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POEMS



BY



JOHN NICHOLSON,



TEE AIREDALE POET.



(EDITED BY W. D E A R D E N,

AUTHOR OF THE "STAR SEER," &C.,)



WITH



A SKETCH OF HIS LIFE AND WRITINGS-



BY JOHX JAMES, F.S.A.,

AUTHOR OF "the HISTORY OF BBADFOIID," " THE HISTORY
OF THE WORSTED MANUFACTURE," ETC.



i- , • « ^ -) . . o >i ' " •» »> * ' ^



LONDON:
W. H. YOUNG, BISHOPSGATE,

AND

J. HARRISON AND SON, YORK PLACE, BINGLEY.

MDCCCLIX.



(tlNTI^KED AT STATIOXKilS HALT..;



J. iiAtirasoN AID soy, iraMLiis, bixgley.



ADYEETISEMENT.



The friends of the deceased poet, in publishing
this new edition of his poems, have had two objects in
view : the one, to gratify a desire that has been fre-
quently expressed throughout those parts of the
country where the poet and his works were known
and adinired, but where copies of those works have
become exceedingly scarce, if not altogether unattain-
able ; and the other, to realize for the widow, now in
her 08th year, by the profits of this publication, a sum
sufficient to place her for the remainder of life in
comfortable circumstances. The proceeds of the last
edition, published shortly after the death of her
husband, enabled her to send her youngest son five
years to the Bradford Grammar School ; and she has
the satisfaction of knowing that he has not abused
the educational advantages he received, nor failed to
e\ince his gratitude for her kindness. This son, and
two exemplary maiden sisters, cling to the maternal
home with filial piety and affection.

In this edition the reader will find many j)oems
that have never appeared in any previous collection
of the poet's works, and several from original MSS
obtained chiefly by the industrious research of his
brother, Mr. T. Nicholson, whose exertions in promo-
ting the success of the j^resent undertaking, are
worthy of praise.

A poet from among the ranks of the people, to gain
*■' a fit audience" at the present day, must possess
higher qualifications than were expected from one of
his grade some twenty or thirty years ago, — so refined,
since then, has become the taste of all lovers of poetic
literatm-e. He must not only possess the soul of
poetry, but, as his name implies, he must be able to
create for it a foim of expression through which it may
" breathe and burn." That John Nicholson had the
poetic element in no ordinary degree, few will deny ;
but that he did not ahvays embody his thoughts in
the most coherent and intelligible diction, every reader
of discernment will be free to acknowledge. This



248202



ADVERTISEMENT.



fault, wliicli a benevolent criticism might attribute to
defective education, would, on that score, have been
venial, were it not asserted by those who knew him
best, that he was deaf to any suggested improvements
in his lines, from whatever quarter they might eman-
ate. " What I have written I have written, and it
shall stand," he was wont to say with the air of one
who understood the divine right of kings. This
conduct, to say the least of it, was very unwise ; and
it has necessitated a revision of his poems, in which,
where practicable, such emendations have been
made, and such only, as would render the ideas more
intelligible and agreeable to readers of refined taste.
It is but right to state, that the three leading poems
in this collection had passed through the press before
the writer of this article formally undertook the
responsibility of revision.

To endeavour to anticipate criticism by making
alterations in a work that has long been in the hands
of the public, by whom its excellences and its defects
have been more or less canvassed, would be a perilous
undertaking. Few readers like to see a poem or a
story changed into a form different from that in which
it originally won their attention and regard, merely
to gratifv a critical taste. No such liberties have been
taken with Nicholson's productions. The reader will
find every incident with wliicli he has been familiar,
and the vraisemhlance of every idea, faithfully preserved.
In short, he will meet with the poet, in this edition,
identically the same as he has met with him before,
though somewhat, perhaps, more respectable in ap-
pearance, and more polished in address.

The Widow gratefully tenders her acknowledg-
ments to the numerous Patrons and Subscribers, who
have so nobly responded to the appeal made in her
behalf.



W. DEAKDEN.



Brunsivicl- Place, Bradford.
May, 1850.



COjS'TENTS.





PAGE.


ADVERTISEME^-T ...


. iii.


Life of John Nicholson


vii


Lyre of Ehor
The Poacher


.. 1

53


Airedale in Ancient Times ...


.. 71


Genius and In temperance

Lines on the Grand Musical Festival at York, 1825


91
121


Vale of Ilkley ...
May Day ...
Mary of Ma rley
Evening in April ...
Love on the Heath


134
141
142
144
145


Fairy Song


147


On Love


148


Lines Spoken at the Anniversary Meeting at Leeds,
to celebrate the Birth-day of Burns, 1826,


149


Alas! where are they ?


