The Poetical Works of John Nicholson ... edited from the original editions, with additional notes, and a sketch of his life and writings by W. G. Hird

Front matter

THE POETICAL WORKS OF JOHN NICHOLSON. //X^- e^A^/^V^J^^^.^ THE POETICAL WORKS OF JOHN NICHOLSON (THE AIREDALE POET) ; CAREFULLY EDITED FROM THE ORIGINAL EDITIONS, WITH ADDITIONAL NOTES, AND A SKETCH OF HIS LIFE AND WRITINGS. BY W. G. H I R D, AUTHOR OF "SCRIPTURE NAMES AND THEIR RELATION TO ANCIENT HISTORY," etc. LONDON: SIMPKIN, MARSHALL, & CO. BRADFORD: THOMAS BREAR. 1876. EDINBURGH . PRINTED BY M'FARLANE AND ERSKINE, ST JAMES SQUARE. TO jSJr littta jlalt, JBari, CROW NEST, NEAR HALIFAX, THE FOUNDER OF SALTAIRE, ALSO A FORMER BENEFACTOR OF THE AIREDALE POET, AND THE GENEROUS FRIEND AND SUPPORTER OF EVERY BENEVOLENT AND EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTION IN THE TOWN AND NEIGHBOURHOOD OF BRADFORD, THIS EDITION OF Ifitffofsrin's Ja^mt IS INSCRIBED, AS A TRIBUTE OF THE HIGHEST ADMIRATION AND RESrECT, BY THE PUBLISHER. Bradford, July 1876.

Preface

. IHE Poems of John Nicholson having been some time out of print, and therefore both scarce and costly, the Publisher after consulting the Poet's sons, resolved upon bringing out a more complete edition than had hitherto appeared, including many of the separate pieces issued between 1821 and 1839.* Some of these are now rarely met with, but being upon a variety of topics, of local and national im portance, deserve a place in any edition of his works. The Editor felt some reluctance to undertake the responsibility of collecting and revising the Poems for the press, when first asked by the Publisher, but on being informed that it was intended that the present edition should be in every respect more complete and better got up than its predecessors, he cheerfully * The present is the only edition issued under the sanction and with the approval of the Poet's family.

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. VIII undertook the task, and has endeavoured to make the volume worthy of the Poes s well-earned reputa tion. The steel plate for the portrait has been retouched expressly for this edition, by the original engraver, William Overend Geller, Esq., now more than seventy years of age, an " old Bradfordian," and for many years a most intimate and steadfast friend of Nicholson. The photographic illustrations by Mr Albert Sachs, are exquisitely beautiful, and being permanent, vastly superior to ordinary photo graphs. The sites have been happily chosen, and by careful manipulation, the leading features and the minutest details have been artistically brought out. The chief topics of the long Poems in the first and second volumes published in 1825 and 1827, have been familiar to the Editor many years, and in fact closely interwoven with some of his own earliest recollections of the histoiy of his native valley.

" Airedale " was from the first, and is still, his favourite, on account of the glowing pictures of natural scenery which it contains, and the vivid descriptions of past events. He would particularly mention the life like picture of Druidical worship, and the joyous return from the altar. It would be difficult to find a more beautiful and faithful transcript of primitive times, than is embodied in these few lines, as the happy. results of having obtained through the sacrifice the favour of the Deity, and the reconciliation of

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. IX friends. The deep religious fervour which pervaded the service at Kirkstall Abbey during the ministra tion of Turgesius, is touchingly real and characteristic of true devotion. It is at once an appeal to the heart's noblest sympathies, and the soul's highest aspirations. The present edition is not a mere reprint of the fourth, or last, in which strange liberties were taken in making alterations as improvements, but has been compared with it throughout. All the Poems, long and short, published during the Author's life have been printed from the original editions, and every line given in the form in which it first appeared, except where some really necessary correction had been introduced, or some faulty irregular verse required altering and pruning. But even this has been sparingly done, and no alterations made merely for their own sake.

