Beachy Head: with Other Poems/Notes
In crossing the Channel from the coast of France, Beachy-Head is the first land made.
"Stretch'd forth his arm"
Alluding to an idea that this Island was once joined to the continent of Europe, and torn from it by some convulsion of Nature. I confess I never could trace the resemblance between the two countries. Yet the cliffs about Dieppe, resemble the chalk cliffs on the Southern coast. But Normandy has no likeness whatever to the part of England opposite to it.
Terns.—Sterna hirundo, or Sea Swallow.
Gulls.—Larus canus.
Tarrocks.—Larus tridactylus.
Gray Choughs.—Corvus Graculus, Cornish Choughs, or, as these birds are called by the Sussex people, Saddle-backed Crows, build in great numbers on this coast.
Page 4. Line 10.
"Bursts from its pod the vegetable down."
Cotton. (Gossypium herbaceum.)
"The beamy adamant." Diamonds, the hardest and most valuable of precious stones.
For the extraordinary exertions of the Indians in diving for the pearl oysters, see the account of the Pearl Fisheries in Percival's View of Ceylon.
Page 8. Line 14.
"But now and then the Sea Snipe's cry," &c.
"The period, when from Neustria's hostile shore
The Norman launch'd his galleys, and the bay
O'er which that mass of ruin*[1] frowns even now
In vain and sullen menace, then received
The new invaders," &c.
The North-men made inroads on the coasts of France; and carrying back immense booty, excited their compatriots to engage in the same piratical voyages: and they were afterwards joined by numbers of necessitous and daring adventurers from the coasts of Provence and Sicily.
In 844, these wandering innovators had a great number of vessels at sea; and again visiting the coasts of France, Spain, and England, the following year they penetrated even to Paris: and the unfortunate Charles the Bald, king of France, purchased at a high price, the retreat of the banditti he had no other means of repelling.
These successful expeditions continued for some time; till Rollo, otherwise Raoul, assembled a number of followers, and after a descent on England, crossed the channel, and made himself master of Rouen, which he fortified. Charles the Simple, unable to contend with Rollo, offered to resign to him some of the northern provinces, and to give him his daughter in marriage. Neustria, since called Normandy, was granted to him, and afterwards Brittany. He added the more solid virtues of the legislator to the fierce valour of the conqueror—converted to Christianity, he established justice, and repressed the excesses of his Danish subjects, till then accustomed to live only by plunder. His name became the signal for pursuing those who violated the laws; as well as the cry of Haro, still so usual in Normandy. The Danes and Francs produced a race of men celebrated for their valour; and it was a small party of these that in 983, having been on a age to Jerusalem, arrived on their return at Salerno, and found the town surrounded by Mahometans, whom the Salernians were bribing to leave their coast. The Normans represented to them the baseness and cowardice of such submission; and notwithstanding the inequality of their numbers, they boldly attacked the Saracen camp, and drove the infidels to their ships. The prince of Salerno, astonished at their successful audacity, would have loaded them with the marks of his gratitude; but refusing every reward, they returned to their own country, from whence, however, other bodies of Normans passed into Sicily*[3]; and many of them entered into the service of the emperor of the East, others of the Pope, and the duke of Naples was happy to engage a small party of them in defence of his newly founded dutchy. Soon afterwards three brothers of Coutance, the sons of Tancred de Hauteville, Guillaume Fier-a-bras, Drogon, and Humfroi, joining the Normans established at Aversa, became masters of the fertile island of Sicily; and Robert Guiscard joining them, the Normans became sovereigns both of Sicily and Naples*[4]. How William, the natural son of Robert, duke of Normandy, possessed himself of England, is too well known to be repeated here. William sailing from St. Valori, landed in the bay of Pevensey; and at the place now called Battle, met the English forces under Harold: an esquire (ecuyer) called Taillefer, mounted on an armed horse, led on the Normans, singing in a thundering tone the war song of Rollo. He threw himself among the English, and was killed on the first onset. In a marsh not far from Hastings, the skeletons of an armed man and horse were found a few years since, which are believed to have belonged to the Normans, as a party of their horse, deceived in the nature of the ground, perished in the morass.
Page 10. Line 10.
"Then the holy pile," &c.
Battle Abbey was raised by the Conqueror, and endowed with an ample revenue, that masses might be said night and day for the souls of those who perished in battle.
Page 11. Last line.
"Thou, leagued with the Batavian—"
"the humble home
Of one, who sometimes watches on the heights," &c.
