Tales and Legends of the English Lakes Part 3

She even possessed a vivacity that accompanied all her actions, and threw her real character into the distance. Though endued with the keenest sensibility, she appeared all life and gaiety. Wherever she was, she was the soul of the little company--her lively wit and her smiling beauty procured her attention wherever she showed herself. This beautiful mixture of the gay and the grave a.s.sumed, on some occasions, such strange contrasts, that she seemed to be composed of inconsistencies. Often in her little evening rambles with her young companions, after having put them all in good humour with themselves and with one another, by her little flattering railleries and harmless frolics, she would in an instant bound away from the group with the elastic grace of a mountain nymph--abruptly enter the cottage of some sick or suffering neighbour, with a smile on her countenance, like the angel of comfort charged with blessings, kindly inquire after their various wants and distresses, soothe them with consolatory hopes of better days, offer all those little a.s.sistances which old and decaying age accepts so gratefully at the hands of youth, and after mingling a sigh or a tear with theirs, again join her gay companions as though nothing had occurred.

In the innocent society of this amiable maiden, Charles pa.s.sed the sweetest hours of his existence. His former boyish pursuits were renounced. The windmill, on a rock at a little distance, though nearly matured, was never completed; the water-works in the wood were permitted to run to ruin, even the perpetual motion in the room over the old kitchen, which was in a state of great forwardness, was neglected for a time, and eventually relinquished.

It is supposed, our intelligent correspondent says, that if Charles had never been in love, it is probable that he had never been a poet. And in confirmation of this idea, we observe that his first productions are of the amatory kind--"odes to beauty," "lines to Maria," "acrostics," &c.

Among these fragments, we found a little airy piece without a head but we suppose intended for Maria:

"If all the world was made of kisses, And all those kisses were made for me, And I was made for you, my love, How happy we should be!

If all the graces were join'd in one, And all the wit and beauty too, They'd make a maid like you, my love, They'd make a maid like you!"

Some of his lyric pieces exhibit a strange mixture of philosophy and pa.s.sion, learning and love. In the eleventh page of the ma.n.u.script before us, we find as curious a specimen of this kind as we ever recollect. It is much interlined and seems never to have been finished.

ON LOVE.

"Newton's keen observant eye, Found a power pervade creation; Ignorant of when or why, He fondly called it gravitation.

But 'tis love that binds the spheres-- Love's the real central-forces-- Wheels them round their varying years, Impels them on, and shapes their courses.

Nature all abounds in love, What is there but feels its power?

Hear it warbling in the grove!

See it blooming in a flower!

What's attraction, pray, but love?

And affinity's the same."

But the tender pa.s.sion does not seem to have engrossed all his poetical powers, as we find several pieces both grave and gay on different subjects. One of these we shall select as it seems to possess some originality, and has been occasioned apparently by that influx of strangers which generally enlivens the lake district during the summer months; some of whom have probably noticed our mountain bard, if we may judge from one of the stanzas.

THE STRANGER AT THE LAKES.

"When summer suns lick up the dew, And all the heavens are painted blue, 'Tis then with smiling cheeks we view, The stranger at the Lakes.

When morning tips with gold the boughs, And tinges Skiddaw's cloud-kiss'd brows, Then round the lake the boatman rows, The stranger at the Lakes.

When gray-rob'd evening steps serene, Across the sweetly-varied green, Beside some cascade may be seen The stranger at the Lakes.

Embosomed here the rustic bard, Who oft has thought his fortune hard, Is pleas'd to share the kind regard Of strangers at the Lakes.

He whose ideas never stray Beyond the parson's gig and gray, Stares at the carriage and relay Of strangers at the Lakes.

As by his cot the phaeton flies, The peasant gapes with mouth and eyes, And to his wond'ring family cries, 'A stranger at the Lakes!'

Sometimes when brewers' clerks appear, And Boniface is short of gear, He says, 'Kind Sirs, we've had, this year, Few strangers at the Lakes.'

At Christmas, Poll, the barmaid, shows Her l.u.s.tre gown and new kid shoes, And says, 'I tipp'd the cash for those From strangers at the Lakes.'

But could the post-horse neighing say What he has suffer'd night and day, 'Tis much, I think, if he would pray For strangers at the Lakes."

Time, it is said, has wings; but Charles never observed that it even moved, till he found himself in his twentieth year. That love which at first sought only to relieve itself in the society of its object, now began to a.s.sume a determined character. But to any but lovers, the description of love scenes would be irksome. It will be quite sufficient if we hint at the affair, and leave our readers to fill up the outline.