In many cases, changing some of his homely words and phrases would have been like refining the dialect of Burns, by the substitu tion of more elegant English, and would have im paired the force of his earnest, manly verse. It may appear somewhat invidious to contrast the present with the third and fourth editions, but in simple justice to the Publisher, the Editor perceives no alternative. The third, published shortly after the Poet's untimely death, for the benefit of the widow and family, was exceedingly meagre, and only claims,

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. X in the original prospectus, to be a reprint of his best productions. Hence, a great deal of deeply inter esting matters, contained in the longer Poems, and several choice Lyrics, were entirely omitted. Amongst the former we find " The Lyre of Ebor," the longest of Nicholson's Poems, containing one thousand six hundred and ten lines. It is slightly inferior in composition and finish to " Airedale," and somewhat fragmentary, but contains numerous passages of great beauty, tenderness, and true poetic fervour. It also abounds with historic interest as a record of nearly all the great battles fought in Yorkshire, besides an account of some of those exciting hunts formerly so common in this part of the country. This Poem was inserted in the fourth edition, except forty-two lines referring to the Greek struggle for independence.

For some unaccountable reason these were left out, unless it may be supposed that they were then thought unnecessary, as the Greeks had long before achieved their freedom. But this seems, as a reason, too far-fetched, and entitled to very little considera tion. And if a similar mode of reasoning and excision had been followed by the editor of Byron, one of the sweetest and noblest lyrics in the lan guage, "The Isles of Greece," would ere now have been almost forgotten ; and " The Bard," by Gray, would have long since passed into oblivion. The lists of the dependants and followers of the noble

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. XI Clifford, from the towns and villages around Bolton, against the northern invaders, who several times wasted and plundered the district of Craven, is an invaluable record, showing the part taken by the ancestors of many persons still resident in the same places in defence of their homes and property. These important lists, which appear to have been omitted for the sake of brevity, have been carefully printed and compared with the original edition, published in 1827. The ballad of "Elwood and Elvina," left out of the two previous editions, has been again restored to its rightful place in Nicholson's Poems. A few redundant words have been struck out so as to bring the verses to the proper length, and an occasional word changed to improve the sense or rhythm ; and the Editor regards it as a poem of considerable merit, although the Author modestly says it was " written a few verses at various distant intervals," and " never pleased himself," and was only printed "in compliance with the wishes of his friends."

Perhaps its greatest faults are, its length, and the use of purely Saxon names for the hero and heroine, in the time of the wars of the Houses of York and Lancaster. A similar objection applies to the Latin and Greek names of the persons men tioned in "The Poacher." But here concealment was impossible; the individuals and their daring exploits in the neighbourhood were too well known ;

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. XII they were reckless and not easily entrapped ; in short, they had become notorious by frequent fines. The Rev. J. P. Chown, in February 1859, gave a series of " Readings from the Bradford Poets," in the Temperance Hall, interspersed with some genial appreciative remarks of his own, and has admirably indicated the chief characteristics of Nicholson's poetry; — first, how, almost more than any other, "his subjects are of local interest ;" second, his frank and fearless "Yorkshire utterances ;" and lastly, "his witty impromptus and naturalness." But it may be added that Nicholson's mind was not wholly occupied with local matters. He was of that ardent temperament which made it impossible for him to be an indifferent spectator of current events, during the exciting period which preceded the Catholic Emancipation Act ; and like many others in all ranks, he regarded this tardy act of justice with gloomy apprehension, and as a fatal blow to England's greatness.

The conduct of the Earl of Eldon, in opposing the measure, filled him with the highest admiration, and under the influence of strong convictions of the anticipated evils of the measure, he wrote and dedicated to the noble earl, in 1829, the lines entitled " England's Lament for the Loss of her Constitution." The trade panic in 1825-26 caused great destitution and misery amongst the working classes, and ultimately led to political discontent to such an alarming extent

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. XIII as to force upon the Government the necessity of the Reform Bill. This was soon followed by the rise of Chartism and Socialism, which roused Nicholson's soul and elicited the Poem on " Owen's New Moral World," in 1839. This was his last great effort, as he had published the Poem on " Low Moor Iron Works" in 1S29, and "Lines on the Present Distress of the Country" in 1830, in a pamphlet of 16 pp.; and in 1832, "The Factory Child's Mother," 24 pp., published by Edward Baines and Son, Leeds. The "Lines on the Present Distress of the Country," and " The Factory Child's Mother," are left out as greatly inferior in spirit and diction to Nicholson's other Poems. The former is an outburst of sorrow, in which the Poet gave utterance to his own pent up feelings, under great family privation ; and the latter would now expose him to a similar charge to Dryden's against Elkanah Settle : " Who faggoted his notions as they fell, And if they rhymed and rattled, all was well."

