{"id":1119,"date":"2011-08-12T17:28:21","date_gmt":"2011-08-12T17:28:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.robertstephenhawker.co.uk\/?page_id=1119"},"modified":"2011-08-16T11:33:41","modified_gmt":"2011-08-16T11:33:41","slug":"morwenstow","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.robertstephenhawker.co.uk\/?page_id=1119","title":{"rendered":"Morwenstow by Francis Coutts"},"content":{"rendered":"

Written for the occasion of the dedication of a memorial window to the Rev. R.S. Hawker, unveiled today. September 8th, 1904.
\n<\/em>
\nNature bestows on every place
\nA gloom, a glory, or a grace;
\nBut yet strange power belongs to Man
\nThe hill and vale to bless or ban.<\/p>\n

Here, by this black, forbidding coast,
\nDwelt one who heard the heavenly host
\nSinging in every wind that blows,
\nIn wave that breaks or stream that flows,<\/p>\n

And surely deemed that love divine,
\nWhose tendrils all his church entwine,
\nIs not too distant to be won
\nBy Nature\u2019s humblest orison.<\/p>\n

Wherefore amid these moors and steeps
\nHis spirit ever laughs and weeps,
\nWeeps with the storm or laughs with glee
\nFor rhythmic laughter of the sea:<\/p>\n

For who beside Morwenna\u2019s well
\nThe \u201cformer gladness\u201d tries to tell,
\nOr reads in Tidna-Combe\u2019s \u201cmild\u201d stream
\nThe pathos of the poet\u2019s dream, \u2013<\/p>\n

Who lingers by St. Nectan\u2019s Kieve,
\nWatching the \u201cfoamy waters\u201d leave
\nTheir mossy cave, to seek for rest
\nIn Severn Sea\u2019s unslumbering breast, \u2013<\/p>\n

Who strays where rushy Tamar spills
\nHer new-born flood in slender rills,
\nUnguessing in her modest source
\nThe \u201cgoodly channel\u201d of her course, \u2013<\/p>\n

Who pauses reverently to con
\nThe sacred well-house of St. John,
\nWhose fountain feeds the lustral bowl
\nWherein is laved each infant soul, \u2013<\/p>\n

What pilgrim, \u2013 sinner, saint, or sage, \u2013
\nWho ponders here a vanished age,
\nBy main or moor, by holy grot
\nOr mystic knoll, remembers not<\/p>\n

The name of Hawker? Honoured long
\nIn Cornwall for his life and song,
\nAnd now in British hearts enshrined,
\nA man at peace with God, in friendship with Mankind.<\/p>\n

*\u00a0 *\u00a0 *\u00a0 *\u00a0 *<\/p>\n

Francis Burdett Money-Coutts (1852-1923), 5th Baron Latymer and heir to the Coutts banking fortune, was a London solicitor, a prolific poet and a contributor to the Yellow Book<\/em>. He is now remembered chiefly as a patron and collaborator of the Spanish composer Isaac Alb\u00e9niz.<\/p>\n

This poem appears on pages 658-659 of The Life and Letters of R. S. Hawker<\/em>, ed. C. E. Byles, where Byles writes ‘At a public tea held in the village hall after the Dedication Service, Mr Francis Coutts read aloud his poem on the occasion, which, in a slightly altered form, is to be found in his recently published volume, ‘Musa Veticordia.’ It was also published in the Daily Chronicle<\/em> and reprinted as a leaflet by W. Ellis, Holsworthy, presumably for distribution at the service.<\/p>\n

Poem contributed by Charlie Cox.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Written for the occasion of the dedication of a memorial window to the Rev. R.S. Hawker, unveiled today. September 8th, 1904. Nature bestows on every place A gloom, a glory, or a grace; But yet strange power belongs to Man The hill and vale to bless or ban. Here, by this black, forbidding coast, Dwelt […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":1116,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-1119","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.robertstephenhawker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1119","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.robertstephenhawker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.robertstephenhawker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.robertstephenhawker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.robertstephenhawker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1119"}],"version-history":[{"count":20,"href":"https:\/\/www.robertstephenhawker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1119\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1137,"href":"https:\/\/www.robertstephenhawker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1119\/revisions\/1137"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.robertstephenhawker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1116"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.robertstephenhawker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1119"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}