The shepherds and labourers of this tract of country, a hardy and athletic race of men, are almost universally engaged in the contraband trade, carried on for the coarsest and most destructive spirits, with the opposite coast. When no other vessel will venture to sea, these men hazard their lives to elude the watchfulness of the Revenue officers, and to secure their cargoes.
"Where the gemm'd sun-dew grows, or fring'd buck-bean,
They scare the plover"
Sun-dew.—Drosera rotundifolia
Buck-bean.—Menyanthes trifoliatum.
Plover.—Tringa vanellus.
Page 15. Line 9.
"By crouding osiers, and the black coot hides—"
Coot.—Fulica aterrima.
Line 16.
"With blossom'd furze, unprofitably gay."
Goldsmith.
"Hostile war-fires." The Beacons formerly lighted up on the hills to give notice of the approach of an enemy. These signals would still be used in case of alarm, if the Telegraph now substituted could not be distinguished on account of fog or darkness.
Line 11.
"Where clamouring loud, the evening curlew runs."
Curlew.—Charadrius œdicnemus.
"where Vecta breaks
With her white rocks, the strong imperious tide."
Vecta.—The Isle of Wight, which breaks the force of the waves when they are driven by south-west winds against this long and open coast. It is somewhere described as "Vecta shouldering the Western Waves."
Page 22. Line 3.
"By the rude arms of trees, lovely in spring."
Every cottage in this country has its orchard; and I imagine that not even those of Herefordshire, or Worcestershire, exhibit a more beautiful prospect, when the trees are in bloom, and the "Primavera candida e vermiglia," is every where so enchanting.
Page 24. Line 10.
"Where purple tassels of the tangling vetch—"
Vetch.—Vicia sylvatica.
Line 11.
"With bittersweet, and bryony inweave."
Bittersweet—Solanum dulcamara.
Bryony.—Bryonia alba.
Line 12.
"And the dew fills the silver bindweed's cups—"
Bindweed.—Convolvulus sepium.
Line 14.
"Nourish the harebell, and the freckled pagil."
Harebell.—Hyacinthus non scriptus.
Pagil.—Primula veris.
Page 25. Line 5.
"Plucks the wood sorrel—"
Oxalis acetosella.
Line 8.
"Gathers, the copse's pride, anémones."
Anemóne nemorosa.—It appears to be settled on late and excellent authorities, that this word should not be accented on the second syllable, but on the penultima. I have however ventured the more known accentuation, as more generally used, and suiting better the nature of my verse.
"Of sea-shells; with the pale calcareous soil
Mingled, and seeming of resembling substance."
Among the crumbling chalk I have often found shells, some quite in a fossil state and hardly distinguishable from chalk. Others appeared more recent; cockles, muscles, and periwinkles, I well remember, were among the number; and some whose names I do not know. A great number were like those of small land snails. It is now many years since I made these observations. The appearance of sea-shells so far from the sea excited my surprise, though I then knew nothing of natural history. I have never read any of the late theories of the earth, nor was I ever satisfied with the attempts to explain many of the phenomena which call forth conjecture in those books I happened to have had access to on this subject.
Page 26. Line 11.
"Or did this range of chalky mountains," &c.
The theory here slightly hinted at, is taken from an idea started by Mr. White.
Page 27. Last line.
"Rest the remains of men, of whom is left—"
These Downs are not only marked with traces of encampments, which from their forms are called Roman or Danish; but there are numerous tumuli among them. Some of which having been opened a few years ago, were supposed by a learned antiquary to contain the remains of the original natives of the country.
Page 28. Line 8
"Where the mail'd legions, under Claudius," &c.
"What time the huge unwieldy elephant
Auxiliary reluctant, hither led—"
Page 28. Line 16.
"—and in giants dwelling on the hills—"
The peasants believe that the large bones sometimes found belonged to giants, who formerly lived on the hills. The devil also has a great deal to do with the remarkable forms of hill and vale: the Devil's Punch Bowl, the Devil's Leaps, and the Devil's Dyke, are names given to deep hollows, or high and abrupt ridges, in this and the neighbouring county.
Page 29. Line 8.
"The pirate Dane, who from his circular camp—"
The incursions of the Danes were for many ages the scourge of this island.
Line 12.
"The savage native, who his acorn meal—"
Page 30. Line 10.
"Will from among the fescue bring him flowers—"
The grass called Sheep's Fescue, (Festuca ovina,) clothes these Downs with the softest turf.
