"Wednesday, 9th August. Interlachen.—Our minstrel peasants passed us on the water, no longer singing plaintive ditties such as inspired the little poem, which I shall transcribe in the following page; but with bursts of merriment they rowed lustily away. The poet has, however, transported the minstrels in their gentle mood from the Cottage door to the calm Lake." (From Dorothy Wordsworth's Journal, vol. i.)—Ed.
FOOTNOTE:
[HR] Compare Edmund Waller, Upon the Death of my Lady Rich, ll. 75, 76—
So all we know of what they do above
Is that they happy are, and that they love.
Also, ll. 10-12 of his song, beginning, "While I listen to thy voice"—
For all we know
Of what the Blessed do above
Is, that they sing, and that they love.