Memories of the Tennysons (Glasgow, 1900)

For many years there had been strong links between the Rawnsley and Tennyson families.  As vicars in neighbouring Lincolnshire parishes, Hardwicke’s grandfather and Alfred Tennyson’s father knew each other well.  Hardwicke’s father, Robert, and Alfred Tennysons were also close friends with Robert officiating at Alfred’s wedding in his parish church at Shiplake.  In fact, Alfred Tennyson spent the night before his wedding with the Rawnsleys in Shiplake Vicarage.  In addition, Hardwicke’s mother, Catherine, was a first cousin of Alfred’s wife, Emily Sellwood.  Hardwicke and his siblings grew up with constant interactions with the Tennyson families and friends.

Hardwicke begins Memories of the Tennysons:

Born at the “Vicarage by the quarry,” from whence the late Poet Laureate had led his bride; and going, each year of one’s life, away from the cedared lawn and the terraced garden, the flowery meadows, and the silver Thames below the chalk cliff, to the sand hills of the Lincoln coast, the levels of the Lincoln marsh, the windmills of the Lincoln wold, and the cornfields in the shining fen, which Tennyson, in his boyhood, had known—it was inevitable that one who had been brought up on so much of his poems as a child could understand, should associate the scene of those annual holidays with thoughts of the Poet.

Each year my father paid a visit to the Poet at Farringford, and one heard talk of Tennyson when he returned.  Each time a volume of poems was given to the world, a presentation copy came to my father’s hands, and we, as children, gathered in the eventide to hear the poems read in our ears with such deep feeling, that we were impressed by them even when we could not realise their beauty of thought and diction. (pp. vii-viii)   

Hardwicke was a prodigious writer and lecturer on Tennyson.  A list of some of his writings is given at the end of this document.

 

Contents

Somersby and Its Neighbourhood (pp. 1-26)

Folk-Lore at Somersby. Reminiscences Among the Villagers (pp. 27-61)

Boyhood’s Friends in Lincolnshire (pp. 62-75)

Tennyson at the English Lakes (pp. 76-91)

Memories of Farringford (pp. 92-118)

†Reminiscences (pp. 119-149)

From Aldworth to the Abbey (pp. 150-184)

††Lincolnshire Scenery and Characters as Illustrated by Mr. Tennyson (pp. 185-200)

††Virgil and Tennyson (pp. 201-220)

Charles Tennyson Turner: A Memory of Grasby (pp. 221-247)

(† Chapter written by Hardwicke’s brother, Willingham)

(†† Chapters written by Hardwicke’s father, Robert)

Articles and Poems on Tennyson by Rawnsley (excludes the above chapters)

Tennyson at Clevedon (A Book of Bristol Sonnets, p. 142)

To Alfred Lord Tennyson (Sonnets Round the Coast, p. 6)

Farringford, Isle of Wight (Sonnets Round the Coast, p. 7)

On Hearing Lord Tennyson Read His Ode on the Death of the Duke of Wellington (Sonnets Round the Coast, p. 8)

After the Epilogue. To the Charge of the Light Brigade (Sonnets Round the Coast, p. 9)

On Leaving Farringford (Sonnets Round the Coast, p. 12)

At Mablethorpe (Sonnets Round the Coast, p. 218)

‘To Lord Tennyson: On His Eightieth Birthday, August 6th, 1889’, Macmillan’s Magazine, 60 (August 1889), 293. [Poem]
‘To Lord Tennyson: On His Eightieth Birthday’, St. James’s Gazette, 6 August 1889, p. 12. [Poem]
To Lord Tennyson: On His Eightieth Birthday, August 6th, 1889’, Westmorland Gazette, 17 August 1889, p. 3. [Poem]
‘To Lord Tennyson: On His Eightieth Birthday, August 6th, 1889’, Crosthwaite Parish Magazine, (September 1889). [Poem]

‘Leaving Aldworth: Oct. 11, 1892’, Blackwood’s Edinburgh Magazine, 152 (November 1892), 768. [Poem]

