Homes and Haunts of the Most Eminent British Poets, Vol. 1 (of 2)Howitt, William
History
Homes and Haunts of the Most Eminent British Poets, Vol. 1 (of 2)
Howitt, William
Literary landmarks -- Great Britain; Poets, English -- Homes and haunts
These circumstances have given a singular character to the biography of
Swift; the letters of Stella and Vanessa, which have been published,
convert it, by their passion and heart-eloquence, into a species of
romance; in which, however, Swift himself plays the part of a very
clever, witty, and domineering, but certainly not attractive hero.
Moorpark will always possess an interest connected with Stella. It was
amid its pleasant groves that, young, beautiful, and confiding, she
indulged with Swift in those dreams of after life which he was so
bitterly to falsify. There is a cavern about three quarters of a mile
from the mansion, called Mother Ludlam's Hole, which the country
tradition represents as having been a frequent resort of Swift and
Stella in their walks. It lies half way down the side of the hill,
covered with wood toward the southern extremity of the park. It seems to
have been hewn out of the sandstone rock, and to have increased
considerably in its dimensions since it was described by Grose. The
greatest height of this excavation may be about twelve feet, and its
breadth twenty, but at the distance of about thirty feet from the
entrance it becomes so low and narrow as to be passable only by a person
crawling on his hands and knees. From the bottom of the cave issues a
small, clear stream, and two stone benches have been placed for the
accommodation of visitors. The gloom and uncertain depth of the grotto,
the sound of the water, and the beauty of the surrounding solitary
scene, surveyed through the dark arched entrance, shagged with weeds and
the roots of trees, give the spot an impressive effect. Grose gives a
jocose account of the origin of the name of the cave. Old Mother Ludlam,
he tells us, was a _white_ witch, one who neither killed hogs, rode on
broomsticks, nor made children vomit nails and crooked pins, but, on the
contrary, did all the good she could. That the country people, when in
want of any article, say a frying-pan or a spade, would come to the cave
at midnight, and, turning three times round, would three times say,
"Pray, good Mother Ludlam, lend me such a thing, and I will return it
within two days." The next morning, on going there again, the article
would be found laid at the entrance of the cave. At length the borrower
of a large caldron was not punctual in returning it, which so irritated
the good mother, that when it did come she refused to take it in again,
and in course of time it was conveyed away to Waverley Abbey, and, at
the dissolution of the monasteries, was deposited in Frensham Church.
From the hour of the non-appearance of the caldron, however, at its
proper time, Mother Ludlam never would lend the slightest thing.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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