FOOTNOTES:

'The loss and the sore prospect of the slain,'

for,

'And even the prospect of our brethren slain.'

In l. 14:

'True glory, everlasting sanctity,'

for,

'In glory will they sleep and endless sanctity.'

P. 161, l. 22. 'Milton compares,' &c. In 'Paradise Lost,' ii. 636-7.

P. 163, l. 2. 'Duppa is publishing a Life of Michael Angelo,' &c. It appeared in 1806 (4to); reprinted in Bohn's 'Illustrated Library.'

P. 163, footnote A. Alexander Wilson, who became the renowned 'Ornithologist' of America, was for years a 'pedlar,' both at home and in the United States. His intellectual ability and genius would alone have given sanction to Wordsworth's conception; but as simple matter-of-fact, the class was a peculiarly thoughtful and observant one, as the Biographies of Scotland show.

P. 167, ll. 30-1. 'A tale told,' &c. From Shakspeare, 'Macbeth,' v. 5.

P. 170, l. 34. 'Houbraken,' &c. Reissued from the old copper-plates.

P. 171, l. 30. 'I have never seen the works,' &c. In the Fuller Worthies' Library I have collected the complete Poems of Sir John Beaumont, 1 vol.

Pp. 178Pp. 178-9. Quotation (bottom). From Milton, 'Paradise Lost,' book iv. ll. 604-9; but 'How' is inadvertently substituted for 'Now.'

P. 196, l. 35. John Dyer. Wordsworth's repeated recognition and lofty estimate of Dyer recalls the fact that a collection of his many-sided Writings is still adesideratumthat the present Editor of Wordsworth's Prose hopes some day to supply—invited to the task of love by a lineal descendant.

P. 211, ll. 24-5. Verse-quotation from Cowper: more accurately it reads:

'The jay, the pie, and even the boding owlThat hails the rising moon, have charms for me.'

('The Task,' b. i. ll. 205-6.)

P. 217. It seems somewhat remarkable that Wordsworth nowhere mentions the following work: 'Remarks made in a Tour from London to the Lakes of Westmoreland and Cumberland in the Summer of MDCCXCI., originally published in theWhitehall Evening Post, and now reprinted with additions and corrections.... By A. Walker, Lecturer,' &c. 1792, 8vo. Wordsworth could not have failed to be interested in the descriptions of this overlooked book. They are open-eyed, open-eared, and vivid. I would refer especially to the Letters on Windermere, pp. 58-60, and indeed all on the Lakes. Space can only be found for a short quotation on Ambleside (Letter xiii., August 18, 1791): 'We now leave Low Wood, and along the verge of the Lake have a pleasing couple of miles to Ambleside. This is a straggling little market-town, made up of rough-cast white houses, but charmingly situated in the centre of three radiant vallies,i.e.all issuing from the town as from a centre. This shows the propriety of the Roman station situated near the west end of this place, called Amboglana, commanding one of the most difficult passes in England.... Beautiful woods rise half-way up the sides of the mountains from Ambleside, and seem wishful to cover the naked asperities of the country; but the Iron Works calling for them in the character of charcoal every fourteen or fifteen years, exposes the nakedness of the country. Among these woods and mountains are many frightful precipices and roaring cascades. In a still evening several are heard at once, in various keys, forming a kind of savage music; one, half a mile above thetown in a wood, seems upwards of a hundred feet fall.—About as much water as is in the New River precipitates itself over a perpendicular rock into a natural bason, where it seems to recover from its fall before it takes a second and a third tumble over huge stones that break it into a number of streams. It suffers not this outrage quietly, for it grumbles through hollow glens and stone cavities all the way, till it meets the Rothay, when it quietly enters the Lake' (pp. 71-3). It is odd that a book so matterful, and containing many descriptions equal to this of Ambleside, should be so absolutely gone out of sight. It is a considerable volume, and pp. 1-114 are devoted to the Lake region. Walker, in 1787, issued anonymously 'An Hasty Sketch of a Tour through Part of the Austrian Netherlands, &c.... By an English Gentleman.'

P. 264. Quotation from (eheu! eheu!) the still unpublished poem of 'Grasmere.'

P. 274. Quotation from Spenser, 'Fairy Queen,' b. iii. c. v. st. 39-40. In st. 39, l. 8, 'puny' is a misprint for 'pumy' = pumice; in st. 40, l. 3, 'sang' similarly misreads 'song' = sung, or were singing.

