Memoir of Francis Hodgson
Bishop Samuel Butler to Francis Hodgson, 1 July 1826
Kirkby Lonsdale: July 1, 1826.
My dear friend,—I went from your house to Norton,
where I stayed a day, then to Mr. Walker’s of
Eastwood, near Rotherham, and thence to Col.
Fullarton’s of Thryburgh. At half-past ten at night, I
visited the keep of Conisborough Castle, without having an interview with
Cedric’s or
Athelstane’s ghosts; but their accompanying
spirits, the owls, sang a fine chorus. I spent a day at Barmborough, and
proceeded from Doncaster (without having seen the race-course) to Skipton in
Craven, where I saw Skipton Castle, and thence proceeded to the magnificent
scenery of Bolton Abbey, and three miles up the Wharf, through romantic woods,
to the celebrated Strid, where the river contracts itself to a width of only
four feet, but of enormous depth, and about which and some white doe of Rylstone, I am told,
Wordsworth has prosed with his usual
1 . . . Hence I returned to Skipton, and
1 The expressions here used are not
sufficiently complimentary to justify repetition. |
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| YORKSHIRE SCENERY—POLITICAL OBSTRUCTION. | 173 |
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proceeded to Helafield Peel (which, being translated into English, means the
fortress in the field of Hela), where the father of one of
my pupils, and his ancestors have resided, I believe, almost ever since the
worship of Hela was known in Scandinavia. Yesterday I rode
a black horse (one of Hela’s progeny) about
twenty-four miles, to see some of the wonders of Craven, such as Gordale,
Malham Cave, and Malham Tara—all curious in their way, but nothing so
curious as my riding such a distance (more than I have ridden in the last six
years collectively) and not being much fatigued. This morning I set off with
the intention of reaching Ambleside, but have only proceeded two stages to this
place, where I am spell-bound, neither horse nor chaise being to be had, on
account of that detestable Lawyer Brougham
(quem Dii deæque perdant), with his perfectly useless opposition to the
Lowthers of Appleby. I am truly out of humour. I hate
Wordsworth, for daring to write about such a place as
Bolton Abbey. . . . I hate Brougham, for interrupting the
posting of His Majesty’s subjects on their lawful business, etc. . . .
Yours truly,
S. B.
Henry Peter Brougham, first baron Brougham and Vaux (1778-1868)
Educated at Edinburgh University, he was a founder of the
Edinburgh
Review in which he chastised Byron's
Hours of Idleness; he
defended Queen Caroline in her trial for adultery (1820), established the London University
(1828), and was appointed lord chancellor (1830).
William Wordsworth (1770-1850)
With Coleridge, author of
Lyrical Ballads (1798), Wordsworth
survived his early unpopularity to succeed Robert Southey as poet laureate in 1843.
