[843] 1837.
[844] Compare the View from the top of Black Comb (vol. iv. p. 279); also the Inscription, Written with a Slate Pencil on a Stone, on the Side of the Mountain of Black Comb (vol. iv. p. 281).
The atmospheric phenomena referred to in the sonnet are frequently seen from the Cumberland hills, overspreading the peaks and ridges of the Isle of Man; and a similar appearance is often visible on the Cumbrian hills, as seen from Mona.—Ed.
[845] 1837.
[846] 1837.
"Dignum laude virum Musa vetat mori."[847]
[847] See Horace, Odes, book iv. ode viii. l. 28.—Ed.
[848] Baron Menno van Cohorn (or Cœhoorn) was a Dutch military engineer of genius (1641-1704). His fame rests on discoveries connected with the effect of projectiles on fortifications. His practical successes against the French, under Vauban, were great; and the fortifications he designed and constructed, of which that of Bergen-op-Zoom was the chief, give him a place in the history of military science, greater than that derived from his writings. He devised a kind of small mortar or howitzer, for use in siege operations, which is named after him a Cohorn.—Ed.
[849] 1845.
[850] The Tower of Refuge, an ornament to Douglas Bay, was erected chiefly through the humanity and zeal of Sir William Hillary; and he also was the founder of the lifeboat establishment, at that place; by which, under his superintendence, and often by his exertions at the imminent hazard of his own life, many seamen and passengers have been saved.—W. W. 1835.
In Dorothy Wordsworth's Journal of a visit to the Isle of Man in 1826, the following occurs:—"Monday, 3rd July.—Sir William Hillary saved a boy's life to-day in harbour. He raised a regiment for government, and chose his own reward, viz., a Baronetcy! and now lives here on £300 per annum, etc. etc."—Ed.
[852] The sea-water on the coast of the Isle of Man is singularly pure and beautiful.—W. W. 1837.
[My son William[853] is here the person alluded to as saving the life of the youth, and the circumstances were as mentioned in the Sonnet.—I. F.]
[853] But it was his son John, and not William, who accompanied the poet in this Tour. See the first Fenwick note (p. 342).—Ed.
[854] 1835.
MS.
MS.
[855] Compare Ariel's Song in The Tempest, act I. scene ii.—
[856] 1837.
MS.
[857] 1837.
[858] 1837.
[859] 1837.
[860] 1837.
[861] 1835.
[862] Henry Hutchinson. See the Fenwick note to the next sonnet.—Ed.
[863] 1835.
MS.
(A FRIEND OF THE AUTHOR)
[Mrs. Wordsworth's Brother, Henry.[865]—I. F.]
[864] This unpretending Sonnet is by a gentleman nearly connected with me, and I hope, as it falls so easily into its place, that both the writer and the reader will excuse its appearance here.—W. W. 1835.
[865] Mr. Henry Hutchinson, Mrs. Wordsworth's brother, was—the Bishop of Lincoln tells us—"a person of great originality and vigour of mind, a very enterprising sailor, and a writer of verses distinguished by no ordinary merit."—See the Memoirs of Wordsworth, vol. ii. p. 246.—Ed.
(SUPPOSED TO BE WRITTEN BY A FRIEND)
[Supposed to be written by a friend (Mr. Cookson), who died there a few years after.[866]—I. F.]
[866] Henry Crabb Robinson—the Wordsworths' companion in the tour, wrote in his Journal, 14th July: "At Ballasalla called on Mr. and Mrs. Cookson, esteemed friends of the W.'s, whom adversity had driven to this asylum."—Ed.
[867] Rushen Abbey.—W. W. 1835.
