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A book of Bristol sonnets

By H. D. Rawnsley
Rawnsley, H. D. (1851-1920)

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[section]
 
[dedication]
 
A DREAM OF ANCIENT BRISTOL.
 
ELEANOR DE MONTFORT
 
BRISTOL CASTLE AND THE TRAMCARS.
 
ST. JOHN'S GATE.
 
ST. JOHN'S CONDUIT, NELSON STREET.
 
THE FORT, BRISTOL.
 
BRISTOL UNIVERSITY COLLEGE.
 
MOTHER PUGSLEY'S FIELD,
 
ON NOTICING THAT THE ONLY LIME TREE NOT IN BUD, AT COLLEGE GREEN, FRONTED THE CATHEDRAL PORCH.
 
ON HEARING THE ORGAN IN THE CATHEDRAL, WHILE THE WORK IN THE NAVE WAS SUSPENDED.
 
ST. MARY REDCLIFFE.
 
CHATTERTON.
 
“TEMPORA MUTANTUR.” JEFFERIES' BOOK-SHOP.
 
THE OAK-CHAMBER AT JEFFERIES', REDCLIFFE STREET.
 
ST. STEPHEN'S TOWER,
 
ST. WERBURGH'S TOWER.
 
ST. JAMES' CHURCHYARD.
 
ON HEARING ST. MATTHEW'S PEAL.
 
CLIFTON HILL. CLIFTON PARISH CHURCH.
 
CLIFTON COLLEGE CHAPEL.
 
SERMON IN THE COLLEGE CHAPEL.
 
JENKINS V. FLAVEL COOK.
 
JENKINS V. FLAVEL COOK.
 
SUNDAY IN BRISTOL.
 
ON HEARING THE BIRDS SING,
 
GOOD FRIDAY IN BRISTOL.
 
ON HEARING BELLS ON EASTER MORNING.
 
WHIT MONDAY, FROM ASHLEY HILL.
 
HARVEST THANKSGIVING AT ST. BARNABAS.
 
SITE OF THE ANCIENT HIGH CROSS,
 
RICHARD SAVAGE; OR, IN FRONT OF ST. PETER'S HOSPITAL.
 
ARNO'S VALE CEMETERY.
 
THE CRIPPLES' HOME,
 
“LITTLE JOHNNY,”
 
THE CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL,
 
IN MEMORIAM.
 
BRISTOL SMOKE IN EARLY MORNING.
 
A CALM EVENING, FROM ASHLEY HILL.
 
BRISTOL BY GASLIGHT,
 
A MARCH DAY,
 
MÜLLER'S ORPHANAGE,
 
PLUCKING DAISIES;
 
THE RED MAIDS' SCHOOL.
 
MRS. FRY VISITING NEWGATE.
 
A VIEW OF BRISTOL EARLY IN THE MORNING, FROM PUR-DOWN.
 
THE HOOTER, OR STEAM-HORN,
 
A SERVICE OF SONG IN DUCHESS' PARK,
 
THE MONUMENT AT DUCHESS' WOODS,
 
DEATH OF A PARISHIONER.
 
ASHTON CLUMP AND LANSDOWN.
 
ASHTON COURT.
 
THE BLAST-FURNACE AT ASHTON IRON WORKS.
 
DUNDRY TOWER.
 
THE KNOTTED ELM, AT ABBOT'S LEIGH.
 
THE CHURCHYARD GATE,
 
SUNSET AT ABBOT'S LEIGH.
 
HAM GREEN;
 
EARLY MORN AND EVENTIDE,
 
ON FINDING THE WILD STRAWBERRY IN NIGHTINGALE VALLEY,
 
THE NIGHTINGALE IN NIGHTINGALE VALLEY.
 
BOWER-WALL AND STOKESLEIGH CAMPS.
 
CLIFTON SUSPENSION BRIDGE.
 
TO A THRUSH, HEARD ON CLIFTON DOWN IN A JANUARY MIST.
 
