THE WELL-HEAD—1869
The "Prayer," which was the opening poem in the 1916 Bibliophile edition of Stevenson manuscripts, was written in October, 1869; and to the month of March of that year belongs the present poem, composed also in a spirit of religious reverence, yet with an interesting element of doubt as to the superiority of a future life over man's "dear world of hill and plain."
The "mottoes for the beginning," jotted down by Stevenson and here retained,[1] show the source of the theme, and incidentally establish the identity of the "Ayrshire peasant" who might otherwise have been mistaken for Robert Burns. But the young Stevenson is unable to follow Sir Thomas Browne, or
- ↑ MOTTOES FOR THE BEGINNING
"To thoughtful observators the whole world is a philactery and everything we see an item of the wisdom, power or goodness of God." Sir T. Browne's Christain Morals, Part III.
"And (God) gradually manifested Himself to me more and more when viewing His works, till at last I saw His glorious being and perfections shine forth brightly in a refreshing drink of water which I took"—"A rare-Soul-strengthening and Comforting Cordial, by John Stevenson, Land Labourer in the Parish of Daily in Carrick, who died in the year 1728"—Select Biographies: Woodrow Society.
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