151


On Visiting a Workhouse


153


January ...


155


The Snoiv Drop


156


Mary, I will think of you ...


157


To a Friend ...


159


Solemn Reflections...
Lines Written in Sickness


160
161


I will lore thee, Mary


162


Psalm XVIII. parapjhrased


163


Lines on 'Long Toni'


165


The Faithful Wife ,

The New Church at Wilsden


167
168


On the Ascent of a Balloon


170


Written at Tong Hall


175


Elegy on the Death of Lord Byron ...


176



CONTENTS.

PAGE.

The Commerce of Bradford ... ... ...177

Reflections on the Eeturn of tJie Sivallow ... 183

Psalm CX1.YUI. jmrajjhrased ... ... ... 187

On the Old Oak Tree lately standing near Spink-well 191

ImpromjJtu, ... ... ... ... ... 193

Female Constancy ... ... ... ... 194

Melpomene... ... ... ... ... ... 195

The 2Iaid of Loivdore ... ... ... ... 196

The Storm 198

Man's Life 200

The Wakening of the Poet's Harp.., ... ... 202

An Impromptu Epitaph on a Landlord ... 203

Ode on a Wounded Seaman ... ... ... 204

A Fragment ... ... ... ... ... 206

Lines on the Consecration of St. PauVs Church, Shipley 208

The Malt-kiln Fire 210

A Night Scene 212

S2Jorts of the Field 213

Dirge ... ... ... ... ... ... 214

Lines on the Death of T. Coojyer, Esq. ... ... 216

Lines on Laura ... ... ... ... 218

The Muse 219

The Vanity of Human Affairs... ... ... 220

On the Death of a Young Lady ... ... ... 222

From, a Mother to her daughter in London ... 223

The Absent Lover ... ... ... ... ... 224

Morning in May ... ... ... ... 226

Lines written at Goitstock ... ... ... ... 228

The Deserted Maid 229

The Drunliard's Retribution ... ... ... 231

On a Calm Summers Night ... ... ... 232

On the Death of Lady Rickitts ... ... ...233

So)ig 234

Love 235

On Returning from London ... ... ... 236

The Dying Lor er 238

On the Death of the Poet's Child in London ... 239

The Hunters Dirge 240

On Binqley ... ... ... ... ... 241

To the Critics 243

A Prayer ... ... ... ... ... 244



LIFE OF JOHN NICHOLSOX.



In every walk of life misfortunes are strewed thickly
around, but in the lives of men of genius, in every
department of literature and science, they have greatly
abounded. The poetic race, in j^articular, appear to
be doomed to a state of misery ; for their calamities
have in all ages been proverbial. If the mantle of
Elijah foil upon one of the inspired, it seems also inse-
parable from the lot of dwelling by the brook Cherith.
The lives of the poets may in general be smnmed up
as comprising every species of human woe : and the
blanket of Boyse, the loaf of Otway, the glass house
lodgings of Savage, and the poison cup of Chatterton,
are merely some of the more prominent incidents in the
sad history of the poets of our own comitiy. Nor
have the bards of other lands been more fortunate.

The reason of this almost universal wretchedness
attendant upon poetic pursuits, seems evident. For the
possessors of poetic genius, being ever of strong pas-
sions, ardent imagination, and exquisite sensibility,
which indeed seem the first requisites of a poet, ai'e
naturally disposed to indulge in day dreams of gay
hope, and disregard, until too late, the stern monitions
of pi-udence. They consider the world as a garden of
Eden bloomin^- with roses, and find it, too late, a



Till. THE LIFE OF

waste of briars. Genius has also, along Avitli its noble
attributes, concomitant failings ; and like its type, the
great and glorious luminary of heaven, the stronger
its power, the more clouds it draws around it from this
lower world. High aspirations, sanguine hopes, are
supplanted by the severe realities of life , and the dis-
appointed bard too often droops through life neglected
and in poverty, — a prey to the gloomiest melancholy,
or to reckless dissipation and despair.

*' 'Tis his, to fall from inspiration's heaven,
And feel the wretchedness that has no name ;
His, to be often blam'd — less oft forgiven ;
His, frequent penury, and not seldom — shame :
His, fierce extremes of glory and of gloom, —
Perchance an. early fame — too olt, an earlier tomb."

