"Pray for the sowle of Sir John-le-Spring,
When the black monks sing—
And the Vesper bells ring;
Pray for the sprite of a murdered Knight,
Pray for the sowle of Sir John-le-Spring.
He fell not, before the....—♰
The waning crescent fled,
When the Martyr’s palm and golden crown
Reward Christ’s soldier dead.
"He fell not in the battle-field,
Beneath St. George’s banner bright,
When the pealing cry of victory—
Might cheer the sowle of a dying knight;
But at dead of night, in the soft moonlight,
In his garden bower—he lay;
And the dew of sleep, did his eyelids steep
In the arms of his leman gay.
"And by murderous hand, and bloody brand,
In that guilty bower—
With his paramour,
Did his sowle from his body fleet,
And through mist and mirk, and moonlight gray,
Was forc’d away from the bleeding clay,
To the dreaded judgment seat."
[7] This is proved by an inquest taken at Hilton in that year. Cf. Bishop Swaby’s History of the Hiltons of Hilton Castle, p. 39.
[8] The River-Names of Europe, pp. 33, 34.
[9] Pudsey commenced to build a Lady Chapel at the east end of the church which, as was said, St. Cuthbert shook down.
[10] About the year 1800 the whole cathedral underwent a process of chiselling, in order to render the surface uniform. This was done under the superintendence of Wyatt, and in some parts four inches in depth were removed by the operation. The evidence of this is apparent in several places on the north side of the choir and nave, where, in consequence of the soil having accumulated several feet in height, that part of the building has escaped being pared down. What has been the result is shown there in the nook shafts of the arcade, which have been reduced from a due proportion to one most inadequate.
[11] It is possible that Basire, whose words are rather curious, simply means that he destroyed the chapels. He speaks of them as "being blown up by Sir Arthur Haslerig in the Gunpowder Plot of the late Rebellion."
[12] Some years before 1834, when Mackenzie wrote, a portion of it had been "converted into a respectable and substantial house," and was then the residence of Mr. Henry Morton, Lord Durham’s agent. In or about 1875 the house underwent further changes, and has now for many years been known as Lambton Grange. There is, however, another building in the Park, locally known as the old Hall, and at one time used as a brewery, which may represent some intermediate residence.
[13] The above account of Lambton Castle is abridged from an address given by the late Henry Leighton of Lambton Grange, when acting as chairman at the dinner given to the workmen on the completion of the restoration of Lambton Castle, January 18, 1868.