Besides this, the latter is of a personal character throughout, is almost forgotten, and possesses little that would interest the public generally. Whilst evetything has been done to include all his Poems, whether long or short, worthy of being preserved, it was felt that the republication of the last-named two

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. XIV pieces would be derogatory, and by no means a fair test of what Nicholson would have written under more favourable circumstances. And it is only right to state that he was singularly free from political partisanship, considering the times in which he lived. He shows, indeed, in several places, his decided preference for the Established Church, and indulges in an occasional fling at the Sects, so various that they " teach a thousand different ways ; " yet it must be allowed that he exhibited little bigotry. Amidst all his failings, religion, home, and freedom, were his favourite themes in his happiest hours ; and the strictures on Owenism are a vigorous protest against the evils of the system. The author disclaims all pretensions to logic in' his prefatory remarks, but makes a powerful appeal to reason and common sense, in favour of religion and virtue.

And the Poem is more a piece of earnest declamation and invective, than a logical exposure of the immorality and wickedness of a system which openly advocated acts of unbridled passion and vicious indulgence. In conclusion, the Editor gladly records his obligations to the Poet's sons, Thomas, Joseph, and George Nicholson, William O. Geller, Esq., Professor C. A. Federer, and Mr William Maw, for the use of some of the Poems, published separately, and now for the first time inserted in any collection of Nichol son's Poems. The subject of Low Moor Iron

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. XV Works is not a very poetical theme, but has been made the most of, as a descriptive Poem, and possesses considerable local interest. The additional notes at the end of the volume are only intended to supply fuller information on a few particular subjects. and some necessary corrections of matters of history ; and have been inserted in square brackets. The rest are Nicholson's own, and are worthy of an attentive perusal. The Editor has freely, but he hopes candidly, criticised a few of Nicholson's opinions, but in every instance given his reasons. Further, he was not required or expected to give an unqualified approval or disapproval of each Poem, but to give them as nearly as possible in the form in which they were originally published ; the only exception being the " Lines on a Young Lady drowned in the Strid," which were utterly unfit for republication without considerable alteration.

The sad accident, although fifty-four years ago, is duly chronicled in the neighbourhood, and their insertion may serve as a warning to others of the danger of too near a sight of the wild rush of the Wharf, in this part of its narrow rock-bound channel. " The Siege of Bradford," published in 182 1, was greatiy improved in the second edition, issued ten years afterwards. Two of Cromwell's letters, written just after the battle of Marston Moor, are quoted by the Poet in full, and termed hypocritical. Without attempting any elaborate

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. XVI argument in defence of either the matter or style, a very different construction has been put upon them in the concluding note, where they are regarded as a fair type of the views and sentiments of some of the best men amongst the Parliamentary generals, and were well suited to the times. The momentous issues of civil and religious liberty were at stake. On the king's side were ranged the dashing cavaliers, many of whom were thoroughly imbued with the notion of the " Divine Right" of their royal master; on the side of the Parliament were leaders filled with the purest patriotism, fired with stern religious enthusiasm, and possessing the indomitable energy and perseverance requisite for the emergency. All the alterations have been given at the foot of each page, or denoted by square brackets where incorporated.

W. G. HIRD. 40 CORDINGLEY STREET, BRADFORD. July 1876. CONTENTS AND FIRST LINES PAGE Life of John Nicholson, xxv Airedale in Ancient Times, i Though greatest bards have sung most earthly things. The Lyre of Ebor, 26 Let Northern poets sing of Highland glens. The Poacher, 90 This subject wants no Muse the breast t' inspire. Elwood and Elvina, 112 When York and Lancaster, enraged. Genius and Intemperance, 131 Death and Disease my solemn muses be. The Drunkard's Retribution, 167 Where is the ink so sable in its hue ? The Fall of Belshazzar, 169 Thus spoke Israel's God, — "Earth's inhabitants tell." b CONTENTS AND FIRST LLNES. XVIII LYRICAL AND DESCRIPTIVE POEMS. PAGE Airedale's Beauties, I7j Poets in varied verse may sing. Bingley's Beauties, x7° Thy beauties, Bingley ! never have been sung. Fairy Song, r78 Let us trip in airy dances.

