FOOTNOTES:
[734] The Countess' Pillar is an octagonal one, on the high road from Penrith, a couple of miles out of the town on the Appleby road, a quarter of a mile from Brougham Castle, and over eleven miles from Appleby. It is somewhat weather-worn, but is preserved with care. On the north side of the pillar are the Pembroke Arms, and the date 1654. The inscription is in a copper plate, sunk in the stone. I have copied the "inscription" from the pillar itself, and have corrected, in what is given above, some errata in the poet's transcript of it.—Ed.
XXV
ROMAN ANTIQUITIES
[FROM THE ROMAN STATION AT OLD PENRITH]
How profitless the relics that we cull,
Troubling the last holds of ambitious Rome,
Unless they chasten fancies that presume
Too high, or idle agitations lull!
Of the world's flatteries if the brain be full, 5
To have no seat for thought were better doom,
Like this old helmet, or the eyeless skull
Of him who gloried in its nodding plume.
Heaven out of view, our wishes what are they?
Our fond regrets tenacious[735] in their grasp? 10
The Sage's theory? the Poet's lay?—
Mere Fibulae without a robe to clasp;
Obsolete lamps, whose light no time recals;
Urns without ashes, tearless lacrymals!
I am indebted to Dr. Taylor of Penrith for the following note in reference to these "Roman Antiquities" at Old Penrith:—"I have great pleasure in giving you what information I can, concerning the Roman Station of Old Penrith. It is called 'Petriana' by Camden, but most archaeologists now allocate it in the '2nd Iter,' as the Station 'Voreda'—on the road between York and Carlisle. This road passes over Stanemoor, by Bowes, Brough, Kirkbythore, Brougham, and Plumpton Wall (or Voreda), to Lugovallum or Carlisle. The Roman Camps are visible at all these places, and the old Roman road is recognisable in many parts. This Old Penrith, Plumpton Wall, or Voreda, is a camp of the third class. At a time, probably about the period which Wordsworth alludes to, several Roman stones and altars were dug up at Voreda, and are now deposited in Lowther Castle. Wordsworth had relations living in Penrith, whom he used to visit occasionally, and it is probable that after a visit to Voreda, which is about six miles from here, he wrote the Sonnet alluded to. The 'Hart-horn Tree' referred to in the 'Legend of the Hunt of the Stag' stood in the park of Whinfell, in the parish of Brougham, but has disappeared for many years."—Ed.
FOOTNOTES:
[735] 1837.
... insatiate ... 1835.
Our fond regrets, all that our hopes would grasp C.