And him who in the field O'erthrew her giant offspring in his strength, Proud of such debt, Rich to be thus indebted, these, Fair Island, Sister Queen XIV. Shall I then imprecate A curse on them that would divide That he should scatter curses?.. King of Kings, Humbly I offer up our holier prayer! But in thy mercy, to confound These men's devices! Lord, Lighten their darkness with thy Gospel light, And thus abate their pride, Assuage their malice thus ! 303 COLLOQUY X. CROSTHWAITE CHURCH.-ST. KENTIGERN. THOUGH the vale of Keswick owes little of its beauty to any work of man, the position of its Church is singularly fortunate. It stands alone *, about half a mile from the town, and somewhat farther from the foot of Skiddaw; and though not to be compared with the beautiful village churches of Lincolnshire and the West of England, there are few in these northern counties which equal it, and none perhaps in any part of the kingdom which forms a finer object from the surrounding country. *Some of the oldest and finest yew trees in the country stood formerly in this churchyard. The vicar cut them down, thinking the wood might serve to make a pew for the singers, .. for which purpose it was found unserviceable, when too late. One of them grew beside the school house, and was so large, that an old man, more than fifty years ago, told my excellent friend, whose name I now write with regret as the late Sir George Beaumont, he had seen all the boys, some forty in number, perched at one time upon its boughs. Scarcely a quarter of a mile distant there stood, some few years ago, little grove of firs, the loss of which is one of the many injuries that the vale has suffered since I became one of its inhabitants. They stood by the road side just at an elbow of the river Greta, covering a mean and deserted building, which had formerly been a Quakers' Meeting House, and is now converted to the better purpose of a National School for girls. It is seldom that any common plantation adds a grace to the country, though to the ease with which it may deform it, some of these mountains bear lamentable witness; but these fir trees, planted as they were, merely because the nook of ground whereon they stood between the road and the river. was not worth cultivating, could not have been more happily placed by the most judicious hand. From whatever side you looked over the landscape they were conspicuous; in summer by their darker hue, in winter by their only verdure. Standing about midway between the town and the church, they were a spot on which the eye rested, and many a sketch book will have preserved them as one of the features of the vale. An injury of the same kind was committed. some few years earlier, at the upper end of Derwentwater, near Lodore.. There was a birch grove there which covered a small piece of flat, worthless ground, and which had manifestly been planted by some one of gentle spirit, who feeling how greatly such a grove in that place would embellish one of the loveliest scenes in England, prepared for those who should come after him a pleasure which he could partake only in anticipation. No stranger who had any real perception of those beauties which so many strangers come here to behold, ever noticed that grove without an expression of delight. The trees were in their full growth,.. perhaps of fourscore years standing; the bark rent and rugged as that of the cork tree, at the lower part of their trunks, and silvery all above. They reached to the water's edge, in a little level bay which is overspread with water-lilies and reeds. From the lake you saw their light and graceful heads between you and the crags: on the shore they formed a grateful and refreshing shade in a sultry day, which I have frequently enjoyed, for the road lay through them. In the whole circuit of Derwentwater there was not a more beautiful spot than that bay while the grove was standing; and I believe no one who remembers what it was ever passes it now, without breathing something like a malediction upon those by whose VOL. I. X orders it was felled. This was more vexatious than the destruction of the fir grove, because the pecuniary value of the trees could have been of no consequence to the absent proprietor, and if he had known their value as they stood, it may be believed, no consideration would have induced him to sacrifice them. The Church was built in an age when durability was regarded as an important consideration in such structures. It is a large, unornamented, substantial edifice, with buttresses, battlements, and a square tower; and having stood for centuries, by God's blessing it may stand for centuries to come. On a nearer view, you perceive that it has suffered something by the substitution of slates for lead upon the roof, an alteration which was made some few years ago, when the building underwent a repair. Alice de Romley, heiress of Egremont and Skipton, who, in the reign of Stephen, or of his successor, married the Lord of Allerdale, gave it to Fountains Abbey, and is supposed to have been the person by whom it was founded and endowed. It was soon afterwards appropriated to that monastery, the collation being reserved to the Bishops of Carlisle. William Fitz Duncan, the husband of this Alice, was son to the Earl of Murray, and brother to David King of Scotland; and this |