This was Mary Rainer, the distracted girl of Ixworth Thorpe, a small village near Sapiston; a character drawn by Bloomfield in the most exquisite and pathetic language: she still resides at Ixworth Thorpe, but is now in a state of perfect sanity: the Poet acknowledges that he proved an indifferent prophet, when he asserted—
Ill-fated maid ! thy guiding spark is fled,
And lasting wretchedness awaits thy bed.
*******For in life's road, though thorns abundant grow,
There still are joys poor Poll can never know.
Sapiston Church, like many others in Suffolk, is covered with thatch; from which circumstance it has many times been nearly unroofed by the pilfering of the jackdaws. In the churchyard lie buried Mr. Austin, the venerable master of Giles, Mrs. Austin, and nine of their infant children.