But if, by his constitution and feelings, the poet is
peculiarly exposed to the blasts of this boisterous stage,
he alone is truly alive to the great beauties of the phy-
sical and intellectual world. He has, in the sunny mo-
ments of his existence, a heaven within him which
passes the understanding of the vulgar sons of men ;
and his exquisite sensibility gives a tenfold zest to the
charms of nature and society, and adds additional
grace to every pleasing scene of life.

Among those of the uneducated poets who tasted
deeply of the cup of misery, may be ranked pJohn Ni-
cholson.

He was born at Weardley, a village lying within a
mile of Harewood House, in one of the most pictu-
resque parts of the beautiful vale of the Wharf, and sur-
rounded by woodlands. The village consists of five or
six farm-houses, and a few neat and pleasant cottages,
interspersed with gardens and orchards. In one of
these farm-houses, a fine old English homestead, the
poet's grandfather, whose family had resided in the
house for more than a hundred years, kept during
the middle of the last century, an Inn, known by the
sign of ' The Star.' It was a noted old hostelry in
that locality ; and much frequented by the farmers
and husbandmen of the neighbourhood, on a leisure



JOHN NICHOLSON. IX^

evening, and quite realized Goldsmith's delightful
description of the road-side Inn, in the ' Deserted
Village' — the old house

AVhere nut-bro-wn. draughts inspired,
Where grey-beard mirth and smiling toil retired ;
Where village statesmen talked -with looks profound,
And news much older than their ale went round.

A description of the capacious kitchen of ' the Star/
will, it is presumed, not be unacceptable to the reader :
one end was taken up by a large jutting fire-place,
with its corner ' ingles.' At the opposite end, stood an
ancient canned oaken dresser, or amnbry, polished like
a mirror, over which rows of pewter dishes glistened
in the glow of the bright log-hre A^•hich roared up the
ample chimney. The other two sides of the room
were occupied with black oaken long-settles, which
had borne, for successive generations, the village Fal-
stafFs. To complete the picture, over head the massy
balks were well furnished with quarters of beef, and
flitches of bacon, evidences of the rude plenty of the
landlord.

He was in easy circumstances, and being fond of
hunting, could afford to keep a hunter or two for his
amusement. When old age approached, he retired
with his wife, upon a small competency, to spend the
remainder of his days in the rustic cottage at Weard-
ley, sho'v\Ti in the vignette to this work. At this time
he had two sons, Thomas, the father of our poet, and
William. The latter, excited when a mere youth by
the perusal of Falconer's ' Shipwreck,' travelled on foot
to the nearest seaport, went to sea, and lived and died
a sailor. Thomas, the eldest son, who, on the removal
of his father to the cottage, employed himself in
agricultural labours at Weardley, became an enthu-
siastic admirer of poetry, and in his boyhood committed
to memory a large portion of Young's ' Night
Thoughts,' and other standard poems of the last age ;
especially those of a religious cast. Whilst yet young,
he married the daughter of Mr. Francis Whitley, a
prosperous faiTQer at Eldwick, near Bingley. They



X. THE LIFE OF

were united at the parish Church of Harewood, and
■went to reside with the aged hmdlord of the ' Star,' in
tlie cottage so faithfully represented in the vignette
di-awn and engraved by Mr. G. Burton, of Bradford,
who has generously j^i'esented it for this edition.
Here, in this cottage, was born on the 29th Nov.,
1790, their eldest son, John Nicholson, the poet. In
a few weeks after his birth, the poet's father removed
to Eldwick, where, being assisted with some small
capital b}'^ his father-in-law, he commenced the busi-
ness of worsted manufacture ; and soon acquired, by
steadiness of conduct and persevering attention, the
position of a respectable tradesman. He was a man of
a contemplative, serious turn of thought, who unceas-
ingly endeavoured to impress upon the minds of his
children the love of that which was noble and beauti-
ful. In the evening he usually gathered his family
round him, and beguiled the hours with reading
choice passages from Shakespeare, Milton, Young,
and Pope ; and descanting on their beauties with all
the feelings of an enthusiast. Under such training,
it is not surprising that young Nicholson, whose
temperament was eminently ardent and poetic, caught
the divine spark, which set his whole soul on fire.
At an early age he penned rhymes ; one of these, of
a sarcastic nature, and written when only eight years
old, bears sufficient token of his natural genius and
precocity. It alludes to two scolds who were great
pests to the poet's maternal grandfather, upon whose
barn door he scribbled : —

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.

