Shall then the stream of ruinous Lodore Not fill the valley with its changeful sound Unchallenged! shall grey Derwent’s sacred bound Hear the harsh brawl and intermittent roar Of mocking waves upon an iron shore, Whereby nor health nor happiness is found!-- While steam-wains drag from Honister’s heart wound The long cooled ashes of its fiery core! Burst forth ye sulphurous fountains, as ye broke On Skiddaw, lick the waters, blast the trees, And let men have the earth they would desire,-- As well go pass our children through the fire With shrieks, Cath-Belus, round thine altar’s smoke, As let old Derwent hear such sounds as these. H.D. RAWNSLEY. WRAY VICARAGE, AMBLESIDE. [280] This sonnet was first published in _The Morning Post_, December 17, 1844.--ED. AT FURNESS ABBEY Composed 1844.--Published 1845 One of the “Miscellaneous Sonnets.”--ED. Here, where, of havoc tired and rash undoing, Man left this Structure to become Time’s prey A soothing spirit follows in the way That Nature takes, her counter-work pursuing. See how her Ivy clasps the sacred Ruin[281] 5 Fall to prevent or beautify decay; And, on the mouldered walls, how bright, how gay, The flowers in pearly dews their bloom renewing! Thanks to the place, blessings upon the hour; Even as I speak the rising Sun’s first smile 10 Gleams on the grass-crowned top of yon tall Tower[282] Whose cawing occupants with joy proclaim Prescriptive title to the shattered pile Where, Cavendish,[283] _thine_ seems nothing but a name! [281] In the chancel of the church at Furness Abbey, ivy almost covers the north wall. In the Belfry and in the Chapter House, it is the same. The “tower,” referred to in the sonnet, is evidently the belfry tower to the west. It is still “grass-crowned.” The sonnet was doubtless composed on the spot, and if Wordsworth ascended to the top of the belfry tower, he might have seen the morning sunlight strike the small remaining fragment of the central tower. But it is more likely that he looked up from the nave, or choir, of the church to the belfry, when he spoke of the sun’s first smile gleaming from the top of the tall tower. “Flowers”--crowfoot, campanulas, etc.--still luxuriate on the mouldered walls. With the line, Fall to prevent or beautify decay; compare, Nature softening and concealing, And busy with a hand of healing, in the description of Bolton Abbey in _The White Doe of Rylstone_, canto i. I. 118. Compare also the _Address from the Spirit of Cockermouth Castle_, vol. vii. p. 347.--ED. [282] See preceding note. [283] Furness Abbey is the property of the Duke of Devonshire, whose family name is Cavendish.--ED. 1845