Chapter VIII (3)

"On receiving the summons, Northumberland at once withdrew to
Brancepeth Castle, a stronghold of the Earl of Westmoreland.
Straightway all their vassals rose, and gathered round the two
great earls. The whole of the North was in arms. A proclamation
went forth that they intended to restore the ancient religion, to
settle the succession to the crown, and to prevent the destruction
of the old nobility. As they marched forward they were joined by
all the strength of the Yorkshire dales, and, among others, by a
gentleman of ancient name, Richard Norton, accompanied by eight
brave sons. He came bearing the common banner, called the Banner
of the Five Wounds, because on it was displayed the Cross with the
five wounds of our Lord. The insurgents entered Durham, tore the
Bible, caused mass to be said in the cathedral, and then set
forward as for York. Changing their purpose on the way, they
turned aside to lay siege to Barnard Castle, which was held by Sir
George Bowes for the Queen. While they lingered there for eleven
days, Sussex marched against them from York, and the earls, losing
heart, retired towards the Border, and disbanded their forces,
which were left to the vengeance of the enemy, while they
themselves sought refuge in Scotland. Northumberland, after a
confinement of several years in Loch Leven Castle, was betrayed by
the Scots to the English, and put to death. Westmoreland died an
exile in Flanders, the last of the ancient house of the Nevilles,
earls of Westmoreland. Norton, with his eight sons, fell into the
hands of Sussex, and all suffered death at York. It is the fate of
this ancient family on which Wordsworth's poem is founded."

This statement as to the fate of Norton's sons, however, is not borne out by the historians. Mr. Froude says (_History of England_, chap. 53), "Two sons of old Norton and two of his brothers, after long and close cross-questioning in the Tower, were tried and convicted at Westminster. Two of these Nortons were afterwards pardoned. Two, one of whom was Christopher, the poor youth who had been bewildered by the fair eyes of the Queen of Scots at Bolton, were put to death at Tyburn, with the usual cruelties."

IV. (See p. 127.)

_For we must fall, both we and ours--
This Mansion and these pleasant bowers,
Walks, pools, and arbours, homestead, hall--
Our fate is theirs, will reach them all._

Little now remains of Rylstone Hall but the site. "Some garden flowers still, as when Whitaker wrote, mark the site of the pleasaunce. The house fell into decay immediately after the attainder of the Nortons; and, with the estates here, remained in the hands of the Crown until the second year of James I., when they were granted to the Earl of Cumberland. Although Wordsworth makes the Nortons raise their famous banner here, they assembled their followers in fact at Ripon (November 18, 1569), but their Rylstone tenants rose with them."

V. (See p. 137.)

_Until Lord Dacre with his power
From Naworth come; and Howard's aid
Be with them openly displayed._

Naworth Castle, at the head of the vale of Llanercort, in the Gilsland district of Cumberland, was the seat of the Dacres from the reign of Edward III. George, Lord Dacre, the last heir-male of that family, was killed in 1559; and Lord William Howard (the third son of Thomas, Duke of Norfolk), who was made Warden of the Borders by Queen Elizabeth, and did much to introduce order and good government into the district, married the heiress of the Dacre family, and succeeded to the castle and estate of Naworth. The arms over the entrance of the castle are the Howard's and Dacre's quartered.

VI. (See p. 137.)

_... mitred Thurston--what a Host
He conquered!..._
_... while to battle moved
The Standard, on the Sacred Wain
That bore it...._

The Battle of the Standard was fought in 1137.

"One gleam of national glory broke the darkness of the time. King
David of Scotland stood first among the partizans of his kinswoman
Matilda, and on the accession of Stephen his army crossed the
border to enforce her claim. The pillage and cruelties of the wild
tribes of Galloway and the Highlands roused the spirit of the
north; baron and freeman gathered at York round Archbishop
Thurstan, and marched to the field of Northallerton to await the
foe. The sacred banners of St. Cuthbert of Durham, St. Peter of
York, St. John of Beverley, and St. Wilfrid of Ripon, hung from a
pole fixed in a four-wheeled car, which stood in the centre of the
host. 'I who wear no armour,' shouted the chief of the Galwegians,
'will go as far this day as any one with breastplate of mail;' his
men charged with wild shouts of 'Albin, Albin,' and were followed
by the Norman knighthood of the Lowlands. The rout, however, was
complete; the fierce hordes dashed in vain against the close
English ranks around the Standard, and the whole army fled in
confusion to Carlisle." (J. R. Green's _Short History of the
English People_, p. 99.)

VII. (See p. 153.)

_High on a point of rugged ground
Among the wastes of Rylstone Fell
Above the loftiest ridge or mound
Where foresters or shepherds dwell,
An edifice of warlike frame
Stands single--Norton Tower its name--
It fronts all quarters, and looks round
O'er path and road, and plain and dell,
Dark moor, and gleam of pool and stream
Upon a prospect without bound._

"Some mounds near the tower are thought to have been used as butts
for archers; and there are traces of a strong wall, running from
the tower to the edge of a deep glen, whence a ditch runs to
another ravine. This was once a pond, used by the Nortons for
detaining the red deer within the township of Rylstone, which they
asserted was not within the forest of Skipton, and consequently
that the Cliffords had no right to hunt therein. The Cliffords
eventually became lords of all the Norton lands here."

* * * * *

In January 1816, Wordsworth wrote thus to his friend Archdeacon Wrangham.

"Of _The White Doe_ I have little to say, but that I hope it will
be acceptable to the intelligent, for whom alone it is written. It
starts from a high point of imagination, and comes round, through
various wanderings of that faculty, to a still higher--nothing
less than the apotheosis of the animal who gives the first of the
two titles to the poem. And as the poem thus begins and ends with
pure and lofty imagination, every motive and impetus that actuates
the persons introduced is from the same source; a kindred spirit
pervades, and is intended to harmonise, the whole. Throughout
objects (the banner, for instance) derive their influence, not
from properties inherent in them, not from what they _are_
actually in themselves, but from such as are _bestowed_ upon them
by the minds of those who are conversant with, or affected by,
these objects. Thus the poetry, if there be any in the work,
proceeds, as it ought to do, from the _soul of man_, communicating
its creative energies to the images of the external world."