"some resembling bees
In velvet vest intent on their sweet toil—"
Ophrys apifera, Bee Ophrys, or Orchis, found plentifully on the hills, as well as the next.
Line 13.
"While others mimic flies, that lightly sport—"
"Blue bells wave tremulous.—"
(Campanula rotundifolia.)
"The mountain thyme
Purples the hassock of the heaving mole."
Line 5.
"And the short turf is gay with tormentil."
Tormentilla reptans.
"And bird's foot trefoil, and the lesser tribes
Of hawkweed; spangling it with fringed stars.—"
Bird's foot trefoil.—Trifolium ornithopoides. Hawkweed.—Hieracium, many sorts.
Line 11.
"The guardian of the flock, with watchful care,—"
The downs, especially to the south, where they are less abrupt, are in many places under the plough; and the attention of the shepherds is there particularly required to keep the flocks from trespassing.
Page 31. Line 13.
"While his boy visits every wired trap—"
Square holes cut in the turf, into which a wire noose is fixed, to catch Wheatears. Mr. White says, that these birds (Motacilla oenanthe) are never taken beyond the river Adur, and Beding Hill; but this is certainly a mistake.
Line 15.
"The timid migrants, who from distant wilds,—"
"the Shepherd still protects
The social bird, who from his native haunts—"
The Yellow Wagtail.—Motacilla flava. It frequents the banks of rivulets in winter, making its nest in meadows and corn-fields. But after the breeding season is over, it haunts downs and sheepwalks, and is seen constantly among the flocks, probably for the sake of the insects it picks up. In France the shepherds call it La Bergeronette, and say it often gives them, by its cry, notice of approaching danger.
" a gnarled thorn,
Bent by the sea blast,—"
The strong winds from the south-west occasion almost all the trees, which on these hills are exposed to it, to grow the other way.
Line 3.
" how wide the view!"
So extensive are some of the views from these hills, that only the want of power in the human eye to travel so far, prevents London itself being discerned. Description falls so infinitely short of the reality, that only here and there, distinct features can be given.
Line 9.
"Of Kentish hills,"
A scar of chalk in a hill beyond Sevenoaks in Kent, is very distinctly seen of a clear day.
Line 11.
"And airy summits,"
The hills about Dorking in Surry; over almost the whole extent of which county the prospect extends.
Line 13.
"Of Black-down shagg'd with heath,"
This is an high ridge, extending between Sussex and Surry. It is covered with heath, and has almost always a dark appearance. On it is a telegraph.
Page 34. Line 2.
"The portal and the ruin'd battlements—"
In this country there are several of the fortresses or castles built by Stephen of Blois, in his contention for the kingdom, with the daughter of Henry the First, the empress Matilda. Some of these are now converted into farm houses.
Page 35. Line 5.
"Or night-jar, chasing fern-flies."
Dr. Aikin remarks, I believe, in his essay "On the Application of Natural History to the Purposes of Poetry," how many of our best poets have noticed the same circumstance, the hum of the Dor Beetle (Scarabœus stercorarius,) among the sounds heard by the evening wanderer. I remember only one instance in which the more remarkable, though by no means uncommon noise, of the Fern Owl, or Goatsucker, is mentioned. It is called the Night Hawk, the Jar Bird, the Churn Owl, and the Fern Owl, from its feeding on the Scaraboeus solstitialis, or Fern Chafer, which it catches while on the wing with its claws, the middle toe of which is long and curiously serrated, on purpose to hold them. It was this bird that was intended to be described in the Forty-second Sonnet (Smith's Sonnets). I was mistaken in supposing it as visible in November; it is a migrant, and leaves this country in August. I had often seen and heard it, but I did not then know its name or history. It is called Goatsucker (Caprimulgus), from a strange prejudice taken against it by the Italians, who assert that it sucks their goats; and the peasants of England still believe that a disease in the backs of their cattle, occasioned by a fly, which deposits its egg under the skin, and raises a boil, sometimes fatal to calves, is the work of this bird, which they call a Puckeridge. Nothing can convince them that their beasts are not injured by this bird, which they therefore hold in abhorrence.
The Barkmen.—As soon as the sap begins to rise, the trees intended for felling are cut and barked. At which time the men who are employed in that business pass whole days in the woods.
The Wedgecutters.—The wedges used in ship-building are made of beech wood, and great numbers are cut every year in the woods near the Downs.
Line 5.
