COLN ST. ALDWYN'S. Nos. 10, 11, and 12. "Without-the world's unceasing noises rise, Turmoil, disquietude, and busy fears; Thoughts full of prayer, and solemn harmonies." (The Cathedral, p. 19.) OLN ST. ALDWYN'S seems to be the place mentioned in 'Domesday Book" under the name of "Colne." The name is now frequentiy pronounced Cown. The place is sometimes called Coln St. Aldwyn; but Mr. KEBLE used to spell it in the register Coln St. Aldwin's. Mr. KEBLE'S father held the living for more than half a century, assisted at the end of his life by the Poet himself. The church is a handsome structure, well restored and kept in excellent repair, standing on the summit of a hill. There is an inscription on a brass plate at the east end, in connexion with two memorial windows, to commemorate the incumbency of the Poet's father, in the following words : "TO THE GLORY OF GOD AND THE PIOUS MEMORY OF THE REV. JOHN KEBLE, 50 YEARS VICAR OF THIS CHURCH, OB. 24 JAN., 1835, THESE TWO EASTERN WINDOWS ARE DEDICATED." The church is adorned with several painted windows from subjects of both Old and New Testaments. The parish of Coln St. Aldwyn's had a population of 516 at the last census. The living is in the gift of the Dean and Chapter of Gloucester. At the time of the incumbency of Mr. KEBLE'S father it yielded hardly £50 a-year, the whole of which he spent on the poor of the parish. It is now worth more than double that sum. The village is about three miles from Fairford, and nine from Cirencester. The river Coln, from which Coln St. Aldwyn's is named, flows through the village. On an island in this river, at the foot of the hill upon which the church stands, and very near to the high road along which the Poet must have very often walked and ridden, there is a beautiful clump of willows, which in connexion with the surrounding scene seems likely to have suggested to him the words, "Nor for yon river islet wild Beneath the willow spray, Where, like the ringlets of a child, Thou weav'st thy circle gay." (Hymn for Tuesday in Easter Week.) And again, those descriptive words in the Lyra Innocentium : "The May winds gently lift the willow leaves; Willow-herb and meadow-sweet! Ye soft gales, that visit there, From your waving censers greet With store of freshest, balmiest air." (Lyra Innocentium, p. 182, 1st edit.) Probably also the same river, and its banks, may have been in the mind of the Poet when in later years he called back, as he was wont to do, the peaceful memories of his early life, and putting them in thought side by side with scenes in Hursley Park, and the extensive woods between Hursley and Ampfield, he said :— "Come, take a woodland walk with me, And mark the rugged old oak-tree; How steadily his arm he flings, Where from the bank the fresh rill springs, And points the waters' silent way Down the wild maze of reed and spray. Two furlongs on they glide unseen, Known only by the livelier green." (Lyra Innocentium, p. 205.) As we take notice of the little streams of the Coln and the Lech, we can imagine the Poet taking a quiet walk in early spring, looking at the beautiful willows near the junction of these rivers, and expressing his poetic musings in the words: "Lessons sweet of spring returning, Welcome to the thoughtful heart! May I call ye sense or learning, Instinct pure, or Heaven-taught art? Be your title what it may, Sweet the lengthening April day, While with you the soul is free, Ranging wild o'er hill and lea. "Soft as Memnon's harp at morning, To the inward ear devout, Touch'd by light, with heavenly warning Your transporting chords ring out. Every leaf in every nook, Every wave in every brook, Chanting with a solemn voice, Minds us of our better choice. "Needs no show of mountain hoary, Winding shore or deepening glen, Where the landscape in its glory Teaches truth to wandering men : Give true hearts but earth and sky, Homely scenes and simple views "See the soft green willow springing Where the waters gently pass, Every way her free arms flinging O'er the moist and reedy grass. |