The following is from a letter to Southey in the same year:--"Do you know who reviewed _The White Doe_ in the 'Quarterly'? After having asserted that Mr. W. uses his words without any regard to their sense, the writer says that on no other principle can he explain that Emily is _always_ called 'the consecrated Emily.' Now, the name Emily occurs just fifteen times in the poem; and out of these fifteen, the epithet is attached to it _once_, and that for the express purpose of recalling the scene in which she had been consecrated by her brother's solemn adjuration, that she would fulfil her destiny, and become a soul,

"'By force of sorrows high
Uplifted to the purest sky
Of undisturbed mortality.'

The point upon which the whole moral interest of the piece hinges, when that speech is closed, occurs in this line,--

"'He kissed the consecrated Maid;'

And to bring back this to the reader, I repeated the epithet."

In a letter to Wordsworth about _The Waggoner_, Charles Lamb wrote, June 7, 1819, "I re-read _The White Doe of Rylstone_; the title should be always written at length, as Mary Sabilla Novello, a very nice woman of our acquaintance, always signs hers at the bottom of the shortest note.... Manning had just sent it home, and it came as fresh to me as the immortal creature it speaks of. M. sent it home with a note, having this passage in it: 'I cannot help writing to you while I am reading Wordsworth's poem.... 'Tis broad, noble, poetical, with a masterly scanning of human actions, absolutely above common readers.'" (See _The Letters of Charles Lamb_, edited by Alfred Ainger, vol. ii. pp. 25, 26.)

Henry Crabb Robinson's judgment, as given in his _Diary_, June 1815, is interesting. (See vol. i. p. 484.)

The following is from Principal Shairp's estimate of _The White Doe of Rylstone_ in his Oxford Lectures, _Aspects of Poetry_ (chapter xii. pp. 373-76). "What is it that gives to it" (the poem) "its chief power and charm? Is it not the imaginative use which the poet has made of the White Doe? With her appearance the poem opens, with her re-appearance it closes. And the passages in which she is introduced are radiant with the purest light of poetry. A mere floating tradition she was, which the historian of Craven had preserved. How much does the poet bring out of how little! It was a high stroke of genius to seize on this slight traditionary incident, and make it the organ of so much. What were the objects which he had to describe and blend into one harmonious whole. They were these:

"1. The last expiring gleam of feudal chivalry, ending in the ruin of an ancient race, and the desolation of an ancestral home.

"2. The sole survivor, purified and exalted by the sufferings she had to undergo.

"3. The pathos of the decaying sanctities of Bolton, after wrong and outrage, abandoned to the healing of nature and time.

"4. Lastly, the beautiful scenery of pastoral Wharfdale, and of the fells around Bolton, which blend so well with these affecting memories.

"All these were before him--they had melted into his imagination, and waited to be woven into one harmonious creation. He takes the White Doe, and makes her the exponent, the symbol, the embodiment of them all. The one central aim--to represent the beatification of the heroine--how was this to be attained? Had it been a drama, the poet would have made the heroine give forth in speeches, her hidden mind and character. But this was a romantic narrative. Was the poet to make her soliloquise, analyse her own feelings, lay bare her heart in metaphysical monologue? This might have been done by some modern poets, but it was not Wordsworth's way of exhibiting character, reflective though he was. When he analyses feelings they are generally his own, not those of his characters. To shadow forth that which is invisible, the sanctity of Emily's chastened soul, he lays hold of this sensible image--a creature, the purest, most innocent, most beautiful in the whole realm of nature--and makes her the vehicle in which he embodies the saintliness which is a thing invisible. It is the hardest of all tasks to make spiritual things sensuous, without degrading them. I know not where this difficulty has been more happily met; for we are made to feel that, before the poem closes, the Doe has ceased to be a mere animal, or a physical creature at all, but in the light of the poet's imagination, has been transfigured into a heavenly apparition--a type of all that is pure, and affecting, and saintly. And not only the chastened soul of her mistress, but the beautiful Priory of Bolton, the whole Vale of Wharfe, and all the surrounding scenery, are illumined by the glory which she makes; her presence irradiates them all with a beauty and an interest more than the eye discovers. Seen through her as an imaginative transparency, they become spiritualized; in fact, she and they alike become the symbol and expression of the sentiment which pervades the poem--a sentiment broad and deep as the world. And yet, any one who visits these scenes, in a mellow autumnal day, will feel that she is no alien or adventitious image, imported by the caprice of the poet, but altogether native to the place, one which gathers up and concentrates all the undefined spirit and sentiment which lie spread around it. She both glorifies the scenery by her presence, and herself seems to be a natural growth of the scenery, so that it finds in her its most appropriate utterance. This power of imagination to divine and project the very corporeal image which suits and expresses the image of a scene, Wordsworth has many times shown....

"And so the poem has no definite end, but passes off, as it were, into the illimitable. It rises out of the perturbations of time and transitory things, and, passing upward itself, takes our thoughts with it to calm places and eternal sunshine."--ED.

VARIANTS:

[1] 1837.

... born of heavenly birth, 1815.

[2] 1837.

... which ... 1815.

[3] 1837.

... is ... 1815.

[4] 1820.

... of the crystal Wharf, 1815.

[5] 1837.

A rural Chapel, neatly drest,
In covert like a little nest; 1815.

[6] 1837.

And faith and hope are in their prime, 1815.

[7]

And right across the verdant sod
Towards the very house of God;

Inserted in the editions of 1815 to 1832.

[8] 1837.

A gift ... 1815.

[9] 1837.

Is through ... 1815.

[10] 1837.

... she no less
To the open day gives blessedness. 1815.

[11] 1837.

... hand of healing,--
The altar, whence the cross was rent,
Now rich with mossy ornament,--
The dormitory's length laid bare,
Where the wild-rose blossoms fair;
And sapling ash, whose place of birth
Is that lordly chamber's hearth? 1815.

For altar, ... 1827.

Or dormitory's length ... 1827.

[12] 1837.

Methinks she passeth by the sight, 1815.

[13] 1827.

And in this way she fares, till at last 1815.

[14] 1845.

Gently ... 1815.

[15] 1837.

Like the river in its flowing;
Can there be a softer sound? 1815.

[16] 1837.

--When now again the people rear
A voice of praise, with awful chear! 1815.

[17] 1837.