"The shaggy dog following the truffle hunter."
Truffles are found under the beech woods, by means of small dogs trained to hunt them by the scent.
Page 41. Line 3.
"The banks with cuckoo-flowers are strewn."
Lychnis dioica.
Line 4.
"The woodwalks blue with columbines."
Aquilegia vulgaris.
Shakspeare describes the Cuckoo buds as being yellow. He probably meant the numerous Ranunculi, or March marigolds (Caltha palustris,) which so gild the meadows in Spring; but poets have never been botanists. The Cuckoo flower is the Lychnis floscuculi.
Flag-flower.—Iris pseudacorus.
Yaffils.—Woodpeckers (Picus); three or four species in Britain.
"And gales that close—"
"And liquid notes that close the eye of day."
Milton.
The idea here meant to be conveyed is of the evening wind, so welcome after a hot day of Summer, and which appears to sooth and lull all nature into tranquillity.
Page 44. Line 3.
"But the gay bird of blushing breast."
The Robin, (Motacilla rubecula,) which is always heard after other songsters have ceased to sing.
Line 4.
"And Woodlarks still will haunt the shade."
The Woodlark, (Alauda nemorosa,) sings very late.
Reed-wrens, (Motacilla arundinacea,) sing all the summer and autumn, and are often heard during the night.
Page 47. Line 3.
"May haply build," &c.
An allusion to the visionary delights of the new discovered islands, where it was at first believed men lived in a state of simplicity and happiness; but where, as later enquiries have ascertained, that exemption from toil, which the fertility of their country gives them, produces the grossest vices; and a degree of corruption that late navigators think will end in the extirpation of the whole people in a few years.
Line 14.
"Dwelt one," &c.
In a cavern almost immediately under the cliff called Beachy Head, there lived, as the people of the country believed, a man of the name of Darby, who for many years had no other abode than this cave, and subsisted almost entirely on shell-fish. He had often administered assistance to ship-wrecked mariners; but venturing into the sea on this charitable mission during a violent equinoctial storm, he himself perished. As it is above thirty years since I heard this tradition of Parson Darby (for so I think he was called): it may now perhaps be forgotten.
Page 48. Line 9.
"Betrayed not then the little careless sheep."
Sometimes in thick weather the sheep feeding on the summit of the cliff, miss their footing, and are killed by the fall.
Page 49. Line 5.
"Or the dark porpoises."
Delphinus phocœna.
These are old stories, which I have endeavoured to tell with such a degree of novelty, as natural history can lend them. They have been so often repeated, that probably the original inventors have been long since forgotten. La Fontaine, whose graceful simplicity in such light narrative has been universally allowed, is the most usually referred to.
La Fontaine, in his manner of telling the story of Les deux Pigeons, calls them Friends. But the proverbial conjugal fidelity of this race of birds, makes it seem more natural to describe them as the pigeon and his mate. If it be objected, that the Truant Dove is represented as repeating the apology of Henry the Fourth of France—"Toujours perdrix, toujours Chapon bouilli ne vaut rien;" and that his partner talks from Shakspeare; I must take refuge under the authority of Chaucer; or rather his polisher Dryden; who makes his Dame Partlet quote Galen and Cato, while Chanticleer explains Latin sentences:"For in the days of yore the birds of parts,
Were bred to speak and sing; and learn the liberal arts."
In fact, if the mind momentarily acquiesces in the absurdity of animals having the passions and the faculties of man, every thing else may be granted.
It might be necessary to apologize for inserting these fables; but that which Prior and Cowper, and so many other of the most eminent writers have not disdained, can never need any defence.
La Fontaine begins the second Fable here inserted thus:
"L'Alouette et ses Petits, avec le Maître d'un Champ.
Ne t'attends qu'à toi seul, c'est un commun proverbe;
Voici comme Esope le mit
En credit."
There is nothing I am more desirous of avoiding, even in a trifle like this, than the charge of plagiarism. I must in the present instance defend myself by stating, that so long since as April 1805, Mr. Johnson was in possession of the MS. copy of this Fable. In July 1806, a friend brought with her from London, a volume called "The Birds of Scotland, with other Poems," in which I read, what, if my fable had been first published, I might perhaps have thought very like an imitation. My lines of the Lark are:
"But like a dart
From his low homested with the morning springs,
And far above the floating vapour sings,
At such an height,
That even the shepherd lad upon the hill,
Hearing his matin note so shrill,
With shaded eyes against the lustre bright,
Scarce sees him twinkling in flood of light—"
Mr. Graham, in a more lengthened description, says of the Lark:
"he towers
In loftier poise, with sweeter fuller pipe,
Cheering the ploughman at his furrow end,
The while he clears the share; or listening, leans
Upon his paddle staff; and with rais'd hand
Shadows his half-shut eyes, striving to scan
The songster melting in the flood of light—"
The extreme resemblance of these passages may be accounted for, however, by the observation very justly made, that natural objects being equally visible to all, it is very probable that descriptions of such objects will be often alike.
