Robert Snow.
Lines by Lord Palmerston (Vol. i., p. 382.; Vol. ii., p. 30. Vol. iii., p. 28.).—In Vol. i., p. 328., Indagator inquired whether there was any
authority for attributing to the late Lord Palmerston the beautiful lines on the loss of his lady, beginning,—
"Whoe'er like me his heart's whole treasure brings."
Indagator says they have been supposed to be Hawksworth's and S. S. S. (Vol. ii., p. 30.) that they have been also attributed to Mason. I can state, from the best authority, that they are Lord Palmerston's. My authority needs no extrinsic confirmation, but I may as well observe that Indagator has himself sufficiently disposed of Hawksworth's claim, as his wife was still alive when the lines appeared; and the conjecture of S. S. S. is obviously a confusion of Lord Palmerston's lines with those of Mason's (whose wife died at Bristol), beginning—
"Take, holy earth, all that my soul holds dear."
But another of your correspondents, A. B. (Vol. iii., p. 28.), or your printer, has made a mistake on this point which I cannot account for. A. B. says that he inquired after the author of the lines beginning—
"Stranger, whoe'er thou art that viewest this tomb;"
and this statement is headed with a reference to Indagator's inquiry about Lord Palmerston, to which it had no reference whatsoever. I do not remember to have seen A. B.'s inquiry, but it assuredly has nothing to do with Indagator's which I have now set at rest.
C.