374. *_Bothwell Castle_. [XVIII.]

In my Sister’s Journal is an account of Bothwell Castle as it appeared to us at that time.

375. *_The Avon:  a Feeder of the Avon_. [XX. l. 2.]

    ‘Yet is it one that other rivulets bear.’

There is the Shakspeare Avon, the Bristol Avon, the one that flows by Salisbury, and a small river in Wales, I believe, bear the name; Avon being, in the ancient tongue, the general name for river.

376. *_Suggested by a View from an Eminence in Inglewood Forest_. [XXI.]

The extensive forest of Inglewood has been enclosed within my memory.  I was well acquainted with it in its ancient state.  The Hartshorn tree, mentioned in the next sonnet, was one of its remarkable objects, as well as another tree that grew upon an eminence not far from Penrith.  It was single and conspicuous, and, being of a round shape, though it was universally known to be a ‘sycamore,’ it was always called the ’Round Thorn,’ so difficult is it to chain fancy down to fact.

377. Hart’s-Horn Tree, near Penrith. [XXII.]

[After a quotation from Nicholson and Burns’s History of Westmoreland and Cumberland.] The tree has now disappeared, but I well remember its imposing appearance as it stood, in a decayed state, by the side of the high road leading from Penrith to Appleby.  The whole neighbourhood abounds in interesting traditions and vestiges of antiquity, viz., Julian’s Bower; Brougham and Penrith Castles; Penrith Beacon, and the curious remains in Penrith Churchyard; Arthur’s Round Table, and, close by, Maybrough; the excavation, called the Giant’s Cave, on the banks of the Emont; Long Meg and her daughters, near Eden, &c., &c.

378. Fancy and Tradition. [XXIII.]

Suggested by the recollection of Juliana’s bower and other traditions connected with this ancient forest.

379. Countess’ Pillar. [XXIV.]

On the road-side between Penrith and Appleby there stands a pillar with the following inscription:—­

’This pillar was erected in the year 1656, by Anne Countess Dowager of Pembroke, &c. for a memorial of her last parting with her pious mother, Margaret Countess Dowager of Cumberland, on the 2d April, 1616; in memory whereof she hath left an annuity of L4, to be distributed to the poor of the parish of Brougham, every 2d day of April for ever, upon the stone table placed hard by. Laus Deo!’

* * * * *

XVI.  EVENING VOLUNTARIES.

380. Lines composed on a high part of the coast of Cumberland, Easter Sunday, April 7th, the Author’s sixty-third birthday. [II.]