January, '79 Now bleak winter on the mountains. Evening in April, • I°I Welcome with thy monotone. May-Day, • • • .182 See the nymphs in May-day dresses. Morning in May, l83 The cascade's white mist o'er the trees is uprearing. Mary of Marley, 1S5 At Marley stood the rural cot. The Maid of Lowdore iSS The crest of dark Skiddaw was misty and dreary. On an Old Oak-Tree, near Bradford, . . .190 Behold the place, ye youths and virgins, see. On Visiting a Workhouse, 192 Allowed to walk into the sad retreat. The Malt-Riln Fire, 194 When friends who loved from infant years. The Snowdrop, 196 Pretty little modest gem. PAGE A Place of Rural Retirement, . . . .197 Hail, thou sequestered rural seat. The Vale of Ilkley, 199 Why does not some great bard, whose potent mind ? The Hunters' Dirge, 206 Ye woods, in Rishworth's verdant vale.

Female Constancy, 20S Stars through rolling centuries shine. The Faithful Wife, 209 From times of ancient Greece, the fair. Song [The Lament for Elvina], . . . .210 The birks may wave, the heath may bloom. MORAL AND RELIGIOUS POEMS. Alas! where are they? 211 Soft ! behold in the shade the dark abbey appearing. Consecration of St Paul's Church, Shipley, . 213 How can a sinner dare to sing the praise ? The New Church at Wilsden, 215 What temples, various, since old Time began. Return of the Swallow, 21S Swift-winged and pleasing harbinger of spring. Ascent of Green's Balloon, 223 Behold th' assembled myriads near. Man's Little Life's a Life of Care, . . . 229 I'll sing no more of cheerful things. XX PAGE A Night Scene 23' While others love the concert, mask, or ball. Psalm xviii., 232 When in the temple of his God.

Psalm cxiv., 234 When from proud Egypt's cruel land. Psalm cxlviil, 235 Praise ye the Lord ! let songs of praise. Solemn Reflections, 239 My life wastes away, o'erburden'd with care. LOVE POETRY. The Absent Lover 241 In vain the youths and rosy maids. The Dying Lover • -243 Ah ! soon, sweet maid, this heart of mine. Love on the Heath 244 On the heath-vestur'd hills, where I courted my Sally. On Love, 245 The love how true — the love how sweet. Love sans Reason, 246 Wild's the night, my love, my Mar}-. I will love thee, Mary, 24S While the larks mount up in spring. Mary, I will think of You 249 When upon the heather bloom. CONTENTS AND FIRST LLNES. XXI PAGE Ode to Laura, 250 Softly sighing will I mourn. True Affection, 251 The face of Henry faded fast. The Deserted Maid, 254 To some gloomy cave will I wander away.

A Calm Summer's Night, 255 The night is calm, the cygnet's down. A Fragment (Dialogue on Love), .... 256 Banish the wealthless virgin from thy thoughts. MISCELLANEOUS POEMS. Commerce of Bradford 258 Hail, glorious Commerce ! goddess of our isle. Low Moor Iron Works, 265 Ye that have trembled with the nerves unstrung. Appeal of the Spanish Refugees, .... 273 The brave band of Mina's no more. Elegy on the Death of Lord Byron, . . . 274 The greatest bard is fall'n that ever strung. The Birthday of Burns (Commemoration at Leeds), 276 Learning has many a rhymer made. On the Death of the Poet's Child in London, . 277 A solemn scene was here ! On Returning from London 278 How oft the glorious morning broke. PAGE Wakening of the Poet's Harp, . - ■ .280 With harmony of numbers that smoothly floats along.

From a Mother to her Daughter in London, . 281 How thoughtful oft I sit alone. Lines written in Sickness, 2S3 Lovely darlings ! can you dry ? Impromptu, 2S-I Did my estates extend for miles around. Impromptu (Epitaph on a Landlord), . . . 285 Beneath this stone lies Harry Rinder. To a Friend, 286 Where's my harp, my soul to cheer? On " Long Tom " at Bramham Park, . . . 287 O great Long Tom ! when thou with foam art crown'd. At Tong Hall 2S9 All the joys of months and years. On the Death of Lady Rickitts, .... 290 Well may the tears of overwhelming woe. On the Death of a Young Lady, . 291 Weep, all ye birds ! ye bowers ! The Muse, 292 What means it though the poet's cot? Melpomene, ......... 293 The Tragic Muse, in sable mantle dress'd. Dirge, 295 Blest may my children be. PAGE Song for a Wounded Seaman, 297 With my limbs in the deep.

