LEWESDON HILL.

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LEWESDON HILL, WITH OTHER POEMS.

BY THE REV. WILLIAM CROWE, PUBLIC ORATOR OF THE UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD.

A CORRECTED AND MUCH ENLARGED EDITION, WITH NOTES.

LONDON: JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE-STREET. 1827.

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LONDON: PRINTED BY THOMAS DAVISON, WHITEFRIARS.

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ADVERTISEMENT.

The Hill which gives title to the following Poem is situated in the western part of Dorsetshire. This choice of a subject, to which the Author was led by his residence near the spot, may seem perhaps to confine him to topics of mere rural and local description. But he begs leave here to inform the Reader that he has advanced beyond those narrow limits to something more general and important. On the other hand he trusts, that in his farthest excursions the connexion between him and his subject[vi] will easily be traced. The few notes which are subjoined he thought necessary to elucidate the passages to which they refer. He will only add in this place, from Hutchins’s History of Dorsetshire, (vol. i. p. 366), what is there said of Lewesdon (or, as it is now corruptly called, Lewson): “This and Pillesdon Hill surmount all the hills, though very high, between them and the sea. Mariners call them the Cow and Calf, in which forms they are fancied to appear, being eminent sea-marks to those who sail upon the coast.”

To the top of this Hill the Author describes himself as walking on a May morning.

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TO THE RIGHT REV. FATHER IN GOD JONATHAN, LORD BISHOP OF ST. ASAPH, WHO, IN A LEARNED, FREE, AND LIBERAL AGE, IS HIMSELF MOST HIGHLY DISTINGUISHED BY EXTENSIVE, USEFUL, AND ELEGANT LEARNING, BY A DISINTERESTED SUPPORT OF FREEDOM, AND BY A TRULY CHRISTIAN LIBERALITY OF MIND, THIS POEM, WITH ALL RESPECT, IS DEDICATED BY HIS LORDSHIP’S MOST OBLIGED AND MOST OBEDIENT SERVANT,

THE AUTHOR.

Jan. 1788.

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CONTENTS.

[1]

LEWESDON HILL.

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NOTES.

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Note 1, page 4, line 10.

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

Note 2, p. 10, line 7.

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

The author having ventured to introduce some provincial and other terms, takes this occasion to say, that it is a liberty in which he has not indulged himself, but when he conceived them to be allowable for the sake of ornament or expression.

Note 3, page 16, line 4.

The distressful condition of the Halswell here alluded to is thus circumstantially described in the narrative of her loss, p. 13.

“Thursday the 5th, at two in the morning, the wind came to the southward, blew fresh, and the weather was very thick; at noon Portland was seen, bearing N. by E. distance two or three leagues; at eight at night it blew a strong gale at S. and at this time the Portland lights were seen bearing N. W. distance four or five leagues, when they wore ship, and got her head to the westward; but finding they lost ground upon that tack, they wore again, and kept stretching on eastward, in hopes to have weathered Peverel-point, in which case they intended to have anchored in Studland Bay: at 11 at night it cleared, and they saw St. Alban’s-head a mile and a half to the leeward of them; upon which they took in sail immediately, and let go the small bower[45] anchor, which brought up the ship at a whole cable, and she rode for about an hour, but then drove; they now let go the sheet anchor, and wore away a whole cable, and the ship rode for about two hours longer, when she drove again. They were then driving very fast on shore, and might expect every moment to strike!”

Note 4, page 16, line 10.

“Not far from this (Encombe) stands St. Aldene’s Chapel; which took name from the dedication to St. Adeline, the first bishop of Sherbourne in this shire: but now it serves for a sea-mark.”—Coker’s Survey of Dorsetshire, p. 47.

“Near the sea is the high land of St. Aldhelm’s, commonly called St. Alban’s, a noted sea-mark. The cliff here is 147 yards perpendicular. On this promontory, about a mile south of Worth, stands a chapel of the same name.” Hutchins’s Dorsetsh. vol. i. p. 228. But this headland is not marked by name in Hutchins’s map. “The very utter part of St. Aldhelm’s point is five miles from Sandwich (Swanwich).”—Lel. Itin. vol. iii. p. 53.

Note 5, page 18, line 6.

Shipton is a hill, which, according to common report, is so called from its shape; the top of it being[46] formed like a ship with the keel upwards. It stands three miles from Bridport on the road towards London; which road passes by the foot of it to the North.

Note 6, page 22, line 1.

The works now carrying on at Cherburgh, (A. D. 1787) to make a haven for ships of war, are principally the following. Of these however it is not intended to give a full description; but only to mention some particulars, from which an idea may be formed of the greatness of the scheme.