The first rudiments of education were taught him by
his father at the wool-sorting board : and aftenvards
he was sent to school to a person named Briggs, who
for lack of obtaining a sufficient livelihood from
the occupation of school-master, united with it that of
besom-malier. The school-house, used during the



JOHN NICHOLSON. XI.

season as a sliooting-liouse, is seated on the very
summit of the wild momitain tract of Romald's Moor,
which, stretching from Skipton eastwards sixteen
miles, divides Airedale from Wharfedale. Here, on
smnmer afternoons, amidst the smell of wild flowers
and the whirling hoom of the mountain hee, the
hesom-maker, like a peripatetic j)hilosoplier, led forth
his little band of scholars, to teach them lessons
while they pulled the blooming ling for his besoms,
which he sold in the surrounding villages on the
Saturday holidays. Under this rustic schoolmaster,
who possessed, notwithstanding his humble station,
considerable scholastic attainments, and, above all, the
happy art of communicating them to his scholars,
young Nicholson made a remarkably rapid progress.

After remaining with the Romald's Moor school-
master a few years, he was, at the age of twelve years,
sent to Bingley Free Grammar School, then in
high repute, and taught by the late amiable and
learned Dr. Hartley, He only remained about a year
at this school, during which time he had, by attention
and good behaviour, joined to quickness of parts,*
obtained the favour of the master, who afterwards,
with his characteristic kindness, revised "Airedale"
and other early poems of our poet, and assisted him
on many occasions through life.

On leaving Bingley School, Nicholson's father
destining him for the business of a worsted manufac-
turer, as a preliminary step, put him to the sorting oi
wool. The pursuits of poetry, and an unsettled mind,
prevented him from ever becoming a manufacturer, or
commencing business for himself, and he remained
all the days of after life either a journeyman wool-
comber or sorter.



* The Rev. "W. Cartman, now the respected master of
Skipton Grammar School, lately stated to Mr, Thomas Ni-
cholson, the poet's brother, that Dr. Hartley often in conver-
sation mentioned that John was one of the quickest scholars
in his school, and he felt sorry that the boy could not stay
longer under his tuition. The Doctor also remarked that he
"Was always playing off some frolic while at school.



Xll. THE LIFE OF

During youth he had, like all men of vigorous and
intellectual minds, a strong inclinaticn to reading, and
perused with avidity every book that fell in his way.
His favourite authors were Pope's Homer, Shakespeare,
and Young's Night Thoughts. The former he inces-
santly read, and had a considerable portion of it upon
his memory. To the love of Homer maybe imputed the
partiality he evinced through after life to battle scenes.
In " The Lyre of Ebor," published in the following
collection, some of the battles which have been fought
in this country are vividly described. He was a great
admirer through life, of the terrible and sublime ; and
these three authors suited his taste in that respect.

Whatever plausible reasons may be advanced to the
contraiy, experience fully shows that long indulgence
in the pleasure of poetry, or the graces of polite
literature, unfits for the drudgery of menial occupa-
tions : —

"Where once those fairies dance no grass doth ever grow.'*

Such effect had also the pleasures of poetry upon young
Nicholson. When he grew up, his parents found that
the love of readinj]^ <?reatlv interfered with the set duties
of the w^ool warehouse ; for he was in the habit of pro-
longing the studies of the night to an early hour in the
morning, and thus renderinghimself unable to resume
woolsorting at the wonted hour. To correct this habit,
alike prejudicial to health and fortune, his indulgent
mother carefully concealed from him candles ; but an
ardent desire for knowledge who can restrain ? He, by
one of those expedients to which men of genius, strug-
gling to the goal against adverse circumstances, have
often had recourse, contrived to evade her intentions;
for having access to the olive oil with which combers
j3repare their wool, he dipped a twisted cotton rag in
an old mustard pot filled with oil, and thus making it
subserve the purpose of a lamp, studied through the
night, whilst the rest of the family were asleep.

Nor was he too industrious during the day, if an
opportunity occurred for him to steal to his pleasant
reading. On the set days when his father was custo-



.JOHN NICHOLSON. xiH.

marily absent from home on business, he wandered
with some favourite author in hand, among the roman-
tic dells of Eldwick, or the mountain waste of Romald's
Moor, and

" Amid the broom he bask'd him on the ground,
AVhere the wild thyme and camomile are found :
There would he linger, till the latest ray
Of light sat trembling on the welkin's bound ;
Then homeward through the twilight shadows stray,
Sauntering and slow."

