Lowther! in thy majestic Pile are seen[962] Cathedral pomp and grace, in apt accord[963] With the baronial castle's sterner mien;[964] Union significant of God adored, And charters won and guarded by the sword 5 Of ancient honour; whence that goodly state Of polity which wise men venerate,[965] And will maintain, if God his help afford. Hourly the democratic torrent swells;[966] For airy promises and hopes suborned 10 The strength of backward-looking thoughts is scorned. Fall if ye must, ye Towers and Pinnacles, With what ye symbolise; authentic Story Will say, Ye disappeared with England's Glory! FOOTNOTES: [961] There was no title in the edition of 1835. [962] 1835. ... in thy magnificence are seen MS. [963] 1835. Shapes of cathedral pomp that well accord MS. [964] The present Castle was begun in 1808. It is in the style of the 13th and 14th century structures. The arched corridors surrounding the staircase--which is sixty feet square and ninety feet high--may justify the description in the sonnet. These stone corridors open on each side, through the centre of the castle. Compare the reference to Lowther in Barren's _Travels in China_, p. 134, in the course of his description of "Gehol's matchless gardens," referred to in _The Prelude_, book viii. (vol. iii. p. 274.)--ED. [965] The Lowther family have been, for generations, the representatives of the Conservative cause in Cumberland.--ED. [966] 1835. But high the democratic torrent swells. MS. XLV TO THE EARL OF LONSDALE "Magistratus indicat virum." Lonsdale! it were unworthy of a Guest, Whose heart with gratitude to thee inclines, If he should speak, by fancy touched, of signs On thy Abode harmoniously imprest, Yet be unmoved with wishes to attest 5 How in thy mind and moral frame agree Fortitude, and that Christian Charity Which, filling, consecrates the human breast. And if the Motto on thy 'scutcheon teach With truth, "THE MAGISTRACY SHOWS THE MAN;" _That_ searching test thy public course has stood;[967] 11 As will be owned alike by bad and good, Soon as the measuring of life's little span Shall place thy virtues out of Envy's reach.[968] FOOTNOTES: [967] 1835.