170 OBSERVATIONS ON BAKEWELL. 



By which they hope to cause a rupture 

 Betwixt the Vicar and his people, 

 And so a bugbear make the steeple. 

 They in contempt would have you hold 

 A man whose worth's as sterling gold, 

 While they together, rump and stump, 

 Form but a base and sordid lump 

 Of malevolence. 

 This found in the Post Office, addressed " Pro bono publico," 

 Aug. 27, 1825. 



LAMENTATION 



FOR THE LOSS OF THE BEAUTIFUL SPIRE OF BAKEWELL. 



Ye Norman descendants, who once did admire 

 The structure antique of a beautiful spire, 

 Come and mourn o'er the dust your progenitors made, 

 And weep o'er the fragments their piety raised. 



Ye lisping babes, rise, and bedew with your tears 

 The broken remains of these antients of years ; 

 Record to posterity's latest son's son — 

 The grace and the beauty of Bakewell are gone. 



How often the traveller had cause to admire. 

 When far off and weary, the top of her spire : 

 Now left on the mountain, no guide and alone, 

 He regrets that the beauty of Bakewell is gone. 



But blame not the man who, not fearing a fall. 



Did daringly climb up to take off the ball ; 



Nor yet blame your good Vicar, for 'tis well understood. 



That his only aim ever was to do good. 



Nor yet blame the man who, to you quite a stranger, 

 Pronounced the church in a state of great danger ; 

 For its crumbling state then, and its crumbling state since, 

 Fairly examined, the truth will evince. 