I cannot help remarking another coincidence. My lines on the female Lark sitting, are:
"She leaves her nest reluctant and in haste,
And scarce allows herself to taste
A dew drop and a few small seeds—"
Mr. Graham says of the Wren:
"never flitting off,
Save when the morning Sun is high, to drink
A dew drop from the nearest flower cup—"
The varieties of pigeons here named, as Fantail, Carrier, Pouter, Almond Tumbler, and Nun, with many others, are varieties produced by art from the common pigeon. Societies exist in which prizes are given to those who produce birds nearest to the standard of imaginary perfection. A Pouter is a bird of which the crop is capable of being so much distended with wind, that the animal appears to be without a head. On this enlargement of the crop depends the beauty and value of the bird.
These Fanciers are to Ornithologists, what Flower Fanciers are to Botanists.
The Gorse-Furze.—Ulex Europæus. Called so in many counties of England.
Line 2.
"The banks with speedwell flowers are gay."
Veronica chamœdrys.—This elegant flower, though not celebrated like the Primrose, Cowslip, and Daisy, is in all its varieties one of the most beautiful of indigenous plants.
Page 80. Line 6.
"As fables tell, an Indian Sage—"
There are two or three fables that relate the knowledge acquired by some Indian recluse, of the language of birds.
The Cuckoo, the Rail, and many species of Doves, are all emigrants.
"Were you in Asia? O relate,
If there your fabled sister's woes
She seem'd in sorrow to relate,
Or sings she but to celebrate
Her nuptials with the Rose?"
Alluding to the Ovidian fable of the Metamorphosis of Procne and Philomela into the Swallow and the Nightingale; and to the oriental story of the Loves of the Nightingale and the Rose; which is told with such elegant extravagance in the Botanic Garden.
Page 82. Line 4.
"And come to build anew among—"
Accurate observers have remarked, that an equal number of these birds return every year to build in the places they frequented before; and that each pair set immediately about repairing a particular nest.
"You hide, tho' none know where or how,
In the cliff's excavated brow," &c.
Many persons have supported the idea, that the Hirundines linger concealed among rocks and hollows in a torpid state, and that all do not emigrate.
"Or if, by instinct taught to know
Approaching dearth of insect food,
To isles and willowy aits you go."
Page 85. Line 5.
"Whose first prerogative," &c.V. Cowper.
"The spleen is seldom felt where Flora reigns—
The lowering eye, the petulance, the frown,
And sullen sadness, that do shade, distort,
And mar the face of Beauty, when no cause
For such immeasurable grief appears,
These Flora banishes."
Saxifraga hypnoides.—Moss Saxifrage, commonly called Ladies' Cushion.
Line 13.
"The tufted rush," &c.
Eriophorum angustifolium.
Page 87. Line 3.
"And wild convolvuli," &c.
Convolvulus arvensis.—A remarkably pretty plant, but no favourite with the husbandman.
Line 7.
"The rest were by the Scandix' points confin'd—"
Scandix pecten.—Venus' comb or Shepherd's needle.
Line 10.
"She waved the Anthoxanthum in her hand."
Anthoxanthum odoratum.—Vernal Meadow Grass.
It is to this grass that hay owes its fine odour.
Page 88. Line 8.
"And brush the aphis,"&c.
Aphis, or Aphides.—These are the "myriads brushed from Russian wilds;" the blights, cankers, lice, or vermin, to use common phrases, that so often disfigure, and destroy the fairest vegetable productions.
Line 11.
"Of Lichen tough."
Lichen.—Of these many have forms of shields, when in fructification.
Page 88. Line 12.
"Lunaria's pearly circlet."
Lunaria annua.—Moonwort, usually called Honesty.
Line 13.
"the crimson foxglove glows."
Digitalis purpurea.
Line 14.
"Or Scutellaria guards," &c.
Scutellaria galericulata.—Small skull-cap.
Page 89. Line 1.
