a dance followed at the Red Lion. So matters went on until 1885. Attention having been called to the fact that Ruslibearings 40 middleton's handbook to geasmeee. were nearly always connected with the Dedication Feast, that feast- was revived at Grasmere and the Eushbearing day altered from the last Saturday hut one in July to the Saturday next after August 5th, S. Oswald's Day, to which Saint the Church is dedicated. Since then new developments have taken place, which are said to he only revivals of old times, and the Eushbearing of to-day is briefly .described as follows : — The children assemble with their garlands and arrange them on the Churchyard wall at six o'clock p.m. At 6-30 the procession is marshalled in the road in the following order : Banner of S. Oswald. Clergy and Choir in surplices. Band. Queen with Pages. Maids of Honour bearing the Eush Sheet. The Eushbearers. The hymn for S. Oswald is then sung, and the band strikes up the " Eushbearing March " (said to have been played nearly a century ago), and the procession perambulates the village, the bells ringing and tower flag flying. On returning to the Church the " Eushbearers' Hymn " is sung and the garlands arranged round the walls. Full choral Evensong follows, at the end of which the children receive their gingerbread, and some wrestling engages the attention of the young men. ' The garlands are removed on the following Monday and carried to a neighbouring field, when the may-pole is set up and a regular gala is held for the Eush- bearers and all who choose to share it. 41 Hymn for S. Oswald. As break of dawn on heathen gloom, Thy Saints, Christ, like Oswald shine ; A living light that scorns the tomb. And glows within a shrine. By him up-reared, the Cross far threw Its shadow on Northumbrian sod, A folk that only idols knew Stretched forth their hands to God. The battle's din ! the exile grief, Trained him to rule with righteous hand ; His bounty fell with large relief, His learning taught the land. They won us peace, Thy Saints, Lord, Even though, like Royal David, they. Smiting and smitten with the sword, Toiled through their mortal day. Thou mak'st the wrath of man Thy praise : Like torrent down a mountain's brow That cleft its way in ancient days And feeds the valleys now. To Thee, we keep these festal hours. Green with the rush from vale and mere ; Thy sun wakes colour in our flowers. By Thee Thy Saints shine clear. — Amen. 42 The Rushbearers' Hymn. Our fathers to the House of God, As yet a building rude, Bore offerings from the flowery sod, And fragrant rushes strewed. May we, their children, ne'er forget The pious lesson given, But honour still, together met, The Lord of Earth and Heaven. Sing we the good Creator's praise. Who gives us sun and showers To cheer our hearts with fruitful days And deck our world with flowers. These, of the great Redeemer's grace, Bright emblems here are seen ; He makes to smile the desert place With flowers and rushes green. All glory to the Father be, All glory to the Son, All glory Holy Ghost to Thee, While endless ages run. — Amen. Dove Cottage. *T^OVE COTTAGE is a charming little old- r*— ^ fashioned dwelling, beautified by fragrant trail- ing roses, jasmine, and other flowering plants, and it is hallowed by seven-and-a-half years' association of a Poet whose memory will be venerated more and more as generation succeeds generation. In this rustic cot- — once an inn carrying the sign of the Dove and Olive Branch — Wordsworth and his sister Dorothy, " on Nature's invitation," took up their abode and here resided from December, 1799, to May, 1808. They took possession on the shortest day of the year after a walk side by side through Wensleydale. Furnish- ing cost them dGlOO, and the rent was £8 a year. At this period AVordsworth was indeed poor. But for a legacy (£900, in 1795,) from an admiring Keswick youth named Raisley Calvert, he would have been too impecunious to have settled even in this modest house. " Calvert ! it must not be unheard by them Who may respect my name, that I to thee Owed many years of early liberty." For