In the open sea, above a league from the town, and within half a mile west of a rock called L’isle Pelée, a pier is begun, with design of conducting it on to the shore somewhat beyond Point Hommet, about two miles westward of Cherburgh. In order to this, a strong frame of timber-work, of the shape of a truncated cone, having been constructed on the beach, was buoyed out, and sunk in a depth of water; which at lowest ebb is 35 feet, and where the tide rises near 20 feet. The diameter of this cone at bottom is about 60 yards, its height 70 feet; and the area on its top large enough to receive a battery of cannon, with which it is hereafter to be fortified. Its solid contents are 2500 French toises; which, in our measure (allowing the French foot to be to the English as 144 to 135), will amount to 24,250 cubic yards nearly. Several other cones, of[47] equal dimensions, are sunk at convenient distances from each other, forming the line of the pier: their number, when complete, it is said, will be forty. As soon as any one of these is carried to its place, it is filled with

stones, which are dug from mount Rouille and other rocks near the coast, and brought on horses to the shore: whence they are conveyed to the cones in vessels of forty, sixty, or eighty tons burden. In like manner, but with much greater labour and expense, the spaces between the cones are filled up with stones thrown loosely into the sea, till the heap is raised above the water. On this mass, as on a foundation, a wall of masonry-work is to be erected. The length of the whole is near five miles. On L’isle Pelée and Point Hommet before-mentioned large fortifications are constructed bomb-proof, to defend the haven and pier. It is the opinion of some persons that this stupendous mole may be injured or destroyed by what is called a ground-sea, i. e. a sea when the waters are agitated to the bottom: and this happens when a strong wind, after having put the waves in motion, suddenly shifts to the opposite quarter. The description given in the Poem of this vast undertaking closes with an allusion to this opinion.

Note 7, page 23, lines 5 and 6.

Quint. Curt. lib. 4, cap. 2, 3.

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Note 8, page 23, line 10.

Note 9, page 24, line 2.

Note 10, page 25, line 3.

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

Note 11, page 27, line 11.

“Eggardon Hill is a very high hill, and gives name[49] to the hundred. Mr. Coker says it is uncertain whether it takes its name from Edgar, king of the West Saxons, or from Orgarus, earl of Cornwall: and indeed this last derivation is the truest; there being little reason to doubt that it is the old Orgarestone. The camp on the brow of this hill is a large and strong fortification, and seems to be Roman.”—Hutchins’s Dorset, vol. i. p. 289; where there is an engraving of this camp. But Hutchins has misrepresented Mr. Coker, who indeed prefers the derivation from Orgar. His words are these: “That it takes name from Edgar, the West Saxon king, I dare not affirm, having nothing to prove it but the nearnesse of the name. It better likes me to think this the place which in Doomsday-book is called Orgareston; but whether it take name from Orgareus, earl of Cornwall, I know not; though I think I should run into no great error to believe it.”—Coker’s Survey of Dorsetshire, p. 26.

Note 12, page 33, line 2.

“Mr. Hollis, in order to preserve the memory of those heroes and patriots for whom he had a veneration, as the assertors and defenders of his country, called many of the farms and fields in his estate at Corscombe by their names; and by these names they are still distinguished. In the middle of one of those fields, not far from his house, he ordered his corpse to be deposited in a[50] grave ten feet deep; and that the field should be immediately ploughed over, that no trace of his burial-place might remain.”—Memoirs of Thomas Hollis, Esq. vol. i. p. 481.

Note 13, page 34, line 1.

Of the strange curse belonging to Shireburne-Castle. From a MS. of the late Bishop of Ely (Bishop John More) now in the Royal Library at Cambridge.

“Osmund, a Norman knight, who had served William Duke of Normandy from his youth, in all his wars against the French king, and the duke’s (William’s) subjects, with much valour and discretion, for all his faithful service (when his master had by conquest obteyned the crown of England) was rewarded with many great gifts; among the which was the earldome of Dorsett, and the gift of many other possessions, whereof the castle and baronie of Sherburne were parcell. But Osmund, in the declyninge of his age, calling to mynde the great effusion of blood which, from his infancie, he had shedd; he resolved to leave all worldly delights, and betake himself to a religious life, the better to contemplate on his former sinnes, and to obteyn pardon for them. And, with much importunitie, having gotten leave of the kinge (who was unwilling to want the assistance of so grave and worthy a counsellor) to resign his temporal honors; and having obteyned the[51] bishoprick of Sarum, he gave Sherburne, with other lands, to the bishoprick. To which gift he annexed this curse:—

“‘That whosoever should take those lands from the bishoprick, or diminish them in great or in small, should be accursed, not only in this world, but also in the world to come; unless in his life-time he made restitution thereof.’ And so he died bishop of Sarum.”

