Book II

The Banks of Wye; A Poem. In Four Books, 1811, 1813, 1823.

BOOK II.
CONTENTS OF BOOK II.

Henry the Fifth.Morning on the Water.Landoga.Ballad, 'The Maid of Landoga'.Tintern
Abbey.Wind-Cliff.Arrival at Chepstow.Persfield.Ballad, 'Morris of Persfield'.View
from Wind-Cliff.Chepstow Castle by Moonlight.

HARRY of MONMOUTH, o'er thy page,

Great chieftain of a daring age,

⁽²⁾

The stripling soldier burns to see

The spot of thy nativity;

His ardent fancy can restore 5

Thy castle's turrets, now no more;

⁽³⁾

See the tall plumes of victory wave,

And call old valour from the grave;

Twang the strong bow, and point the lance,

That pierc'd

⁽⁴⁾

the shatter'd hosts of France, 1010

When Europe,

⁽⁵⁾

in the days of yore,

Shook at the rampant lion's roar.

TEN hours were all we could command;

The Boat

⁽⁶⁾

was moor'd upon the strand;

The midnight current, by her side, 15

Was stealing down to meet the tide;

The wakeful steersman ready lay,

To rouse us at the break of day;

⁽⁷⁾

It camehow soon! and what a sky,

To cheer the bounding traveller's eye! 20

To make him spurn his couch of rest,

To shout upon the river's breast;

⁽⁸⁾

Watching by turns the rosy hue

Of early cloud, or sparkling dew.

These living joys the verse shall tell: 25

HARRY, and MONMOUTH, fare-ye-well.

On upland farm, and airy height,

Swept by the breeze, and cloth'd

⁽⁹⁾

in light,

The reapers, early from their beds,

Perhaps were singing o'er our heads. 30

For, stranger, deem not that the eye

Could hence survey the eastern sky;

Or mark the streak'd horizon's bound,

Where first the rosy sun wheels round;

⁽¹⁰⁾

Deep in the gulf beneath were we, 35

Whence climb'd blue mists o'er rock and tree;

A mingling, undulating crowd,

That form'd the dense or fleecy cloud;

Slow from the darken'd stream upborne,

They caught the quickening gales of morn; 40

There bade their parent WYE good day,

And, ting'd with purple, sail'd away.

The MUNNO

⁽¹¹⁾

join'd us all unseen.

TROY HOUSE, and BEAUFORT'S bowers of green,

And nameless prospects, half defin'd,

⁽¹²⁾

Involv'd

⁽¹³⁾

in mist, were left behind.

Yet as the boat still onward bore,

These

⁽¹⁴⁾

ramparts of the eastern shore

Cower'd the high crest to many a sweep,

And bade us o'er each minor steep 50

Mark the bold KYMIN'S sunny brow,

That, gleaming o'er our fogs below,

Lifted amain, with giant power,

E'en to the clouds his NAVAL TOWER;

⁽¹⁵⁾

Proclaiming to the morning sky,

⁽¹⁶⁾

Valour, and fame, and victory.

THE air resign'd its hazy blue,

Just as LANDOGA came in view;

⁽¹⁷⁾

Delightful village! one by one,

Thy climbing dwellings caught the sun. 60

So bright the scene, the air so clear,

Young Love and Joy seem'd station'd here;

And each with floating banners cried,

'Stop, friends, you'll meet the slimy

⁽¹⁸⁾

tide.'

Rude fragments, torn, disjointed, wild, 65

High on the Glo'ster shore are pil'd.

⁽¹⁹⁾

No ruin'd

⁽²⁰⁾

fane, the boast of years,

Unstain'd by time, the wreck appears;

⁽²¹⁾

With foaming

⁽²²⁾

wrath, and hideous swell,

Brought headlong down

⁽²³⁾

a woodland dell, 7070

When a dark thunder-storm had spread

Its terrors round the guilty head;

⁽²⁴⁾

When rocks, earth-bound,

⁽²⁵⁾

themselves gave way,

When crash'd the prostrate timbers lay.