Turn, with obeisance gladly paid,
Towards the spot, where, full in view,
The lovely Doe of whitest hue, 1815.

[18]

This whisper soft repeats what he
Had known from early infancy.

In the editions of 1815 to 1832 the paragraph begins with these
lines.

[19] 1837.

... is ... 1815.

[20] 1837.

Who in his youth had often fed 1815.

... hath ... 1827.

[21] 1837.

And lately hath brought home the scars
Gathered in long and distant wars-- 1815.

[22] 1837.

... hath mounted ... 1815.

[23] 1837.

... when God's grace
At length had in her heart found place, 1815.

[24] 1837.

Well may her thoughts be harsh; for she
Numbers among her ancestry 1815.

[25] 1827.

... Cumbria's ... 1815.

[26] 1837.

... humble ... 1815.

[27] 1837.

... through strong desire
Searching the earth with chemic fire: 1815.

[28] These two lines were added in the edition of 1837.

[29] 1837.

By busy dreams, and fancies wild; 1815.

[30] 1840.

Thou hast breeze-like visitings;
For a Spirit with angel wings
Hath touched thee, ... 1815.

A Spirit, with angelic wings,
In soft and breeze-like visitings,
Has touched thee-- ... 1837.

A Spirit, with his angelic wings, C.

[31] 1827.

... --'twas She who wrought 1815.

[32] 1837.

... the ... 1815.

[33] 1837.

... one that did fulfil 1815.

[34] 1837.

... (such was the command) 1815.

[35] 1845.

To be by force of arms renewed;
Glad prospect for the multitude! 1815.

To be triumphantly restored;
By the dread justice of the sword! 1820.

[36] 1827.

This ... 1815.

[37] 1827.

... blissful ... 1815.

[38] 1837.

Loud noise was in the crowded hall, 1815.

[39] 1837.

... which had a dying fall, 1815.

[40] 1837.

And on ... 1815.

[41] 1820.

... wet ... 1815.

[42] 1837.

Then seized the staff, and thus did say: 1815.

[43] 1837.

Forth when Sire and Sons appeared
A gratulating shout was reared,
With din ... 1815.

[44] 1837.

--A shout ... 1815.

[45] 1837.

And, when he waked at length, his eye 1815.

[46]

Oh! hide them from each other, hide,
Kind Heaven, this pair severely tried!

Inserted in the editions of 1815 to 1832.

[47]

How could he chuse but shrink or sigh?
He shrunk, and muttered inwardly,

Inserted in the editions of 1815 to 1832.

[48] 1837.

He paused, her silence to partake,
And long it was before he spake:
Then, all at once, his thoughts turned round, 1815.

[49] 1837.

... were beloved, 1815.

[50] This line was added in 1837.

[51] 1827.

Was He, ... 1815.

[52] 1820.

I, in the right ... 1815.

[53] 1827.

... to stand against ... 1815.

[54] 1837.

Thee, chiefly thee, ... 1815.

[55] 1837.

The last leaf which by heaven's decree
Must hang upon a blasted tree; 1815.

[56] 1827.

... we have breathed ... 1815.

[57] 1837.

... he pursued, 1815.

[58] 1837.

Now joy for you and sudden chear,
Ye Watchmen upon Brancepeth Towers;
Looking forth in doubt and fear, 1815.

[59] 1837.

Forthwith the armed Company 1815.

[60] 1837.

... hail ... 1815.

[61] 1837.

... the mildest birth, 1815.

[62]

With tumult and indignant rout

Inserted in the editions of 1815 to 1832.

[63] 1827.

Came Foot and Horse-men of each degree, 1815.

[64] 1827.

And the Romish Priest, ... 1815.

[65] 1827.

But none for undisputed worth 1815.

[66] 1815.

Like those eight Sons--embosoming
Determined thoughts--who, in a ring 1827.

The text of 1837 returns to that of 1815.

[67] This line was added in 1837.

[68] In youthful beauty flourishing,

Inserted in the editions of 1815 and 1820.

[69] 1837.

--With feet that firmly pressed the ground
They stood, and girt their Father round;
Such was his choice,--no Steed will he 1815.

[70] 1845.

He stood upon the verdant sod, 1815.

... grassy sod, 1820.

[71] 1837.

... higher ... 1815.

[72] 1827.

Rich ... 1815.

[73] 1837.

... --many see, ... 1815.

[74] 1837.

... these ... 1815.

[75] 1837.

... on ... 1815.

[76] 1837.

He takes this day ... 1815.

[77] 1837.

Stretched out upon the ground he lies,--
As if it were his only task
Like Herdsman in the sun to bask, 1815.

[78] 1820.

That he ... 1815.

[79] 1837.

And Neville was opprest with fear;
For, though he bore a valiant name,
His heart was of a timid frame, 1815.

[80] 1837.

And therefore will retreat to seize 1815.

[81] 1837.

... comes; ... 1815.

[82] 1837.

... giving ... 1815.

[83] 1837.

--How often hath the strength of heaven 1815.

[84] 1837.

... on the sacred wain,
On which the grey-haired Barons stood,
And the infant Heir of Mowbray's blood.
Beneath the saintly Ensigns three,
Their confidence and victory! 1815.

Stood confident of victory! 1820.

[85] 1837.

When, as the Vision gave command,
The Prior of Durham with holy hand
Saint Cuthbert's Relic did uprear
Upon the point of a lofty spear,
And God descended in his power,
While the Monks prayed in Maiden's Bower. 1815.

[86] 1837.

... and uphold."--
--The Chiefs were by his zeal confounded, 1815.

[87] 1837.

... raised so joyfully, 1815.

[88] This line was added in 1837.

[89] 1837.

... frail ... 1815.

[90] 1827.

--So speaking, he upraised his head
Towards that Imagery once more; 1815.

[91] 1827.

Blank fear, ... 1815.

[92] 1837.

She did in passiveness obey, 1815.

[93] 1837.

Her Brother was it who assailed
Her tender spirit and prevailed.
Her other Parent, too, whose head 1815.

[94] 1837.

From reason's earliest dawn beguiled
The docile, unsuspecting Child: 1815.

[95] 1837.

... music sweet
Was played to chear them in retreat;
But Norton lingered in the rear:
Thought followed thought--and ere the last
Of that unhappy train was past,
Before him Francis did appear. 1815.

