Sonnets in Switzerland and Italy (London, 1899)
The book is dedicated to John Ruskin on his eighty-first birthday. In his Prefatory Note, Hardwicke writes:
These sonnets, which have been written in many holiday rambles in May and June, are published with the hope of inducing a few readers to take their pleasure abroad at the time when the gentian flowers. I have ventured to dedicate the volume to him who taught me, amongst other things, that Nature has nothing fairer to offer to mind or eye than blossom-tide in Switzerland.
Hardwicke first visited Switzerland in 1876, at least eighteen months before his marriage to Edith. The Rawnsleys would make numerous visits to the continent, especially Switzerland and Italy, in the years after their marriage. Sometimes these visits were purely for pleasure and holiday-making; at other times they were made to enable Hardwicke to regain his health after suffering a major illness, of which there were many. That Switzerland, in particular, offered recuperative benefits, both mental and physical, is attested to in the poem, ‘Switzerland’:
To you I come, worn out with petty care,
Come, for the cuckoo called me; let blue floods
And your white-blossoming valleys close me
round
And give me leave with simple faith to share
The solace of your mountain solitudes,
And walk with Freedom on her native ground.
Notwithstanding the beauties and benefits of Switzerland and Italy, however, the Lake District never lost its lustre in Hardwicke’s eyes, and it is always the place he desires to return to. The last poem in the volume, ‘Home from Lombardy’, illustrates this belief:
Better grey lakes, grey mountain, and grey skies,
With song of water-brooks and sound of rain,
Than that immeasurable Lombard plain—
For all its vines and corn and mulberries—
Sunburnt to silence: with what sweet surprise
The mellow ouzel greets us once again!
Clear and familiar from the spring grain,
With what a sense of home the corncrake cries
But not the cry of crake, nor throstle’s tune,
Nor daisied fields, nor plumy laurel-bowers
That gleam snow-white at evening’s long-lit
close,
So made me sure of Cumberland and June,
As Crosthwaite lanes full-breathed of elder-flowers,
And hedges broidered over with wild rose.
Contents
Sonnet Dedicatory to John Ruskin (p. vi)
Sonnet Prefatory to John Ruskin: February 8th, 1899 (p. x)
Switzerland (p. 1)
Switzerland Once More (p. 2)
In a Pinewood: At the Gütsch, Lucerne (p. 3)
The Bell for Early Mass: From the Jesuit Church of St. Joseph, Lucerne (p. 4)
The Fountain in the Wine market, Lucerne (p. 5)
Dreams and Work: Hôtel des Balances, Lucerne (p. 6)
Lucerne Again (p. 7)
To the River Reuss, Lucerne (p. 8)
The Lion of Lucerne (p. 9)
At the Three Linden, Lucerne (p. 10)
Enclosure of the Three Linden. Lucerne (p. 11)
A Morning Prayer on the Market-Boat, Lucerne (p. 12)
At Kastanienbaum (p. 13)
The Watch-Tower, at Stanzstadt (p. 14)
Sunday Morning: From the Stanzerhorn (p.15)
Going to Church at Ob-Bürgen, Bürgenstock (p. 16)
Dayspring on Pilatus (p. 17)
The Rigi (p. 18)
