Sonnet to John Critchley Prince

Sonnet to John Critchley Prince


Author of “Hours with the Muses”
Hail! Prince of modern poets! Thou whose song
So oft hath charm’d me in dull sorrow’s hour:
To grasp thy honest hand I ofttimes long:
For few like thee have gain’d the magic power
Of charming heart and mind: it is a dower 5
Which Nature only on a few bestows,
For fear that she the honour due should lose
Which from her sons she claims. For poets are
Nature’s first fav’rites; and their only care
Is for their mother,—knowing well that she 10
Is no cross step-dame, but a parent kind,
For ever striving to endow mankind
With peace, and love, and health, and liberty,
Whose pioneers are poets such as thee.

George Markham Tweddell
[Tweddell’s Yorkshire Miscellany, p. 309, April 1846, &
The Life of John Critchley Prince, Lithgow (1880). A
second stanza can be found on p. 60]

Addition to first stanza of ‘John Critchley Prince’
II
So sang I years before we ever met;
And it delighted me when I did know
My Sonnet smooth’d one wrinkle on his brow,
Where Poverty and Care too oft were set:
And though at times he prudence did forget, 5
And sought to drown his sorrows in the bowl,
Which gives but for the moment to the soul
Ease of its pains, yet he did never let
One sordid or immoral line defile
The purity of his sweet poësy; 10
His muse being one of perfect chastity.
He loved the freedom of his native isle;
And in all things of nature he could see
Beauty and joy and heavenly purity.

George Markham Tweddell
Born Wigan, June 21st, 1808; resided for
many years at Ashton-under-Lyne; and Died
at Hyde, May 5th, 1866. [1st stanza on p. 30]

John Critchely Prince was another friend and fellow poet who Tweddell published in his publications. In the intro to Tweddell's poems (look at the top menu bar for the link) there's a comparison and exchange between them.

You can read on line The Life of John Critchley  with links to his poetry on line - here - 
http://gerald-massey.org.uk/prince/b_biog.htm

Sonnet [Mind] (To Charles Swain)

Sonnet [Mind] 
To Charles Swain, Esq of Cheetwood Priory,

Charles Swain

Manchester on receiving a presentation of
his “Mind and other poems”

The beauties of thy Mind I much admire,
Friend of the muses, heaven-inspired!
Long may thy heart be warm’d with holy fire,
And such soul-soothing strains burst from thy lyre,
To cheer their drooping spirits who complain 5
Of num’rous ills on this abuséd globe,
Where man delights to mar the beautiful,
To curse his fellows whom he ought to bless,
To laugh and mock at Love and Gentleness,
An e’en the olive branch of Peace to pull, 10
That Hate, and Strife, and Jealousy, and War,
May bow each neck to Misery’s iron car:
But such sweet sounds peal from thy gentle lute,
As bid the discord of the soul be mute.

Stokesley - George Markham Tweddell.
[p. 226 – published in Tweddell’s Yorkshire Miscellany,
October 1845]
28

This may be an updated version of the same poem published in Tweddell's Tractates 1887 (the first version was 1845) and occasioned by the death of Charles Swain.

Tractates No. 29
North of England Sonnets, Fourth Series (1887)
DEDICATED TO
The ever-treasured Memory of my beloved old Friend,
who lived Poetry as well as he wrote it.
Charles Swain
(Born in Ancoats, Manchester, January 4th, 1803; Died at this pleasant
Residence in Prestwick Park, near that City, September 23rd, 1874.)

The many-beautied Mind all must admire,
Friend of the Muses, Heaven-inspired SWAIN!
Thy heart was truly warm’d with holy fire,
And fine soul-soothing strains burst from thy lyre,
To cheer their drooping spirits who complain 5
Of numerous ills on this abused globe,—
Where man delights to mar the beautiful—
To curse his fellows, whom he ought to bless—
To laugh and mock at Love and Gentleness,
And e’en the olive-branch from Peace to pull; 10
That Hate, and Strife, and Jealousy, and War,
May bow each neck to Misery’s iron car:
But the sweet sounds struck from SWAIN’s gentle lute
All bid the discord of the soul be mute.

Rose Cottage, Stokesley George Markham Tweddell

Tweddell published Charles Swain in his Yorkshire Miscellany and North of English Tractates and i think his early newspaper The Cleveland News and Stokesley Reporter.

From Wiki - Read more here - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Swain_(poet)Charles Swain (4 January 1801 – 22 September 1874) was an English poet, sometimes called “the Manchester poet,” which epithet refers to his birthplace. He worked in a dye house for a time, and then in an engraving and lithography enterprise which he eventually purchased and ran until his death. He became honorary professor of poetry at the Manchester Royal Institution, and in 1856 was granted a civil list pension. His friends included Robert Southey. Swain's epitaph for John Horsefield is noted by English Heritage as an element of their rationale for listing Horsefield's tomb as a Grade II monument.

Read online or download free Charles Swain's Mind and other Poems here - http://archive.org/details/mindandotherpoe00swaigoog