[96] 1837.

"Now when 'tis not your aim to oppose,"
Said he, "in open field your Foes;
Now that from this decisive day
Your multitude must melt away,
An unarmed Man may come unblamed;
To ask a grace, that was not claimed
Long as your hopes were high, he now
May hither bring a fearless brow;
When his discountenance can do
No injury,--may come to you.
Though in your cause no part I bear,
Your indignation I can share;
Am grieved this backward march to see,
How careless and disorderly!
I scorn your Chieftains, Men who lead,
And yet want courage at their need;
Then look at them with open eyes!
Deserve they further sacrifice?
My Father!..." 1815.

[97] 1837.

... remains ... 1815.

[98] 1837.

At length, the issue of this prayer?
Or how, from his depression raised,
The Father on his Son had gazed; 1815.

[99] 1845.

Suffice it that the Son gave way,
Nor strove that passion to allay, 1815.

[100] 1837.

The like endeavours 1815.

[101] 1837.

From cloudless ether looking down,
The Moon, this tranquil evening, sees 1815.

[102] 1837.

... with moors between,
Hill-tops, and floods, and forests green, 1815.

[103] 1827.

The silver smoke, and mounts in wreaths. 1815.

[104] 1827.

Had ... 1815.

[105] 1837.

The same fair Creature which was nigh
Feeding in tranquillity,
When Francis uttered to the Maid 1815.

... who was nigh 1820.

[106] Lines 40-43 were added in 1837.

[107] 1836.

But where at this still hour is she,
The consecrated Emily?
Even while I speak, behold the Maid
Emerging from the cedar shade 1815.

[108] In the editions of 1815 to 1832, the paragraph ends with this line. The remaining nine lines in these editions are added to the following paragraph.

[109] 1837.

Yet the meek Creature was not free,
Erewhile, from some perplexity:
For thrice hath she approached, this day,
The thought-bewildered Emily;
Endeavouring, in her gentle way,
Some smile or look of love to gain,--
Encouragement to sport or play;
Attempts which by the unhappy Maid
Have all been slighted or gainsaid. 1815.

[110] 1837.

--O welcome to the viewless breeze!
'Tis fraught with acceptable feeling,
And instantaneous sympathies
Into the Sufferer's bosom stealing;--
Ere she hath reached yon rustic Shed 1815.

Yet is she soothed: the viewless breeze
Comes fraught with kindlier sympathies:
Ere she hath reached yon rustic Shed 1827.

Ere she had reached ... 1832.

[111] 1837.

Revives ... 1815.

[112] 1837.

... --'tis that bless'd Saint 1815.

[113] 1837.

Thou Spirit ... 1815.

[114] 1837.

Descend on Francis:--through the air
Of this sad earth to him repair,
Speak to him with a voice, and say,
"That he must cast despair away!" 1815.

[115] _Italics_ and capitals were first used in the edition of 1820.

[116] 1837.

--She knows, she feels it, and is cheared;
At least her present pangs are checked. 1815.

[117] 1837.

--And now an ancient Man appeared,
Approaching her with grave respect.
Down the smooth walk which then she trod
He paced along the silent sod,
And greeting her thus gently spake, 1815.

--But now ... 1827.

[118] 1837.

In friendship;--go--from him--from me--
Strive to avert this misery. 1815.

[119] 1837.

--If prudence offer help or aid,
On _you_ is no restriction laid; 1815.

[120] 1837.

"Hope," said the Sufferer's zealous Friend,
"Must not forsake us till the end.-- 1815.

[121] 1837.

... may have the skill ... 1815.

[122] 1837.

Their flight the fair Moon may not see;
For, from mid-heaven, already she 1815.

[123] 1837.

... haughty ... 1815.

[124] _Italics_ were first used in 1837.

[125] 1837.

... to the cause. 1815.

[126] 1837.

They shout aloud--but Heaven decreed
Another close
To that brave deed
Which struck ... 1815.

[127] 1820.

... spreads ... 1815.

[128] 1820.

... and as seldom free 1815.

[129] 1820.

And from the heat of the noon-tide sun, 1815.

[130] 1837.

They to the Watch-tower did repair,
Commodious Pleasure-house! and there 1815.

[131] 1837.

He was the proudest ... 1815.

[132]

Dead are they, they were doomed to die;
The Sons and Father all are dead,
All dead save One; and Emily
No more shall seek this Watch-tower high,
To look far forth with anxious eye,--
She is relieved from hope and dread,
Though suffering in extremity.

Inserted only in the edition of 1815.

[133] _Italics_ were first used in 1820.

[134] 1837. In the editions of 1815-32 the following passage took the place of this line:--

She turned to him, who with his eye
Was watching her while on the height
She sate, or wandered restlessly,
O'erburdened by her sorrow's weight;
To him who this dire news had told,
And now beside the Mourner stood;

[135] 1837.

Then on this place the Maid had sought:
And told, as gently as could be,
The end of that sad Tragedy, 1815.

[136] These two lines were added in 1827.

[137] 1827.

... the people cried, 1815.

[138] 1837.

For sake of ... 1815.

[139] 1837.

He rose not in this quarrel, he
His Father and his Brothers wooed,
Both for their own and Country's good,
To rest in peace--he did divide, 1815.

[140] 1820.

To scatter gleams ... 1815.

[141] 1837.

... of ancient love,
But most, compassion for your fate,
Lady! for your forlorn estate,
Me did these move, and I made bold,
And entrance gained to that strong-hold. 1815.

... of ancient love;
And, in your service, I made bold--
And entrance gained to that strong-hold. 1820.

[142] 1837.

... 'We need not stop, my Son!
But I will end what is begun;
'Tis matter which I do not fear
To entrust to any living ear.' 1815.

[143] 1820.

Had seen ... 1815.

[144] 1837.

Glad ... 1815.

[145] 1837.

... be not ... 1815.

[146] 1837.

... beauteous ... 1815.

[147] 1837.

Then Francis answered fervently,
"If God so will, the same shall be." 1815.

[148] 1837.

Immediately, this solemn word 1815.

[149] 1837.

... had reached the door,
The Banner which a Soldier bore,
One marshalled thus with base intent
That he in scorn might go before,
And, holding up this monument, 1815.

[150] 1837.

