Bowles, William Lisle, 1762-1850. The Poetical Works of William Lisle Bowles, Vol. I. With Memoir, Critical Dissertation, and Explanatory Notes by George Gilfillan. Edinburgh: James Nichol, 9 North Bank Street..., 1855.
- THE POETICAL WORKS OF WILLIAM LISLE BOWLES, CANON OF ST PAUL'S CATHEDRAL, AND RECTOR OF BREMHILL.
- imprint
- CONTENTS.
- PREFACE.
- INTRODUCTION TO THE EDITION OF 1837.
- dedication
- AT TYNEMOUTH PRIORY, AFTER A TEMPESTUOUS VOYAGE.
- BAMBOROUGH CASTLE.
- THE RIVER WAINSBECK.
- THE TWEED VISITED.
- ON LEAVING A VILLAGE IN SCOTLAND.
- EVENING.
- TO THE RIVER ITCHIN.
- ON RESIGNING A SCHOLARSHIP OF TRINITY COLLEGE, OXFORD, AND RETIRING TO A COUNTRY CURACY.
- DOVER CLIFFS.
- ON LANDING AT OSTEND.
- THE BELLS, OSTEND.
- THE RHINE.
- INFLUENCE OF TIME ON GRIEF.
- THE CONVENT.
- THE RIVER CHERWELL.
- ON ENTERING SWITZERLAND.
- DISTANT VIEW OF ENGLAND FROM THE SEA.
- HOPE.
- TO A FRIEND.
- ABSENCE.
- BEREAVEMENT.
- OXFORD REVISITED.
- IN MEMORIAM.
- ON THE DEATH OF THE REV. WILLIAM BENWELL, M.A.
- AT MALVERN.
- NETLEY ABBEY.
- ASSOCIATIONS.
- MUSIC.
- APPROACH OF SUMMER.
- AT OXFORD, 1786.
- AT DOVER, 1786.
- RETROSPECTION.
- ON ACCIDENTALLY MEETING A LADY NOW NO MORE. WRITTEN MANY YEARS AFTER THE FOREGOING SONNETS.
- ON HEARING “THE MESSIAH” PERFORMED IN GLOUCESTER CATHEDRAL, SEPT. 18, 1835.
- WOODSPRING ABBEY, 1836.
- LACOCK NUNNERY. JUNE 24, 1837.
- ON A BEAUTIFUL LANDSCAPE.
- ART AND NATURE. THE BRIDGE BETWEEN CLIFTON AND LEIGH WOODS.
- PICTURE OF AN OLD MAN.
- PICTURE OF A YOUNG LADY.
- HOUR-GLASS AND BIBLE.
- MILTON. ON THE BUSTS OF MILTON, IN YOUTH AND AGE, AT STOURHEAD.
- TO SIR WALTER SCOTT. ON ACCIDENTLY MEETING AND PARTING WITH SIR WALTER SCOTT, WHOM I HAD NOT SEEN FOR MANY YEARS, IN THE STREETS OF LONDON, MAY 1828.
- ELEGY WRITTEN AT THE HOTWELLS, BRISTOL, JULY, 1789.
- MONODY ON HENRY HEADLEY.
- ON MR HOWARD'S ACCOUNT OF LAZARETTOS.
- THE GRAVE OF HOWARD.
- SHAKSPEARE.
- ABBA THULE'S LAMENT FOR HIS SON PRINCE LE BOO.
- SOUTHAMPTON WATER.
- THE PHILANTHROPIC SOCIETY. INSCRIBED TO THE DUKE OF LEEDS.
- THE DYING SLAVE.
- SONG OF THE AMERICAN INDIAN.
- MONODY, WRITTEN AT MATLOCK.
- THE RIGHT HONOURABLE EDMUND BURKE.
- ON LEAVING A PLACE OF RESIDENCE.
- ELEGIAC STANZAS. WRITTEN DURING SICKNESS AT BATH.
- ON LEAVING WINCHESTER SCHOOL. WRITTEN IN THE YEAR 1782.
