Notice of J amies Service, by Mr. James Hardy. 69 



There are good lines and striking passages in his poetry, 

 but no one single piece is thoroughly finished. His principal 

 production is a version of the Legend of Dunstanborough 

 Castle. These old tales require judicious treatment not to 

 spoil their flavour. Mr. Service's is a somewhat meretricious 

 rendering, in no fixed measure, of what should only be a 

 simple ballad. His strength lay in his patriotic impulses 

 and yearnings for home ; and we can still good-naturedly 

 echo his genuine praise of his " loved Northumbria," that 

 " romantic land of chivalrous renown," in lines thus deftly 

 handled : — 



" No ! o'er thy plains and mountain summits bleak, 

 Adorned with many a mouldering tower antique, 

 In ruined grandeur memorably rude ; — 

 (Memorials stern of many a deadly feud) 

 O'er all thy wilds, from Tweed's remotest vei'ge 

 To where the Tyne rolls blithe to ocean's surge ; 

 No son of thine, how rude soe'er his heart, 

 But feels it swell at all thou wast and art, 

 And owns his patriot spirit on the wing 

 "With every lay his native minstrels sing ! " 



In his latter years he probably could not take care of 

 himself, and took refuge in a workhouse. After reading his 

 verses in 1860, I asked my friend, Mr. Robert White, of 

 Newcastle, if he knew anything about his history, and he 

 wrote of date December 5 : — " From James Service I had a 

 letter about a year ago, wishing me to assist him. He was 

 then in the poorhouse at Sunderland, and sometimes 

 attended in the shop of Mr. Garbutt — a bookseller there, 

 who died some months ago. I called at the said shop once 

 when I was at Sunderland, but could not see him as he was 

 at the workhouse, which was nearly two miles distant. I 

 think he told me he had a wooden leg, and he disliked 

 exceedingly the confinement of the poorhouse. Very likely 

 he is there still." This was nearly fourteen years ago. Of 

 either praise or blame he must be reckless now. This is all 

 I know of poor Service ! 



