NOTES.
Stanza iii., line 4.
Their tassel'd corn.
To those not familiar with the appearance of the Indian corn, on whose cultivation the aborigines of America relied as a principal article of subsistence, it may be well to say that a silky fibre, sometimes compared to a tassel, is protruded from the extremity of the sheath which envelops the golden ear, or sheaf of that stately and beautiful vegetable.
Stanza vi., line 1.
Spring robes the vales.
The ships which bore the Virginian colonists—the founders of our nation—entered the Chesapeake, April 26, 1607; and on the 13th of May, five months from the time of setting sail from England, which was December 19, 1606, a permanent embarkation was effected at Jamestown, fifty miles up that noble river, to which the name of James was given, in honour of the reigning monarch.
Stanza vii., line 3.
Their lily-handed youths essay the toil.
"The axe frequently blistered their tender fingers, so that many times every third blow had a loud oath to drown its echo."—Hillard's Life of Captain Smith.
Stanza ix., line 8.
England, sweet mother.
"Lord, bless England, our sweet native country," was the morning and evening prayer in the church at Jamestown, the first church erected in our western world.
