Milford chronicle., 1903-05-08
BiIiousness, constipation prevent re-
coVery. Cure these with Ayers Pills.
.oBERT soUTHEYs CHURCH
Worshiping Place of the Great Mas
ter of English Verse.

Worshiping Place of the Great Mas
ter of English Verse.
Few pilgrims to Eeswick who care
for English literature fail to see Greta
Hall and Cresthwaite church. The
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 ana
honor. But a greater honor belongs to
the memory Of the man who could live
amicably under the same roof with the
brilliant but erratic Coleridge, of whom
Southey once said, "Coleridge when
ever lie sees anything in the light OF a
duty is unable TO perform it,
Standing on a summit of hill that
slopes gently down to the banks of
the river Greta and commanding a
magnificent prospect of Lake Derwent-
water. Greta Hall attracted the discern
ing eye of Coleridge, and in 1900 he
went with his wife to make it his
home for few years Thither he per
suaded SOuthey, who had married his
wife's sister. and in 1903 the Southeys.
their hearts sore over the loss of their
little Nargery. went also to make it their
lifelong home. What fruitful study.
what high thinking, what brilliant con-
versation, 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 and
Wordsworth.
Hardly less interesting than their eld-
crs were the children who played
about this old house-Hartley Cole
ridge. the lovable and precOciOus, who
used TO say when he had a 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
piled. James Lawson. the carpenter,
father" and to the question, What
did he make you ofY' replied, "The
stuff he makes wood of; he sawed me
off. and l did not like it,"
Cresthwaite church, the parish
church of Keswick. stands quite out
side the village, a little beyond Greta
Hall, northward. 1t is a quaint, sedate
structure. having great square tower
with heavy LUttrcsses and battle
mented summit. The church is dedi-
Gated TO St Kentigern. who when a
boy. according TO the legend restored
to life a robin killed by his school
mates and who is said to have planted
the cross in the valley Of the Ihwaite
/ in A. d. SOB The church stands in
the open with the mountains looking
down upon it and a lake in front and
is surrounded by an ample churchyard
strewn with gravestones. Southey is
buried near the tower. on the north a
spot selected by himself to show his
disregard of the old superstition
against burial on the north side Of the
churi A well worn path leads to the
simple square tomb under which re
/ pose the bodies of the poet, his wife
and daughter and Elizabeth Thomp
I son. for fifty years the faithful serv-
/ ant and attached friend Of Robert
1 Southey and of his children" as the
I inscription reads.
Within the church is as quaint and
serious as without The pews- are no
longer painted different colOrs. accord
! ing to the whim 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 CHI. col There he used to be
4 seen towering above The rest of the
( congregation with his eyes closed and
his fine face turned upward, sOlemny
! repeating the creed. Near the spot
where he worshiped for so many years
/ is the fine marble etigy Of the poet b.
Lough. a recumbent figure with the
right hand laid upon an open book.
The epitaph beginning
| Ye wales and hills whose beauty hithep
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 a true scholar and poet but, what
/ is far more, d true man. His devotion
/ to the fatherless children Of COleridge
as well as to his own family will never
fail to win an admiration deeper than
I even the greatest poetry can awaken
/ 1t is a just tribute that Walter Savage
/ Landor paid him in the lines:
] No hrmer breast than thine hath heaven
7 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"
/ New York Commercial Advertiser.