Peninsula enterprise. [volume] (Accomac, Va.) 1881-1965, 1902-01-18
ROBERT SOUTHEYS CHURCH
worshiping Place of the Great Mns-
fer of English Verse.

WorshipinR Place OF the "reas ""S
ter of English Verse.
Few pilgrims to Keswick who care
for English literature fail to see Greta
Hall and Cresthwaite church. Inc
house that sheltered. as did Greta
Hall. at the same time two such men
as Robert Southey and Samuel Taylor
Coleridge is worthy of interest anu
honor. But greater honor belongs to
the memory of the man who could iVe
amicably under the same roof with inc
brilliant but erratic Coleridge, of whom
Southcv once said. "COlcridge when
ever he sees anything in the light OF
duty is unable 10 perform it."
Standing on a summit of hill that
slopes gently down to the banks OF
the river Greta and commanding Il
magnificent prospect of Lake Derwent-
water. Greta Hall attracted the discern
ing eye Of Coleridge, and in lSOO ne
went with his wife 10 make II MS
home for few years. Thither he per
suaded Southcy. who had married MS
wife's sister, and in 1903 the Southeys,
their hearts sore over the loss or their
little Margery. Went also to make II thelr
lifelong home. What fruitful study
what high thinking. what brilliant COIL
yersation, went on in that quiet retreat
during the years that the two Intel
lectual giants dwelt in their humble
castle. entertaining such visitors as
Charles Lamb. HaZlitt Shelley ana
Wordsworth
Hardly less interesting than their cid
ers were the children who played
about this old houSe-Hartley Cole
ridge, the lOvable and precOcious, VINO
used to say when he HAD pain in his
stomach. 1--WE gOt the collie; read me
the gospel and epistle;" Sara, who
afterward edited her fathers "Biogra-
phia Literaria," and the philosophical
little Derwent. who when he was ask
ed by his father who made him re-
plied. flames Lawson. the carpenter,
father" and to the question. What
did he make you OFF, replied. THE
stuff he makes wood Of; ne sawed me
off. and did not like It,"
Cresthwaite church, the parish
church of Keswick, stands quite out
side the village, little beyond Greta
Hall. northward. 1t is quaint. sedate
structure. having a great square tower
with heavy buttresSes and a battle
mented summit. The church is dedl-
Gated to st. Kentigern. who when a
boy. according to the legend, restored
to life robin killed by his school
mates and who is said to have planted
the cross in the valley of the Thwalte
in A. ID. 553. The church stands IN
the open with the mountains looking
down upon it and lake in front ana
is surrounded by an ample churcDyaru
strewn with gravestOneS. SOuthey Is
buried near the tower, on the north,
SPOT selected by himself TO show his
disregard Of the old superstition
against burial on the north side OF the
church. A we'll worn path leads to the
simple square tomb under which re-
pose the bodies Of the poet, his wife
and daughter and Elizabeth Thomp'
son, "for fifty years the faithful serV-
ant and attached friend of Robert
Southey and of his children" as the
inscription reads.
Within the church is as quaint ana
serious as without. The pews are no
longer painted different colors accord
ing to the within of the occupants, as
Southey describes them. but otherwise
there has been little change for cen
turtles. SOuthey's square box pew is
near the chancel. There he used to be
seen towering above the rest of the
congregation with his eyes closed and
his fine face turned upward. solemnly
repeating the creed Near the spot
where he wOrshiped for so many years
is the fine marble efigy of the poet by
Tough. recumbent figure with the
right hand laid upon an open book.
The epitaph beginning
Ye wales and hills whose beauty hither
drew
The poets steps and fixed him here. on
you
His eyes have closed,
was written by Wordsworth.
A fine spirit was Robert Southey-
conscientious. unselfish, faithful. not
only true scholar and poet, but, what
IS far more. true man. His devotion
10 the fatherless children of COleridge
as well as to his own family will never
fail to win an admiration deeper than
even the greatest poetry can awaken
1t is a just tribute that Walter Savage
LandOr paid him in the lines:
No frmer breast than thine hath heaven
To poet. sage or hero given;
No heart more tender none more just.
To that he largely placed in trust;
Therefore shalt thou. whatever date
OF years be thine. with soul elate,
Rise up before the eternal throne
And hear in Gods own voice. "Well
done"
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