* 
45 
WORDSWORTH’S 
‘“ WHITE DOE OF RYLSTONE.” 
(Illustrated by Lantern.) 
By J. C. BRUMWELL, M.D., J.P. March 24th, 1891. 
After describing some of the leading characteristics of the 
poetry of Wordsworth, Dr. Brumwell gave two special reasons 
for his selection of the subject, one being that Wordsworth 
himself considered it to be the finest piece of poetry he ever 
wrote, and the other being that the chief part of the poem is 
identified with scenery within a few miles of Burnley. A 
triangle with its base between Skipton and Bolton Abbey, and 
its apex three or four miles above the village of Rylstone, takes 
in the chief points of interest in the poem. As he read Spenser’s 
tale of ‘‘ Una and Her Lamb’”’ to his wife, at a time when they 
were in great trouble through the death of a darling child and 
through the ili-reception of his writings, it came into the poet’s 
mind that he might write on a similar theme. Seeking for a 
suitable subject, he hit upon the story of ‘‘ The White Doe of 
Rylstone,”’ in Dr. Whittaker’s ‘ History of Craven,’”’ and he 
determined to make the story the basis of his poem. Having 
indicated the use of photography in the illustration of descriptive 
poetry, Dr. Brumwell described graphically and photographically 
the poet’s personal appearance, and the house in which he 
resided, Rydal Mount, while he composed it, a ‘trellised shed 
with clustering roses gay,” and then he went on to deal with 
and illustrate the poem itself. 
Wordsworth commences by taking the reader at once to 
“ Bolton’s mouldering Priory,’’ and he cannot but observe how 
skilfully the poet introduces the story of the poem, stating that 
his object is to show that deep sorrow, patiently endured, may 
be lightened by the affection of what he calls ‘the inferior 
kinds.’”’ He has therefore to introduce to suffering and desola- 
tion, and this he does by placing him before a beautiful building 
in a state of ruin, when the people are assembling for service in 
the ancient pile on a fine summer’s evening, for service ‘‘ in the 
sheltered fabric’s heart.’’ The poet then takes us nearer the 
river, where we can hear the singing of the people, and he gives 
an exquisite idea of the Sabbath calm resting on the scene, with 
“the river murmuring near.” 
We are now introduced by the poet to the ‘“‘ White Doe of 
Rylstone.”’ This animal was at that time the talk of the country 
side, because it came regularly every Sabbath day from Rylstone 