... that were round 1815.

[151] 1837.

This insult, and the Banner saved,
That moment, from among the tide 1815.

[152] 1837.

Bore unobserved ... 1815.

[153] 1820.

... to encourage ... 1815.

[154] 1837.

"Yet, yet in this affliction," said
The old Man to the silent Maid,
"Yet, Lady! heaven is good--the night
Shews yet a Star which is most bright; 1815.

[155] 1837.

Why comes not Francis?--Joyful chear
In that parental gratulation,
And glow of righteous indignation,
Went with him from the doleful City:--
He fled--yet in his flight could hear
The death-sound of the Minster-bell; 1815.

[156] 1837.

With motion fleet as winged Dove; 1815.

... as a winged Dove; 1832.

[157] 1837.

An Angel-guest, should he appear. 1815.

[158] 1837.

Along the plain of York he passed;
The Banner-staff was in his hand,
The Imagery concealed from sight,
And cross the expanse, in open flight,
Reckless of what impels or leads,
Unchecked he hurries on;--nor heeds
The sorrow of the Villages;
From the triumphant cruelties 1815.

Spread by triumphant cruelties 1827.

The sorrow through the Villages, 1832.

[159] 1827.

And punishment without remorse,
Unchecked he journies--under law
Of inward occupation strong;
And the first ... 1815.

[160] 1837.

... did he maintain
Within himself, and found no rest;
Calm liberty he could not gain;
And yet the service was unblest. 1815.

[161] 1820.

Raised self-suspicion which was strong,
Swaying the brave Man to his wrong: 1815.

[162] 1837.

Of all-disposing Providence,
Its will intelligibly shewn,
Finds he the Banner in his hand,
Without a thought to such intent,
Or conscious effort of his own?
And no obstruction to prevent
His Father's wish and last command!
And, thus beset, he heaved a sigh;
Remembering his own prophecy
Of utter desolation, made
To Emily in the yew-tree shade:
He sighed, submitting to the power,
The might of that prophetic hour. 1815.

[163] 1837.

... and, on the second day,
He reached a summit whence his eyes 1815.

[164] 1837.

How Francis had the Banner claimed,
And with that charge had disappeared; 1815.

[165] 1837.

Behold the Ensign in his hand! 1815.

[166] 1837.

... freight I bear;
It weakens me, my heart hath bled
Till it is weak--but you beware,
Nor do ... 1815.

[167] 1837.

Which ... 1815.

[168] 1820.

... with a Warrior's brow 1815.

[169] 1845.

... had snatched
A spear,--and with his eyes he watched
Their motions, turning round and round:--
His weaker hand the Banner held;
And straight by savage zeal impelled
Forth rushed a Pikeman, as if he,
Not without harsh indignity,
Would seize the same:--instinctively--
To smite the Offender--with his lance
Did Francis from the brake advance;
But, from behind, a treacherous wound
Unfeeling, brought him to the ground,
A mortal stroke:--oh, grief to tell!
Thus, thus, the noble Francis fell:
There did he lie of breath forsaken;
The Banner from his grasp was taken,
And borne exultingly away;
And the Body was left on the ground where it lay. 1815.

But not before the warm life-blood
Had tinged with searching overflow,
More deeply tinged the embroidered show
Of His whose side was pierced upon the Rood! 1837.

The text of 1837 is otherwise identical with the final version of
1845.

[170] These two lines were added in 1837.

[171] 1837.

Two days, as many nights, he slept
Alone, unnoticed, and unwept;
For at that time distress and fear
Possessed the Country far and near;
The third day, One, who chanced to pass,
Beheld him stretched upon the grass.
A gentle Forester was he,
And of the Norton Tenantry;
And he had heard that by a Train
Of Horsemen Francis had been slain.
Much was he troubled--for the Man
Hath recognized his pallid face;
And to the nearest Huts he ran,
And called the People to the place.
--How desolate is Rylstone-hall!
Such was the instant thought of all;
And if the lonely Lady there
Should be, this sight she cannot bear!
Such thought the Forester express'd,
And all were swayed, and deemed it best
That, if the Priest should yield assent
And join himself to their intent, 1815.

[172] 1837.

That straightway ... 1815.

[173] 1840.

... on a bier
In decency and humble chear;
And psalms are sung with holy sound. 1815.

And psalms they sung--a holy sound
That hill and vale with sadness hear. 1837.

[174] 1827.

Tow'rds ... 1815.

[175] 1820.

... deep ... 1815.

[176] 1820.

... calm ... 1815.

[177] 1845.

The walks and pools neglect hath sown 1815.

[178] 1837.

There is ... 1815.

[179]

There seated, may this Maid be seen,

Inserted in the editions of 1815-1832.

[180] 1827.

... has ... 1815.

[181] 1837.

For, of that band of rushing Deer, 1815.

[182] 1837.

... its ... 1815.

... his ... 1832.

[183] 1837.

... and more near,
Stopped once again;--but, as no trace
Was found of any thing to fear,
Even to her feet the Creature came, 1815.

[184] 1837.

... choicest ... 1815.

[185] 1837.

For both a bounteous, fruitful meeting. 1815.

[186] 1837.

And take this gift of Heaven with grace? 1815.

[187] This line was added in 1837.

[188] 1837.

... this ... 1815.

[189] 1837.

... was there ... 1815.

[190] 1837.

Did she behold--saw once again; 1815.

[191] 1837.

So doth the Sufferer deem it good
Even once again this neighbourhood 1815.

[192] 1827.

... writhed 1815.

[193] 1837.

... kindly ... 1815.

[194] 1827.

... as the whitest ... 1815.

[195] 1815.

... through an ... 1827.

The text of 1837 returns to that of 1815.

[196] 1837.

Did now a very gladness yield
At morning to the dewy field,
While they side by side were straying,
And the Shepherd's pipe was playing; 1815.

[197] 1837.

... wandering ... 1815.

[198] 1845.

Mild, delicious melancholy: 1815.

[199] 1837.

Up doth she climb to Norton Tower,
And thence looks round her far and wide.
Her fate there measures,--all is stilled,--
The feeble hath subdued her heart; 1815.

[200] 1837.

This single Creature ... 1815.

[201] 1837.