‘The Laureate Dead’, Academy, (November 1892). [Poem]
‘The Laureate Dead’, Crosthwaite Parish Magazine, (November 1892). [Poem]
‘The Laureate Dead’, Living Age, 195 (17 December 1892), 706. [Poem]

Tennyson. Obiit, Aldworth, October 6th, 1892 (Valete: Tennyson and other Memorial Poems, p. 3)

Somersby (Valete: Tennyson and other Memorial Poems, p. 15)

Clevedon (Valete: Tennyson and other Memorial Poems, p. 16)

Farringford. 1883 (Valete: Tennyson and other Memorial Poems, p. 17)

On Leaving Farringford (Valete: Tennyson and other Memorial Poems, p. 18)To Alfred, Lord Tennyson. January 18th, 1884 (Valete: Tennyson and other Memorial Poems, p. 19)

To Lord Tennyson. On His 80th Birthday, August 6th, 1889 (Valete: Tennyson and other Memorial Poems, p. 20)

A Story from the “Arabian Nights.” 1889 (Valete: Tennyson and other Memorial Poems, p. 21)

A Farewell to the “Sunbeam.” 1889 (Valete: Tennyson and other Memorial Poems, p. 22)

On Hearing Lord Tennyson Read His Ode on the Death of the Duke of Wellington (Valete: Tennyson and other Memorial Poems, p. 23)

After the Epilogue to the Charge of the Heavy Brigade (Valete: Tennyson and other Memorial Poems, p. 24)

Death and Fame (Valete: Tennyson and other Memorial Poems, p. 25)

“I have Opened the Book.” At Aldworth, October 5th, 1892 (Valete: Tennyson and other Memorial Poems, p. 26)

The Poet’s Death-Chamber (Valete: Tennyson and other Memorial Poems, p. 27)

The Laureate Dead (Valete: Tennyson and other Memorial Poems, p. 28)

Tennyson’s Home-Going (Valete: Tennyson and other Memorial Poems, p. 29)

Leaving Aldworth. October 11th, 1892 (Valete: Tennyson and other Memorial Poems, p. 30)

The Two Poets (Valete: Tennyson and other Memorial Poems, p. 31)

Christmas Without the Laureate (Valete: Tennyson and other Memorial Poems, p. 32)

At Mablethorpe; An Episode in the Publication of the “Poems by Two Brothers,” 1827 (Valete: Tennyson and other Memorial Poems, p. 34)

To a Portrait of the Mother of the Poets (Valete: Tennyson and other Memorial Poems, p. 35)

The Poet’s ‘Lilian.’ In Memory of S. E. Shawell, October 14th, 1889 (Valete: Tennyson and other Memorial Poems, p. 132)

Literary Associations of the English Lakes, Vol. I – Chapter 6.
Literary Associations of the English Lakes, Vol. II – Chapter 4.

‘Tennyson a South Country Man?’ Spectator, 92 (23 April 1904), 639. [Letter]

‘Tennyson’, Homes and Haunts of Famous Authors (London, 1906), 137-51.

At the Unveiling of the Tennyson Statue, Lincoln (A Sonnet Chronicle, p. 75)

‘The Tennyson Centenary’, Times, 3 August 1909, p. 11. [Letter]

‘In Memory of the Tennyson Centenary at Somersby, August 5th, 1909’, Crosthwaite Parish Magazine, (September 1909). [Poem]

‘The Tennyson Centenary Memorial’, Times, 16 December 1909, p. 7. [Letter]

‘The Tennyson Centenary Memorial’, Times, 2 September 1910, p. 9. [Letter]

‘Tennyson as a Religious Teacher’, Church Family Newspaper, 18 (11 August 1911), 604.

‘The Tennyson Memorial Meetings at Somersby’, Spectator, 107 (12 August 1911), 241-2.

‘Memories of the Tennysons at Somersby’, Cornhill Magazine, 32 (February 1912), 170-9.

 

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Life and Nature at the English Lakes (Glasgow, 1899)

The book is dedicated to ‘Mrs. Talbot whose heart is in the Lake Country’.  Fanny Talbot, a fried of Hardwicke, had gifted Dinas Oleu, in Barmouth, overlooking Cardigan Bay, to the National Trust in 1895.  It was the Trust’s first property.

