ll, whose flowery platform,' &c. [Sonnet VI. l. 13.]

This hill at St. Alban's must have been an object of great interest to
the imagination of the venerable Bede, who thus describes it, with a
delicate feeling delightful to meet with in that rude age, traces of
which are frequent in his works:--'Variis herbarum floribus depictus imo
usquequaque vestitus, in quo nihil repente arduum, nihil praeceps, nihil
abruptum, quem lateribus longe lateque deductum in modum aequoris natura
complanat, dignum videlicet eum pro insita sibi specie venustatis jam
olim reddens, qui beati martyris canore dicaretur.'

337. _Hallelujahs_.

'Nor wants the cause the panic-striking aid Of hallelujahs.'
[Sonnet XI. ll. 1-2.]

Alluding to the victory gained under Germanus. See Bede.

338. _Samuel Daniel and Thomas Fuller _. [Ibid. ll. 9-10.]

'By men yet scarcely conscious of a care
For other monuments than those of earth.'

The last six lines of this Sonnet are chiefly from the prose of Daniel;
and here I will state (though to the Readers whom this Poem will chiefly
interest it is unnecessary) that my obligations to other prose writers
are frequent,--obligations which, even if I had not a pleasure in
courting, it would have been presumptuous to shun, in treating an
historical subject. I must, however, particularise Fuller, to whom I am
indebted in the Sonnet upon Wycliffe and in other instances. And upon
the acquittal of the Seven Bishops I have done little more than versify
a lively description of that event in the MS. Memoirs of the first Lord
Lonsdale.

339. _Monastery of Old Bangor_. [Sonnet XII.]

After a quotation from Turner's 'valuable History of the Anglo-Saxons.'
Taliesen was present at the battle which preceded this desolation. The
account Bede gives of this remarkable event, suggests a most striking
warning against National and Religious prejudices.

340. _Paulinus_. [Sonnet XV.]

The person of Paulinus is thus described by Bede, from the memory of an
eye-witness: 'Longae staturae, paululum incurvus, nigro capillo, facie
macilenta, naso adunco, pertenui, venerabilis simul et terribilis
aspectu.'

341. _King Edwin and the Sparrow_.

'Man's life is like a sparrow.' [Sonnet XVI. l. 1.]

See the original of this speech in Bede.--The Conversion of Edwin, as
related by him, is highly interesting--and the breaking up of this
Council accompanied with an event so striking and characteristic, that I