P. 284. Verse-quotation. From 'Sonnet on Needpath Castle,' asante.

P. 296, footnote A. Lucretius, ii. 772 seq.; and cf. v. 482 seq.

P. 331. Quotation from Burns,—Verse-letter to William Simpson, st. 14.

P. 336. Is this from Dryden? G.

[1]The Beaumont Letters are given from the originals, and in many cases, as elsewhere, contain important additions and corrections. G.

[2]A Review of the Life of Robert Burns, and of various Criticisms on his Character and Writings, by Alexander Peterkin, 1814.

[3]From Mr. Peterkin's pamphlet, who vouches for the accuracy of his citations; omitting, however, to apologize for their length.

[4]A friend, who chances to be present while the author is correcting the proof sheets, observes that Aristarchus is libelled by this application of his name, and advises that 'Zoilus' should be substituted. The question lies between spite and presumption; and it is not easy to decide upon a case where the claims of each party are so strong: but the name of Aristarch, who, simple man! would allow no verse to pass for Homer's which he did not approve of, is retained, for reasons that will be deemed cogent.

[5]It was deemed that it would be so, and the letter is published accordingly.

[6]Memoirs, ii. 88-91.

[7]Memoirs, ii. 91-2.

[8]It is worth while here to observe, that the affecting parts of Chaucer are almost always expressed in language pure and universally intelligible even to this day.

[9]I here use the word 'Poetry' (though against my own judgment) as opposed to the word Prose, and synonymous with metrical composition. But much confusion has been introduced into criticism by this contradistinction of Poetry and Prose, instead of the more philosophical one of Poetry and Matter of Fact, or Science. The only strict antithesis to Prose is Metre; nor is this, in truth, astrictantithesis, because lines and passages of metre so naturally occur in writing prose, that it would be scarcely possible to avoid them, even were it desirable.

[10]The learned Hakewill (a third edition of whose book bears date 1635), writing to refute the error 'touching Nature's perpetual and universal decay,' cites triumphantly the names of Ariosto, Tasso, Bartas, and Spenser, as instances that poetic genius had not degenerated; but he makes no mention of Shakspeare.

[11]This flippant insensibility was publicly reprehended by Mr. Coleridge in a course of Lectures upon Poetry given by him at the Royal Institution. For the various merits of thought and language in Shakspeare's Sonnets, see Numbers 27, 29, 30, 32, 33, 54, 64, 66, 68, 73, 76, 86, 91, 92, 93, 97, 98, 105, 107, 108, 109, 111, 113, 114, 116, 117, 129, and many others.

[12]Hughes is express upon this subject: in his dedication of Spenser's Works to Lord Somers, he writes thus. 'It was your Lordship's encouraging a beautiful Edition of "Paradise Lost" that first brought that incomparable Poem to be generally known and esteemed.'

[13]This opinion seems actually to have been entertained by Adam Smith, the worst critic, David Hume not excepted, that Scotland, a soil to which this sort of weed seems natural, has produced.

[14]CORTESalone in a night-gown.All things are hush'd as Nature's self lay dead;The mountains seem to nod their drowsy head.The little Birds in dreams their songs repeat,And sleeping Flowers beneath the Night-dew sweat:Even Lust and Envy sleep; yet Love deniesRest to my soul, and slumber to my eyes.DRYDEN'sIndian Emperor.

[14]CORTESalone in a night-gown.

All things are hush'd as Nature's self lay dead;The mountains seem to nod their drowsy head.The little Birds in dreams their songs repeat,And sleeping Flowers beneath the Night-dew sweat:Even Lust and Envy sleep; yet Love deniesRest to my soul, and slumber to my eyes.

DRYDEN'sIndian Emperor.

[15]Since these observations upon Thomson were written, I have perused the second edition of his 'Seasons,' and find that eventhatdoes not contain the most striking passages which Warton points out for admiration; these, with other improvements, throughout the whole work, must have been added at a later period.

[16]Shenstone, in his 'Schoolmistress,' gives a still more remarkable instance of this timidity. On its first appearance, (See D'Israeli's 2d Series of theCuriosities of Literature) the Poem was accompanied with an absurd prose commentary, showing, as indeed some incongruous expressions in the text imply that the whole was intended for burlesque. In subsequent editions, the commentary was dropped, and the People have since continued to read in seriousness, doing for the Author what he had not courage openly to venture upon for himself.