So beautiful the spotless Thrall,
(A lovely Youngling white as foam,)
That it was brought to Rylstone-hall;
Her youngest Brother led it home,
The youngest, then a lusty Boy,
Brought home the prize--and with what joy! 1815.

[202] 1827.

Nor did she fear in the still moonshine 1815.

... in still moonshine 1820.

[203] 1837.

For that she came; there oft and long
She sate in meditation strong: 1815.

[204] 1820.

... her ... 1815.

[205] 1837.

That ... 1815.

[206] 1837.

... we frame, ... 1815.

FOOTNOTES:

[A] This is the final form of the "Advertisement" to _The White Doe of Rylstone_. The variations from it, which occur in earlier editions, from 1815 onwards, need not be noted. The poem was placed in the 1820 edition in volume iii., in 1827 in volume iv., in 1832 in volume iii., and in 1836-37 and afterwards in volume iv. of the Collected Works.--ED.

[B] _I.e._, in the small bower in the orchard of Dove Cottage, Grasmere.--ED.

[C] Compare _The Faerie Queene_, book I. canto i. stanza iv. l. 9--

And by her, in a line, a milkewhite lambe she lad. ED.

[D] See _The Faerie Queene_, book I. canto viii. stanza xliv. l. 9--

That blisse may not abide in state of mortall men. ED.

[E] The above extract, which, in 1837 and subsequent editions, follows the Dedication of the poem to Mrs. Wordsworth, is taken from the tragedy of _The Borderers_, act III. line 405 (vol. i. p. 187). In the prefatory note to _The Borderers_--published in 1842--Wordsworth says he would not have made use of these lines in _The White Doe of Rylstone_ if he could have foreseen the time when he would be induced to publish the tragedy. It is signed M. S. in the 1837-43 editions.

In a note to the edition of 1837, he says, "'Action is transitory,' etc. This and the five lines that follow were either read or recited by me, more than thirty years since, to the late Mr. Hazlitt, who quoted some expressions in them (imperfectly remembered) in a work of his published several years ago."

In the quarto edition of 1815 the following lines precede the extract from Lord Bacon; and in the edition of 1820 they follow it. In 1827 they were transferred to the "Miscellaneous Sonnets."

_"Weak is the will of Man, his judgement blind;
Remembrance persecutes, and Hope betrays;
Heavy is woe;--and joy, for human kind,
A mournful thing, so transient is the blaze!"--
Thus might he paint our lot of mortal days
Who wants the glorious faculty, assigned
To elevate the more-than-reasoning Mind,
And colour life's dark cloud with orient rays.
Imagination is that sacred power,
Imagination lofty and refined:
'Tis her's to pluck the amaranthine Flower
Of Faith, and round the Sufferer's temples bind
Wreaths that endure affliction's heaviest shower,
And do not shrink from sorrow's keenest wind._ ED.

[F] See his _Essays_, XVI., "Of Atheism." Wordsworth's quotation is not quite accurate.--ED.

[G] It is to be regretted that at the present day Bolton Abbey wants this ornament: but the Poem, according to the imagination of the Poet, is composed in Queen Elizabeth's time. "Formerly," says Dr. Whitaker, "over the Transept was a tower. This is proved not only from the mention of bells at the Dissolution, when they could have had no other place, but from the pointed roof of the choir, which must have terminated westward, in some building of superior height to the ridge."--W. W. 1815.

[H] See note I. at the end of the poem, p. 196.--ED.

[I] See note I. at the end of the poem, p. 196.--ED.

[J] The Nave of the Church having been reserved at the Dissolution, for the use of the Saxon Cure, is still a parochial Chapel; and, at this day, is as well kept as the neatest English Cathedral.--W. W. 1815.

[K] "At a small distance from the great gateway stood the Prior's Oak, which was felled about the year 1720, and sold for 70_l._ According to the price of wood at that time, it could scarcely have contained less than 1400 feet of timber."--W. W. 1815.

This note is quoted from Whitaker.--ED.

The place where this Oak tree grew is uncertain. Whitaker says it stood "at a small distance from the great gateway." This old entrance or gateway to the Abbey was through a part of the modern and now inhabited structure of Bolton Hall, under the Tower; and the old sexton at the Abbey told me that the tree stood near that gateway, at some distance from the ruins of the Abbey.--ED.

[L] Of Wharfedale at Bolton, Henry Crabb Robinson says, in his _Diary_ (September 1818), "This valley has been very little adorned, and it needs no other accident to grace it than sunshine."--ED.

[M] Compare the lines in the sonnet _At Furness Abbey_ (composed in 1844)--

A soothing spirit follows in the way
That Nature takes, her counter-work pursuing. ED.

[N] Roses still grow plentifully among the ruins, although they are not abundant in the district.--ED.

[O] This is not topographical. No "warrior carved in stone" is now to be seen among the ruins of Bolton Abbey, whatever may have been the case in 1807; nor can Francis Norton's grave be discovered in the Abbey grounds.--ED.

[P] The detail of this tradition may be found in Dr. Whitaker's book, and in the Poem, _The Force of Prayer_, etc. [p. 204].--W. W. 1815.

[Q] Compare _The Boy of Egremond_, by Samuel Rogers.--ED.

[R] "At the East end of the North aisle of Bolton Priory Church is a chantry belonging to Bethmesly Hall, and a vault, where, according to tradition, the Claphams" (who inherited this estate, by the female line from the Mauliverers) "were interred upright." John de Clapham, of whom this ferocious act is recorded, was a name of great note in his time; "he was a vehement partisan of the House of Lancaster, in whom the spirit of his chieftains, the Cliffords, seemed to survive."--W. W. 1815.

This quotation is from Dr. Whitaker's _History of the Deanery of Craven_.--ED.

[S] In 1868, when this chapel was under restoration, a vault was discovered at the eastern end of the north aisle, with evident signs of several bodies having been buried upright. On the site of this vault the organ is now placed. The chapel was restored by the late Duke of Devonshire.--ED.