⁽²⁶⁾

O, it had been a noble sight, 75

Crouching beyond the torrent's might,

To mark th' uprooted victims bow,

The grinding masses dash below,

And hear the long deep peal the while

Burst over TINTERN'S roofless pile!80

Then, as the sun regain'd his power,

When the last breeze from hawthorn bower,

Or Druid oak, had shook away

The rain-drops 'midst the gleaming day,

Perhaps the sigh of hope return'd, 85

And love in some chaste bosom burn'd,

And softly trill'd the stream along,

Some rustic maiden's village song.

The Maid of Landoga.

RETURN, my Llewellyn,

⁽²⁷⁾

the glory

That heroes may gain o'er the sea, 90 90

Though nations may feel

Their invincible steel,

By falsehood is tarnish'd in story;

Why tarry, Llewellyn, from me?

Thy sails, on the fathomless ocean, 95

Are swell'd by the boisterous gale:

How rests thy tir'd head

On the rude rocking bed?

While here not a leaf is in motion,

And melody reigns in the dale. 100

The mountains of Monmouth invite thee;

The WYE, O how beautiful here!

This woodbine, thine own,

Hath the cottage o'ergrown.

O what foreign shore can delight thee, 105

And where is the current so clear?

Can lands, where false pleasure assails thee,

And beauty invites thee to roam;

Can the deep orange grove

Charm with shadows of love? 110

Thy love at LANDOGA bewails thee;

Remember her truth and thy home.

ADIEU LANDOGA, scene most dear.

Farewell we bade to ETHEL'S WEIR;

Round many a point then bore away, 115

Till morn was chang'd

⁽²⁸⁾

to beauteous day:

And forward on the lowland shore,

Silent majestic ruins

⁽²⁹⁾

wore

The stamp of holiness; this strand

The steersman hail'd, and touch'd the land. 120

SUDDEN the change; at once to tread

The grass-grown mansions of the dead!

Awful to feeling, where, immense,

Rose ruin'd, gray magnificence;

The fair-wrought shaft all ivy-bound, 125

The tow'ring

⁽³⁰⁾

arch with foliage crown'd,

That trembles on its brow sublime,

Triumphant o'er the spoils of time.

Here, grasping all the eye beheld,

Thought into mingling anguish swell'd, 130

And check'd the wild excursive wing,

O'er dust or bones of priest or king;

Or raised some STRONGBOW

⁽³¹⁾

warrior's ghost

To shout before his banner'd host.

But all was still.The chequer'd floor 135

Shall echo to the step no more;

Nor airy roof the strain prolong

Of vesper chant or choral song.

TINTERN, thy name shall hence sustain

A thousand raptures in my brain; 140

Joys, full of soul, all strength, all eye,

That cannot fade, that cannot die.

NO loitering here, lone walks to steal;

Welcome

⁽³²⁾

the early hunter's meal;

For time and tide, stern couple, ran 145

Their endless race, and laugh'd at man;

Deaf, had we shouted, 'turn about?'

⁽³³⁾

Or, 'wait awhile

⁽³⁴⁾

till we come out;'

⁽³⁵⁾

To humour them we check'd our pride,

And ten cheer'd hearts stow'd side by side, 150

Push'd from the shore with current strong,

And,

⁽³⁶⁾

'Hey for Chepstow,' steer'd along.

AMIDST the bright expanding day,

Solemnly

⁽³⁷⁾

deep, dark shadows lay

Of that rich foliage, tow'ring o'er 155

Where princely abbots dwelt of yore.

The mind, with instantaneous glance,

Beholds his barge of state advance.

Borne proudly down the ebbing tide,

She turns

⁽³⁸⁾

the waving boughs aside;160

She winds with flowing pendants drest,

⁽³⁹⁾

And as the current turns south-west,

She strikes her oars, where, full in view,

Stupendous WIND-CLIFF greets his

⁽⁴⁰⁾

crew.

But, Fancy, let thy day-dreams cease,

⁽⁴¹⁾

165

With fallen greatness be at peace;

⁽⁴²⁾

Enough; for WIND-CLIFF still was found

To hail us as we doubled round.

Bold in primeval strength he stood;

His rocky brow, all shagg'd with wood, 170

O'er-look'd

⁽⁴³⁾

his base, where, doubling strong,

The inward torrent pours along;

Then ebbing turns, and turns again,

To meet the Severn and the Main,

⁽⁴⁴⁾

Beneath the dark shade sweeping round 175

Of beetling PERSFIELD'S fairy ground,

By buttresses of rock upborne,

The rude APOSTLES all unshorn.

