Page:Pleasant Memories of Pleasant Lands.djvu/80

 THE DOVE S NEST.

��Too late ! too late ! Would that I might have ear lier visited the Mother-Land, and added, if it were but one sight of the countenance and sound of the voice, to the image of that poet whose strains thrill my soul.

Yonder unpretending cottage, the Dove s Nest, on the banks of Winandermere, was the summer retreat of Mrs. Ilemans, in 1830. She was struck with the retired beauty of its situation, while on a visit to Wordsworth, and delighted to ascertain that she could engage rooms in it for herself and her boys.

It was during this year, that she published her &quot; Songs of the Affections.&quot; It would be interesting to know what portion of those pure- gems of the heart sprang to light, or reached their highest polish amid the inspirations of that rural scenery. We imagined her seated in the alcove, which she has described as embowered amid the eglantine and rose, her sons to whom -a modern traveller has given the epithet of &quot; young eagles&quot; freely pursuing their sports beneath her eye.

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