One reviewer of the book wrote:

What gradations of enjoyment there are at the English Lakes, as there are in most of Nature’s chosen centres of beauty!  The scenery, alone, is enough for many, perhaps for most of the visitors, year by year; it is the one inspiration they seek and obtain.  To others there are the beautiful details of Nature—in flowers, foliage, and birds; and these in some cases engross more of attention than all the charms of outline and the changing lights of sky and lake, and the fleeting shadows.  Others delight to walk in unseen companionship with the poets and philosophers of the past, and thus enlarge and enrich their vision, as they gaze upon the scenes they have viewed in common, though in days wide apart.  Others again, want to get into fellowship with the living folk of to-day, whose homes are in these dales or on those hill-sides, and to picture them in their ploddings and pursuits and pleasures.  Canon Rawnsley is in sympathy with all these classes, and is at home in all the gradations.  Those who have revelled in his “Literary Associations of the English Lakes” will need no prompting to possess themselves of his “Life and Nature” at these Lakes.  He himself makes no attempt to sever the Literary from those other Associations which now he has gathered in his purpose of presenting the “Life” of the people, or in picturing the charms of “Nature.”  He gives us an account, in one chapter, of “An Old-Time Rushbearing at Ambleside;” in another of the keeping of “May-Day by Greta Side,” with its May-Queen Festival; for these Lakeside folk keep up some of the old English observances with a simple and faithful vigour that is becoming rare over the land generally; . . .  “A North Country Eisteddfod” is another delightful chapter of life; life quite modern—for it is only within a few years that Miss Wakefield has had the happy inspiration to quicken the love and culture of music amongst the children, and to gather these yearly in a festival of song, partly competitive and rewarded with prizes, and partly a concert and entertainment, at Kendal.  But there is that other side of life we expect to hear about, and in the various chapters “At the Grasmere Sports” and “Sheep-dog Trials at Troutbeck” we realise something of the daily pursuits of the dalesmen, shepherds, and others, and of the annual sports which are the crowning pleasures of the year, and into which they throw themselves with all manly energy.

 

Contents

[Page numbers refer to the 1902 second edition]

An Old-Time Rushbearing at Ambleside (pp. 1-16)

Purple and Ivory (pp. 17-23)

After the Ravens, in Skiddaw Forest (pp. 24-42)

May Day by Greta Side (pp. 43-72)

*At the Grasmere Sports (pp. 73-94)

Over Loughrigg after the Grasmere Sports (pp. 95-105)

*The Last of the Southeys (pp. 106-131)

The Sheep-Dog Trials at Troutbeck (pp. 132-145)

Kendal and a North Country Eisteddfod, 1895 (pp. 146-172)

The Rainbow Wonders of Windermere (pp. 173-177)

*The Tercentenary of the Armada on Skiddaw Top (pp. 178-185)

Skiddaw’s Gift of Youth (pp. 186-196)

*“The Fraternal Four of Borrowdale” (pp. 197-202)

St. Luke’s Summer at the Lakes (pp. 203-211)

A Sunrise Over Helvellyn (pp. 212-218)

*On Helvellyn with the Shepherds (pp. 219-249)

At Brig-End Sheep-Clipping (pp. 250-264)

Daffodil Day at Cockermouth (pp. 265-271)

(* Published previously)

 

 

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Literary Associations of the English Lakes (Glasgow, 1894)

Dedicated to William Henry Hills (1832-1918) ‘who has done more than any man in the district to keep our English Lakeland undisfigured and “secure from rash assault”, for the health, rest, and inspiration of the people’.  Hills was born in Sunderland and joined his father’s bookseller and printing business.  He retired to the Lake District, initially living at The Knoll, Ambleside, Harriet Martineau’s old house.  He was active from the 1880s onwards in conservation efforts and was a mainstayof the Lake District Defence Society.  He died at Easdale House, Grasmere, on 29 December 1918.