⁽⁴⁵⁾

Long be the slaught'ring axe defy'd;

⁽⁴⁶⁾

Long may they bear their waving pride; 180

Tree over tree, bower over bower,

In uncurb'd nature's wildest power;

Till WYE forgets to wind below,

And genial spring to bid them grow.

AND shall we e'er forget the day, 185

When our last chorus died away?

When first we hail'd, then moor'd beside

Rock-founded CHEPSTOW'S mouldering pride?

Where that strange bridge,

⁽⁴⁷⁾

light, trembling, high,

Strides like a spider o'er the WYE; 190

When, for the joys the morn had giv'n,

Our thankful hearts were raised to heav'n?

⁽⁴⁸⁾

Never;

⁽⁴⁹⁾

that moment shall be dear,

While hills can charm, or sun-beams cheer.

POLLETT,

⁽⁵⁰⁾

farewell! Thy dashing oar195

Shall lull us into peace no more;

But where KYRL

⁽⁵¹⁾

trimm'd his infant green,

Long mayst thou with thy bark be seen;

And happy be the hearts that glide

Through such a scene, with such a guide. 200

THE verse of gravel walks that tells,

With pebble-rocks and mole-hill swells,

May strain description's bursting cheeks,

And far out-run

⁽⁵²⁾

the goal it seeks.

Not so when ev'ning's purpling hours,

⁽⁵³⁾

205

Hied us away to PERSFIELD

⁽⁵⁴⁾

bowers:

Here no such danger waits the lay,

⁽⁵⁵⁾

Sing on, and truth shall lead the way;

⁽⁵⁶⁾

Here sight may range, and hearts may glow,

Yet shrink from the abyss below; 210

Here echoing precipices roar,

As youthful ardour shouts before:

Here a sweet paradise shall rise

At once to greet poetic eyes.

Then why does he

⁽⁵⁷⁾

dispel, unkind,215

The sweet illusion from the mind,

That giant,

⁽⁵⁸⁾

with the goggling eye,

Who strides in mock sublimity?

⁽⁵⁹⁾

Giants, identified,

⁽⁶⁰⁾

may frown;

Nature and taste would knock them down;

⁽⁶¹⁾

220

Blocks that usurp some noble station,

As if to curb imagination,

Which, smiling at the chissel's pow'r,

⁽⁶²⁾

Makes better monsters every hour.

Beneath impenetrable green, 225

Down 'midst the hazel stems

⁽⁶³⁾

was seen

The turbid stream, with all that past;

The lime-white deck, the gliding mast;

Or skiff with gazers darting by,

Who rais'd their hands in extasy. 230

Impending cliffs hung overhead;

The rock-path sounded to the tread,

Where twisted roots, in many a fold,

Through moss, disputed room for hold.

The

⁽⁶⁴⁾

stranger who thus steals one hour235

To trace thy walks from bower to bower,

Thy noble cliffs, thy wildwood joys,

Nature's own work that never cloys,

Who, while reflection bids him roam,

Exclaims not, 'PERSFIELD is my home,'

⁽⁶⁵⁾

240240

Can ne'er, with dull unconscious eye,

Leave them behind without a sigh.

Thy tale of truth then, Sorrow, tell,

Of him who bade this home farewell;

MORRIS of PERSFIELD. Hark, the strains!245

Hark! 'tis some Monmouth

⁽⁶⁶⁾

bard complains!

The deeds, the worth, he knew so well,

The force of nature bids him tell.

Morris of Persfield.

WHO was lord of yon beautiful seat;

Yon woods which are tow'ring so high? 250

Who spread the rich board for the great,

Yet listen'd to pity's soft sigh?

Who gave with a spirit so free,

And fed the distress'd at his door?

Our MORRIS of PERSFIELD was he,255

Who dwelt in the hearts of the poor.

But who e'en of wealth shall make sure,

Since wealth to misfortune has bow'd?

Long cherish'd untainted and pure,

The stream of his charity flow'd. 260

But all his resources gave way;

O what could his feelings controul?

⁽⁶⁷⁾

What shall curb, in the prosperous day,

Th' excess of a generous soul?

He bade an adieu to the town; 265

O, can I forget the sad day?

