"Rare master has it been thy lot to know;Long hast thou served a man to reason true;Whose life combines the best of high and low,The labouring many and the resting few."—M.[175]"Mighty Fairfield":"And Mighty Fairfield, with her chimeOf echoes, still was keeping time."—Wordsworth's "Waggoner."I have retained the English name of Fairfield; but, when I was studying Danish, I stumbled upon the true meaning of the name, unlocked by that language, and reciprocally (as one amongst other instances which I met at the very threshold of my studies) unlocking the fact that Danish (or Icelandic rather) is the master-key to the local names and dialect of Westmoreland.Faaris a sheep:falda hill. But are not all the hills sheep hills? No; Fairfield only, amongst all its neighbours, has large, smooth, pastoral savannas, to which the sheep resort when all the rocky or barren neighbours are left desolate.[176]FromTait's Magazinefor August 1840.—M.[177]Potteris the local term in northern England for a hawker of earthen ware; many of which class lead a vagrant life, and encamp during the summer months like gipsies.[178]This brutal boast might, after all, be a falsehood, and, with respect to mere numbers, probably was so.[179]Byron's letter was not to Hogg, but to Moore, concerning a letter received from Hogg; and the extract from it inLockhartto which De Quincey refers was as follows:—"Oh! I have had the most amusing letter from Hogg, the Ettrick Minstrel and Shepherd. I think very highly of him as a poet; but he and half of those Scotch and Lake troubadours are spoilt by living in little circles and petty coteries. London and the world is the only place to take the conceit out of a man." The letter is dated 3d August 1814.—M.[180]Scott, at all events, who had been personally acquainted with Wordsworth since 1803,—when Wordsworth and his sister Dorothy in the course of their Scottish tour visited Scott and his wife at Lasswade,—had always been an admirer of Wordsworth, even while dissenting from his poetical views. Scott and his wife had paid a return visit to Wordsworth at Grasmere in 1805; and the two poets had corresponded occasionally since then,—Scott decidedly more deferential to Wordsworth than Wordsworth was to Scott.—M.[181]The story will appear in a future volume.—M.[182]It is entitled "Characteristics of a Child Three Years Old"; and is dated at the foot 1811, which must be an oversight, for she was not so old until the following year. I may as well add the first six lines, though I had a reason for beginning the extract where it does, in order to fix the attention upon the special circumstance which had so much fascinated myself, of her all-sufficiency to herself, and the way in which she "filled the air with gladness and involuntary songs." The other lines are these:"Loving she is and tractable, though wild;And Innocence hath privilege in herTo dignify arch looks and laughing eyes;And feats of cunning; and the pretty roundOf trespasses, affected to provokeMock-chastisement and partnership in play."[183]The paper inTait's Magazinefor August 1840 does not end here, but includes all the matter of the next short chapter. As that matter changes the scene from the Lakes, however, better to put it in a chapter by itself.—M.[184]FromTait's Magazinefor August 1840.—M.[185]Hannah More's residence.—M.[186]At the time mentioned Hannah More was verging on her seventieth year and Mrs. Siddons on her sixtieth.—M.[187]Aprivilegedguest at Windsor. Mrs. Siddons used to mention that, when she was invited to Windsor Castle for the purpose of reading before the Queen and her royal daughters, on her first visit she was ready to sink from weariness under the effort of standing for so long a time; but on some subsequent visit I have understood that she was allowed to sit, probably on the suggestion of one of the younger ladies.[188]It was in 1783, the last year but one of Dr. Johnson's life, that Mrs. Siddons, then twenty-eight years of age, and already the most famous actress of her day, visited Johnson in his rooms in Bolt Court, Fleet Street. "When Mrs. Siddons came into the room, there happened to be no chair ready for her, which he observing, said with a smile, 'Madam, you who so often occasion a want of seats to other people will the more easily excuse the want of one yourself.'" So Boswell reports.—M.[189]Published in 1777.—M.[190]I saw her, however, myself upon the stage twice after this meeting at Barley Wood. It was at Edinburgh; and the parts were those of Lady Macbeth and Lady Randolph. But she then performed only as an expression of kindness to her grandchildren. Professor Wilson and myself saw her on the occasion from the stage-box, with a delight embittered by the certainty that we saw her for the last time.[191]Her farewell to the stage had been on the 29th of June 1812 in the character of Lady Macbeth.—M.[192]Mrs. Jordan died in 1816, at the age of 54; Mrs. Siddons in 1831, at the age of 76. Hannah More outlived both, dying in 1833, at the age of 88.—M.