- HOPE, AN ALLEGORICAL SKETCH.
- THE BATTLE OF THE NILE.
- A GARDEN-SEAT AT HOME.
- IN HORTO REV. J. STILL, APUD KNOYLE, VILLAM AMŒNISSIMAM.
- GREENWICH HOSPITAL.
- A RUSTIC SEAT NEAR THE SEA.
- WARDOUR CASTLE.
- POLE-VELLUM, CORNWALL. A PICTURESQUE COTTAGE AND GROUNDS BELONGING TO J. LEMON, ESQ.
- ON A BEAUTIFUL SPRING, FORMING A COLD BATH, AT COOMBE, NEAR DONHEAD, BELONGING TO MY BROTHER, CHAS. BOWLES, ESQ.
- A CENOTAPH, TO THE MEMORY OF LIEUTENANT-COLONEL ISAAC, WHO DIED AT CAPE ST NICHOLA MOLE, 1797.
- [TRANSLATION] OF A LATIN POEM BY THE REV. NEWTON OGLE, DEAN OF MANCHESTER.
- ST MICHAEL'S MOUNT. INSCRIBED TO THE RIGHT HONOURABLE LORD SOMERS.
- ON AN UNFORTUNATE AND BEAUTIFUL WOMAN. WRITTEN DECEMBER 1783.
- HYMN TO WODEN.
- COOMBE-ELLEN.
- SUMMER EVENING AT HOME.
- WINTER EVENING AT HOME.
- THE SPIRIT OF NAVIGATION.
- WATER-PARTY ON BEAULIEU RIVER, IN THE NEW FOREST.
- MONODY ON THE DEATH OF DR WARTON.
- EPITAPH ON H. WALMSLEY, ESQ., IN ALVERSTOKE CHURCH, HANTS.
- AGE.
- ON A LANDSCAPE BY RUBENS.
- THE HARP, AND DESPAIR, OF COWPER.
- STANZAS FOR MUSIC.
- MUSIC.
- ABSENCE. OCTOBER 26, 1791.
- FAIRY SKETCH. SCENE — NETLEY ABBEY.
- INSCRIPTION.
- PICTURES FROM THEOCRITUS.
- SKETCHES IN THE EXHIBITION, 1805.
- EXHIBITION, 1807.
- SOUTHAMPTON CASTLE. INSCRIBED TO THE MARQUIS OF LANSDOWNE.
- THE WINDS.
- ON WILLIAM SOMMERS OF BREMHILL.
- THE VISIONARY BOY.
- CADLAND, SOUTHAMPTON RIVER.
- THE LAST SONG OF CAMOENS.
- THE SYLPH OF SUMMER.
- THE HARP OF HOEL.
- AVENUE IN SAVERNAKE FOREST.
- DIRGE OF NELSON.
- DEATH OF CAPTAIN COOKE, OF “THE BELLEROPHON,” KILLED IN THE SAME BATTLE.
- BATTLE OF CORRUNA.
- SKETCH FROM BOWDEN HILL AFTER SICKNESS.
- SUN-DIAL, IN THE CHURCHYARD OF BREMHILL.
- THE SPIRIT OF DISCOVERY BY SEA: A DESCRIPTIVE AND HISTORICAL POEM.
- THE MISSIONARY.
- END OF VOLUME I.
THE POETICAL WORKS OF WILLIAM LISLE BOWLES, CANON OF ST PAUL'S CATHEDRAL, AND RECTOR OF BREMHILL.
With Memoir, Critical Dissertation, and Explanatory Notes, BY THE REV. GEORGE GILFILLAN.
VOL. I.
EDINBURGH: JAMES NICHOL, 9 NORTH BANK STREET. LONDON: JAMES NISBET AND CO. DUBLIN: W. ROBERTSON. M.DCCC.LV.
EDINBURGH: PRINTED BY BALLANTYNE AND COMPANY, PAUL'S WORK.