The Storm, 29S When gentle breezes kiss the tide. Musical Festival at York — The Oratorio, 300 Genius of Music ! whom, as poets say. The Concert, 308 The beams of day retire o'er western hills. The Ball, 310 The Ball Room emulates the light of day. Sports of the Field 315 When oaks are brown, and birches bare. England's Lament for the Loss of her Constitution, 316 Let verse in wild harmonious numbers flow. Strictures on Owen's Proposed New Moral World, 327 To combat error in each varied form. On the Death of Thomas Cooper, Esq., Bingley, . 337 How bootless are our tears, though ev'ry drop. On a Young Lady drowned in the Strid, . . 340 The lovely group adom'd with ev'ry grace. The Poet's Sickbed, 343 How little looks the world to him in pain. The Bible (An Extract), 344 Of all the various volumes in the land.

A Prayer, 345 O Thou, whose name with trembling angels use. PAGE To the Critics 346 Sat down by my wee rusted lyre. The Siege of Bradford in 1642, .... 348 The terms we offer 'd are rejected. NOTES. Airedale in Ancient Times 385 Lyre of Ebor, 396 The Poacher, 4J4 Genius and Intemperance, 416 On an Old Oak-Tree, 416 On " Long Tom " at Bramham Park, . . . 417 England's Lament, 418 Owen's New Moral World, 419 On a Young Lady Drowned in the Strid, . . 419 The Bible 420 The Siege of Bradford, 420 Index to First Lines, . 429 ILLUSTRATIONS. Gordale Scar, 1 Malham Cove, 3 Druids' Altar near Bingley 10 » Kirkstall Abbey, . 23 Bolton Abbey 55 Waterfall at Goit Stock, LIFE OF JOHN NICHOLSON. ■ |HE Author of the following Poems was the eldest son of Mr Thomas Nicholson of Weardley, in the parish of Harewood, and was born November 29th, 1790; but when a few weeks old his father removed to Eldwick, near Bingley, where the future Poet was brought up and received his early education.

The contrast between the father and son's character and conduct, throughout their respective lives, is singularly striking : the former was remarkable for his steady, persevering, and industrious habits, and with some slight assistance from his wife's father, commenced business as a worsted manufacturer, at tained the position of a respectable tradesman, brought NICHOLSON'S LLFE XXVI up a large family, and provided for a comfortable old age ; whereas the latter seems to have been — if we except his fondness for reading — the very opposite, and utterly incapable of that patient plodding, and close attention to business, so essentially necessary in all the ordinary affairs of life. Thomas Nicholson's fine example of a calm, dignified, and well-regulated life, appears to have had little effect in moulding the character and habits of his gifted, but wayward and irresolute son, save in keeping him from the lower forms of vice.

The father was a man of sterling character, possessed of a fair amount of intellectual culture, fond of the poetry of the last century, and who had committed to memory in his own boyhood, a large portion of many standard religious poems. Living on the edge of a wild moor, where there was little to interest and instruct his rising family in winter, he was in the habit of reading to them around his own fireside, choice extracts from Shakespeare, Milton, Young, and Pope, enthusiastically pointing out their beauties, and endeavouring to imbue his offspring with a love of noble and exalted sentiments. This training was just the course to kindle the latent sparks of genius, and rouse the poetic faculties of the eldest son. And at the age of eight years, he displayed some rhyming ability in satirising two notorious scolds, who were a pest to his maternal grandfather, by writing on his barn door : " Good God of Truth, take Mat and Ruth Unto Thy heav'nly throne ; Then good old Frank may live in crank, And be disturb'd by none."

And here it may be added, that other two sons, Thomas and Richard, although late in life, have shown true poetic feeling and spirit in several short pieces written at various times. The following, entitled " My Boy hood's Days," is by the former : " Fond memory often takes me back To scenes of youthful joy and mirth ; And I again pursue the track I never more may walk on earth. " I see the primrose in its nook, The foxglove nodding to the breeze, The leaping, laughing, merry brook, Glancing amid the greenwood trees. " Again beneath the rocks I lie Half hid with rubied bilberry bloom, List'ning the wild bird's melody, Soft warbled from the yellow broom. " Or search the tangled thicket through, To find the throstle's plaster'd nest, Or paper'd hornet's from the bough Hanging like a balloon at rest.