When I saw the poor widows kneel down

To bless him, to weep, and to pray.

Though sorrow was mark'd in his eye,

This trial he manfully bore; 270

Then pass'd o'er the bridge of the WYE,

To return to his PERSFIELD no more.

Yet surely

⁽⁶⁸⁾

another might feel;

And

⁽⁶⁹⁾

poverty still may

⁽⁷⁰⁾

be fed;

I was the one who

⁽⁷¹⁾

rung out the dumb peal,275

For to us noble MORRIS was dead.

He had not lost sight of his home,

Yon domain that so lovely appears,

When he heard it, and sunk overcome;

He could feel, and he burst into tears.

⁽⁷²⁾

280

The lessons of prudence have charms,

And slighted, may lead to distress;

But the man whom benevolence warms,

⁽⁷³⁾

Is an angel who lives but to bless.

If ever man merited fame, 285

If ever man's failings went free,

Forgot at the sound of his name,

Our MORRIS of PERSFIELD was he.

⁽⁷⁴⁾

CLEFT from the summit, who shall say

When WIND-CLIFF'S other half gave way?290

Or when

⁽⁷⁵⁾

the sea-waves

⁽⁷⁶⁾

roaring strong,

First drove the rock-bound tide along?

To studious leisure be resign'd,

The task that leads the wilder'd mind,

From time's first birth throughout the range 295

Of Nature's

⁽⁷⁷⁾

everlasting change.

Soon from his all-commanding brow,

Lay PERSFIELD's rocks and woods below.

BACK over MONMOUTH who could trace

The WYE'S fantastic mountain race? 300

Before

⁽⁷⁸⁾

us, sweeping far and wide,

Lay out-stretch'd Severn's ocean tide,

Through whose blue mists, all upward blown,

Broke the faint lines of heights unknown;

And still, though clouds would interpose,

⁽⁷⁹⁾

305

The COTSWOLD promontories rose

In dark succession: STINCHCOMB'S

⁽⁸⁰⁾

brow,

With BERKELEY CASTLE

⁽⁸¹⁾

crouch'd below;

And stranger spires on either hand,

From THORNBURY, on the Glo'ster strand, 310310

With black-brow'd woods, and yellow fields,

The boundless wealth that summer yields,

⁽⁸²⁾

Detain'd the eye, that glanced again

O'er KINGROAD anchorage to the main.

⁽⁸³⁾

was the bounded view preferr'd,315

Far, far beneath, the spreading herd

Low'd, as the cow-boy stroll'd along,

And cheerly sung his last new song.

But cow-boy, herd, and tide, and spire,

⁽⁸⁴⁾

Sunk into gloom, the tinge of fire,

⁽⁸⁵⁾

320

As westward roll'd the setting day,

Fled like a golden dream away.

Then CHEPSTOW'S ruin'd fortress caught

The mind's collected store of thought,

⁽⁸⁶⁾

And seem'd, with mild but jealous frown, 325

To promise peace, and warn us down.

⁽⁸⁷⁾

'Twas well; for he has much to boast,

Much still that tells of glories lost,

Though rolling years have form'd the sod,

Where once the bright-helm'd warrior trod 330

From tower to tower, and gaz'd

⁽⁸⁸⁾

around,

While all beneath him slept profound.

E'en on the walls where pac'd

⁽⁸⁹⁾

the brave,

High o'er his crumbling turrets wave

The rampant seedlings.Not a breath 335

Past

⁽⁹⁰⁾

through their leaves; when, still as death,

We stopp'd to watch the cloudsfor night

Grew splendid with encreasing

⁽⁹¹⁾

light,

Till, as time loudly told the hour,

Gleam'd the broad-front of MARTEN'S TOWER,

⁽⁹²⁾

340340

Bright silver'd by the moon.Then rose

The wild notes sacred to repose;

Then the lone owl awoke from rest,

Stretch'd his keen talons, plum'd

⁽⁹³⁾

his crest,

And, from his high embattl'd

⁽⁹⁴⁾

station,345

Hooted a trembling salutation.

Rocks caught the 'halloo' from his tongue,

And PERSFIELD back the echoes flung

Triumphant o'er th' illustrious dead,

Their history lost, their glories fled. 350

[Illustration 2]

END OF THE SECOND BOOK.