*' So had he passed many a day," often careless of food,
or the allurements of the world, and only intent ujDon
the ten thousand bright reveries that filled his mind.
There is no spot in Yorkshire better fitted to bring
forth, and nurture, poetic ideas than Eldwick with its
neighbourhood, for it embraces ever}^ 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
his youth at Eldwick, he often strayed to a romantic
glen on the verge of Romald's Moor. This glen at
the upper end is contracted into the form of an am-
phitheatre, and the sides are overhung with wood.
On one side there juts forth a gigantic rock, profusely
decked with bilberiy bushes, and below runs one of
the finest trout streams in Yorkshire. From this rock
there is a commanding view of a tract of wild but in-
teresting scenery. Here the poet frequently wandered,
plucking the wild flowers as he went along, and, with
the woodland birds for his sole companions, mused
in poetic mood. On one of these occasions, he carved
his name with an old hedging bill upon the face of
the rock, and the inscription "John Nicholson" marks
to this day the spot which he loved so well ; the
country people still call the crag, "Nicholson's Eock."
Eldwick " rude and wild" may indeed be truly desig-
nated " meet muse for a poetic child ;" and such it
was to him, for here he imbibed his poetic taste, and
plumed his pinions for flight ; though, except the
before mentioned childish eflusion, none of his i^oeti-
cal efl'orts at this period have been rescued from
oblivion.



XIV. THE LIFE OF

The connection between music and poetry is obvious,
and he who is deeply touched by the one is equally so
by the other. He was an enthusiastic admirer of sweet
sounds, and early in life learned to perform on the
hautboy. With characteristic energy and enthusiasm,
he has often been known to travel to Leeds, a distance
of sixteen miles, for the sole purpose of purchasing a
reed for his favourite instrument. One of his amuse-
ments w^as to proceed on a Sunday morning to the
heath, and pl;iy some divine melody. His performances,
however, on the hautboy were not always so harmless
in their tendency, but sometimes led into riotous
company, and awkward scrapes. To music he was
indebted for his fi]"st wife. Being engaged in playing
at a wedding party, he met her there, and before he
Avas twenty years of age, or had any experience of the
Avorld, married a girl of eighteen. She was the
daughter of Mr. James Driver, of Cote, near Stock-
bridge,. Several pieces in the following collection
were addressed to her: that commencing "Wild the
night my love, my Mary," written during his courtship,
is accurately descriptive of the difficulties which he
sometimes encountered when visitingher; for between
EldwickandCote, he had to traverse a portion of the
bleak and stormy Komald's Moor; pass through two
woods, near some high crags at Morton Brow, and cross
Morton beck by means of a dangerous plank bridge. For
both this and his succeeding wife, he ever showed strong
affection. Indeed, they were his only loves ; for he
once declared to his brother Thomas, to whom he
unfolded his inmost thoughts, — " I never loved, in
the true sense of the word, but two, and I married
them both." Mary Driver, his first wife, died in the
year 1810, in child-bed of twins, one of whom survives
her. She was most deeply lamented by him.

He soon after became religious even to austerity,
and as an earnest of his intention to cast away the
vanities of the world, buried the hautboy on Romald's
j\Ioor, where it remains. Nicholson's parents were
of the persuasion of Wesleyans, and having joined
their society, and possessing considerable fluency ot



JOHN NICHOLSON. XV.

speech, he was soon enrolled among the Methodist
local preachers. His " outpourings" are still well
remembered for their energy-, and the number oi
jpoetical quotations from Blair and Young with which
they were interspersed. It is he hoped that his
hearers still have impressed upon their'memory the
tremendous sentences which he had culled from the
" Last Judgment" of Young.

Nicholson's union with the Methodists was not of
long continuance, and the cause of separation from
them leaves no stain upon his memory. He left their
society never to return.-

About this time, namely in the year 1811, during
our struggles with Napoleon in the Peninsula, Ni-
cholson Avas '' drawn" or balloted for the West Riding
Militia, which soon afterwards mustered for twenty-
eight days 2)ennanent duty at Pontefract. A Bradford
gentleman, well known for his eloquence and true-
hearted qualities, thougli sometimes betrayed into fits
of ungovernable temper, commanded the corps. Wliilst
on this duty, an opportunity occurred for the exhibition



* In a letter from Mr. Thomas Nicholson to me, lie writes :
"In theyearlSll, my brother joined the Wesleyan Methodists,
and became a very zealous and consistent member. He and
his father, with a few others, commenced a Sunday School at
Eldwick, in a barn; afterwards they obtained a plot of ground
from Mr. Stansfield, ofEsholt Hail, and built on it a Sunday
School. It -was in the year 1812, that he was first placed on