The Castle of Tynemouth

Author: Jane Harvey Title: The Castle of Tynemouth. A Tale Place of publication: Newcastle Upon Tyne Publisher: Printed by Eneas Mackenzie Date of publication: 1830 Edition: 2nd ed. Number of volumes: 2 THE CASTLE OF TYNEMOUTH. ATALE. THE CASTLE OF TYNEMOUTH. ATALE. BY JANE HARVEY, AUTHOR OF WARKFIELD CASTLE, &c. &c. No air-built castles, and no fairy bowers, But thou, fair Tynemouth, and thy well-known towers, Now bid th’ historic muse explore the maze Of long past years, and tales of other days. Pride of Northumbria!---from thy crowded port, Where Europe’s brave commercial sons resort, Her boasted mines send forth their sable stores, To buy the varied wealth of distant shores. Here the tall lighthouse, bold in spiral height, Glads with its welcome beam the seaman’s sight. Here, too, the firm redoubt, the rampart’s length, The death-fraught cannon, and the bastion’s strength, Hang frowning o’er the briny deep below, To guard the coast against th’ invading foe. Here health salubrious spreads her balmy wings, And woos the sufferer to her saline springs; And, here the antiquarian strays around The ruin’d abbey, and its sacred ground. SECOND EDITION. IN TWO VOLUMES. VOL. I. NEWCASTLE UPON TYNE: PRINTED BY ENEAS MACKENZIE, JR. 129, PILGRIM STREET. AndsoldbyalltheBooksellers. 1830. PREFACE. THE author who opens the mines of his understanding, and presents their productions before the shrine of public opinion, will unquestionably strengthen his claim to approbation, by the best exertions which the powers of his mind are capable of making. If the sphere he has chosen be that of the moralist, he will summon to the task every energy of his soul; he will emblazon the standard of virtue with every religious and moral precept, and will combat vice with the artillery of reason, and the musketry of ridicule. If he treads the path of the historian, he will banish partiality and prejudice, rise superior to party rage, and rest his claim to favor solely on the pillars of integrity, truth, and candour.—The writer who sits down to compose a work of imagination, engages in a province less important, indeed, but inconceivably more arduous; to preserve originality, all the powers of invention must be had recourse to: if he explores the regions of romance, his ideas must expand to grandeur and sublimity; if his researches are confined to the less glowing, but perhaps more valuable pages of nature, his pictures must be portraits—they must be copied from life, or the likeness will never be striking; he must preserve the nice consistency of his characters; the lights and shades of passion must be pourtrayed with a skilful hand; the manners and customs of the age in which his characters are supposed to exist must be attended to, and the purity of historical truth strictly observed; and in the localities of place, care ought to be taken that geographical accuracy is never violated; and beyond all, let the poet, the novelist, the light and puerile writer, ever remember, that however temporary the subject, however trivial the work they are employed on, still they are under a sacred obligation to heaven, on no account to injure, but as far as possible to serve and promote the cause of virtue, both directly and indirectly. He who pretends to respect morality, while he is insidiously sapping its foundations, is the worst of hypocrites—an enemy in the mask of friendship. Dangerous are those mixed characters, wherein beauty, accomplishments, and politeness, are mingled and incorporated with the most odious vices, while the latter are excused by the appellation of “Youthful follies, which Sir Edwin will abjure as he grows older;” or “Fashionable levities, which positively add such a grace to Lady Albina’s charms, that it will be almost a pity when the maturity of her judgements points out the propriety of abandoning them.” These are the bane and destruction of young minds; captivated by the fascinations of personal charms and attractive manners, they adopt the whole character without discrimination, until the subtle venom, like the poisoned garment of Hercules, preys on their vitals, and consigns them to ruin and infamy. To produce a work adorned with all the beauties, and free from the defects which I have enumerated, is what the upright heart will aim at, and the able head will effect; but how shall he acquit himself to whom nature has denied supereminent abilities, and from whom situation and circumstances have withheld the means of acquiring extensive knowledge? On what claim shall he presume to approach the temple of Fame? What offering has he to present to the deity of the place? Alas! only the humble one of a good intention. To criticism he dares not appeal; but he raises his trembling voice to candour. Justice, perhaps, will awe him by her frown, but mercy will cheer him with her lovely smile. Let not the