ite:
And when those rites had ceased, the Spot gave birth
To honourable Men of various worth:[2]
There, on the margin of a streamlet wild,
Did Francis Beaumont sport, an eager child; 10
There, under shadow of the neighbouring rocks,
Sang youthful tales of shepherds and their flocks;
Unconscious prelude to heroic themes,
Heart-breaking tears, and melancholy dreams
Of slighted love, and scorn, and jealous rage, 15
With which his genius shook[3] the buskined stage.
Communities are lost, and Empires die,
And things of holy use unhallowed lie;[A]
They perish;--but the Intellect can raise,[4]
From airy words alone, a Pile that ne'er decays. 20

Charnwood forest, in Leicestershire, is an almost treeless wold of
between fifteen and sixteen thousand acres. The

eastern ridge, the craggy bound,
Rugged and high,

refers probably to High Cadmon. The nunnery of Grace Dieu was a
religious house, in a retired spot near the centre of the forest; and
was built between 1236 and 1242. The English monasteries were suppressed
in 1536; but Grace Dieu, with thirty others of the smaller monasteries,
was allowed to continue some time longer. It was finally suppressed in
1539, when the site of the priory, with the demesne lands, was granted
to Sir Humphrey Foster, who conveyed the whole to John Beaumont. Francis
Beaumont, the dramatic poet, was born at Grace Dieu in 1586. He died in
1615, and was buried in Westminster Abbey.

"William and I went to Grace Dieu last week. We were enchanted with the
little valley and its nooks, and the rocks of Charnwood upon the
hill."--Dorothy Wordsworth to Lady Beaumont, November 17, 1806.

This "Inscription" was composed at Grasmere, November 19, 1811, as the
following extract from a letter of Wordsworth's to Lady Beaumont
indicates:--"Grasmere, Wednesday, November 20, 1811.--My Dear Lady
Beaumont--When you see this you will think I mean to overrun you with
inscriptions. I do not mean to tax you with putting them up, only with
reading them. The following I composed yesterday morning in a walk from
Brathay, whither I had been to accompany my sister:--

FOR A SEAT IN THE GROVES OF COLEORTON.

Beneath yon eastern ridge, the craggy bound.

The thought of writing this inscription occurred to me many years
ago."--ED.

VARIANTS:

[1] 1820.

... that ...