The Port Gibson herald, and correspondent. (Port Gibson, Claiborne Co., Miss.) 1848-18??, 1850-02-08
? @ b T R Y
From Eliza Cooks Mqga7ine for Oct. 81. |
The HoIV Well.

ftoiywell street, Strand, London, known by the
sign OF "The Old Dog" is raised on the site of
the celebrated Holy Wel,' from which the
street derives its name. Fitzstephen mentions
tins well III 1860, rs boing famous and fire.
quented by the scholars and youths of the
City, when they walked forth to take the airl'
! and Stowe aludes to it as "being much decay
ed and spoiled with rubbish, purposely laid
there for the heightening of the ground for
garden plots" The coffee-room, at the tavern
above mentioned, is supposed TO be built i'm
medlately over the spring. The following lines
were prompted by the interesting remembrance
! which forms one of the many thousand poetic
legends connected with our modern Babylon
They say, three hundred years ago,
The cold, pure water used to flow
From gurgling fount with trees around,
Where THE Old Dog" Tavern may now be
They say it was a wondrous spot,
And the "Chronicles" keep it unforrot:
For the pages Of history often dwell
On the storied fame of the "HoIy Well"
| n,see the place as it was of yore,
When its crystal riches would ripple and pour
From fountain channel, fresh and dank,
Mid Towering rush and grassy bank;
When the pale cheek left the city wall,
And the courtier fled the palace hall,
To seek the peaceful shadows that fell
On the waters Of the "IIoly Well"
The scholar sat on some old grey stone,
| Where the ivy was thick and the moss had
grown,
And he conned his book, while the gentle tide
Came softly bubbling up at his side.
| ol Il.
Blending their sighs with the twilight air;
! And many warm lip stopped to tell
It's first romance by the "Holy Well"
Sweet birds came to plume their wing,
And lave their beak in the healing spring;
And gorgeous butterflies stopped to play
About the place on a sultry day.
Folks came from the east, and came from the
west,
To take at that fountain health and rest;
From the north and the south they came tC
dwell
By the far-famcd stream of the aHoly Well.'
Oh, goodly site was the old place then,
/ When the waters were sought by the Rec
Cross men:
When the brave knights Templars there were
seen,
With their "hostelrie" gay on the field of green
When the famished pilgrim fingered there,
Blessing the draught with grateful prayer,
As his cookie hat and scalop shell
Were thrown aside at the "Holy Well"
And now we see in the busy street
/ A tshostelrie" where men do meet;
Though they wear no symbol red-cross bands
And draw no steel with their strong right hands
For many year there has been no trace
Of the legend lore that marks the place;
No stranger dreams of the verdant dell
That was famed afar for its "Holy Well"
1 Close and narrow that place is now,
Where the beautiful water used to flow;
But those who will may go and see
Where the waters sprung up-pure and free
On the mouth of the tide they may lightly
tread,
As they would on the graves of the honore'
dead;
At the SIGN Of .The Old Dog" gossips still tel
Rare things of the ancient "Holy WE'LL"
All, many among US, like this old place,
Exist in the world without trace
Of the exquisite truth and goodly power,
That filed our spirits in life's young hour.
Time has choked up the magical spring
With the burthens that trouble and toll ee
bring,
Yet we turn with joy TO let memory tell
Of the days when our heart was "I1ol
Well" ELIZA COOK.