Those lands continued in the possession of his successors till the reign of King Stephen, who took them away: “whereupon (says this account) his prosperity forsook him.” King Stephen being dead, “these lands came into the hands of some of the Montagues (after earles of Sarum), who whilest they held the same, underwent many disasters. For one or other of them fell by misfortune. And finally, all the males of them became extinct, and the earldome received an end in their name. So ill was their success.”

After this the lands were restored to the bishoprick; but were taken away a second time by the Duke of Somerset, in the reign of Edward VI.; “when the duke, being hunting in the parke of Sherburne, he was sent for presently unto the kinge (to whome he was protector) and at his coming up to London, was forthwith committed unto the Tower, and shortly after lost his head.” The lands then, in a suit at law, were adjudged to the Bishop of Sarum; and so remained, “till Sir Walter Raleigh procured a grant of them; he afterwards[52] unfortunately lost them, and at last his head also. Upon his attainder they came, by the king’s gift, to Prince Henry; who died not long after the possession thereof. After Prince Henry’s death, the Earle of Somerset (Carr) did possesse them. Finally, he lost them, and many other fortunes.”—Peck’s Desid. Cur. Lib. 14. No. 6.

Note 14, page 34, line 11.

“How Dr. John Coldwell, of a physitian, became a bishop, I have heard by more than a good many; and I will briefly handle it, and as tenderly as I can; bearing myself equal between the living (Sir Walter Raleigh) and the dead (Bishop Coldwell). Yet the manifest judgements of God on both of them I may not pass over with silence. And to speak first of the knight, who carried off the Spolia opima of the bishoprick. He, having gotten Sherborne castle, park, and parsonage, was in those days in so great favour with the queen, as I may boldly say, that with less suit than he was fain to make to her, ere he could perfect this his purchase, and with less money than he bestowed since in Sherborne (in building, and buying out leases, and in drawing the river through rocks into his garden), he might, very justly, and without offence of either church or state, have compassed a much better purchase. Also, as I have been truly informed, he had a presage before he first attempted it,[53] which did foreshow it would turn to his ruin, and might have kept him from meddling with it, Si mens non læva

fuisset: for, as he was riding post between Plymouth and the court (as many times he did upon no small employments), this castle being right in the way, he cast such an eye upon it as Ahab did upon Naboth’s vineyard. And, once above the rest, being talking of it (of the commodiousness of the place, of the strength of the seat, and how easily it might be got from the bishoprick), suddenly over and over came his horse, that his very face (which was then thought a very good face) plowed up the earth where he fell. This fall was ominous, I make no question; and himself was apt to construe it so. But his brother Adrian would needs have him interpret it as a conqueror, that his fall presaged the quiet possession of it. And accordingly, for the present, it so fell out. So that with much labor, cost, envy, and obloquy, he got it habendum et tenendum to him and his heirs. But see what became of him. In the public joy and jubilee of the whole realm (when favor, peace, and pardon, were offered even to offenders), he who in wit, in wealth, in courage, was inferior to few, fell suddenly

(I cannot tell how) into such a downfall of despair, as his greatest enemy would not have wished him so much harm, as he would have done himself. Can any man be so willfully blind as not to see, and say, Digitus Dei hic est!”—Harrington’s Brief View, p. 88.

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To these Notes are added the following, taken from Æschylus, to show the resemblance between the expressions of that author and certain passages in this poem.

[55]

In the Persæ the Chorus demand of Xerxes what was become of his friends the Nobles; he answers, “I left them wrecked on the shores of Salamis:” they ask farther, “Where is Pharnuchus and Ariomardus? Where is the royal Sebalces?” &c. Xerxes replies,

Χειμωνοτυφῳ; so I read the passage, instead of Χειμωνι, τυφω, κτλ.

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In the Supplices of this author there is a similar phrase on a similar subject,

In the Clouds of Aristophanes, A. 1. S. 4, this word occurs, ἑκατογκεφαλατυφω, and the Scholiast says, in τυφων or τυφως the first syllable is long.

In the Eumenides the Fury calls Orestes

There is a singular similarity in the length of the words here, and in the following passage of the Choephori, where Electra speaks of the murder of her father;[57] intending, perhaps, to express the multitude of wounds by the polysyllabic term;

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POEMS.

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INSCRIBED BENEATH THE PICTURE OF AN ASS.

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ODE TO THE LYRIC MUSE.

[15] The remainder of this, and the whole of the second antistrophe, were not repeated in the theatre, having been suppressed by the academical authorities, on account of their political sentiments, and subsequently lost.

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VERSES INTENDED TO HAVE BEEN SPOKEN IN THE THEATRE TO THE DUKE OF PORTLAND, AT HIS…

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ON THE DEATH OF CAPTAIN COOK.

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