This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.
108
NOTABLE IRISHWOMEN.

difference, till at last come her final triumph and apotheosis.

The writing of this poem was a never-failing joy to Mrs. Tighe. She calls it—

Delightful vision of my lonely hours,
Charm of my life, and solace of my care.

Sitting in a chestnut bower at Rosanna, which still may be seen, these thrilling scenes of an imaginary world passed before her mind's eye. She was little more than a girl, but so wedded to the airy fabric of her dreams that she could think of little else. When William Howitt made a pilgrimage to Rosanna he thus described it, "All the way from Dublin to Rosanna is through a rich and lovely district. It is a gold district, much gold being found in its streams. As you approach Rosanna, the hills become higher, and your way lies through the most beautiful wooded valleys. At the inn at Ashford Bridge, you have the celebrated Devil's Glen on one hand and Rosanna on the other. This glen lies a mile or more from the inn; it is narrow; the hills on either side are lofty, bold, craggy, and along the bottom, runs deep and dark over its rocky bed, the River Vartry.

"Rosanna is, indeed, eminently beautiful. The house is a plain old brick house, fit for a country squire. It lies low in the meadow near the river, and around it on both sides of the