[17]As sensibility to harmony of numbers, and the power of producing it, are invariably attendants upon the faculties above specified, nothing has been said upon those requisites.

[18]Charles Lamb upon the genius of Hogarth.

[19]Written at Needpath, (near Peebles,) a mansion of the Duke of Queensbury: 'Now as I live, I pity that great Lord,' &c. (Memorials of a Tour in Scotland, xii.) To the Men of Kent: 'Vanguard of Liberty, ye Men of Kent.' [Poems dedicated to National Independence and Liberty, xxiii.] Anticipation: 'Shout, for a mighty victory is won!' (Ibid, xxvi.) &c. If you think, either you or Lady Beaumont, that these two last Sonnets are worth publication, would you have the goodness to circulate them in any way you like. (Onvarious readingsin these Sonnets, see our Notes and Illustrations. G.)

[20]Memoirs, vol. i. pp. 260-4, with important additions from the original. G.

[21]Memoirs, vol. i. pp. 267-70, with important additions from the original. G.

[22]Dora Wordsworth, born Aug. 16. 1804.

[23]Memoirs, vol. i. pp. 270—2. G.

[24]Memoirs, vol. i. pp. 272—8. G.

[25]'The Excursion.' 'The Pedlar' was the title once proposed, from the character of the Wanderer, but abandoned. (Memoirs, vol. i. p.304.)

[26]Memoirs, vol. i. p.304et seq.,with important additions from the original. G.

[27]Memoirs, vol. i. pp. 305—8. G.

[28]Memoirs, vol. i. pp. 309—12. G.

[29]'The Happy Warrior'

[30]Memoirs, vol. i. p.321et seq., with important additions from the original. By a curious inadvertence this letter is dated 1796—quite plainly—for 1806, as shown by the post-mark outside. G.

[31]Memoirs, vol. i. pp. 331-40.

[32]Memoirs, vol. i. pp. 340-3.

[33]Mr. Thomas Wilkinson. See poem, 'To his Spade.'

[34]'Yes, Hope may with my strong desire keep pace,' &c.

[35]Memoirs, vol. i. pp. 345-54, with very important additions from the original. G.

[36]Memoirs, vol. i, pp. 358-60.

[37]Memoirs, vol. i. pp. 360-3.

[38]Memoirs, vol. i. pp. 363-6.

[39]The Lady E. Butler, and the Hon. Miss Ponsonby.

[40]Memoirs, vol. ii. pp. 121—7.

[41]Memoirs, vol. i. pp. 166—171.

[42]Memoirs, vol. i. pp. 171—2.

[43]Entitled 'Resolution and Independence.'

[44]Memoirs, vol. i. pp. 166—174.

[45]Parts of this letter have been torn, and words have been lost; some of which are here conjecturally supplied between brackets.

[46]Memoirs, vol. i. pp. 192—200.

[47]Mr. Green's Guide to the Lakes, in two vols., contains a complete Magazine of minute and accurate information of this kind, with the names of mountains, streams, &c.

[48]No longer strictly applicable, on account of recent plantations.

[49]See page 308.

[50]Anciently spelt Langden, and so called by the old inhabitants to this day—dean, from which the latter part of the word is derived, being in many parts of England a name for a valley.

[51]See that admirable Idyllium, the Catillus and Salia of Landor.

[52]In fact there is not an instance of a harbour on the Cumberland side of the Solway frith that is not dry at low water; that of Ravenglass, at the mouth of the Esk, as a natural harbour is much the best. The Sea appears to have been retiring slowly for ages from this coast. From Whitehaven to St. Bees extends a tract of level ground, about five miles in length, which formerly must have been under salt water, so as to have made an island of the high ground that stretches between it and the Sea.

[53]This species of fir is in character much superior to the American which has usurped its place: Where the fir is planted for ornament, let it be by all means of the aboriginal species, which can only be procured from the Scotch nurseries.

[54]A squirrel (so I have heard the old people of Wytheburn say) might have gone from their chapel to Keswick without alighting on the ground.

[55]Dr. Brown, the author of this fragment, was from his infancy brought up in Cumberland, and should have remembered that the practice of folding sheep by night is unknown among these mountains, and that the image of the Shepherd upon the watch is out of its place, and belongs only to countries, with a warmer climate, that are subject to ravages from beasts of prey. It is pleasing to notice a dawn of imaginative feeling in these verses. Tickel, a man of no common genius, chose, for the subject of a Poem, Kensington Gardens, in preference to the Banks of the Derwent, within a mile or two of which he was born. But this was in the reign of Queen Anne, or George the first. Progress must have been made in the interval; though the traces of it, except in the works of Thomson and Dyer, are not very obvious.