[T] In the second volume of Poems published by the author, will be found one, entitled, _Song at the Feast of Brougham Castle, upon the Restoration of Lord Clifford, the Shepherd, to the Estates and Honours of his Ancestors_. To that Poem is annexed an account of this personage [p. 89], chiefly extracted from Burn's and Nicholson's History of Cumberland and Westmoreland. It gives me pleasure to add these further particulars concerning him from Dr. Whitaker, who says, "he retired to the solitude of Barden, where he seems to have enlarged the tower out of a common keeper's lodge, and where he found a retreat equally favourable to taste, to instruction, and to devotion. The narrow limits of his residence shew that he had learned to despise the pomp of greatness, and that a small train of servants could suffice him, who had lived to the age of thirty a servant himself. I think this nobleman resided here almost entirely when in Yorkshire, for all his charters which I have seen are dated at Barden.

"His early habits, and the want of those artificial measures of time which even shepherds now possess, had given him a turn for observing the motions of the heavenly bodies, and, having purchased such an apparatus as could then be procured, he amused and informed himself by those pursuits, with the aid of the Canons of Bolton, some of whom are said to have been well versed in what was then known of the science.

"I suspect this nobleman to have been sometimes occupied in a more visionary pursuit, and probably in the same company.

"For, from the family evidences, I have met with two MSS. on the subject of Alchemy, which, from the character, spelling, etc., may almost certainly be referred to the reign of Henry the Seventh. If these were originally deposited with the MSS. of the Cliffords, it might have been for the use of this nobleman. If they were brought from Bolton at the Dissolution, they must have been the work of those Canons whom he almost exclusively conversed with.

"In these peaceful employments Lord Clifford spent the whole reign of Henry the Seventh, and the first years of his son. But in the year 1513, when almost sixty years old, he was appointed to a principal command over the army which fought at Flodden, and shewed that the military genius of the family had neither been chilled in him by age, nor extinguished by habits of peace.

"He survived the battle of Flodden ten years, and died April 23d, 1523, aged about 70. I shall endeavour to appropriate to him a tomb, vault, and chantry, in the choir of the church of Bolton, as I should be sorry to believe that he was deposited when dead at a distance from the place which in his life-time he loved so well.

"By his last will he appointed his body to be interred at Shap if he died in Westmoreland; or at Bolton if he died in Yorkshire."

With respect to the Canons of Bolton, Dr. Whitaker shews from MSS. that not only alchemy but astronomy was a favourite pursuit with them.--W. W. 1815.

[U] Barden Tower is on the western bank of the Wharfe, fully two miles north-west of Bolton Priory, above the Strid. At the time of the restoration of the Shepherd-lord, Barden Tower was only a keeper's forest lodge. It is so hidden in trees, and so retired, that the situation is most accurately described as

the shy recess
Of Barden's lowly quietness. ED.

[V] The year 1569.--ED.

[W] Percy, Earl of Northumberland, and Neville, Earl of Westmoreland--the two peers who joined in support of the Duke of Norfolk's marriage with Queen Mary, with a view to the restoration of Catholicism in England. See note III. p. 198.--ED.

[X] Compare _Twelfth Night_, act I. scene i. l. 4--

That strain again! it had a dying fall. ED.

[Y] See the Old Ballad,--_The Rising of the North_.--W. W. 1827.

This Ballad is printed in Wordsworth's note, p. 186. The reference here is to the lines--

But, father, I will wend with you,
Unarm'd and naked will I bee. ED.

[Z] The site of Rylstone Hall is still recognisable, but the building is gone. It was not at Rylstone, but at Ripon, that the Nortons raised their banner in November 1569; but their tenantry at Rylstone rose with them at the same time.--ED.

[AA] Brancepeth Castle stands near the river Were, a few miles from the city of Durham. It formerly belonged to the Nevilles, Earls of Westmoreland. See Dr. Percy's account.--W. W. 1815.

[BB] The tower of the Cathedral of Durham, of which St. Cuthbert is the patron saint.--ED.

[CC] Now Raby Castle, a seat of the Duke of Cleveland in the county of Durham.--ED.

[DD] From the old Ballad.--W. W. 1820.

The lines are--

At Wetherbye they mustered their host,
Thirteen thousand fair to see. ED.

[EE] The village of Clifford is three miles from Wetherby, where the host was mustered.--ED.

[FF] From the old Ballad.--W. W. 1820.

The line referred to is--

Against soe many could not stay. ED.

[GG] See note V. p. 200.--ED.

[HH] See the Historians for the account of this memorable battle, usually denominated the Battle of the Standard.--W. W. 1815.

It was fought at Northallerton in 1137, under Archbishop Thurston of York. See note VI. p. 200.--ED.

[II] "In the night before the battle of Durham was strucken and begun, the 17th day of October, _anno_ 1346, there did appear to John Fosser, then Prior of the abbey of Durham, a Vision, commanding him to take the holy Corporax-cloth, wherewith St. Cuthbert did cover the chalice when he used to say mass, and to put the same holy relique like to a banner-cloth upon the point of a spear, and the next morning to go and repair to a place on the west side of the city of Durham, called the Red Hills, where the Maid's Bower wont to be, and there to remain and abide till the end of the battle. To which vision, the Prior obeying, and taking the same for a revelation of God's grace and mercy by the mediation of holy St. Cuthbert, did accordingly the next morning, with the monks of the said abbey, repair to the said Red Hills, and there most devoutly humbling and prostrating themselves in prayer for the victory in the said battle: (a great multitude of the Scots running and pressing by them, with intention to have spoiled them, yet had no power to commit any violence under such holy persons, so occupied in prayer, being protected and defended by the mighty Providence of Almighty God, and by the mediation of Holy St. Cuthbert, and the presence of the holy relique). And, after many conflicts and warlike exploits there had and done between the English men and the King of Scots and his company, the said battle ended, and the victory was obtained, to the great overthrow and confusion of the Scots, their enemies: And then the said Prior and monks, accompanied with Ralph Lord Nevil, and John Nevil his son, and the Lord Percy, and many other nobles of England, returned home and went to the abbey church, there joining in hearty prayer and thanksgiving to God and holy St. Cuthbert for the victory atchieved that day."