some years the combined income of the Poet and his sister was only £80 a year. Wordsworth himself confessed that for long his poetry had never brought him in enough to buy his shoe strings. Yet the Poet was contented and happy, joyous as a soaring lark, here pouring out his song with a ring richer than any of his previous or subsequent strains. Matthew Arnold, in the edition of Wordsworth's u middleton's handbook to grasmere. poems edited by liim, writes : " Taking the roll of our chief poetical names, besides Shakespeare and Milton, from the age of Elizabeth downwards, and going through it, — Spenser, Dryden, Pope, Gray, Goldsmith, Cowper, Burns, Coleridge, Scott, Camp- bell, Moore, Byron, Shelley, Keats (I mention those only who are dead), — I think it certain that Wordsworth's name deserves to stand, and will finally stand, above them all But this is not enough to say. I think it certain, further, that if we ■.^:^- DOVE COTTAGE. take the chief poetical names of the Continent since the death of Moliere, and, omitting Goethe, confront the remaining names with that of Wordsworth, the result is the same." Mr. Arnold continues : " Wordsworth composed verses during a space of some sixty years ; and it is no exaggeration to say that within one single decade of those years, between 1798 and 1808, almost all his really first-rate work DOVE COTTAGE. 45 was produced," The decade singled out is almost identical with the years of Wordsworth's occupancy of Dove Cottage. Thus the most unpretentious of Wordsworth's four Lakeland residences (all within the parish of Grasmere) is not only celebrated as his first and best-loved one, as the one to which he brought his bride in 1802, but also as the one that saw the zenith of his powers. It is noteworthy that he has sung more sweetly and more copiously of this home — " the sweetest spot that man hath ever found "—than of any of his others. An increasing family crowded out the Poet in 1808. To posterity Dove Cottage will be of prime interest, and the public cannot be too grateful to the Rev. Stopford A. Brooke for setting on foot, in 1890, the movement which has resulted in the securing of it as a National Memorial. Since the day of Wordsworth a few trifling alterations had been made to the house, such as flooring the basement with boards, and glazing the windows with larger panes ; but the expenditure of a few pounds has so re-antiquated the place as to make it wear the features it did when occupied by " Nature's High Priest." The splendid view of Grasmere Lake and Silver How, however, cannot be regained, as it is shut out by houses that have been built quite near to Dove Cottage. The Visitor can gain admittance on payment of sixpence. He will enter by a small rudely-made oaken door — the original, even to knocker and lock and key. De Quincey, in giving an account of his visit to Wordsworth in 1807, has described the interior. He says : "I went forward into the house. A little semi-vestibule between two doors prefaced the entrance into what might be considered the principal room of the cottage. It was an oblong 46 middleton's handbook to geasmere. square, not above eiglit-and-a-half feet high, sixteen feet long, and twelve broad ; very prettily wainscotted from the floor to the ceiling with dark polished oak, slightly embellished with carving. One window there was — a perfect and unpretending cottage window with little diamond panes, embowered at almost every season of the year with roses ; and, in the summer and autum, with a profusion of jasmine and other fragrant shrubs. ... I was ushered up a little flight of stairs to a little drawing-room, or whatever the reader chooses to call it. Wordsworth himself has described the fireplace of this room as his ' Half kitchen and half parlour fire.' It was not fully seven feet six inches high, and, in other respects, pretty nearly of the same dimensions as the rustic hall below. There was, however, in a small recess, a library of perhaps three hundred volumes, which seemed to consecrate the room as the poet's study and composing room ; and such