Notes

1.. The text of the first edition of The Banks of Wye; A Poem. In Four Books (London: Vernor, Hood & Sharpe, 1811), collated with the corrected second edition
(London, B. & R. Crosby & Co., 1813) and the third edition (London: Longman, Hurst,
Rees, Orme & Co., 1823). [back]

2.. age,] age! 1823 [back]

3.. now no more] (now no more) 1813, 1823 [back]

4.. pierc'd] pierced 1823 [back]

5.. Europe] nations 1813, 1823 [back]

6.. Boat] boat 1823 [back]

7.. day;] day: 1823 [back]

8.. breast;] breast, 1823 [back]

9.. cloth'd] clothed 1823 [back]

10.. round;] round. 1823 [back]

11.. The river Munno, or Mynnow, falls into the Wye, near Monmouth. 1813, 1823 [Bloomfield's
note]. [back]

12.. defin'd] defined 1823 [back]

13.. Involv'd] Involved 1823 [back]

14.. These] The 1813, 1823 [back]

15.. The Kymin Pavilion, erected in honour of the British Admirals, and their unparalleled
victories [Bloomfield's note, referring to the picturesque tower built from 1794 on
land owned by the Duke of Beaufort. A naval temple, commemorating Nelson's victory
at the Battle of the Nile (Aboukir Bay) was built there in 1800. The site is detailed
by Charles Heath in a Descriptive Account of the Kymin Pavilion and Beaulieu Grove, with their Various Views,
also the Naval Temple (Monmouth, 1807)]. [back]

16.. sky,] sky 1823 [back]

17.. view;] view. 1823 [back]

18.. slimy] rushing 1813, 1823 [back]

19.. pil'd] piled 1823 [back]

20.. ruin'd] mouldering 1813, 1823 [back]

21.. appears;] appears: 1823 [back]

22.. foaming] pouring 1813, 1823 [back]

23.. brought headlong down] Down foaming from 1813, 1823 [back]

24.. When a dark thunder-storm had spread / Its terrors round the guilty head; ] A summer
flood's resistless pow'r / Raised the grim ruin in an hour! / When that o'erwhelming
tempest spread / Its terrors round the guilty head 1813, 1823 [back]

25.. When rocks, earth-bound,] When earth-bound rocks 1813, 1823 [back]

26.. lay.] lay, 1813, 1823 [back]

27.. Llewellyn,] Llewellyn! 1823 [back]

28.. chang'd] changed 1823 [back]

29.. Silent majestic ruins] Silent majestic ruins, 1813; Silent, majestic ruins, 1823 [back]

30.. tow'ring] towering 1823 [back]

31.. STRONGBOW] BLOOD-STAIN'D 1813, 1823. They shew here] is shewn here 1813, 1823 a mutilated
figure, which they call the famous Earl Strongbow; but it appears from Coxe that he
was buried at Gloucester. [Bloomfield's note, referring to William Coxe, An Historical Tour in Monmouthshire: Illustrated with views by Sir R. C. Hoare, Bart.
A New Map of the County, and other Engravings (London, 1801)]. [back]

32.. Welcome] Ours was 1813, 1823 [back]

33.. turn about?] turn about, 1813, 1823 [back]

34.. awhile] a while 1813, 1823 [back]

35.. out;] out: 1823 [back]

36.. And,] And 1813, 1823 [back]

37.. Solemnly] The solemn 1813, 1823 [back]

38.. turns] sweeps 1813, 1823 [back]

39.. drest,] drest; 1823 [back]

40.. his] her 1813, 1823 [back]

41.. cease,] cease; 1823 [back]

42.. peace;] peace. 1823 [back]

43.. O'er-look'd] O'erlook'd 1823 [back]

44.. To meet the Severn and the Main,] (To meet the Severn and the Main) 1813, 1823 [back]

45.. Twelve projecting rocks so named, fringed with foliage near the water's edge. 1823
[Bloomfield's note]. [back]

46.. defy'd;] defied: 1823 [back]

