He neither envies the cage-born bird "that never knew the summer woods,"
and is content without liberty; nor the beast that lives uncontrolled by
conscience; nor the heart that never loved; "nor any want-begotten rest,"
that is, repose arising from defective sensibility.
On the contrary,
"I hold it true, whate'er befall;
I feel it, when I sorrow most;
'Tis better to have loved and lost
Than never to have loved at all."
Seneca in Epistle 99 says, _Magis gauderes quod habueras quam maereres quod
amiseras_.--See P. lxxxv., 1.
The Poem seems to halt here, and begin afresh with a description of
Christmastide.