9, The Crescent, Ripon, N Yorks, UK - Blue Plaques on Waymarking.com

The plaque reads

Charles Dodgson (Lewis Carroll) made visits to young Clara and Margaret Cunnynghame here in 1868, and created poems, jokes and drawings for them. For Clara, whose second name was Halyburton, he wrote

“Oh Caledonian maiden!
Oh Hallie shy and still!
Whene’er I hear sweet music
Of you my thoughts will fill”

The rest of the poem, dated January 1868 reads

Oh Caledonian Maiden!
Oh Hallie shy and still!
When'ere I hear sweet music,
Of you my thoughts will fill.

I shall think of those “half hours”
In Ripon spent with you;
I shall dream of great Beethoven
And of Mendelssohn so true.

If “sleepless nights” assail me,
And I toss about in vain,
The memory of Heller
Will make me rest again.

A chord of “Caller Herrin;”
A note of “Home Sweet Home;”
A bar of Scotland’s “Blue Bells;”
Will make my spirit roam.

To a Drawing-room in the Crescent
Where those sweet sounds I heard,
And where I fain would follow
If I were but a bird.

Then Hallie! dear Childe Hallie!
Be to your “talent” true;
And sometimes when you’re playing
Think I am watching you.–

Think how I loved your Music,
Not for itself alone,
But for the hands that played it
The mind that felt its tone.

And now farewell “Childe Hallie”!
Though I am growing old,
Fond mem'ry still will charm me,
To you I’ll ne'er grow cold.

Blue Plaque managing agency: Ripon Civic Society Individual Recognized: Lewis Carroll Physical Address: 9 The Crescent Ripon, N Yorks UK Web Address: [Web Link]

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