"Rare master has it been thy lot to know;Long hast thou served a man to reason true;Whose life combines the best of high and low,The labouring many and the resting few."—M.[175]"Mighty Fairfield":"And Mighty Fairfield, with her chimeOf echoes, still was keeping time."—Wordsworth's "Waggoner."I have retained the English name of Fairfield; but, when I was studying Danish, I stumbled upon the true meaning of the name, unlocked by that language, and reciprocally (as one amongst other instances which I met at the very threshold of my studies) unlocking the fact that Danish (or Icelandic rather) is the master-key to the local names and dialect of Westmoreland.Faaris a sheep:falda hill. But are not all the hills sheep hills? No; Fairfield only, amongst all its neighbours, has large, smooth, pastoral savannas, to which the sheep resort when all the rocky or barren neighbours are left desolate.[176]FromTait's Magazinefor August 1840.—M.[177]Potteris the local term in northern England for a hawker of earthen ware; many of which class lead a vagrant life, and encamp during the summer months like gipsies.[178]This brutal boast might, after all, be a falsehood, and, with respect to mere numbers, probably was so.[179]Byron's letter was not to Hogg, but to Moore, concerning a letter received from Hogg; and the extract from it inLockhartto which De Quincey refers was as follows:—"Oh! I have had the most amusing letter from Hogg, the Ettrick Minstrel and Shepherd. I think very highly of him as a poet; but he and half of those Scotch and Lake troubadours are spoilt by living in little circles and petty coteries. London and the world is the only place to take the conceit out of a man." The letter is dated 3d August 1814.—M.[180]Scott, at all events, who had been personally acquainted with Wordsworth since 1803,—when Wordsworth and his sister Dorothy in the course of their Scottish tour visited Scott and his wife at Lasswade,—had always been an admirer of Wordsworth, even while dissenting from his poetical views. Scott and his wife had paid a return visit to Wordsworth at Grasmere in 1805; and the two poets had corresponded occasionally since then,—Scott decidedly more deferential to Wordsworth than Wordsworth was to Scott.—M.[181]The story will appear in a future volume.—M.[182]It is entitled "Characteristics of a Child Three Years Old"; and is dated at the foot 1811, which must be an oversight, for she was not so old until the following year. I may as well add the first six lines, though I had a reason for beginning the extract where it does, in order to fix the attention upon the special circumstance which had so much fascinated myself, of her all-sufficiency to herself, and the way in which she "filled the air with gladness and involuntary songs." The other lines are these:"Loving she is and tractable, though wild;And Innocence hath privilege in herTo dignify arch looks and laughing eyes;And feats of cunning; and the pretty roundOf trespasses, affected to provokeMock-chastisement and partnership in play."[183]The paper inTait's Magazinefor August 1840 does not end here, but includes all the matter of the next short chapter. As that matter changes the scene from the Lakes, however, better to put it in a chapter by itself.—M.[184]FromTait's Magazinefor August 1840.—M.[185]Hannah More's residence.—M.[186]At the time mentioned Hannah More was verging on her seventieth year and Mrs. Siddons on her sixtieth.—M.[187]Aprivilegedguest at Windsor. Mrs. Siddons used to mention that, when she was invited to Windsor Castle for the purpose of reading before the Queen and her royal daughters, on her first visit she was ready to sink from weariness under the effort of standing for so long a time; but on some subsequent visit I have understood that she was allowed to sit, probably on the suggestion of one of the younger ladies.[188]It was in 1783, the last year but one of Dr. Johnson's life, that Mrs. Siddons, then twenty-eight years of age, and already the most famous actress of her day, visited Johnson in his rooms in Bolt Court, Fleet Street. "When Mrs. Siddons came into the room, there happened to be no chair ready for her, which he observing, said with a smile, 'Madam, you who so often occasion a want of seats to other people will the more easily excuse the want of one yourself.'" So Boswell reports.—M.[189]Published in 1777.—M.[190]I saw her, however, myself upon the stage twice after this meeting at Barley Wood. It was at Edinburgh; and the parts were those of Lady Macbeth and Lady Randolph. But she then performed only as an expression of kindness to her grandchildren. Professor Wilson and myself saw her on the occasion from the stage-box, with a delight embittered by the certainty that we saw her for the last time.[191]Her farewell to the stage had been on the 29th of June 1812 in the character of Lady Macbeth.—M.[192]Mrs. Jordan died in 1816, at the age of 54; Mrs. Siddons in 1831, at the age of 76. Hannah More outlived both, dying in 1833, at the age of 88.—M.
"Rare master has it been thy lot to know;Long hast thou served a man to reason true;Whose life combines the best of high and low,The labouring many and the resting few."—M.
"Rare master has it been thy lot to know;Long hast thou served a man to reason true;Whose life combines the best of high and low,The labouring many and the resting few."—M.
