446. *_Humanity_. [XXX.]

These verses and the preceding ones, entitled ‘Liberty,’ were composed as one piece, which Mrs. W. complained of as unwieldy and ill-proportioned; and accordingly it was divided into two, on her judicious recommendation.

[Printed notes:  ’The rocking-stones alluded to in the beginning of the following verses are supposed 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.]