[56]It is not improbable that these circles were once numerous, and that many of them may yet endure in a perfect state, under no very deep covering of soil. A friend of the Author, while making a trench in a level piece of ground, not far from the banks of the Emont, but in no connection with that river, met with some stones which seemed to him formally arranged; this excited his curiosity, and proceeding, he uncovered a perfect circle of stones, from two to three or four feet high, with asanctum sanctorum,—- the whole a complete place of Druidical worship of small dimensions, having the same sort of relation to Stonehenge, Long Meg and her Daughters near the river Eden, and Karl Lofts near Shap (if this last be not Danish), that a rural chapel bears to a stately church, or to one of our noble cathedrals. This interesting little monument having passed, with the field in which it was found, into other hands, has been destroyed. It is much to be regretted, that the striking relic of antiquity at Shap has been in a great measure destroyed also.The DAUGHTERS of LONG MEG are placed not in an oblong, as the STONES of SHAP, but in a perfect circle, eighty yards in diameter, and seventy-two in number, and from above three yards high, to less than so many feet: a little way out of the circle stands LONG MEG herself—- a single stone eighteen feet high.When the Author first saw this monument, he came upon it by surprize, therefore might over-rate its importance as an object; but he must say, that though it is not to be compared with Stonehenge, he has not seen any other remains of those dark ages, which can pretend to rival it in singularity and dignity of appearance.A weight of awe not easy to be borneFell suddenly upon my spirit, castFrom the dread bosom of the unknown past,When first I saw that sisterhood forlorn;—And Her, whose strength and stature seem to scornThe power of years—pre-eminent, and placedApart, to overlook the circle vast.Speak, Giant-mother! tell it to the Morn,While she dispels the cumbrous shades of night;Let the Moon hear, emerging from a cloud,When, how, and wherefore, rose on British groundThat wondrous Monument, whose mystic roundForth shadows, some have deemed, to mortal sightThe inviolable God that tames the proud.

The DAUGHTERS of LONG MEG are placed not in an oblong, as the STONES of SHAP, but in a perfect circle, eighty yards in diameter, and seventy-two in number, and from above three yards high, to less than so many feet: a little way out of the circle stands LONG MEG herself—- a single stone eighteen feet high.

When the Author first saw this monument, he came upon it by surprize, therefore might over-rate its importance as an object; but he must say, that though it is not to be compared with Stonehenge, he has not seen any other remains of those dark ages, which can pretend to rival it in singularity and dignity of appearance.

A weight of awe not easy to be borneFell suddenly upon my spirit, castFrom the dread bosom of the unknown past,When first I saw that sisterhood forlorn;—And Her, whose strength and stature seem to scornThe power of years—pre-eminent, and placedApart, to overlook the circle vast.Speak, Giant-mother! tell it to the Morn,While she dispels the cumbrous shades of night;Let the Moon hear, emerging from a cloud,When, how, and wherefore, rose on British groundThat wondrous Monument, whose mystic roundForth shadows, some have deemed, to mortal sightThe inviolable God that tames the proud.

[57]Written some time ago. The injury done since, is more than could have been calculated upon.Singula de nobis anni praedantur euntes. This is in the course of things; but why should the genius that directed the ancient architecture of these vales have deserted them? For the bridges, churches, mansions, cottages, and their richly fringed and flat-roofed outhouses, venerable as the grange of some old abbey, have been substituted structures, in which baldness only seems to have been studied, or plans of the most vulgar utility. But some improvement may be looked for in future; the gentryrecentlyhave copied the old models, and successful instances might be pointed out, if I could take the liberty.

[57]Written some time ago. The injury done since, is more than could have been calculated upon.

Singula de nobis anni praedantur euntes. This is in the course of things; but why should the genius that directed the ancient architecture of these vales have deserted them? For the bridges, churches, mansions, cottages, and their richly fringed and flat-roofed outhouses, venerable as the grange of some old abbey, have been substituted structures, in which baldness only seems to have been studied, or plans of the most vulgar utility. But some improvement may be looked for in future; the gentryrecentlyhave copied the old models, and successful instances might be pointed out, if I could take the liberty.

