Records of Woman: with Other Poems/Notes to Records of Woman

by Felicia Hemans

NOTES

TO

RECORDS OF WOMAN.

---

Note 1, page 8, lines 6 and 7.

When darkness from the vainly-doting sight,
Covers its beautiful!

"Wheresoever you are, or in what state soever you be, it sufficeth me you are mine. Rachel wept, and would not be comforted, because her children were no more. And that, indeed, is the remediless sorrow, and none else!" From a letter of Arabella Stuart's to her husband. See Curiosities of Literature.

Note 2, page 17, lines 9 and 10.

Death!—what, is death a locked and treasured thing,
Guarded by swords of fire?

"And if you remember of old, I dare die.——Consider what the world would conceive, if I should be violently enforced to do it." Fragments of her Letters.

Note 3, page 23, lines 17 and 18.

And her lovely thoughts from their cells found way,
In the sudden flow of a plaintive lay.

A Greek Bride, on leaving her father's house, takes leave of her friends and relatives frequently in extemporaneous verse. See Fauriel's Chants Populaires de la Grèce Moderne.

Note 4, page 61, line 3.

And lov'd when they should hate—like thee, Imelda.

The tale of Imelda is related in Sismondi's Histoire des Republiques Italienne. Vol. iii. p.443.

Note 5, page 105, line 8.

Father of ancient waters, roll!

"Father of waters," the Indian name for the Mississippi.

Note 6, page 114, line 11.

And to the Fairy's fountain in the glade.

A beautiful fountain near Domremi, believed to be haunted by fairies, and a favourite resort of Jeanne d’Arc in her childhood.

Note 7, page 117, lines 5 and 6.

But loveliest far amidst the revel's pride,
Was she, the Lady from the Danube-side.

The Princess Pauline Schwartzenberg. The story of her fate is beautifully related in L'Allemagne. Vol. iii. p.336.