VIII. (page 77).

Engraven, during my absence in Italy, upon a brass plate inserted in the Stone.-I. F.

Dated by Wordsworth 1830; but (perhaps) erroneously; sent in MS. to John Kenyon, Sept. 9, 1831; first published 1835. Text unchanged, but the text, as regards 11. 6, 7, is found in 1835 in errata: the poem, as printed on p. 85 of the "Yarrow Revisited" volume, has:

"To let it rest in peace; and here

(Heaven knows how soon) the tender-hearted ".

In the MS. version sent to Kenyon :

"Long may it rest in peace, and here
Perchance the tender-hearted

Will," etc.-ED.

IX. (page 78).

The walk is what we call the Far- Terrace beyond the summer-house at Rydal Mount. The lines were written when we were afraid of being obliged to quit the place to which we were so much attached.-I. F.

Dated by Wordsworth 1826; first published 1835, with the title, "Inscription." Text unchanged; but Professor Knight gives some various readings (inferior to the printed text) from MS.—ED.

X. (page 79).

Dated by Wordsworth 1818; first published 1820. L. 19 (1827); in 1820, “Joy? a dazzling moon reflected." L. 25 (1827); in 1820, "Gone, as if for ever hidden." Professor Knight compares Carlyle's verses "Cui Bono," in which is found the same form of question and responsion, "What is Hope?" "What is life?" "What is Man?" -ED.

XI. (page 80).

The monument of ice here spoken of I observed while ascending the middle road of the three ways that lead from Rydal to Grasmere. It was on my right hand, and my eyes were upon it when it fell, as told in these lines.-I. F. Same dates of composition and publication as X. Text unchanged.-Ed.

XII. (page 81).

Where the second quarry now is, as you pass from Rydal to Grasmere, there was formerly a length of smooth rock that sloped towards the road, on the right hand. I used to call it Tadpole Slope, from having frequently observed there the water-bubbles gliding under the ice, exactly in the shape of that creature.-I. F.

Same dates as X. L. 1 in the Duddon volume of 1820 has "train incessant"; in the "Miscellaneous Poems," 1820, the word is "flash."-Ed.

XIII. (page 81).

Same dates as X.

Text unchanged.—ED.

Same dates as X.

XIV. (page 82).

L. 18,"on" (1827); in 1820, "with." L. 20 (1827); in 1820, "But faith, and hope, and extacy!" -ED.

XV. (page 83).

Dated by Wordsworth 1800; first published 1800. The present text is in the main a return to the text of "Lyrical Ballads," 1800-1805. In 1815 a different version was given, which re-appeared in 1820; another attempt at improvement was made in 1827; finally, in 1832, Wordsworth reverted to his first thoughts, with considerable benefits retained from the partially rejected forms of the poem. The first five lines to the word "spot" are now as in 1800; in 1802-1805 "sink" in 1. 4 was sick." From

1.

"and" in l. 5 to "sheltered him " in 1. 9 is founded on the opening of 1827 :

"Stranger! this shapeless heap of stones and earth
Is the last relic of St. Herbert's Cell,

Here stood his threshold; here was spread the roof
That sheltered him,"

The next words, "a self-secluded Man," to end of 1. 13 are retained from the 1815 version, and appear also in 1820 and 1827. "In utter solitude" (1. 14) dates from 1827; "But he had left" (1. 14) dates from 1802. The rest of the poem is substantially as in 1800, except that (1) “with eye upraised To heaven" replaced in 1827 the earlier "within his cave Alone"; (2) "would pray" (1. 21) re

placed in 1802 the "had pray'd” of 1800; and 1. 22 is an addition of 1815. The opening of the 1815 version was as follows:

"This Island guarded from profane approach
By mountains high and waters widely spread,
Is that recess to which St. Herbert came,

In life's decline; a self-secluded Man,"

Of these lines the first two are given as a recent emendation in a letter to Sir G. Beaumont of Nov. 20, 1811; the third line of this MS. version is " Gave to St. Herbert a benign retreat." It remains to give the 1800 form of the lines between " quiet spot" (1. 5) and "A Fellowlabourer" (1. 15):

"St. Herbert hither came,
And here, for many seasons, from the world
Remov'd, and the affections of the world,
He dwelt in solitude, He living here
This island's sole inhabitant! had left
A Fellow-labourer,"

In 1802 the reading was:

"He dwelt in solitude.-But he had left

A Fellow-labourer,"

St. Herbert's Island is " near the centre of Derwentwater, and is in area about four acres. The legend of St. Herbert dates from the seventh century " (Knight).-ED.

XVI. (page 84).

Date uncertain; assigned by Knight to 1846; first published 1850.-ED.

Selections from Chaucer (page 85.)