occasionally it was." Towards the back of the house a tiny bedroom with swing sash is certain to excite curiosity. Keferring to it in her journal, Dorothy Wordsworth says it is "a small, low, unceiled room, which I have papered with newspapers, and in which we have put a small bed." It was added to the house according to the plans of the Poet and his sister for the accommodation of occasional guests. In the lodging and other rooms will be noticed various articles which contribute interest to a visit to the cottage. Among the items of household furniture is Wordsworth's bed ; and decorating the walls are several portraits of the Poet and one of De Quincey. The "sweet garden orchard, eminently fair," in the rear of the house, should not escape DOVE COTTAGE. 47 notice, for it is redolent with pleasant memories. In it will be noticed the Poet's rocky well, the stone steps that he assisted to lay down, and the rock that was hewn into the shape of a chair by S. T. Coleridge. Peeping here and there will likewise attract the eye many wildling blooms, descendants of those " chosen plants and blossoms " brought hither " from among the distant momitains " by Wordsworth and his devoted sister Dorothy, her of whom he said, amongst other graceful tributes : " My eyes did ne'er Fix on a lovely object, nor my mind Take pleasure in tlie midst of happy thoughts, But either she, who now I have, who now Divides with me this loved abode, was there Or not far off. Where'er my footsteps turned. Her voice was like a hidden bird that sang. The thought of her was like a flash of light. Or an unseen companionship — a breath Of fragrance independent of the wind ! " At his simple mountain home Wordsworth was visited by many celebrities, not only those of the " Lake School," but also others well-known in the fields of Poetry, Art, Science, and the State. From Dove Cottage, in 1805, Wordsworth, Scott, and Davy commenced the ascent of Helvellyn. It was from knowledge gathered on this occasion that Scott wrote his poem on Charles Gough, a Nature-loving wayfarer, who perished on Helvellyn's solitude. The same sad event has likewise been enshrined in poetry by Wordsworth. Professor Dowden, alluding to this period of Wordsworth's history, writes : — " Life at Dove Cottage was simple and frugal ; but it was rich in gifts of natural beauty, in sympathy with man and woman, in the joys and pains of friendship, in 48 middleton's handbook to grasmeee, imaginative delight, in literary culture, in seriouai thought and high aspiring. Dorothy cooked, washed, mended clothes ; William chopped wood and dug in the garden. Their food was plain ; their drink was water of the well. And every flower and every cloud was dear to them ; the loveliness of lake and mountain sank into their hearts ; the grief or gladness of their simple neighbours became their own ; while also they lived in the substantial world of books, and had for close companions Spenser and Ariosto, Chaucer and Milton, Dante and Shakespeare ; and daily new creations of beauty came into being under the Poet's hand, inestimable moments of passionate contemplation were caught and made permanent by art." A further interest is centred in Dove Cottage, for when Wordsworth left it for Allan Bank he was succeeded by De Quincey, who resided here for more than twenty years. At Grasmere the baneful habit of opium ea.ting grew upon him, and this was the cottage whose interior and surroundings he so vividly pictures in his " Confessions." De Quincey married Margaret Simpson, the daughter of a neighbouring farmer, and, like Wordsworth, spent his early married •life at Dove Cottage. Lovers of Wordsworth, now that Dove Cottage has been secured as a National Memorial, will henceforth wend their footsteps hither as to a hallowed shrine. " The tallest tower that ever rose Hath but a span to soar ; Palace and fame are passing shows, But time will be no more When Wordsworth's Home no longer leads Men's far-off feet to Grasmere's meads And sanctifies its shore." Alfred Austin. WINDERMERE AND DISTRICT HOUSE AND ESTATE AGENCY. Offices : Lake