" Below a hillock's mossy crest, Beneath a bush of blossom'd sloe, I found a yellow youldring's nest, With speckled eggs in double row. NLCHOLSON'S LLFE XXVIII " Next morn I went with cautious tread, My heart the only thing that stirr'd ; I took my cap from off my head, And thought to catch the brooding bird. " Beneath the selfsame blooming thorn A hare had made her cozy bed, Sat listening to the sounds of morn, Her ears laid squat behind her head. " With sudden spring, upon the bird I plac'd my cap for aught I knew ; My very hair with terror stirr'd When from my grasp at once it flew ! " The 'ffrighted hare, from her soft bed Started away — she seem'd to fly, Bearing my cap upon her head, For she was capp'd,* and so was I ! " My native bills, and moorlands wild ! I oft revisit you with joy, For carking care is there beguiled With dreaming I am still a boy."

But to return : John Nicholson's first rudiments of education were taught by his father whilst engaged in wool-sorting; and afterwards he attended, a few years, a school on the southern slope of the moor, which stretches sixteen miles eastward from Skipton, and divides Airedale from Wharfdale. The school was used in the season as a shooting-house, but the humble schoolmaster (a person named Briggs) for want of scholars had to eke out a living by making * A local word meaning "astonished." besoms, and selling them on the Saturday holidays. During the summer he led forth his little band of scholars to pull the ling for his besoms, whilst he taught them their lessons. He is said to have been a man of some attainments, and had the happy art of easily communicating instruction to his pupils. Under him young Nicholson made great progress.

When about twelve years old, he was sent to Bingley Gram mar School about a year, where he enjoyed the able tuition of Dr Hartley, and although full of frolic, by good conduct and attention to his studies, he won the master's favour and friendship in after-life. Dr Hartley also kindly revised " Airedale," etc., and assisted him on various occasions. On leaving school, Nicholson's father put him to wool-sorting as a preliminary step to worsted manu facturing, for which he intended him. But being of an unsettled mind, reading and poetry were allowed to interfere with his pursuit of business, and instead of becoming a manufacturer, he had to follow the occupa tion of a sorter, or wool-comber, to the end of his life. His schooling at Bingley had opened out to him a world of thought, and created an intense love for learning ; and, accordingly, for several years, he read nearly all our best English works.

But there was a want of method in his intellectual pursuits ; he followed no particular branch of study, likely to be of service in fitting him for a better position in society. NICHOLSON'S LLFE XXX However, by indomitable perseverance, he acquired a vast amount of information on many topics, but it was comparatively of no use. Unlike the chaos described by Ovid, originally " rudis indigestaque moles," after wards moulded into order and beauty by the Deity, Nicholson's acquisitions remained almost unimproved, and were turned to little account His application to reading at nights affected his health, and when his kind mother concealed the candles, his ingenuity soon contrived a lamp out of an old mustard-pot, with a cotton cord twisted as a wick, and fed with olive oil used in his father's business; and he thus gratified his taste and love for reading when the family were in bed.

And frequently on market days, when his father was away from home, he would quietly steal out from work, and ramble on the wild moorland, or in some of the romantic dells of Eldwick, spend the rest of the day with some favourite author in hand, wholly absorbed in thought and the bright reveries which filled his youthful mind, often careless of food and worldly pleasures. Pope's translation of Homer early fired his soul, and perhaps contributed largely to his partiality for the battle scenes, so finely described in "The Lyre of Ebor." He studied the works of Shakespeare and Young, and learned by heart many of the sublime passages contained in the latter. Mr John James says, "There is no spot in Yorkshire better fitted to bring forth and nurture poetic ideas than Eldwick with its neighbourhood, for it embraces every variety of lowland and mountain scenery ; and the effect of pure mountain air in invigorating the intellect, and producing noble and exalted sentiments, is well established."

During one of his rambles, in "poetic mood," Nicholson, with an old hedging bill, cut his name on the face of a bold rock, in Lower Eldwick, where he had frequently retired for contemplation, and which is still called "Nicholson's Rock" by the country people. When young, he was passion ately fond of music, and learned to play spiritedly on the hautboy, and " has been known often to travel to Leeds, a distance of sixteen miles, for the sole purpose of purchasing a reed for his favourite instrument." On Sunday mornings he amused himself by strolling on the heath to play sacred music ; but at other times his performances were of a lighter kind, and led him into wild company. " To music he was indebted for his first wife. Being engaged in playing at a wedding party, he met her there, and before he was twenty years of age, or had any experience of the world, married a girl of eighteen.