CONTENTS.SONNETS AND MISCELLANEOUS POEMS.
| PAGE | |
| SONNETS: — | |
| At Tynemouth Priory, after a Tempestuous Voyage | 7 |
| Bamborough Castle | 8 |
| The River Wainsbeck | 8 |
| The Tweed Visited | 9 |
| On leaving a Village in Scotland | 9 |
| Evening | 10 |
| To the River Itchin | 11 |
| On Resigning a Scholarship of Trinity College, Oxford, and Retiring to a Country Curacy | 11 |
| Dover Cliffs | 12 |
| On Landing at Ostend | 12 |
| The Bells of Ostend | 13 |
| The Rhine | 13 |
| Influence of Time on Grief | 14 |
| The Convent | 14 |
| The River Cherwell | 15 |
| On Entering Switzerland | 15 |
| Distant View of England from the Sea | 16 |
| Hope | 16 |
| To a Friend | 17 |
| Absence | 17 |
| Bereavement | 18 |
| Oxford Revisited | 19 |
| In Memoriam | 19 |
| On the Death of the Rev. William Benwell, M.A. | 20 |
| At Malvern | 20 |
| Netley Abbey | 21 |
| Associations | 21 |
| Music | 22 |
| Approach of Summer | 22 |
| At Oxford, 1786 | 23 |
| At Dover, 1786 | 23 |
| Retrospection | 24 |
| On Accidentally Meeting a Lady, now no more | 24 |
| On hearing "The Messiah" performed in Gloucester Cathedral, Sept. 18, 1835 | 25 |
| Woodspring Abbey, 1836 | 26 |
| Lacock Nunnery, 1837 | 26 |
| On a Beautiful Landscape | 27 |
| Art and Nature: the Bridge between Clifton and Leigh Woods | 27 |
| Picture of an Old Man | 28 |
| Picture of a Young Lady | 29 |
| Hour-glass and Bible | 29 |
| Milton. Two Sonnets on the bust of Milton, in Youth and Age, at Stourhead | 30 |
| To Sir Walter Scott | 31 |
| MISCELLANEOUS POEMS: — | |
| Elegy written at the Hotwells, Bristol | 32 |
| Monody on Henry Headley | 36 |
| Howard's Account of Lazarettos | 37 |
| The Grave of Howard | 42 |
| Shakspeare | 46 |
| Abbe Thule's Lament for his Son Prince Le Boo | 49 |
| Southampton Water | 51 |
| The Philanthropic Society | 52 |
| The Dying Slave | 58 |
| Song of the American Indian | 60 |
| Monody, written at Matlock | 61 |
| The Right Honourable Edmund Burke | 67 |
| On Leaving a Place of Residence | 72 |
| Elegiac Stanzas written during Sickness at Bath | 73 |
| On leaving Winchester School | 77 |
| Hope: an Allegorical Sketch | 77 |
| The Battle of the Nile | 88 |
| A Garden-Seat at Home[Page iv] | 94 |
| In Horto Rev. J. Still | 95 |
| Greenwich Hospital | 95 |
| A Rustic Seat near the Sea | 96 |
| Wardour Castle | 96 |
| Pole-vellum, Cornwall | 97 |
| On a Beautiful Spring | 98 |
| On a Cenotaph to the Memory of Lieut-Col. Isaac | 99 |
| Translation of a Latin Poem, by Rev. Newton Ogle | 100 |
| St Michael's Mount | 101 |
| On an Unfortunate and Beautiful Woman | 111 |
| Hymn to Woden | 113 |
| Coombe-Ellen | 115 |
| Summer Evening at Home | 125 |
| Winter Evening at Home | 126 |
| The Spirit of Navigation | 127 |
| Water-party on Beaulieu River, in the New Forest | 134 |
| Monody on the Death of Dr Warton | 135 |
| Epitaph on H. Walmsley, Esq., in[ Alverstoke] Church, Hants | 141 |
| Age | 142 |
| On a Landscape by Rubens | 142 |
| The Harp, and Despair, of Cowper | 151 |
| Stanzas for Music | 152 |
| Music | 152 |
| Absence | 153 |
| Fairy Sketch | 154 |
| Inscription | 155 |
| Pictures from Theocritus | 156 |
| Sketches in the Exhibition, 1805 | 161 |
| Do. in the Exhibition, 1807 | 162 |
| Southampton Castle | 164 |
| The Winds | 166 |
| On William Sommers of Bremhill | 169 |
| The Visionary Boy | 170 |
| Cadland, Southampton River | 180 |
| The Last Song of Camoens | 182 |
| The Sylph of Summer | 184 |
| The Harp of Hoel | 201 |
| Avenue in Savernake Forest | 215 |
| Dirge of Nelson | 216 |
| Death of Captain Cooke, of "The Bellerophon" | 217 |
| Battle of Corruna | 218 |
| Sketch from Bowden Hill after Sickness | 219 |
| Sun-Dial in the Churchyard of Bremhill | 223 |
| THE SPIRIT OF DISCOVERY: | |
| A Descriptive and Historical Poem | 225 |
| Book the First | 231 |
| Book the Second | 245 |
| Book the Third | 258 |
| Book the Fourth | 266 |
| Book the Fifth | 285 |
| THE MISSIONARY | 295 |
| Introduction | 297 |