[869] The "old Tower" is that of Rushen Abbey, close to Bala-Sala, the latest dissolved monastery in the British Isles. Little of it survives; only the tower, refectory, and dormitory. The tower is still yellowed with lichen stains. The following occurs in one of Mr. H. C. Robinson's letters on the Italian Tour of 1837:—"This reminds me that I was once privy to the conception of a Sonnet with a distinctness which did not once occur on the longer Italian journey. This was when I accompanied him into the Isle of Man. We had been drinking tea with Mr. and Mrs. Cookson, and left them when the weather was dull. Very soon after leaving them we passed the Church Tower of Bala-Sala. The upper part of the tower had a sort of frieze of yellow lichens. Mr. W. Pointed it out to me, and said, 'It's a Perpetual sunshine.' I thought no more of it till I had read the beautiful sonnet,
[Mr. Robinson and I walked the greater part of the way from Castle-town to Piel, and stopped some time at Tynwald Hill. One of my companions was an elderly man who, in a muddy way (for he was tipsy), explained and answered, as far as he could, my enquiries about this place and the ceremonies held here. I found more agreeable company in some little children; one of them, upon my request, recited the Lord's Prayer to me, and I helped her to a clearer understanding of it as well as I could; but I was not at all satisfied with my own part; hers was much better done, and I am persuaded that, like other children, she knew more about it than she was able to express, especially to a stranger.—I. F.]
[871] The ground at Tynwald Hill (as it is called) remains unchanged. Here, on a small plot of ground, the whole Manx people meet annually on Midsummer Day, July 5th, to appoint officers and enact new laws. The first historical notice of these meetings is in 1417. The name Tynwald is derived from the Scandinavian thing, "court of justice," and wald, "fenced." The mound is only 12 feet high, rising by four circular platforms, each 3 feet higher than the one below it. The circumference at the base is 240 feet, and at the top 18 feet. It used once to be walled round, and had two gates. The approach now is by twenty-one steps cut in the turf.
In his Diary, etc., Robinson wrote of Tynwald—"It brought to my mind a similar monument of simple manners at Sarnen in Switzerland."—Ed.
[872] 1835.
MS.
MS.
[873] 1835.
MS.
MS.
[876] The summit of this mountain is well chosen by Cowley as the scene of the "Vision," in which the spectral angel discourses with him concerning the government of Oliver Cromwell. "I found myself," says he, "on the top of that famous hill in the Island Mona, which has the prospect of three great, and not long since most happy, kingdoms. As soon as ever I looked upon them, they called forth the sad representation of all the sins and all the miseries that had overwhelmed them these twenty years." It is not to be denied that the changes now in progress, and the passions, and the way in which they work, strikingly resemble those which led to the disasters the philosophic writer so feelingly bewails. God grant that the resemblance may not become still more striking as months and years advance!—W. W. 1835.
The top of Snaefell (which Wordsworth names "Snafell"), the highest mountain in the Isle of Man, whence England, Scotland, and Ireland are to be seen, as mentioned in the Sonnet, is not visible from Tynwald Hill.—Ed.
[877] 1835.
MS.
[The morning of the eclipse was exquisitely beautiful while we passed the Crag as described in the Sonnet. On the deck of the steam-boat were several persons of the poor and labouring class, and I could not but be struck by their cheerful talk with each other, while not one of them seemed to notice the magnificent objects with which we were surrounded; and even the phenomenon of the eclipse attracted but little of their attention. Was it right not to regret this? They appeared to me, however, so much alive in their own minds to their own concerns that I could not look upon it as a misfortune that they had little perception for such pleasures as cannot be cultivated without ease and leisure. Yet, if one surveys life in all its duties and relations, such ease and leisure will not be found so enviable a privilege as it may at first appear. Natural Philosophy, Painting, and Poetry, and refined taste are no doubt great acquisitions to society; but among those who dedicate themselves to such pursuits, it is to be feared that few are as happy, and as consistent in the management of their lives, as the class of persons who at that time led me into this course of reflection. I do not mean by this to be understood to derogate from intellectual pursuits, for that would be monstrous: I say it in deep gratitude for this compensation to those whose cares are limited to the necessities of daily life. Among them, self-tormentors, so numerous in the higher classes of society, are rare.—I. F.]
[881] 1845.
[882] Compare The Eclipse of the Sun, 1820, in the "Memorials of a Tour on the Continent, 1820" (vol. vi. p. 345).—Ed.
[883] 1837.
(IN A STEAM-BOAT)
[The mountain outline on the north of this island, as seen from the Frith of Clyde,[884] is much the finest I have ever noticed in Scotland or elsewhere—I.F.]