[175]"Mighty Fairfield":
"And Mighty Fairfield, with her chimeOf echoes, still was keeping time."—Wordsworth's "Waggoner."
"And Mighty Fairfield, with her chimeOf echoes, still was keeping time."—Wordsworth's "Waggoner."
I have retained the English name of Fairfield; but, when I was studying Danish, I stumbled upon the true meaning of the name, unlocked by that language, and reciprocally (as one amongst other instances which I met at the very threshold of my studies) unlocking the fact that Danish (or Icelandic rather) is the master-key to the local names and dialect of Westmoreland.Faaris a sheep:falda hill. But are not all the hills sheep hills? No; Fairfield only, amongst all its neighbours, has large, smooth, pastoral savannas, to which the sheep resort when all the rocky or barren neighbours are left desolate.
[176]FromTait's Magazinefor August 1840.—M.
[177]Potteris the local term in northern England for a hawker of earthen ware; many of which class lead a vagrant life, and encamp during the summer months like gipsies.
[178]This brutal boast might, after all, be a falsehood, and, with respect to mere numbers, probably was so.
[179]Byron's letter was not to Hogg, but to Moore, concerning a letter received from Hogg; and the extract from it inLockhartto which De Quincey refers was as follows:—"Oh! I have had the most amusing letter from Hogg, the Ettrick Minstrel and Shepherd. I think very highly of him as a poet; but he and half of those Scotch and Lake troubadours are spoilt by living in little circles and petty coteries. London and the world is the only place to take the conceit out of a man." The letter is dated 3d August 1814.—M.
[180]Scott, at all events, who had been personally acquainted with Wordsworth since 1803,—when Wordsworth and his sister Dorothy in the course of their Scottish tour visited Scott and his wife at Lasswade,—had always been an admirer of Wordsworth, even while dissenting from his poetical views. Scott and his wife had paid a return visit to Wordsworth at Grasmere in 1805; and the two poets had corresponded occasionally since then,—Scott decidedly more deferential to Wordsworth than Wordsworth was to Scott.—M.
[181]The story will appear in a future volume.—M.
[182]It is entitled "Characteristics of a Child Three Years Old"; and is dated at the foot 1811, which must be an oversight, for she was not so old until the following year. I may as well add the first six lines, though I had a reason for beginning the extract where it does, in order to fix the attention upon the special circumstance which had so much fascinated myself, of her all-sufficiency to herself, and the way in which she "filled the air with gladness and involuntary songs." The other lines are these:
"Loving she is and tractable, though wild;And Innocence hath privilege in herTo dignify arch looks and laughing eyes;And feats of cunning; and the pretty roundOf trespasses, affected to provokeMock-chastisement and partnership in play."
"Loving she is and tractable, though wild;And Innocence hath privilege in herTo dignify arch looks and laughing eyes;And feats of cunning; and the pretty roundOf trespasses, affected to provokeMock-chastisement and partnership in play."
[183]The paper inTait's Magazinefor August 1840 does not end here, but includes all the matter of the next short chapter. As that matter changes the scene from the Lakes, however, better to put it in a chapter by itself.—M.
[184]FromTait's Magazinefor August 1840.—M.
[185]Hannah More's residence.—M.
[186]At the time mentioned Hannah More was verging on her seventieth year and Mrs. Siddons on her sixtieth.—M.
[187]Aprivilegedguest at Windsor. Mrs. Siddons used to mention that, when she was invited to Windsor Castle for the purpose of reading before the Queen and her royal daughters, on her first visit she was ready to sink from weariness under the effort of standing for so long a time; but on some subsequent visit I have understood that she was allowed to sit, probably on the suggestion of one of the younger ladies.
[188]It was in 1783, the last year but one of Dr. Johnson's life, that Mrs. Siddons, then twenty-eight years of age, and already the most famous actress of her day, visited Johnson in his rooms in Bolt Court, Fleet Street. "When Mrs. Siddons came into the room, there happened to be no chair ready for her, which he observing, said with a smile, 'Madam, you who so often occasion a want of seats to other people will the more easily excuse the want of one yourself.'" So Boswell reports.—M.
[189]Published in 1777.—M.
[190]I saw her, however, myself upon the stage twice after this meeting at Barley Wood. It was at Edinburgh; and the parts were those of Lady Macbeth and Lady Randolph. But she then performed only as an expression of kindness to her grandchildren. Professor Wilson and myself saw her on the occasion from the stage-box, with a delight embittered by the certainty that we saw her for the last time.
[191]Her farewell to the stage had been on the 29th of June 1812 in the character of Lady Macbeth.—M.
[192]Mrs. Jordan died in 1816, at the age of 54; Mrs. Siddons in 1831, at the age of 76. Hannah More outlived both, dying in 1833, at the age of 88.—M.