Another of her midnight orisons was the poem beginning:—
"Every night Thou dost me fright,
And keep mine eyes from sleeping," etc.
The last couplet, it should be noted, is misquoted from No. [56].
[54]. Spew out all neutralities. From the message to the Church of the Laodiceans, Rev. iii. 16.
[59]. A Present by a Child. Cp. "A pastoral upon the Birth of Prince Charles" (Hesperides [213]), and [Note].
[63]. God's mirth: man's mourning. Perhaps founded on Prov. i. 26: "I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your fear cometh".
[65]. My Alma. The name is probably suggested by its meaning "soul". Cp. Prior's Alma.
[72]. I'll cast a mist and cloud. Cp. Hor. I. Ep. xvi. 62: Noctem peccatis et fraudibus objice nubem.
[75]. That house is bare. Horace, Ep. I. vi. 45: Exilis domus est, ubi non et multa supersunt.
[77]. Lighten my candle, etc. The phraseology of the next five lines is almost entirely from the Psalms and the Song of Solomon.