In his Prefatory Note, Hardwicke wrote:

A residence of fifteen years in the Lake District has led me to believe that for lack of some compendium of the Literary Associations of the country-side, the memories of the men and women whose life and work have added such charm to the scene of their labours are fading from off the circle of our hills.

This book has been written to preserve in their several localities, for visitors and residents alike, the names, the individualities, the presence of the minds and hearts, that have here gathered inspiration and shed lustre upon their homes.

 

Contents

Volume I. Cumberland, Keswick and Southey’s Country

The Gateways of the Lake District (pp. 1-11)

Greta Hall (pp. 12-38)

Greta Hall (pp. 39-83)

Applethwaite: Windy Brow: Chestnut Hill (pp. 84-115)

Keswick (pp. 116-147)

Derwentwater and Bassenthwaite: Scafell and Skiddaw (pp. 148-172)

Mirehouse (pp. 173-187)

Cockermouth: Bridekirk: Brigham: Pardsey Crag (pp. 188-228)

Volume II. Westmoreland, Windermere and the Haunts of Wordsworth

Greystoke: Penrith: Brougham Castle: King Arthur’s Round Table: The Grotto: Tirril Meeting-House (pp. 1-41)

Barton Churchyard: Dacre: Pooley Bridge: Eusemere: Ullswater: Patterdale: Kirkstone Pass (pp. 42-71)

Windermere and Elleray (pp. 72-92)

From Elleray to Rydal : Ecclerigg: Briary Close: Low-Wood: Dove Cottage: The Croft: Old Brathay: Brathay Hall: The Knoll: Scale How: Fox How: Fox Ghyll: Loughrigg Holme: Rydal Old Hall (pp. 93-122)

Ivy Cottage: Rydal Mount: Nab Cottage: White Moss: Dove Cottage (pp. 123-155)

Ben Place: Lancrigg : Allan Bank: Grasmere Church and Churchyard: Red Bank: Field Head: Hawkshead Hall: Hawkshead: Coniston: Brantwood (pp. 156-195)

Grasmere: Tongue Ghyll : Grisedale Tarn : Helvellyn : Wythburn (pp. 196-213)

Wythburn: The Rock of Names: Bridge-End Farm: Thirlmere: Fisher Place: Vale of St. John: Stonehouse: The Moor (pp. 214-241)

 

 

 

 

 

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Lake Country Sketches (Glasgow, 1903)

The book is dedicated to Edith who Hardwicke says is ‘a true lover of Nature and the English Lakes’.  On its publication, one reviewer commented that the volume:

Will be welcome to all lovers of a land as beautiful as it is interesting.  In discussing pleasantly on its scenery and its worthies, the author proves, if it were needed, how much may be seen and learnt in our own country.  The choicest parts of Lakeland—the Heads of Windermere and Ullswater, all Grasmere and Derwentwater—afford combinations of fell and crag, of water and woodland, which, though not so grand as Alpine lakes, possess a distinctive charm of their own…. Canon Rawnsley has introduced us to Lakeland in a garb not generally familiar.  Its summer visitors are many, but few have seen it in its Winter vestment of snow.  Yet it is never more beautiful than when it seems, for a brief season, almost to compete with the higher Alps.   

 

Contents

*Reminiscences of Wordsworth Among the Peasantry of Westmoreland (pp. 1-58)

With the Black-Headed Gulls in Cumberland (pp. 59-68)

At the Grasmere Play (pp. 69-85)

James Cropper of Ellergreen (pp. 86-93)

A Day with Roman and Norse (pp. 94-108)

Arctic Splendours at the English Lakes (pp. 109-115)

*William Pearson of Borderside (pp. 116-149)

*Joseph Hawell, a Skiddaw Shepherd (pp. 150-165)

A Famous Yew Tree (pp. 166-175)

Lodore after Storm (pp. 176-188)

A North Country Nimrod (pp. 189-206)

A Winter Day on Derwentwater (pp. 207-217)

Wordsworth at Cockermouth (pp. 218-226)

Mountain Silence and Valley Song (pp. 227-234)

(* Published previously)

 

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