"While the Leontodon," &c.
Leontodon officinalis.—Common Dent-de-lion.
Page 89. Line 4.
"—from Arum's blood-dropt leaf."
Arum maculatum—Vulgarly Cuckoo pint, or Lords and Ladies.
Line 5.
"This, with the Burdock's hooks," &c.
Arctium lappa.
Line 9.
"Fearless the scaled libellula," &c.
The Dragon-fly, or as it is called in the southern countries, the Horse-stinger, though it preys only on other insects. Several sorts of these are seen about water; but its introduction here is a poetical licence, as it does not feed on, or injure flowers.
Page 90. Line 2.
"Spun of the tufts the Tradescantia bore."
Tradescantia virginica.—The silk-like tuft within this plant appears to the eye composed of very fine filaments; but on examining one of these small silky threads through a microscope, it looks like a string of Amethysts.
Line 3.
"The Cistus' flowers," &c.
Cistus helianthemum. Dwarf Cistus.
Line 4.
"And threads of Yucca," &c.
Yucca filamentosa.
Page 90. Line 5.
"From the wild bee," &c.
Apis centuncularis. This insect weaves, or rather cements rose leaves together, to form its cell.
Line 8.
"And the Hypericum," &c.
An elegant shrub, of which Cowper thus speaks:
"Hypericum all bloom, so thick a swarm
Of flowers, like flies clothing her slender rods,
That scarce a leaf appears."
It seems admirably adapted to a fairy garland.
Line 13.
"So did the Passiflora's radii shed."
Passiflora cerulea.
Page 91. Line 4.
"A brown transparent spatha," &c.
The sheath from which many flowers spring, such as the Narcissus, &c.
Line 6.
"Xeranthemum's unfading calyx bear."
The scales of one species of the Xeranthemum are particularly elegant.
Line 7.
"of spiral Ophrys," &c.
Ophrys spiralis.—Ladies traces.
The following lines describing well known flowers, notes would be superfluous.
Page 94. Line 6.
"With female fern,"
Polypodium filix fœmina.
Page 94. Line 6.
"And glossy adder's-tongue."
Asplenium scolopendrium.
Line 10.
"The reed-bird whispers."
Motacilla salicaria. The Reed Sparrow, or Willow Wren. A bird that in a low and sweet note imitates several others, and sings all night.
"And the Halcyon hides."
Alcedo hispida.—The Kingsfisher, or Halcyon, one of the most beautiful of English birds.
Line 14.
"The Water-lily lends," &c.
Nymphæa alba.
Page 95. Line 1.
"While Galium there," &c.
Galium palustre.—White Ladies' bedstraw.
Epilobiums.—Willow herbs—various species.
Line 7.
"The Iris towers."
Iris patustris.—Yellow Iris.
"and here the Arrowhead," &c.
Sagittaria sagittifolia.
Line 8.
"And water Crowfoot," &c.
Ranunculus aquaticus.
Line 11.
"Her rosy umbels rears the flow'ring Rush."
Butomus umbellatus. The only native of England of the class Enneandria.
Page 96. Line 2.
"The Chelidonium blows."
Chelidonium glaucium. The horned or sea Poppy.
Line 3.
"the thorn'd Eryngium," &c.
Eryngium maritimum.—Sea Holly.
Line 7.
"Springs the light Tamarisk."
Tamarix gallica. This elegant plant is not very uncommon on cliffs in the West of England, and was in 1800 to be found on an high rock to the eastward of the town of Hastings in Sussex.
Page 96. Line 8.
"Is tufted by the Statice."
Statice armeria.—Sea Pink, Sea Lavender, commonly called Thrift, is frequently used for borders of flower-beds. It covers some of the most sterile cliffs.
Line 11.
"The Saltwort's starry stalks."
Salsola kali. This plant when burnt affords a fossile alkali, and is used in the manufacture of glass. The best is brought from the Mediterranean, and forms a considerable article of commerce. It is very frequent on the cliffs on the Sussex coast.
Page 97. Line 1.
"Where Algæ stream," &c.
The Algæ include all the sea plants, and some other aquatics.
Page 97. Line 2.
"the Polyp hides," &c.
The Polypus or Sea Anemone. Coralline is, if I do not misunderstand the only book I have to consult, a shelly substance, the work of sea insects, adhering to stones and to sea-weeds.
Line 9.
"Green Byssus," &c.
Flos aquæ.—Paper byssus; a semitransparent substance floating on the waves.
