Page:Notable Irishwomen.djvu/88

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NOTABLE IRISHWOMEN.

Or, haply, there some pious Hermit chose
 To live and die—the peace of heaven his aim,
To whom the wild sequestered region owes
 At this last day its sanctifying name.

"Glyn Cyfaillgarwch, in the Cambrian tongue
 In ours the Vale of Friendship, let this spot
 Be named, where faithful to a low-roofed cot,
On Deva's banks, ye have abode so long;
 Sisters in love—a love allowed to climb
 Ev'n on this earth, above the reach of time!"

The ladies, who sometimes indulged in writing verses, did not at all approve of this sonnet; they did not like their pretty house to be called "a low-roofed cot," and they said they could write better poetry than this themselves. A curious letter, from Mr. Canning, thanking them for their offer of a quarter of Welsh mutton, ends thus:—

"Mr. Canning's address is 'Foreign Office,' for mutton as well as letters."

After a long and useful life, beloved by the poor, to whom she was a kind and thoughtful benefactress, Lady Eleanor died in her ninetieth year, and two years afterwards Miss Ponsonby followed her to the grave. They are buried in the same tomb at Llangollen churchyard, and long epitaphs record their various perfections. The virtues of