From the Rigi-Kulm, at Sunrise (p. 19)
From the Staffel-Stock, Rigi (p. 20)
The Crocus Legions, on the Rigi (p. 21)
On a Seat Beneath the Dossenwand, Above Vitznau (p. 22)
The Wissefluh: On the Vitznau-Stock (p. 23)
Mountain Scholars: Up the Vitznau-Stock (p. 24)
At the Degenbalm, Morschach (p. 25)
Evening at Morschach (p. 26)
On the Axenstrasse (p. 27)
At Bürglen: To the Memory of William Tell (p. 28)
At Arth-Goldau (p. 29)
At the Monument of St. Benedict Above Einsiedeln (p. 30)
The Statue of Zwinglius, Zurich (p. 31)
Farewell to Lucerne (p. 32)
At Stanz (p. 33)
Arnold van Winkelried, at Stanz (p. 34)
To Engelberg (p. 35)
At the Sign of the ‘Angel’, Engelberg (p. 36)
The Monastery, Engelberg (p. 37)
Abbot’s Day, May 15, Engelberg (p. 38)
Gold-Boden (p. 39)
The Föhn-Wind, Engelberg (p. 40)
Beneath Titlis, Engelberg (p. 41)
At the Trub-See (p. 42)
Herrn Rütli, Engelberg (p. 43)
St. Florian: In the Monastery Church at Engelberg (p. 44)
Blessing the Pastures: On the Blachenalp, Engelberg (p. 45)
Over the St. Gothard (p. 46)
At Faido, on the St. Gothard (p. 47)
Locarno in Rain (p. 48)
At Santa Trinita, Above Locarno (p. 49)
Solitudo Continuata Dulcescit: An Inscription at the Gate of the Convent of the Madonna del Sasso, Locarno (p. 50)
At the Balcony of the Church of the Madonna del Sasso, Locarno (p. 51)
The Islands of Lago Maggiore (p. 52)
Isola-Bella (p. 53)
Isola-Bella (p. 54)
At Baveno, Hôtel Belle-Vue (p. 55)
The Fire-Fly, Baveno (p. 56)
Orange-Flowers at Baveno (p. 57)
Daylight on Lago Maggiore (p. 58)
At the Church Door, Baveno: The Soldier’s Oath (p. 59)
On Monte Motterone (p. 60)
Sunrise from Motterone (p. 61)
The Pheasant-Eye Narcissus, Up Monte Motterone (p. 62)
The Monte Sacro, At Varallo (p. 63)
The Music of the Dawn: Hôtel Splendide, Lugano (p. 64)
Evening from San Salvatore (p. 65)
The Nightingale of Lugano (p. 66)
In the Church of S. Maria Degli Angioli, Lugano (p. 67)
Light at Eventide, Lugano (p. 68)
Lanzo D’Intelvi (p. 69)
A Storm, On Monte Generoso (p. 70)
The Lost Half-Hour: Lugano, Midnight, May 31, 1894 (p. 71)
At the Chapel of the Annunciation: Sacro Monte, Varese (p. 72)
Evening at Sacro Monte, Varese (p. 73)
On the Roof of the Duomo, Milan, at Anthem Time (p. 74)
In Milan Cathedral (p. 75)
In the Refectory, Milan (p. 76)
At Como Cathedral, Pliny’s Statue (p. 77)
Morning at Soglio (p. 78)
The Witness of the Flowers: At Pian Luthero, Soglio (p. 79)
Over the Splugen: The Navvy’s Cross (p. 80)
My Friend and I, The Splügen Pass (p. 81)
Kurhaus, Brünig (p. 82)
The Falls of the Reichenbach (p. 83)
From Meiringen to Rosenlaui (p. 84)
Between Rosenlaui and the Schwarzwald (p. 85)
At Interlaken (p. 86)
The Jungfrau: From the Hoheweg, Interlaken (p. 87)
At Breitlauenen, Schynige Platte (p. 88)
On the Geisshorn, Schynige Platte (p.89)
The Chamois of Lauterbrunnen (p. 90)
The Guide’s Farewell: To Ulrich Lauener at Lauterbrunnen (p. 91)
The Wirtschaft on the Old Footpath to Mürren (p. 92)
On the Kurhaus Terrace, Mürren (p. 93)
On the Schilthorn, June 21, 1896: The Anniversary of the Death by Lightning of Mrs. Arbuthnot (p. 94)