[58]In some places scholars were formerly taught in the church, and at others the school-house was a sort of anti-chapel to the place of worship, being under the same roof; an arrangement which was abandoned as irreverent. It continues, however, to this day in Borrowdale. In the parish register of that chapelry is a notice, that a youth who had quitted the valley, and died in one of the towns on the coast of Cumberland, had requested that his body should be brought and interred at the foot of the pillar by which he had been accustomed to sit while a school-boy. One cannot but regret that parish registers so seldom contain any thing but bare names; in a few of this country, especially in that of Lowes-water, I have found interesting notices of unusual natural occurrences—characters of the deceased, and particulars of their lives. There is no good reason why such memorials should not be frequent; these short and simple annals would in future ages become precious.

[59]One of the most pleasing characteristics of manners in secluded and thinly-peopled districts, is a sense of the degree in which human happiness and comfort are dependent on the contingency of neighbourhood. This is implied by a rhyming adage common here, 'Friends are far, when neighbours are nar' (near). This mutual helpfulness is not confined to out-of-doors work; but is ready upon all occasions. Formerly, if a person became sick, especially the mistress of a family, it was usual for those of the neighbours who were more particularly connected with the party by amicable offices, to visit the house, carrying a present; this practice, which is by no means obsolete, is calledowningthe family, and is regarded as a pledge of a disposition to be otherwise serviceable in a time of disability and distress.

[60]These are disappearing fast, under the management of the present Proprietor, and native wood is resuming its place.

[61]A proper colouring of houses is now becoming general. It is best that the colouring material should be mixed with the rough-cast, and not laid on as awashafterwards.

[62]The only instances to which the foregoing observations do not apply, are Derwent-water and Lowes-water. Derwent is distinguished from all the other Lakes by beingsurroundedwith sublimity: the fantastic mountains of Borrowdale to the south, the solitary majesty of Skiddaw to the north, the bold steeps of Wallow-crag and Lodore to the east, and to the west the clustering mountains of Newlands. Lowes-water is tame at the head, but towards its outlet has a magnificent assemblage of mountains. Yet, as far as respects the formation of such receptacles, the general observation holds good: neither Derwent nor Lowes-water derive any supplies from the streams of those mountains that dignify the landscape towards the outlets.

[63]The greatest variety of trees is found in the Valais.

[64]Lucretius has charmingly described a scene of this kind.Inque dies magis in montem succedere sylvasCogebant, infráquo locum coucedere cultis:Prata, lacus, rivos, segetes, vinetaque laetaCollibus et campis ut haberent, atque olearumCaeruladistinguens interplagacurrere possetPer tumulos, et convalleis, camposque profusa:Ut nunc esse vides vario distincta leporeOnmia, quae pomis intersita dulcibus ornant,Arbustisque teneut felicibus obsita circúm.

[64]Lucretius has charmingly described a scene of this kind.

Inque dies magis in montem succedere sylvasCogebant, infráquo locum coucedere cultis:Prata, lacus, rivos, segetes, vinetaque laetaCollibus et campis ut haberent, atque olearumCaeruladistinguens interplagacurrere possetPer tumulos, et convalleis, camposque profusa:Ut nunc esse vides vario distincta leporeOnmia, quae pomis intersita dulcibus ornant,Arbustisque teneut felicibus obsita circúm.

[65]It is remarkable that Como (as is probably the case with other Italian Lakes) is more troubled by storms in summer than in winter. Hence the propriety of the following verses:Lari! margine ubique confragosoNulli coelicolum negas sacellumPicto pariete saxeoque tecto;Hinc miracula multa navitarumAudis, nee placido refellis ore,Sed nova usque pavas, Noto vel EuroAestivasquatieutibus cavernas,Vel surgentis ab Adduae cubiliCaeco grandinis imbre provoluto. LANDOR.

[65]It is remarkable that Como (as is probably the case with other Italian Lakes) is more troubled by storms in summer than in winter. Hence the propriety of the following verses:

Lari! margine ubique confragosoNulli coelicolum negas sacellumPicto pariete saxeoque tecto;Hinc miracula multa navitarumAudis, nee placido refellis ore,Sed nova usque pavas, Noto vel EuroAestivasquatieutibus cavernas,Vel surgentis ab Adduae cubiliCaeco grandinis imbre provoluto. LANDOR.

[66]A.D. 1835. These also have disappeared

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