lowly candidate for literary distinction be chilled to despondency, and condemned unheard. In exercising the functions of an author, he infringes no one’s rights, for there all are free; the gate by which he enters is open to another, and if he has gathered a few flowers by the way side, they spring up afresh to invite the hand of his successor. Mental strength, like that of mechanic powers, cannot be ascertained until it is tried. The being who “hides his light under a bushel—who wraps his talent in a napkin,” and who suffers his abilities, such as they are, whether they be formed of strong and massy oak, or slender and flexible bamboo—to rest dormant and unexercised, frustrates the intentions of Providence, and is of no use to either himself or others; he is a drone in the great hive of the community—he neither builds the cells, nor enriches them with honey, and yet claims from both, shelter and food. At the bar of the public, alone, can the literary adventurer have a fair and impartial trial; friends may be partial; and that principle of self-love, which is incorporated with our very essence, will lead ourselves to judge favourably—perhaps too favourably of our own powers; to counteract this feeling, nature has implanted in our bosoms—and in the bosom of a female writer it is particularly alive—a diffidence, a timidity, which continually whispers a doubt of our own abilities:—between these two opposite principles, public judgment must decide: to it I offer up my humble pretensions; from its decision there is no appeal. For much of the architectural description of the church and castle of Tynemouth, I have to confess my obligations to “Hutchinson’s View of Northumberland;” and for part of the historical information, the same acknowledgment is due to “Brand’s History of Newcastle.” I could not, in its proper place, refer the reader to the pages from which I made selections, as I did not copy literally, but compressed the information I derived from them, and blended it with such as I was enabled to collect on the spot, or elsewhere. Those were the only books I consulted. JANE HARVEY. Newcastle, Feb. 12, 1806. LIST OF SUBSCRIBERS. Alder Mrs. Newcastle Anderson Mr. ditto Angus Mrs. J. ditto Archbold T. esq. ditto Ballany D. esq. Little Green Croft, Durham Barnes Mrs. North Shields Barras Miss, Gateshead Barrett Rev. S. BellMr.T.Tynemouth Blaydon Miss, ditto Brash James, esq. 82d Regiment Bertram Charles, esq. Gateshead Bracket Mr. W. Gateshead Brown Mr. T. Jarrow Buckley W.H. Lieut. and Paymaster, 82d Regt. Burlison Mr. T. Jarrow Burton Mrs. North Shields Campbell Mrs. Ellison Place, Newcastle Clarke J.G. esq. Fenham Hall, 3 copies Clarke J.G. esq. Kinnersley Cottage Cox John esq. Ryton Coats Mrs. Lipwood House Cram G.W. esq. Newcastle Crawford R. esq. Warden Crawhall T. esq. Newcastle Croser Mrs. ditto Croser Joseph, esq. ditto Cunningham Miss, Tynemouth Cuthbert Miss, Benwell Dixon Rev. G. Yorkshire Dobson Mrs. New Bridge Street, Newcastle Downing Miss, Eldon Square, ditto Dunn Mrs. Stella Hall Dunn Miss Hannah, Newcastle Drury Mrs. Tynemouth Dawson Abraham, esq. Newcastle Elliott Miss, St. Ann’s Row, Newcastle Fenwick Percival, esq. Newcastle Foster W. John, esq. ditto Graham Mrs. Gateshead Green Miss, Shield Field, Newcastle Hancock Mrs. Bridge End, Newcastle Herdman Doctor, Lesbury, 2 copies Hawks Lady, Newcastle Hawks W.S. esq. ditto Hogarth Major, 82d Regiment Holmes Mr. J. Gateshead Housley Rev. J. Portobello, Scotland Hutchinson Mrs. Doctor, Charlotte Square, Newc. Hutchinson Mrs. Sheriff Hill Hutchinson Miss, ditto Hutton Mrs. Richmond, Yorkshire Jackson Mrs. Eldon Square, Newcastle Jowsey Mr. J. North Shields Liddell Miss, Shield Field, Newcastle Losh Mrs. Jesmond Lough Mr. Turf Hotel, Newcastle Macgregor J. esq. Newcastle Mackenzie Miss, ditto Mackreath Mr. ditto Makepeace Captain R. I. Dragoon Guards Martindale Miss, Chester-le-Street Metcalf Mrs. North Shields Millar Mrs. Mosley Street, Newcastle Millar Mrs. Winlaton Mitcalfe Mrs. Henry, Northd. Square, N. Shields Montealegre Jose Maria y Mariano, Costa Rica Moore W. esq. Bigg Market, Newcastle Newbiggen Mrs. Blaydon Ollivier Ensign N.E. 82d Regiment Orange Mr. North Shields Oliver Robert, Draper, Quayside, Newcastle Peters W. esq. Westgate Street, Newcastle Peters Miss, ditto Potter W. esq. Walbottle House Potter Mrs. ditto, 2 copies Potter Miss R.G. ditto Potter A.G. esq. Walbottle Potter Edward, esq. Cramlington Ramsay Mrs. Doctor, Newcastle RamseyMr.I.Tynemouth Rayne R. esq. Newcastle Rawlinson Miss, Benwell Reavely Miss, Kenton Reay Mr. Tyne Brewery, Newcastle Redhead Mrs. Eldon Square, Newcastle Richardson Mr. J. ditto Robinson Mrs. John, Tynemouth Russell John, esq. Heworth Robson Thomas, Brandling Place Slater Captain. W. 82d Regiment Smart Mrs. Heworth, 2 copies Smirke Sidney, esq.

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