In the Blumenthal, Mürren (p. 95)
Alpine Anemones: In the Blumenthal at Mürren (p. 96)
Spring Crocuses: In the Blumenthal, Mürren (p. 97)
The Schwarze Mönch, from Mürren (p. 98)
The Wengen Thrush (p. 99)
The Rainbow Fields of Wengen (p. 100)
‘Linkst Hand,’ on Sulegg (p. 101)
At the Mettlen Alp, Wengen (p. 102)
The Young Herdsman’s Death, Wengen (p. 103)
A Memory of the Männlichen: Margaret (p. 104)
The Jungfrau Unveiled: From Wengen Alp (p. 105)
The Alpine Rose, Little Scheidegg (p. 106)
The Warbler’s Song, Grindelwald (p. 107)
At the Upper Glacier, Grindelwald (p. 108)
A Return to St. Beatenberg (p. 109)
Hôtel de La Poste, 1890, St. Beatenberg (p. 110)
The Vision of Kings, St. Beatenberg (p. 111)
Afterglow on the Abendberg (p. 112)
A Glimpse of the Jungfrau, St. Beatenberg (p. 113)
In Butterfly-Land, St. Beatenberg (p. 114)
In Cricket-Land: From St. Beatenberg to Interlaken (p. 115)
The Gentianella (Gentiana Verna), St. Beatenberg (p. 116)
After a Storm at Kanzeli, St. Beatenberg (p. 117)
A Sermon in the Church at St. Beatenberg (p. 118)
At Kanzeli: Above St. Beatenberg (p. 119)
The Birenfluh, St. Beatenberg (p. 120)
At Amisbuhl, St. Beatenberg (p. 121)
Cowbells on the Rischeren Alp: Amisbuhl, Beatenberg (p. 122)
Down the Lake to Thun (p. 123)
At the Church Gate, Oberhofen (p. 124)
In the Baumgarten: At Thun (p. 125)
The Tombstone of Heinrich von Strattlingen, The Bard: In the Bächihölzi, Thun (p. 126)
On the Inscription Over the Doorway of the Old Schloss at the Baumgarten, Thun (p. 127)
At the Minnesinger’s Seat Above Chartreuse, Thun (p. 128)
In Thun Churchyard at Service-Time (p. 129)
At the Castle, Thun (p. 130)
On Finding a Swift in the Castle Prison at Thun (p. 131)
At the Rabenfluh, Thun (p. 132)
At the Schwabis, Thun (p. 133)
The Golden Star of Thun (p. 134)
The Stockhorn: Deo Creatori (p. 135)
The Judgment Picture at Adelboden (p. 136)
The Village Dance at Adelboden: A Sad Face (p. 137)
The Bear Hotel, Kandersteg (p. 138)
In Gastern-Thal, Kandersteg (p. 139)
On the Gemmi Road Above Gastern-Thal (p. 140)
Wayfarers on the Gemmi: In the Alp-Spital-Matte (p. 141)
Blanc-See and Daubensee, Gemmi (p. 142)
At the Sign of the Wildstrubel, on the Gemmi (p. 143)
The Daubenhorn Cliffs, Over the Gemmi (p. 144)
Going to Zermatt (p. 145)
The Matterhorn (p. 146)
The Chapel of Our Lady of the Snows: At the Schwarz-See, Zermatt (p. 147)
Hôtel du Parc et des Belles Fleurs: Lac de Chan, Montana (p. 148)
Going to Nettleship’s Grave: From Argentière to Chamounix, by Night (p. 149)
To R. L. Nettleship: In Chamounix Churchyard (p. 150)
Violas on the Col de Balme (p. 151)
Moonlight at Pension Reitzel, Leysin (p. 152)
A Fear for Leysin: The Building of a Casino (p. 153)
Up La Rionda, Leysin (p. 154)
Twilight at La Prafondaz. Leysin (p. 155)
Home Thoughts at Sunset: From Prafondaz, Leysin (p. 156)
Alpine Anemone-Seed, Leysin (p. 157)
The Morning Play at Villars (p. 158)
On Chamossaire (p. 159)
In the Dungeon at Chillon (p. 160)
At Weissenstein, Soleure (p. 161)
Switzerland, Farewell! (p. 162)
Home from Lombardy (p. 163)
