In the _Pall Mall Gazette_, Feb. 1, 1890 the following incident is given
concerning the third stanza of this poem:
"One evening just before his death illness, the poet was reading this
from a proof to his daughter-in-law and sister. He said: 'It almost
looks like bragging to say this, and as if I ought to cancel it; but
it's the simple truth; and as it's true, it shall stand.'"