The maidens weep, as they fear being left behind; but all enter the ship, and
“We steer’d her toward a crimson cloud
That land-like slept along the deep.”
The teaching is allegorical of the voyage, and of those on board, and we may take this interpretation: I rather believe the maidens are the Muses, Arts, &c. Everything that made Life beautiful here, we may hope may pass on with us beyond the grave.
The description somewhat reminds one of the passage of king Arthur to the island of Avilion.
CIV.
Christmastide again; and he hears the bells from
“A single church below the hill;”
this is at the place to which the family had moved, and the church is Waltham Abbey church. It is a fresh and strange locality, and the bells sound like strangers’ voices, recalling nothing of his previous life; no memory can stray in the surrounding scenery;
“But all is new unhallow’d ground.”
The Poet’s mother lived for several years with her sister, Miss Fytche, in Well Walk, Hampstead; but this new home was at High Beach, Epping Forest.