division, seeing London in the morning light as Wordsworth saw it, and repeating to myself his noble sonnet as I walked home.'" This anecdote was told to the Wordsworth Society, at its meeting on the 3rd of May 1882, after a letter had been read by the Secretary, from Mr. Robert Spence Watson, recording the following similar experience: “... As confirming the perfect truth of Wordsworth's description of the external aspects of a scene, and the way in which he reached its inmost soul, I may tell you what happened to me, and may have happened to many others. Many years ago, I think it was in 1859, I chanced to be passing (in a pained and depressed state of mind, occasioned by the death of a friend) over Waterloo Bridge at half-past three on a lovely June morning. It was broad daylight, and I was alone. Never when alone in the remotest recesses of the Alps, with nothing around me but the mountains, or upon the plains of Africa, alone with the wonderful glory of the southern night, have I seen anything to approach the solemnity-the soothing solemnity-of the city, sleeping under the early sun Earth has not any thing to show more fair. How simply, yet how perfectly, Wordsworth has interpreted it! It was a happy thing for us that the Dover coach left at so untimely an hour. It was this sonnet, I think, that first opened my eyes to Wordsworth's greatness as a poet. Perhaps nothing that he has written shows more strikingly the vast sympathy which is his peculiar dower."-Ed. COMPOSED BY THE SEA-SIDE, NEAR Composed August, 1802.-Published 1807 One of the "Sonnets dedicated to Liberty"; re-named in 1845, "Poems dedicated to National Independence and Liberty."—ED. FAIR Star of evening, Splendour of the west, Star of my Country!-on the horizon's brink Thou hangest, stooping, as might seem, to sink On England's bosom; yet well pleased to rest, Should'st be my Country's emblem; and should'st wink, 5 Bright Star! with laughter on her banners, drest This sonnet, and the seven that follow it, were written during Wordsworth's residence at Calais, in the month of August, 1802. The following extract from his sister's Journal illustrates it: :- "We arrived at Calais at four o'clock on Sunday morning the 31st of July. We had delightful walks after the heat of the day was passed-seeing far off in the west the coast of England, like a cloud, crested with Dover Castle, the evening Star, and the glory of the sky; the reflections in the water were more beautiful than the sky itself; purple waves brighter than precious stones, for ever melting away upon the sands."-ED. CALAIS, AUGUST, 1802 Composed August 7, 1802.-Published 1807 * One of the "Sonnets dedicated to Liberty"; re-named in 1845, "Poems dedicated to National Independence and Liberty."-ED. Is it a reed that's shaken by the wind, Or what is it that ye go forth to see? Lords, lawyers, statesmen, squires of low degree, Men known, and men unknown, sick, lame, and blind, 1 1837. it is England; there it lies. 1807. 5 *This sonnet was first published in The Morning Post, Jan. 29, 1803, under the signature W. L. D., along with the one beginning, "I grieved for Buonaparté, with a vain," and was afterwards printed in the 1807 edition of the Poems. Mr. T. Hutchinson (Dublin) suggests that the W. L. D. stood either for Wordsworthius Libertatis Defensor, or (more likely) Wordsworthii Libertati Dedicatum (carmen).-ED. 'Tis ever thus. Ye men of prostrate mind,1 A seemly reverence may be paid to power; In haste, nor springing with a transient shower: COMPOSED NEAR CALAIS, ON THE ROAD LEADING TO ARDRES, AUGUST 7, 1802 * Composed August, 1802.-Published 1807 One of the "Sonnets dedicated to Liberty"; re-named in 1845, "Poems dedicated to National Independence and Liberty."-ED. JONES! as 2 from Calais southward you and I 5 1 1807. Thus fares it ever. Men of prostrate mind! 1803. 2 1837. 1807. when while 1820. 3 1837. Travell'd on foot together; then this Way, Urged our accordant steps, this public Way 4 1845. The antiquated Earth, as one might say, The antiquated Earth, hopeful and gay, 1807. MS. 1820. 1807. 1837. * In the editions of 1807 to 1837 this is a sub-title, the chief title being To a Friend. In the editions of 1840-1843, the chief title is retained in the Table of Contents, but is erased in the text.-ED. † 14th July 1790.-W. W. 1820. 1 Beat like the heart of Man: songs, garlands, mirth,1 "Good morrow, Citizen!" a hollow word, ΙΟ This sonnet, originally entitled To a Friend, composed near Calais, on the Road leading to Ardres, August 7th, 1802, was addressed to Robert Jones, of Plas-yn-llan, near Ruthin, Denbighshire, a brother collegian at Cambridge, and afterwards a fellow of St. John's College, and incumbent of Soulderne, near Deddington, in Oxfordshire. It was to him that Wordsworth dedicated his Descriptive Sketches, which record their wanderings together in Switzerland; and it is to the pedestrian tour, undertaken by the two friends in the long vacation of 1790, that he refers in the above sonnet. The character of Jones is sketched in the poem written in 1800, beginningI marvel how Nature could ever find space,* and his parsonage in Oxfordshire is described in the sonnetWhere holy ground begins, unhallowed ends, Is marked by no distinguishable line. The following note on Jones was appended to the edition of 1837-"This excellent Person, one of my earliest and dearest friends, died in the year 1835. We were under-graduates together of the same year, at the same college; and companions in many a delightful ramble through his own romantic Country of North Wales. Much of the latter part of his life he passed in comparative solitude; which I know was often cheered by remembrance of our youthful adventures, and of the beautiful regions which, at home and abroad, we had visited together. Our long friendship was never subject to a moment's interrup Fair seasons yet will come, and hopes as fair. 1807. 1820. * See p. 208.-ED. tion,—and, while revising these volumes for the last time, I have been so often reminded of my loss, with a not unpleasing sadness, that I trust the Reader will excuse this passing mention of a Man who well deserves from me something more than so brief a notice. Let me only add, that during the middle part of his life he resided many years (as Incumbent of the Living) at a Parsonage in Oxfordshire, which is the subject of one of the Miscellaneous Sonnets." "-ED. CALAIS, AUGUST 15, 1802 Composed August 15, 1802.-Published 1807 * One of the "Sonnets dedicated to Liberty"; re-named in 1845, "Poems dedicated to National Independence and Liberty."-ED. FESTIVALS have I seen that were not names: 1 To the sea-coast, noting that each man frames 5 ΤΟ 1820. That was, which here I witnessed, long ago; *It had appeared in The Morning Post, February 26, 1803, under the initials W. L. D.-ED. |