The Heirs of Dilston and Derwentwater [The Radclyffes] - Softcover

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1869 edition. Excerpt: ... CHAPTER XII. THE COUNTESS AT DILSTON CASTLE. "I have come to a roofless home. Oh! who comes here as the yellow leaves Of the grand old woods are falling, And the damp, damp breath of the antnmn heaves The gossamer threads that the spider weaves 'Mid the mined walls of Dilston? Lone is the tower where the warder erst Kept watch for foes on the Border; And the noble walls are crumbling fast, And the mouldering stones in the dust are cast Of the lordly halls of Dilston. Oh I who comes here ? not with clarion calls, Or horn of the huntsman winding, But with yearning heart for her father's halls, And a home once more in the old grey walls, Of the Derwent Tower at Dilston. The wind blows cold through the open doors, And winds np the broken staircase; And the autumn rain through the windows pours, 'Mid the shivery blasts of the cold night hours, In thine ancient home at Dilston. Earl James will rest 'neath his crimson pall In the chapel vault securely, But the cold wet showers upon thee will fall, And the blasts sweep round by the roofless wall Of the ancient Keep at Dilston. Far in the future yet lie hid The results of thine heart wrung mission By the eye of the Great Unseen they are read: And descendants yet of the long-mourned dead Shall dwell as the Lords of Dilston. URING the course of the day, the gentleman who, as agent for the Lords of the Admiralty, has now the care of the Dilston lauds and hereditaments, waited upon her ladyship; informed her that she was trespassing upon the property of the Commissioners for Greenwich Hospital, and that he would be obliged to report the matter to their Lordships. The Countess, strong in her assurance that the lands of her grandfather had been unlawfully given into the care of those Commissioners, "...