to have been used, by our British
ancestors, both for judicial and religious purposes. Such stones are not
uncommonly found, at this day, both in Great Britain and in Ireland.' On
l. 32, 'Descending to the worm in charity:' 'I am indebted here to a
passage in one of Mr. Digby's valuable works.']

447. *_Thought on the Seasons_. [XXXI.]

Written at Rydal Mount, 1829.

448. *_To_ ----, _on the Birth of her first Child_. [XXXII.]

Written at Moresby near Whitehaven, 1833, when I was on a visit to my
son, then incumbent of that small living. While I am dictating these
Notes to my friend Miss Fenwick, Jan. 24th, 1843, the child, upon whose
birth these verses were written, is under my roof, and is of a
disposition so promising that the wishes and prayers and prophecies
which I then breathed forth in verse are, thro' God's mercy, likely to
be realised. [In pencil--Jane?]

449. *_The Warning: a Sequel to the Foregoing_. [XXXIII.]

These lines were composed during the fever spread through the nation by
the Reform Bill. As the motives which led to this measure, and the good
or evil which has attended or has risen from it, will be duly
appreciated by future historians, there is no call for dwelling on the
subject in this place. I will content myself with saying that the then
condition of the people's mind is not, in these verses, exaggerated.

450. *_The Labourer's Noon-day Hymn_. [XXXV.]

Bishop Ken's Morning and Evening Hymns are, as they deserve to be,
familiarly known. Many other hymns have also been written on the same
subjects; but not being aware of any being designed for noon-day I was
induced to compose these verses. Often we had occasion to observe
cottage children carrying in their baskets dinner to their fathers
engaged with their daily labours in the fields and woods. How gratifying
would it be to me could I be assured that any portion of these stanzas
had been sung by such a domestic concert under such circumstances. A
friend of mine has told me that she introduced this Hymn into a
village-school which she superintended; and the stanzas in succession
furnished her with texts to comment upon in a way which without
difficulty was made intelligible to the children, and in which they
obviously took delight; and they were taught to sing it to the tune of
the old 100th Psalm.

451. *_Ode composed on May Morning_. [XXXVI.]

*_To May_. [XXXVII.]

These two Poems originated in these lines 'How delicate,