We will only therefore a.s.sure them on the best authority, that Charles set out no less than three several times with a resolute determination to declare the full extent of his pa.s.sion, and solicit the fair hand of Maria; and that as soon as he saw the maid, his purpose "dissolved like the baseless fabric of a vision;" that Charles at length conquered this timidity, and urged his suit with such ardour, that he was heard afterwards to say he believed love was like steam, the more it was compressed, the greater was its elasticity; that Maria received the declaration with all due bashfulness, and promised to be his bride as soon as she had completed her twenty-first year; that Charles, as is usual on such occasions, flew home on the wings of ecstasy, &c. It seems to have been about this time that the following birthday ode was written--perhaps while he was suffering under the effects of his own bashfulness:--

"Maria, this is just the day, Some twenty years ago, they say, You fill'd your mother's arms; A little puling sprig of love, So kindly dropp'd from heaven above, To bless me with your charms.

Obeying custom, I intend Some little birthday gift to send-- But stay, what must it be?

Of beauty you have quite a share, Accomplish'd too, as well as fair, And richer far than me.

I would not ever have it said, I offer'd trinkets to the maid, Which you might scorn to take; I'll offer then no works of art; I'll give you, love, an honest heart-- Pray, keep it for my sake."

Our correspondent says he would be happy if he could here conclude his narrative, as Sir Walter Scott does, with a happy marriage; for however delightful the transition from sorrow to joy may be, the reverse, even in description, has no charms. But poor Charles was doomed to be hurled from the height of his felicity to the lowest depths of despair. The joyful promise had scarcely escaped the lovely lips of Maria, and while her lover was yet giddy with his joy, when the amiable maid was attacked by a severe illness, which baffled all the doctor's skill. If entreaties for human or divine aid could have prolonged the existence of the ill-fated Maria, she had not died. Charles was ever at her pillow--his studies were relinquished--his poetry was neglected--and the dying Maria filled the whole extent of his capacious mind. But all was vain; the grisly monster Death had selected her as his victim, and he would not quit his hold; he was deaf alike to the lamentations of a parent, the regrets of friends, and the distractions of a betrothed lover.

Though every succeeding morning showed how great was the havoc that disease was making in her tender frame, and the period of her suffering was evidently approaching, Charles still hoped she would soon be well.

If she was more than usually debilitated, he observed that the fever had left her, and she only wanted her strength recruiting, and they would then renew their walks. If the hectic flush overspread her cheeks, he hailed it as the sign of returning health. And thus he hoped even against hope. His reason would have convinced him she was dying, if reason had been allowed to speak; but he wished her to live, and he would not stoop to think that she would die. Thus he fulfilled the remarks of the poet--

"We join in the fraud, and ourselves we deceive, What we wish to be true, love bids us believe."

When at last the pale hue of death overspread her once-blooming cheek, when she turned her languid eye towards her lover and faltered "farewell," when she closed her faded eyes and expired in prayer, Charles stood by the bedside like a being bereft of power and motion.

The deepest despair overwhelmed him--his hopes were blasted--his fond creation of future bliss was in an instant destroyed, and his mind received a shock too powerful for nature to sustain.

From this moment a smile was never seen to illuminate his features, the most gloomy and secluded places were his favourite haunts. He avoided society as if the breath of man was pestilential; and occupied his time in brooding over his own melancholy. In his ma.n.u.script we find a number of melancholy effusions, which were evidently written about this time; and clearly bespeak a mind bordering on the gloomy verge of insanity.

But as they are some of them by far the best pieces in the collection--a proof that poetry and madness are nearly allied--we will select two which tend to ill.u.s.trate the awful state of the writer's mind.

THE EVENING WALK.

"How soothing to the soul the shade Which evening spreads around!

How bright the dewy gems that braid The foliage of the ground.

No sound is heard thro' ether wide, From hill or coppice green, Save where the streamlet seems to chide The stillness of the scene.

Contagion catches on the soul, And lulls e'en grief to rest; No more contending pa.s.sions roll Along the troubled breast.

I seem a moment to have lost The sense of former pain; As if my peace had ne'er been crost, Or joy could spring again.

But ah! 'tis there!--the pang is there; Maria breathes no more!

So fond, so constant, kind, and fair, Her reign of love is o'er.

No more through scenes like these shall we Together fondly stray; Till night itself would seem to me More genial than the day.

I feel the cold night's gathering gloom Infect my throbbing breast; It tells me that the friendly tomb Alone can give me rest.

I then shall sleep the sleep serene, Where she so long has slept; Nor be the wretch I long have been, Nor weep as I have wept."

THE CHURCHYARD.

"Here, then, my weary head shall rest, Here weep and sigh alone; And press the marble to my breast, And kiss the senseless stone.

I'm calmer now--a silv'ry sound Is whisp'ring in my ear; That tells me this is sacred ground, And she is hov'ring near.