| Canto First | 298 |
| Canto Second | 309 |
| Canto Third | 318 |
| Canto Fourth | 330 |
| Canto Fifth | 339 |
| Canto Sixth | 344 |
| Canto Seventh | 350 |
| Canton Eighth | 359 |
The Memoir and Critical Dissertation being unavoidably delayed, will be prefixed to Vol. II. [Page 1]
PREFACE.
A Ninth Edition of the following Poems having been called for by the public, the author is induced to say a few words, particularly concerning those which, under the name of Sonnets, describe his personal feelings.
They can be considered in no other light than as exhibiting occasional reflections which naturally arose in his mind, chiefly during various excursions, undertaken to relieve, at the time, depression of spirits. They were, therefore, in general, suggested by the scenes before them; and wherever such scenes appeared to harmonise with his disposition at the moment, the sentiments were involuntarily prompted.
Numberless poetical trifles of the same kind have occurred to him, when perhaps, in his solitary rambles, he has been "chewing the cud of sweet and bitter fancy;" but they have been forgotten as he left the places which gave rise to them; and the greater part of those originally committed to the press were written down, for the first time, from memory.
This is nothing to the public; but it may serve in some measure to obviate the common remark on melancholy poetry, that it has been very often gravely composed, when possibly the heart of the writer had very little share in the distress he chose to describe.
But there is a great difference between natural and fabricated feelings, even in poetry. To which of these two characters the poems before the reader belong, the author leaves those who have felt sensations of sorrow to judge.
They who know him, know the occasions of them to have been real; to the public he might only mention the sudden death of a deserving young woman, with whom,
INTRODUCTION TO THE EDITION OF 1837.
To account for the variations which may be remarked in this last edition of my Sonnets, from that which was first published fifty years ago, it may be proper to state, that to the best of my recollection, they now appear nearly as they were originally composed in my solitary hours; when, in youth a wanderer among distant scenes, I sought forgetfulness of the first disappointment in early affections.
Delicacy even now, though the grave has long closed over the beloved object, would forbid entering on a detail of the peculiar circumstances in early life, and the anguish which occasioned these poetical meditations. In fact, I never thought of writing them down at the time, and many had escaped my recollection;22 I confined myself to fourteen lines, because fourteen lines seemed best adapted to unity of sentiment. I thought nothing about the strict Italian model; the verses naturally flowed in unpremeditated harmony, as my ear directed, but the slightest inspection will prove they were far from being mere elegiac couplets. The subjects were chiefly from river scenery, and the reader will recollect what Sir Humphrey Davy has said on this subject so beautifully; it will be recollected, also, that they were published ten years before those of Mr Wordsworth on the river Duddon, Yarrow, et cet. There have been many claimants, among modern poets, for the laurel of the sonnet, but, in picturesque description, sentiment, and harmony, I know none superior to those of my friend the Rev. Charles Hoyle, on scenery in Scotland, the mountains of Ben Nevis, Loch Lomond, et cet. but three years after my return to England, on my way to the banks of Cherwell, where
passing through Bath, I wrote down all I could recollect of these effusions, most elaborately mending the versification from the natural flow of music in which they occurred to me, and having thus corrected and written them out, took them myself to the late Mr Cruttwell, with the name of "Fourteen Sonnets, written chiefly on Picturesque Spots during a Journey."
