English poetry -- 19th century; Landscapes -- England -- Dorset -- Poetry
Burton is a village near the sea, lying S. E. from Lewesdon, and about
two miles S. of Shipton hill before mentioned. The cliff is among the
loftiest of all upon that coast; and smugglers often take advantage of
its height for the purpose related in the poem.
Note 11, page 27, line 11.
_But what is yonder Hill, whose dusky brow._
“Eggardon Hill is a very high hill, and gives name to the hundred. Mr.
Coker says it is uncertain whether it takes its name from Edgar, king of
the West Saxons, or from Orgarus, earl of Cornwall: and indeed this last
derivation is the truest; there being little reason to doubt that it is
the old _Orgarestone_. The camp on the brow of this hill is a large and
strong fortification, and seems to be Roman.”—Hutchins’s Dorset, vol.
i. p. 289; where there is an engraving of this camp. But Hutchins has
misrepresented Mr. Coker, who indeed prefers the derivation from Orgar.
His words are these: “That it takes name from Edgar, the West Saxon king,
I dare not affirm, having nothing to prove it but the nearnesse of the
name. It better likes me to think this the place which in Doomsday-book
is called Orgareston; but whether it take name from Orgareus, earl of
Cornwall, I know not; though I think I should run into no great error to
believe it.”—Coker’s Survey of Dorsetshire, p. 26.
Note 12, page 33, line 2.
_The ground where Hollis lies; his choice retreat._
“Mr. Hollis, in order to preserve the memory of those heroes and patriots
for whom he had a veneration, as the assertors and defenders of his
country, called many of the farms and fields in his estate at Corscombe
by their names; and by these names they are still distinguished. In the
middle of one of those fields, not far from his house, he ordered his
corpse to be deposited in a grave ten feet deep; and that the field
should be immediately ploughed over, that no trace of his burial-place
might remain.”—Memoirs of Thomas Hollis, Esq. vol. i. p. 481.
Note 13, page 34, line 1.
_War-glutted Osmund, superstitious lord!_
Of the strange curse belonging to Shireburne-Castle. From a MS. of
the late Bishop of Ely (Bishop John More) now in the Royal Library at
Cambridge.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account