A weight of awe, not easy to be borne, Fell suddenly upon my Spirit--cast From the dread bosom of the unknown past, When first I saw that family forlorn.[957] Speak Thou, whose massy strength and stature scorn[958] The power of years--pre-eminent, and placed 6 Apart, to overlook the circle vast-- Speak, Giant-mother! tell it to the Morn While she dispels the cumbrous shades of Night; Let the Moon hear, emerging from a cloud; 10 At whose behest uprose on British ground That Sisterhood, in hieroglyphic round Forth-shadowing, some have deemed, the infinite The inviolable God, that tames the proud![959][960] FOOTNOTES: [956] It first appeared in _A Description of the Scenery of the Lakes in the North of England_, third edition, 1822.--ED. [957] 1837. ....that Sisterhood forlorn. 1822. [958] 1837. And him, whose strength and stature seems to scorn 1822. [959] The daughters of Long Meg, placed in a perfect circle eighty yards in diameter, are seventy-two in number above ground; a little way out of the circle stands Long Meg herself, a single stone, eighteen feet high. When I first saw this monument, as I came upon it by surprise, I might over-rate its importance as an object; but, though it will not bear a comparison with Stonehenge, I must say, I have not seen any other relique of those dark ages, which can pretend to rival it in singularity and dignity of appearance.--W. W. 1837. The text of this note, in the edition of 1822, is slightly different.--ED. In a letter to Sir George Beaumont, January 6, 1821, Wordsworth wrote, "My road brought me suddenly and unexpectedly upon that ancient monument, called by the country people Long Meg and her Daughters. Everybody has heard of it, and so had I from very early childhood; but had never seen it before. Next to Stonehenge it is beyond dispute the most noble relic of the kind that this or probably any other country contains. Long Meg is a single block of unhewn stone, eighteen feet high, at a small distance from a vast circle of other stones, some of them of huge size, though curtailed of their stature, by their own incessant pressure upon it." Compare a note in Wordsworth's _Guide to the Scenery of the Lakes_, section 2.--ED. [960] 1837. When, how, and wherefore, rose on British ground That wondrous Monument, whose mystic round Forth shadows, some have deemed, to mortal sight The inviolable God that tames the proud! 1822. XLIV LOWTHER[961] ["Cathedral pomp." It may be questioned whether this union was in the contemplation of the artist when he planned the edifice. However this might be, a poet may be excused for taking the view of the subject presented in this Sonnet.--I. F.]