The best description must be incomplete; But when a happier theme [succeeds], and when Men are our subjects and the deeds of men; 300 Then may we find the Muse in happier style, And we may sometimes sigh and sometimes smile. NOTES TO LETTER I. [34] Note 1, page 286, line 32. _Sits the large lily as the water's queen._ The white water-lily. Nymphæa alba. [35] Note 2, page 286, line 41. _Sampire-banks._ The jointed glasswort _Salicornia_ is here meant, not the true sampire, the _crithmum maritimum_. [36] Note 3, page 286, line 41. _Salt-wort._ The salsola of botanists. [37] Note 4, page 287, line 84. _And planks which curve and crackle in the smoke._ The curvature of planks for the sides of a ship, &c. is, I am informed, now generally made by the power of steam. Fire is nevertheless still used for boats and vessels of the smaller kind. [38] Note 5, page 289, lines 171 and 172. _And oft the foggy banks on ocean lie, Lift the fair sail, and cheat th' experienced eye._ Of the effect of these mists, known by the name of fog-banks, wonderful and indeed incredible relations are given; but their property of appearing to elevate ships at sea, and to bring them in view, is, I believe, generally acknowledged. LETTER II. _THE CHURCH._ ... Festinat enim decurrere velox Flosculus angustæ miseræque brevissima vitæ Portio! dum bibimus, dum serta, unguenta, puellas Poscimus, obrepit non intellecta senectus. _Juvenal._ Satir. ix. lin. 126. And when at last thy love shall die, Wilt thou receive his parting breath? Wilt thou repress each struggling sigh, And cheer with smiles the bed of death? _Percy_ [?]. Several Meanings of the word _Church_--The Building so called, here intended--Its Antiquity and Grandeur--Columns and Ailes--The Tower: the Stains made by Time compared with the mock Antiquity of the Artist--Progress of Vegetation on such Buildings--Bells--Tombs: one in decay--Mural Monuments, and the Nature of their Inscriptions--An Instance in a departed Burgess--- Churchyard Graves--Mourners for the Dead--A Story of a betrothed Pair in humble Life, and Effects of Grief in the Survivor. LETTER II. _THE CHURCH._