This battle was afterwards called the Battle of Neville's Cross from the following circumstance:--

"On the west side of the city of Durham, where two roads pass each other, a most notable, famous, and goodly cross of stone-work was erected, and set up to the honour of God for the victory there obtained in the field of battle, and known by the name of Nevil's Cross, and built at the sole cost of the Lord Ralph Nevil, one of the most excellent and chief persons in the said battle." The Relique of St. Cuthbert afterwards became of great importance in military events. For soon after this battle, says the same author, "The prior caused a goodly and sumptuous banner to be made, (which is then described at great length,) and in the midst of the same banner-cloth was the said holy relique and corporax-cloth enclosed, etc. etc., and so sumptuously finished, and absolutely perfected, this banner was dedicated to holy St. Cuthbert, of intent and purpose, that for the future it should be carried to any battle, as occasion should serve; and was never carried and shewed at any battle but by the especial grace of God Almighty, and the mediation of holy St. Cuthbert, it brought home victory; which banner-cloth, after the dissolution of the abbey, fell into the possession of Dean WHITTINGHAM, whose wife was called KATHARINE, being a French woman, (as is most credibly reported by eye-witnesses,) did most injuriously burn the same in her fire, to the open contempt and disgrace of all ancient and goodly reliques."--Extracted from a book entitled, _Durham Cathedral, as it stood before the Dissolution of the Monastery_. It appears, from the old metrical History, that the above-mentioned banner was carried by the Earl of Surrey to Flodden Field.--W. W. 1815.

[JJ] Compare _An Evening Walk_, ll. 365, 366 (vol. i. p. 31)--

The song of mountain-streams, unheard by day,
Now hardly heard, beguiles my homeward way.

Also _The Excursion_ (book iv. ll. 1173, 1174)--

The little rills, and waters numberless,
Inaudible by daylight.

And Wordsworth's sonnet beginning--

The unremitting voice of nightly streams
That wastes so oft, we think, its tuneful powers.

Compare also in Gray's _Tour in the Lakes_, "At distance, heard the murmur of many waterfalls, not audible in the daytime."--ED.

[KK] Compare Milton's Sonnet on his Blindness, l. 14--

They also serve who only stand and wait. ED.

[LL] In the limestone ridges and hills of the Craven district of Yorkshire there are many caverns and underground recesses, such as the Yordas cave referred to in _The Prelude_ (vol. iii. p. 289).--ED.

[MM] The Towers of Barnard Castle on the Tees in Yorkshire.--ED.

[NN] It is so called to this day, and is thus described by Dr. Whitaker. "Rylstone Fell yet exhibits a monument of the old warfare between the Nortons and Cliffords. On a point of very high ground, commanding an immense prospect, and protected by two deep ravines, are the remains of a square tower, expressly said by Dodsworth to have been built by Richard Norton. The walls are of strong grout-work, about four feet thick. It seems to have been three stories high. Breaches have been industriously made in all the sides, almost to the ground, to render it untenable.

"But Norton Tower was probably a sort of pleasure-house in summer, as there are, adjoining to it, several large mounds, (two of them are pretty entire,) of which no other account can be given than that they were butts for large companies of archers.

"The place is savagely wild, and admirably adapted to the uses of a watch-tower."--W. W. 1815. (See note VII. p. 201.)--ED.

The remains of Norton Tower are not in the highest point of the Rylstone Fells, but on one of the western ridges: and there are now only four bare roofless rectangular walls. It was originally both a watch-tower and a hunting-tower. Looking towards Malham to the north and north-west, the view is exactly as described in the poem.--ED.

[OO] This extract was first prefixed to canto seventh in the edition of 1837.--ED.

[PP] "After the attainder of Richard Norton, his estates were forfeited to the crown, where they remained till the 2d or 3d of James; they were then granted to Francis Earl of Cumberland." From an accurate survey made at that time, several particulars have been extracted by Dr. W. It appears that the mansion-house was then in decay. "Immediately adjoining is a close, called the Vivery, so called undoubtedly from the French Vivier, or modern Latin Viverium; for there are near the house large remains of a pleasure-ground, such as were introduced in the earlier part of Elizabeth's time, with topiary works, fish-ponds, an island, etc. The whole township was ranged by an hundred and thirty red deer, the property of the Lord, which, together with the wood, had, after the attainder of Mr. Norton, been committed to Sir Stephen Tempest. The wood, it seems, had been abandoned to depredations, before which time it appears that the neighbourhood must have exhibited a forest-like and sylvan scene. In this survey, among the old tenants, is mentioned one Richard Kitchen, butler to Mr. Norton, who rose in rebellion with his master, and was executed at Ripon."--W. W. 1815.

[QQ] There are two small streams which rise near Rylstone. One, called Rylstone beck, flows westwards into the Aire. Another makes its way eastwards towards the Wharfe, joins Linton beck, and so enters Wharfe between Linton Church and Grassington Bridge. It is to the latter that Wordsworth refers, although the former is now called Rylstone beck.--ED.

[RR] "At the extremity of the parish of Burnsal, the valley of Wharf forks off into two great branches, one of which retains the name of Wharfdale to the source of the river; the other is usually called Littondale, but more anciently and properly Amerdale. Dern-brook, which runs along an obscure valley from the N. W., is derived from a Teutonic word, signifying concealment."--Dr. WHITAKER.--W. W. 1815.

The valley of Littondale, as is shown in Wordsworth's note, once bore the name of Amerdale. Though the name is not now given to the beck, it survives, singularly enough, in one pool in the stream, where it joins the Wharfe, which is still called "Amerdale Dub."--ED.

[SS] From this valley of Litton a small lateral one runs up in a south-westerly direction at Arncliffe, making a "deep fork," and is called Dernbrook. Dern means seclusion, and two or three miles up this ghyll is a farm-house bearing the name of Dernbrook House. "The phrase 'By lurking Dernbrook's pathless side' is so appropriate," says the late incumbent of Arncliffe, the Ven. Archdeacon Boyd, in a letter to the editor, "that it would almost seem that Wordsworth had been there." Mr. Boyd adds, "In the illustrated edition of _The White Doe_, published by Longmans a few years ago, there is an illustration by Birket Foster of the Dernbrook House, the original of which I had the honour to supply. It is but a short distance--two or three miles--from Malham Tarn."--ED.

[TT] On one of the bells of Rylstone church, which seems co-eval with the building of the tower, is this cypher, =J. N.= for John Norton, and the motto, "=God us ayde.="--W. W. 1815.

"A ring, bearing the same motto, was sold at a sale of antiquities from Bramhope Manor, Feb. 1865. The Norton Shield of Arms is in Rylstone Church." (See Murray's _Yorkshire_.)--ED.