THE POWER OF SPRING;
 
PLEASURES OF IMAGINATION;
 
DANDELIONS AND DAISIES ON THE DOWNS;
 
CLEMATIS IN LEAF ON THE DOWNS.
 
MAY DAY,
 
THE SEA-WALL;
 
GOSSAMERS ON THE DOWN.
 
THE BLIND EAGLE,
 
HANNIBAL,
 
TUMBLER PIGEONS, OVER BRISTOL.
 
TRUE LOVE;
 
THE FIRST SWALLOW,
 
THE GREAT FIRE IN CHRISTMAS STREET.
 
ON THE DRAWBRIDGE
 
ONE OF THE TOLZEY TABLES,
 
THE DEMERARA'S FIGURE-HEAD.
 
GAMES FOR WORKING MEN.
 
REVIVAL OF THE SUGAR TRADE.
 
WILLS' MANUFACTORY, REDCLIFFE STREET, THE PORTRAIT GALLERY OF OLD SERVANTS IN.
 
ON THE QUAY:
 
THE LIGHTS AT THE HARBOUR MOUTH,
 
OUTWARD BOUND.
 
HOMEWARD BOUND.
 
AVONMOUTH DOCKS,
 
ON SEEING TWO VESSELS (CUTTER-RIGGED) PASS ONE ANOTHER AT AVONMOUTH.
 
“THE DYING GLADIATOR,”
 
EDWARD COLSTON.
 
COLSTON HONOURED;
 
ORPHEUS GLEE SOCIETY.
 
CORALS AND CORAL ISLANDS. THE STRIKES.
 
TO THE CONDUCTOR OF THE ORCHESTRAL CONCERT IN COLSTON HALL.
 
SATURDAY ORGAN RECITAL IN THE COLSTON HALL.
 
CHORUS FROM “FALL OF BABYLON.”
 
MADLLE. ALBANI,
 
THE BLACK HELEBORE (CHRISTMAS ROSE),
 
TO A RED ROSE,
 
NAN'S WALK.
 
CARTER'S LANE,
 
RUMOUR OF WAR, JUNE, 1876.
 
GOBLIN COMBE.
 
SCENE FROM SKITTIM HILL, HENBURY.
 
INFANCY;
 
BOYHOOD;
 
MIDDLE AGE;
 
OLD AGE COMING ON;
 
DEATH;
 
CHEPSTOW CASTLE.
 
THE WYND-CLIFF,
 
THE MOSS COTTAGE,
 
ON DESCENDING THE WYND-CLIFF BY THE STEPS TO THE MOSS COTTAGE.
 
TINTERN ABBEY.
 
TYNDALE'S PILLAR,
 
BERKELEY CASTLE.
 
WARLEIGH,
 
THE BRISTOL MISSION OF 1877.
 
OLD CLEVEDON CHURCHYARD,
 
TENNYSON AT CLEVEDON.
 
THE THREE PICTURES OF ST. JOHN BAPTIST, IN THE BILLIARD ROOM AT LEIGH COURT.
 
THE OPENING OF THE AVONMOUTH DOCKS.

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50

BRISTOL BY GASLIGHT,

FROM ASHLEY HILL.

The stars are quenched, the moon has fled the sky;
Say, have they come to sojourn here below?
See, fierce betwixt the Bull and Lion show
Those Twins, whose feet tread down the Galaxy.
Orion threatens here; there Sirius' eye
Burns red, with haste and demon fire aglow;
Where the great monster Cetus flounders low,
Brave Perseus to his fettered love doth fly.
Then was there sudden horror in the stars!
A Comet rushing with a cloud of fire!
A whirr! A shriek! Nay, Heaven can know no wars.
The constellations cannot so conspire.
By roared a train; and clear before my sight
A gas-lit City lay, with noises of the night.
[_]

Note.—At the time this sonnet was penned, the Constellations Taurus, Leo, Gemini, Sirius, Orion, Cetus, and Perseus were visible. With a little trouble one could identify them in the City's lights; a red signal light on the Clifton Extension Railway suggesting Sirius.


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