Poems, Ballads, and Bucolics (London, 1890)

Dedicated to:

Phillips Brooks, of Boston, U.S.A., in memory of a day at Crosthwaite, and with gratitude for all he has done for the religious thought of England; and to those of his fellow-citizens who remember that their forefathers sailed from Lincolnshire.

Brooks (1835-1893) was an American Episcopal clergyman who visited Hardwicke in 1887.  Of the collection of poems, Hardwicke wrote:

Some of these poems have appeared in contemporary periodicals.  The Ballads, for the most part, record heroic deeds done in Great Britain and America during the past few years.  The Bucolics are sketches from real life in Lincolnshire.  The language of these latter has been made familiar by the poet Laureate…. Readers of dialect will bear in mind that the dialect herein spoken, and the folk-lore alluded to, are those of the old Danish colony whose children live between Horncastle, Louth, and Boston.

One review of the book said that it would be read:

with interest by lovers of poetry in general, and with a particular delight by those who know the scenes and characters that are to be met with in the rural parts of Lincolnshire.  Most of the pieces in the book draw their subject from the fen country.  Those which do not are ballads or odes founded upon heroic actions done in quite recent times.  These are celebrated in a stately line, which, however, is usually too coldly dignified to have much life.  On the other hand, the pieces in the Lincolnshire dialect are lively both in theme and treatment.  They naturally suggest a comparison with the Laureate’s poems in the same dialect.  Some notion of their quality may be conveyed when it is said that they bear the comparison without disparagement to themselves.

 

Contents

Introductory (p. 1)

The Poet’s Home-Going (p. 2)

Grand-Dad’s Annie, Dead (p. 13)

A Welcome to Stanley (p. 20)

The Old Partner Gone (p. 34)

Sister Rose Gertrude (p. 39)

The Old-Fashioned “Tortossy” Cat (p. 46)

Dreeäms (p. 63)

Father Damien (p. 65)

The Evil Eye (p. 70)

The Monkey-O’-Herse-Back Methody Man (p. 79)

A Brave Doctor: To the Memory of Doctors Rabbeth and Lysaght (p. 87)

In the Pig Market (p. 90)

The Village Carpenter (p. 92)

A Sad Letter (p. 99)

The Island Home: A Ballad of the East River, New York (p. 101)

Chaäsing the Sun; or, The Trak Wi’ the Terrible Naáme (p. 111)

Death the Befriender. A Ballad of the People’s Palace (p. 116)

Old Times (p. 122)

Lincolnshire Witches (p. 130)

Daniel Periton: A Ballad of the Conemaugh Flood (p. 136)

The Widower from Latrigg (p. 141)

The Ballad of Rosemarie; or, the White Cockade (p. 144)

The Legend of St Bees (p. 155)

Ram Buksh, the Leper (p. 168)

In a Garden (p. 173)

The Christmas Bells (p. 175)

An Old Conspiracy (p. 181)

Elijah at the Brook Cherith (p. 186)

A Libel (p. 190)

A Woman Saviour (p. 193)

A Farm-Yard Soliloquy (p. 197)

The Brave Pit Lads of Penicuick (p. 202)

A Hero’s Crown (p. 206)

Catherine Watson (p. 208)

A Gallant Quarryman (p. 212)

The Fox and Hound (p. 214)

Dead Man’s Pool (p. 217)

New Fangledy Waäys (p. 228)

The Engine-Driver. On the Pennsylvanian Railway (p. 238)

At the Ram-Show Dinner. After the Member’s Speech (p. 244)

Valedictory (p. 246)