Eoad, Bowness, Windermere, & Rydal Eoad, Ambleside. JOHN NICHOLSON, ^ntiionttv, Insurance v^ ^bipptng ^gent. VALUATIONS FOR PROBATE. Monthly House List, with Map of the District, on application. All enquiries answered free of charge. Established 1874. GUIDE BOOKS, MAPS, Sec. sjlm: read. Bookseller & Stationer, GRASMERE. — * — All \1\Q -best Bool^s i^ Stocl^. PHOTOGRAPHS BY VARIOUS ARTISTS. Stationery of every description. N.B. — Book parcels regularly from London. "MOSS GROVE" FIRST CLASS TEMPERANCE ^ HOTEL 100 Yards to the North of the Church. Char-a-bancs and other ConYeyances run to and from the Moss Grove Hotel daily for all parts of the District. Parties Cateeed fob by Arrangbment. COFFEE EOOMS, PUBLIC DEAWING ROOM, BATH EOOM (Hot and Cold). Every information to "Visitors respecting "Walking and Driving Excursions. Tariff and Boarding Terms on application to E. H. BALDRY, Propnetor. To be obtained of Booksellers in the Lake District. QUILLINAN'S P0EM5. ONE SHILLING. Contains : A Flower of Fairfield, The Birch of Silverhow, The Canary Goldfinch, "Wausfell, Rydal Beck, Dalegarth Beck, Clouds, Wordsworth's Home and other Sonnets, To the Poet, Verses written in the Album of Edith May Southey, Ambleside Vale (Song), Low Wood, Winandermere ; Address to a Pony, On the Eeported Visit of Queen Adelaide to Wordsworth, Funeral of Eobert Southey, &c. Published by G. Middleton, Ambleside. TOGI Lake District Photographs in Silver or Platinum, including — Views of Grasmere Lake, Village, and Church. Views of Dove Cottage, Eydal Mount, The Knoll, and other celebrated houses. Scenes referred to by Wordsworth. Portraits of Wordsworth by Haydon, Boxall, Pickers- gill, &c. Portrait of Dr. Arnold. Portrait of Eev. Stopford A. Brooke taken at Dove Cottage. Portraits of Southey, Hartley Coleridge, Mrs. Hemans, &c. And Views of the Lakes, Morintains, Passes, Tarns, and all places of interest in the District may be obtained from HERBERT BELL, Photographer, Ambleside. AGENT for GKASMERE— T. BELL, CHEMIST. To be obtained of Booksellers in the Lake District. Wttttvs ivBux tljt Hakts, Translated from the German of Philip Kempfeehausbn. These Letters were written in the Summer of 1818, and contain interesting reminiscences of visits to Wordsworth and Southey, as well as a charming description of walks in Lakeland. Price Gd. Published by G. Middleton, Ambleside. (The Home of pedestrians — central point of the Lake district.) EOTHAY HOTEL DELIGHTFULLY situated in its own grounds of several acres, on the banks of the Rothay, and the nearest Hotel to the resting-place of Wordsworth and Hartley Coleridge in Grasmere Churchyard. Its position in the very heart of the loveliest scenery of Eng- lish Lakeland, and on the coach-route from Windermere to Keswick, renders it an unsurpassed head-quarters from which to make EXCURSIONS IN ALL DIRECTIONS. The places con- veniently visited from it by carriage include Eydal (the home of Wordsworth), Ambleside, W^indermere, Coniston, the Lang- dales, Thirlmere, Keswick, and Pa»tterdale (Ullswater) ; there are dived pony-tracI:s to Easedale Tarn, Borrowdale, Derwent- water, Ullswater, and the tops of Helvellyn and Fairfield ; while the pedestrian has the greatest possible choice of routes. Omnihiixes to and from the Hotel every half-hour in connec- tion with Windermere Steamers. PUBLIC COACHES to KESWICK, CONISTON, ULLSWATER, THE LANGDALES, and WIN- DERMERE. PONIES AND GUIDES. LAWN TENNIS. BILLIARDS. BOATING. FISHING. Parties coming to the Hotel or to other places in the village can have conveyances to meet them at Windermere, Ambleside ( Waterhead), or Keswick on application. Telegraph: " Kothay, Grasmere." J. Cowperthwaite, Propr. Late of Mr. Eraser's Loch Awe Hotel, Argyleshire. \* The NEW EOAD along the West side of THIRLMERE being now completed, a service of COACHES leaves this Hotel for the circuit of that Lake, &c. I MIDDLETON'S Illustrated HANDBOOK TO rasmere CONTENTS GKASMBRE CHUECH .' ' ' GRASMERB CHURCHTARD GRASMBRB RUSHBBARING DOVB OOTq:AGB, etc. GEORGE MIDDLETON, OLI> MILL BRIDGE 1894 7" snsmsBi K^iT-!*-.; ' %i / \^