I had three times knocked at this amiable printer's door, whose kind smile I still recollect; and at last, with much hesitation, ventured to unfold my message; it was to inquire whether he would give any thing for "Fourteen Sonnets," to be published with or without the name. 33 To account for the present variations, some remained as originally with their natural pauses, others for the press I thought it best to correct into verse less broken, and now, after fifty years, they are recorrected, and restored, I believe, more nearly to the original shape in which they were first meditated.He at once declined the purchase, and informed me he doubted very much whether the publication would repay the expense of printing, which would come to about five pounds. It was at last determined one hundred copies, in quarto, should be published[Page 3] as a kind of "forlorn hope;" and these "Fourteen Sonnets" I left to their fate and thought no more of getting rich by poetry! In fact, I owed the most I ever owed at Oxford, at this time, namely, seventy pounds;44 I hoped by my Sonnets to pay this vast debt. and knowing my father's large family and trying circumstances, and those of my poor mother, I shrunk from asking more money when I left home, and went back with a heavy heart to Oxford, under the conscious weight, that my poetic scheme failing, I had no means of paying Parsons, the mercer's, bill! This was the origin of the publication.
As this plain account is so connected with whatever may be my name in criticism and poetry, it is hoped it will be pardoned.
All thoughts of succeeding as a poet were now abandoned; but, half a year afterwards, I received a letter from the printer informing me that the hundred copies were all sold, adding, that if I had published five hundred copies, he had no doubt they would have been sold also.
This, in my then situation, my father now dead, and my mother a widow with seven children, and with a materially reduced income (from the loss of the rectories of Uphill and Brean in Somerset), was gratifying indeed; all my golden dreams of poetical success were renewed; — the number of the sonnets first published was increased, and five hundred copies, by the congratulating printer, with whose family I have lived in kindest amity from that hour, were recommended to issue from the press of the editor of the Bath Chronicle.
But this was not all, the five hundred copies were sold to great advantage, for it was against my will that five hundred copies should be printed, till the printer told me he would take the risk on himself, on the usual terms, at that time, of bookseller and author.
Soon afterwards, it was agreed that seven hundred and fifty copies should be printed, in a smaller and elegant size. I had received Coleridge's warm testimony; but soon after this third edition came out, my friend, Mr Cruttwell, the printer, wrote a letter saying that two young gentlemen, strangers, one a particularly handsome and pleasing youth, lately from Westminster School, and both literary and intelligent, spoke in high commendation of my volume, and if I recollect right, expressed a desire to have some poems printed in the same type and form. Who these young men were I knew not at the time, but the communication of the circumstance was to me most gratifying; and how much more gratifying, when, from one of them, after he himself had achieved the fame of one of the most virtuous and eloquent of the writers in his generation, I received a first visit at my parsonage in Wiltshire upwards of forty years afterwards! It was Robert Southey. We parted in my garden last year, when stealing time and sorrow had marked his still manly, but most interesting countenance. 55 His companion, Mr Lovel, died in youth.— Therefore,[Page 4]
TO ROBERT SOUTHEY, WHO HAS EXHIBITED IN HIS PROSE WORKS, AS IN HIS LIFE, THE PURITY AND VIRTUES OF ADDISON AND LOCKE, AND IN HIS POETRY THE IMAGINATION AND SOUL OF SPENSER, THESE POEMS, WITH EVERY AFFECTIONATE PRAYER, ARE INSCRIBED BY HIS SINCERE FRIEND, WILLIAM LISLE BOWLES.