Line 12.
"Of silken Pinna," &c.
The Pinna, or Sea Wing, is contained in a two-valved shell. It consists of fine long silk-like fibres. The Pinna on the coast of Provence, and Italy, is called the Silk-worm of the Sea. Stockings and gloves of exquisite fineness have been made of it. See note 27, to the Economy of Vegetation.
The subsequent lines attempt a description of Sea Plants, without any correct classification.
Page 104. Line 6.
"And murmuring seems in Fancy's ear."
Whoever has listened on a still summer or autumnal evening, to the murmurs of the small waves, just breaking on the shingles, and remarked the low sounds reechoed by the distant rocks, will understand this.
Page 105. Line 1.
"And bid them know the annual tide."
The course of those wonderful swarms of fishes that take their annual journey is, I believe, less understood than the emigration of birds. I suppose them, without having any particular ground for my conjecture, to begin their voyage from beyond the extreme point of the southern continent of America. Many of the northern nations live almost entirely on fish. Their light, during the long night of an arctic winter, is supplied by the oil of marine animals.
Page 105. Line 11.
"The Highland native marks the flood."
In the countries where the produce of the sea is so necessary to human life, the arrival of shoals of fish is most eagerly waited for by the hardy inhabitant. Thrown on the summit of an high cliff, overlooking the sea, the native watches for the approach of the expected good, and sees with pleasure the numerous sea-birds, who by an instinct superior to his own, perceive it at a far greater distance, and follow to take their share of the swarming multitude.
Page 106. Line 7.
"Yet every mountain, clothed with ling."
Ling.—A name given in many parts of England to the Erica vulgaris, or Common Heath.
Page 107. Line 6.
"The Eider's downy cradle."
Anas mollissima. While many sea-birds deposit their eggs on the bare rocks, the Eider duck lines her nest most carefully with the feathers from her own breast, which are particularly fine and light: the nest is robbed, and she a second time unplumes herself for the accommodation of her young. If the lining be again taken away, the drake lends his breast feathers; but if after that, their unreasonable persecutors deprive it of its lining, they abandon the nest in despair, the master of the domicile wisely judging, that any further sacrifice would be useless.
Page 108 Line 2.
"Scale the loose cliff where Gannets hide."
Pelicanus bassanus. The Gannet builds on the highest rocks.
"Or scarce suspended, in the air
Hang perilous."
Suspended by a slight rope, the adventurous native of the north of Scotland is let down from the highest cliffs that hang over the sea, while with little or no support, he collects the eggs of the sea fowl, in a basket tied round his waist. The feathers also of these birds gathered from the rocks are a great object to these poor industrious people.
Line 11.
"Rav'd to the Walrus' hollow roar."
Trichecus rosmarus.—The Walrus or Morse; a creature of the Seal kind, now said to be no longer found on the coast of Scotland, but still inhabiting other northern countries. They are sometimes eighteen or twenty feet long, and they roar like bulls.
Line 12.
"Or have by currents," &c.
Gulph currents are supposed to throw the remains of fruits of the tropical regions on the most northern coast of America; and it is asserted that the same fruits are also found on the coast of Norway. See "Les Etudes de la Nature."
The sleep of plants has been frequently the subject of inquiry and admiration.
"Vigiliæ Plantarum.—Botanists, under this term, comprehend the precise time of the day in which the flowers of different plants open, expand, and shut. As all plants do not flower in the same season, or month; in like manner, those which flower the same day in the same place, do not open and shut precisely at the same hour. Some open in the morning, as the lipped flowers, and compound flowers with flat spreading petals; others at noon, as the mallows; and a third set in the evening, or after sun-set, as some Geraniums and Opuntias. The hour of shutting is equally determined. Of those which open in the morning, some shut soon after, while others remain expanded till night." For further information on this subject, see Milne's Botanical Dictionary.
Nymphæa alba.—The flower of this beautiful aquatic opens about seven in the morning, closes about four in the afternoon, and then lies down upon the surface of the water. Linnæus.
Page 113. Line 1.
"Hieracium's various tribe."
All I believe of the solar tribe; the two mentioned by Withering are the sabaudum and murorum. The first opens at seven, and shuts between one and two; the other expands at six in the morning, and closes between two and three in the afternoon.
Page 113. Line 6.
"The Goat'sbeard," &c.
Tragopogon pratense.—A most unfortunate name for poetry. The yellow sort, which is the most common, opens about three in the morning, and closes between nine and ten. Withering.
