The form of stanza in this Poem, and something in the style of versification, are adopted from the _St. Monica_, a poem of much beauty upon a monastic subject, by Charlotte Smith: a lady to whom English verse is under greater obligations than are likely to be either acknowledged or remembered. She wrote little, and that little unambitiously, but with true feeling for rural nature,[839] at a time when nature was not much regarded by English Poets; for in point of time her earlier writings preceded, I believe, those of Cowper and Burns.[840]--W. W. 1835. [819] 1845. And Wisdom, that once held ... 1835. [820] See the note, p. 351.--ED. [821] 1837. ... cross'd; As high and higher heaved the billows, faith Grew with them, mightier than the powers of death. She ... 1835. [822] The Danes, and the Cymric aborigines.--ED. [823] 1837. ... round her Cell 1835. [824] See the extract from Nicholson and Burn's _History of Cumberland_, in Wordsworth's note, p. 351.--ED. [825] 1837. There were ... 1835. [826] 1837. ... extended ... 1835. [827] 1837. Were ... 1835. [828] I am aware that I am here treading upon tender ground; but to the intelligent reader I feel that[841] no apology is due. The prayers of survivors, during passionate grief for the recent loss of relatives and friends, as the object of those prayers could no longer be the suffering body of the dying, would naturally be ejaculated for the souls of the departed; the barriers between the two worlds dissolving before the power of love and faith. The ministers of religion, from their habitual attendance upon sick-beds, would be daily witnesses of these benign results; and hence would be strongly tempted to aim at giving to them permanence, by embodying them in rites and ceremonies, recurring at stated periods. All this, as it was in course of nature, so was it blameless, and even praiseworthy; since some of its effects, in that rude state of society, could not but be salutary. No reflecting person, however, can view[842] without sorrow the abuses which rose out of thus formalizing sublime instincts, and disinterested movements of passion, and perverting them into means of gratifying the ambition and rapacity of the priesthood. But, while we deplore and are indignant at these abuses, it would be a great mistake if we imputed the origin of the offices to prospective selfishness on the part of the monks and clergy: _they_ were at first sincere in their sympathy, and in their degree dupes rather of their own creed, than artful and designing men. Charity is, upon the whole, the safest guide that we can take in judging our fellow-men, whether of past ages, or of the present time.--W. W. 1835. [829] 1837. ... was past away Said ... 1835. [830] 1837. On, Champions, on!--But mark! the passing Day Submits her intercourse to milder sway, With high and low whose busy thoughts from far 1835.