pardon for all those little asperities of temper which, from time to
time, have given her gentle spirit pain; and the day, my friend, I trust
will come; there will be "time enough" for kind offices of love, if
"Heaven's eternal year" be ours. Hereafter, her meek spirit shall not
reproach me. Oh, my friend, cultivate the filial feelings! and let no
man think himself released from the kind "charities" of relationship:
these shall give him peace at the last; these are the best foundation
for every species of benevolence. I rejoice to hear, by certain
channels, that you, my friend, are reconciled with all your relations.
'Tis the most kindly and natural species of love, and we have all the
associated train of early feelings to secure its strength and
perpetuity. Send me an account of your health; _indeed_ I am solicitous
about you. God love you and yours. C. LAMB.

[It seems to have been Coleridge's intention to dedicate the second
edition of his _Poems_ to Bowles; but he changed his mind and dedicated
it to his brother, the Rev. George Coleridge. A sonnet to Bowles was
included in the volume, a kind of sub-dedication of the other sonnets,
but it had appeared also in the 1796 volume.

Lamb's instructions concerning his share in the 1797 volume were carried
out, except that the sub-title was omitted.

The quotations "merrier days" ("happier days") and "wanderings with a
fair-hair'd maid" are from Lamb's own sonnets; those in lines 9 and 10
from Dryden's Elegy on Mrs. Killigrew.

Coleridge had paid in the summer a long-deferred visit of reconciliation
to his family at Ottery St. Mary.]