Line 10.
"The Bethlem-star," &c.
Ornithogalum umbellatum.
Arenaria marina.—Flowers open at nine o'clock in the morning, and shut between two and three in the afternoon. Lightfoot's Flora Scotica.
"And those small bells so lightly ray'd
With young Aurora's rosy hue—"
Convolvulus arvensis.—The flowers close in the evening.
Cichorium intybus.—Wild Succory, Cichory, or Endive. The flowers open at eight o'clock in the morning, and close at four in the afternoon.
Withering.
Page 115. Line 1.
"And thou 'Wee crimson-tipped flower.' "
Quoted from Burn's address to the mountain daisy. The flowers close at night.
Silene noctiflora.—"Flowers opening in the night, sweet-scented in the summer, not so in the autumn."
Withering's Botany.
Page 119. Line 7.
"Just trickling thro' a deep and hollow gill."
Gill is a word understood in many parts of England, and more particularly in the North, to mean an hollow watercourse, or an hollow overshadowed with coppice and brush wood, such as frequently occur in hilly countries. It has the same meaning as Gully, a deep trench in the earth, so frequent in the West Indies, where the tropic rains tear away the earth and make hollows, which in process of time become overgrown with trees, and the resort of monkeys and other animals.
"The Ivy green
Whose matted tods," &c.
A judicious friend objected to this expression as obscure; but it has the authority of Spencer.
"At length within an Ivy tod
There shrouded was the little God."
Shepherd's Calendar. Ecl. 3.
And I think I could quote other poets as having used it.
Conium maculatum.
Atropa belladonna.
Line 10.
"Gibbers and shrieks," &c.
The word Gibber has been also objected to; but besides that it appears to me very expressive, I have for its use the example of Shakspeare:
" the sheeted dead
Did squeal and gibber in the streets of Rome."
Hamlet.
Page 123. Line 2.
"The Wall-creeper that hunts the burnish'd fly."
Certhia muraria.—This bird frequents old towers, castles, and walls; feeding on insects.
Page 123. Line 3.
"Sees the newt basking," &c.
Lacerta vulgaris.—This reptile in its complete state lives among rubbish and old walls. It is the Wall Newt of Shakspeare, as part of the food of poor Tom:
"The wall newt and the water newt,
With rats and mice and such small deer,
Have been Tom's food for many a year."
And is commonly known by the name of Evett or Eft; and from its ugliness is held in abhorrence, and is supposed to be venomous, though perfectly harmless.
The extravagant fondness for the cultivation of those flowers which the art of the gardener can improve, such as Tulips, Auriculas, and Carnations, has excited laughter and contempt; and was, I think, sometimes confounded with the Science of Botany, with which it has little to do. A Florist, however, has very different pursuits and purposes from a Botanist.
Cistus ladaniferus.—Gum cistus. This plant took its trivial name from its having been supposed to produce the ladanum of the shops, and ought to have been changed when the mistake was detected.
Cytisus laburnum. This beautiful tree, of which there are many sorts, attains great perfection in this country. The wood is black, of a fine grain, and takes a polish like Ebony. The French call it from thence, L'Ebene; the Ebony tree.
Line 7.
"And snow-globes form'd of elfin roses.
Viburnum, commonly called Guelder Rose.—A shrub of great beauty, of which the globular groups are composed of single monopetalous flowers: it is a cultivated variety of the Viburnum opulus, Water-elder of the hedges, sometimes called The Wayfaring Tree.
This is called the most elegant of the Fables of La Fontaine, though it is perhaps told with less simplicity than is generally his perfection. But the close is admirable.
"Quand on eut bien considéré
L'interêt du public, celui de la patrie,
Le résultat enfin de la suprême cour
Fut, de condamner la Folie
A servir de guide à l'Amour."
Page 136. Line 9.
"And stake against Love's bow his bauble."
When kings and great men, to divert the tedious hours of those who have nothing to do, kept about them a fool, one who either really was deficient in understanding, or abject enough to pretend to a degree of idiotism for the amusement of his patron; the insignia of the office were, a cap with feathers, or sometimes a cock's head fastened to the top, and with bells round it, while in their hands was carried a short wooden truncheon, on which was rudely carved a human head with asses ears. There are several passages describing this in Johnson's or Stevens' Notes on Shakspeare.
ERRATA.
Page 41, line 12, for bows read boughs.
46,6, insert Amanda.
THE END.