"This is the Last of Earth" allusion to John Quincy Adams (1767–1848), sixth president of the United States; reportedly his last words were "This is the last of Earth! . . . I am content."
"the long, sacred rest . . . beloved'" See Psalms 127: 2: "It is vain that you rise up early and go late to rest, / eating the bread of anxious toil; / for he gives to his beloved sleep."
"Lord, I believe; help thou my unbelief" Mark 9: 24.
bark a small sailing boat; figuratively, Eva's life.
ciphers things of no importance; nonentities.
Moore, Byron, Goethe Thomas Moore (1779–1852), Irish poet; George Gordon (Lord) Byron (1788–1824), British poet; Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749–1832), German poet and dramatist; here, these three are examples of writers who understood religious feeling although they were popularly supposed not to be religious.
exactions demands, specific requirements.
"In the midst of life we are in death" line from the Burial of the Dead in the Book of Common Prayer.
"When the Son of man . . . . As ye did it not to one of the least of these . . . ." Matthew 25: 31–46.