47.. 'On my arrival at Chepstow,' says Mr. Coxe, 'I walked to the bridge; it was low water,
and I looked down on the river ebbing between forty and fifty feet beneath: six hours
after, it rose near forty feet, almost reached the floor of the bridge, and flowed
upward with great rapidity. The channel in this place being narrow in proportion to
the Severn, and confined between perpendicular cliffs, the great rise and fall of
the river are peculiarly manifest.' [Bloomfield's note, referring to William Coxe, An Historical Tour in Monmouthshire: Illustrated with views by Sir R. C. Hoare, Bart.
A New Map of the County, and other Engravings (London, 1801)]. [back]

48.. heav'n] Heav'n 1823 [back]

49.. Never;] Never: 1823 [back]

50.. 1823 New section [back]

51.. KYRL] KYRLE 1813, 1823 [back]

52.. out-run] outrun 1823 [back]

53.. hours,] hours 1813, 1823 [back]

54.. PERSFIELD] PERSFIELD'S 1813, 1823 [back]

55.. lay,] lay; 1823 [back]

56.. way;] way, 1823 [back]

57.. he] HE 1813, 1823 [back]

58.. That giant] YON GIANT 1813, 1823. An immense giant of stone, who, to say the best
of him, occupies a place where such personages are least wanted or wished. 1813, 1823
[Bloomfield's note] [back]

59.. mock sublimity?] mock sublimity? 1813, 1823 [back]

60.. Giants, identified,] Giants identified 1823 [back]

61.. down;] down: [back]

62.. chissel's pow'r,] chisel's power 1823 [back]

63.. Down 'midst the hazel stems] Down, 'midst the hazel stems, 1823 [back]

64.. The] THE 1823. New section [back]

65.. Exclaims not, 'PERSFIELD is my home,'] Calls not this paradise his home, 1813, 1823 [back]

66.. Monmouth] hoary 1813, 1823 [back]

67.. controul] control 1823 [back]

68.. Yet surely] 'Twas true that 1813, 1823 [back]

69.. And] That 1813, 1823 [back]

70.. may] might 1813, 1823 [back]

71.. I was the one who] Yet long we 1813, 1823 [back]

72.. He could feel, and he burst into tears.] He felt it and burst into tears. 1813, 1823 [back]

73.. warms,] warms 1823 [back]

74.. The author is equally indebted to Mr. Coxe's County History for this anecdote, as
for the greater part of the notes subjoined throughout the Journal. [Bloomfield's
note, referring to William Coxe, An Historical Tour in Monmouthshire: Illustrated with views by Sir R. C. Hoare, Bart.
A New Map of the County, and other Engravings (London, 1801)]. [back]

75.. when] when 1813, 1823 [back]

76.. sea-waves] sea-waves, 1813, 1823 [back]

77.. Nature's] nature's 1823 [back]

78.. Before] BEFORE 1813, 1823 [back]

79.. though clouds would interpose,] (though clouds would interpose,) 1813, 1823 [back]

80.. STINCHCOMB'S] STINCHCOMBE'S 1813, 1823 [back]

81.. BERKELEY CASTLE] BERKELEY-CASTLE 1813, 1823 [back]

82.. The boundless wealth that summer yields,] (The boundless wealth that summer yields,)
1813, 1823 [back]

83.. Or] OR 1823 [back]

84.. spire,] spire 1813, 1823 [back]

85.. Sunk into gloom, the tinge of fire] Sunk into gloom.The tinge of fire 1813, 1823 [back]

86.. thought,] thought; 1823 [back]

87.. And seem'd, with mild but jealous frown, / To promise peace, and warn us down.] A
dark, majestic, jealous frown / Hung on his brow, and warn'd us down. 1813, 1823 [back]

88.. gaz'd] gazed 1823 [back]

89.. pac'd] paced 1823 [back]

90.. Past] Pass'd 1823 [back]

91.. encreasing] increasing 1813, 1823 [back]

92.. Henry Marten, whose signature appears on the death-warrant of Charles the First, finished
his days here in prison. Marten lived to the advanced age of seventy-eight, and died
by a stroke of apoplexy, which seized him while he was at dinner, in the twentieth
year of his confinement. He was buried in the chancel of the parish church at Chepstow.
Over his ashes was placed a stone with an inscription, which remained there until
one of the succeeding vicars declaring his abhorrence that the monument of a rebel
should stand so near the altar, removed the stone into the body of the church! [Bloomfield's
note]. [back]

93.. plum'd] plumed 1823 [back]

94.. embattl'd] embattled 1823 [back]

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