She tells of time misspent, of comfort lost,
Of fair occasions gone for ever by;
Of hopes too fondly nurs'd, too rudely cross'd,
Of many a cause to wish yet fear to die;
For what, except th' instinctive fear
Lest she survive, detains me here,
When "all the life of life" is tied?—
What, but the deep inherent dread,
Lest she beyond the grave resume her reign,
And realize the hell that priests and beldams feign?
Note z.P. 36, l. 1.
Hast thou thro' Eden's mid-wood vales pursued.
On the road-side between Penrith and Appleby there stands a small pillar with this inscription:
"This pillar was erected in the year 1656, by Ann, Countess Dowager of Pembroke, &c., for a memorial of her last parting, in this place, with her good and pious mother, Margaret, Countess Dowager of Cumberland, on the 2nd of April, 1616; in memory whereof she hath left an annuity of 41. to be distributed to the poor of the parish of Brougham, every 2nd day of April for ever, upon the stone-table placed hard by. Laus Deo!"
The Eden is the principal river of Cumberland, and rises in the wildest part of Westmoreland.
Note a.P. 36, l. 11.
O'er his dead son the gallant Ormond sigh'd.
Ormond bore the loss with patience and dignity: though he ever retained a pleasing, however melancholy, sense of the signal merit of Ossory. "I would not exchange my dead son," said he, "for any living son in Christendom.'
The same sentiment is inscribed on Miss Dolman's urn at the Leasowes.
Heu, quanto minus est cum reliquis versari, quam tui meminisse!
Note b.P. 38, l. 18.
High on exulting wing the heath-cock rose.
This bird is remarkable for his exultation during the spring.