Written in 1801; "The Prioress' Tale" first published 1820; "The Cuckoo and the Nightingale" and the extract from "Troilus and Cresida" first published 1841 as part of "The Poems of Geoffrey Chaucer, modernised," a volume to which R. H. Horne, Leigh Hunt, Elizabeth B. Barrett, and others contributed; again published in 1842 in "Poems chiefly of Early and Late Years." Dorothy Wordsworth's Journal gives the dates of "The Prioress' Tale" and "The Cuckoo and the Nightingale." On Friday Dec. 4, 1801, "William translating The Prioress' Tale."" Dec. 5,

"William finished 'The Prioress' Tale."" Dec. 6," William worked awhile at Chaucer." Dec. 7, "William worked at Chaucer-The God of Love (i.e. "The Cuckoo and the Nightingale "). Dec. 9, "William writing out his "" I do alteration of Chaucer's Cuckoo and Nightingale.' not find evidence for the date of the extract from "Troilus and Cresida," but I accept Professor Knight's statement that it belongs to 1801. Wordsworth also translated the "Manciple's Tale," and thought of presenting it to Thomas Powell for the collection of modernisations of 1841, but was deterred by the consideration that the subject was "somewhat too indelicate for pure taste to be offered to the world at this time of day." In a letter to Professor Reed, Jan. 13, 1841, Wordsworth expresses his "great admiration" of Chaucer's genius, and his "profound reverence "for him. It need hardly be said that he was mistaken in ascribing to Chaucer "The Cuckoo and the Nightingale.

دو

In 1. 174 of "The Prioress' Tale" the word "body" in 1845 replaced the earlier "bier."

L. 235 (1836); previously "For not long since was dealt the cruel blow."

The close of Wordsworth's note prefixed to the poem ("The fierce bigotry," etc.) belongs to 1827; the earlier part of the note to 1820.

Wordsworth's "little scholar" (stanza viii.) fails to give the full meaning of "clergeon," which meant specially a chorister. In stanza ix. "sweet is the holiness of youth is an addition of Wordsworth's own, to receive which he extends the stanza.

In "The Cuckoo and the Nightingale," II. 64, 65, Wordsworth had before him a bad text, which being nonsense he declined to follow: "The flowres and the greves like hie" (the daisies and the groves equally high). The true text is "The flowres and the gras ilike al hie." The description of the nightingale's song, "loud rioting," in 1. 99, is Wordsworth's own; compare his poem “To the Nightingale." In 1. 103, "we have had" (1842) was, in 1841, we have heard "--altered probably to avoid having "heard" and "here" in the same line. In the "Troilus and Cresida" 1. 12, "break" (1842), was, in 1841, “burst." L. 32, "has " (1842); "hast (1841). L. 36, "an eye" (1842); in 1841, "his eye. 1. 118 a curious reading appears in 1842, "a soft night voice ; in 1841, “soft voice" as in the original. Can this be an error of the press, repeated from edition to edition?

" In

r

In 1. 164 the 1841 volume has "even at his side"; in 1842, "ever. In 1. 165 "more light" (1842) replaces "too light" (1841). In two or three instances the true sense of the original is lost either because Wordsworth misunderstood it, or followed an inferior text. L. 8, " And therewithal to cover his intent arose perhaps from Wordsworth's taking "meynye" (i.e., domestics) in "his meynye for to blende" to signify "meaning." L. 21, "That no wight his continuance espied" entirely loses the sense of the original; Troilus rides fast that his "countenance" may not be espied. "Toward my death with wind I steer and sail" should be "with wind in stern I sail." For other notes on these modernisations see a paper by the present editor in "Wordsworthiana,” 1889. -Ed.

The Old Cumberland Beggar (page 113).

Observed, and with great benefit to my own heart, when I was a child: written at Racedown and Alfoxden in my twenty-third year. The political economists were about that time beginning their war upon mendicity in all its forms, and by implication, if not directly, on alms giving also. This heartless process has been carried as far as it can go by the AMENDED poor-law bill, though' the inhumanity that prevails in this measure is somewhat disguised by the profession that one of its objects is to throw the poor upon the voluntary donations of their neighbours; that is, if rightly interpreted, to force them into a condition between relief in the Union poor-house, and alms robbed of their Christian grace and spirit, as being forced rather from the benevolent than given by them; while the avaricious and selfish, and all in fact but the humane and charitable, are at liberty to keep all they possess from their distressed brethren.

The class of Beggars, to which the Old Man here described belongs, will probably soon be extinct. It consisted of poor, and, mostly, old and infirm persons, who confined themselves to a stated round in their neighbourhood, and had certain fixed days, on which, at different houses, they regularly received alms, sometimes in money, but mostly in provisions.-I. F.

Dated by Wordsworth (1815 and later edd.) 1798; first published 1800. The Fenwick note says: "Written at Racedown and Alfoxden in my twenty-third year"; but Wordsworth was in his twenty-sixth year when he came