The sonnet written in 1806, beginning—
Methought I saw the footsteps of a throne,
was, Wordsworth tells us, a great favourite with S. H. He adds, “When I saw her lying in death I could not resist the impulse to compose the sonnet that follows it.” (See vol. iv. p. 46.)
In a letter to Southey (unpublished), Wordsworth refers to her death, and adds: “I saw her within an hour after her decease, in the silence and peace of death, with as heavenly an expression on her countenance as ever human creature had. Surely there is food for faith in these appearances: for myself, I can say that I have passed a wakeful night, more in joy than in sorrow, with that blessed face before my eyes perpetually as I lay in bed.”
TO A REDBREAST—(IN SICKNESS)
Published 1842
[Almost the only verses by our lamented sister Sara Hutchinson.—I.F.]
One of the “Miscellaneous Poems.”—Ed.
Stay, little cheerful Robin! stay,