nea

may say the desolation, that the Revolution had produced in France. This must be borne in mind, or else the reader may think that in this and the succeeding Sonnets I have exaggerated the mischief engendered and fostered among us by undisturbed wealth. It would not be easy to conceive with what a depth of feeling I entered into the struggle carried on by the Spaniards for their deliverance from the usurped power of the French. Many times have I gone from Allan Bank in Grasmere Vale, where we were then residing, to the top of Raise-gap, as it is called, so late as two o'clock in the morning, to meet the carrier bringing the newspapers from Keswick. Imperfect traces of the state of mind in which I then was may be found in my tract on the Convention of Cintra, as well as in these Sonnets.-I. F.]

O FRIEND! I know not which way I must look 1
For comfort, being, as I am, opprest,

To think that now our life is only drest

For show; mean handy-work of craftsman, cook,
Or groom! We must run glittering like a brook
In the open sunshine, or we are unblest :
The wealthiest man among us is the best:
No grandeur now in nature or in book
Delights us. Rapine, avarice, expense,
This is idolatry; and these we adore :
Plain living and high thinking are no more:
The homely beauty of the good old cause
Is gone; our peace, our fearful innocence,
And pure religion breathing household laws.†

5

ΤΟ

Wordsworth stayed in London from August 30th to September 22nd 1802.-ED.

1 1807.

O thou proud City! which way shall I look

*The "Friend

1838.

The text of 1840 returns to that of 1807.

was Coleridge. In the original MS. it stands "Coleridge! I know not," etc. Wordsworth changed it in the proof stage.-ED. † Compare-in Hartley Coleridge's Lives of Distinguished Northernerswhat is said of this sonnet, in his life of Anne Clifford, where the passing cynicism of Wordsworth's poem is pointed out.-ED.

LONDON, 1802

Composed September, 1802.-Published 1807

MILTON! thou should'st be living at this hour:
England hath need of thee: she is a fen
Of stagnant waters: altar, sword, and pen,
Fireside, the heroic wealth of hall and bower,
Have forfeited their ancient English dower
Of inward happiness. We are selfish men ;
Oh! raise us up, return to us again;
And give us manners, virtue, freedom, power.
Thy soul was like a Star, and dwelt apart :

5

Thou hadst a voice whose sound was like the sea: JO
Pure as the naked heavens, majestic, free,

So didst thou travel on life's common way,
In cheerful godliness; and yet * thy heart
The lowliest duties on herself1 did lay.

"GREAT MEN HAVE BEEN AMONG US; HANDS THAT PENNED"

Composed September, 1802.-Published 1807

GREAT men have been among us; hands that penned
And tongues that uttered wisdom-better none :
The later Sidney, Marvel, Harrington,

Young Vane,† and others who called Milton friend.
These moralists could act and comprehend:

They knew how genuine glory was put on ;
Taught us how rightfully a nation shone

In splendour: what strength was, that would not bend

1 1820.

* In old English "yet" means

:

continuously" or "always"; and it is

still used in Cumberland with this signification.-ED.

+ See Clarendon's History of the Rebellion, book iii.-ED.

1

But in 1 magnanimous meekness.

France, 'tis strange,

Hath brought forth no such souls as we had then.

Perpetual emptiness! unceasing change!
No single volume paramount, no code,
No master spirit, no determined road;
But equally a want of books and men!

ΙΟ

"IT IS NOT TO BE THOUGHT OF THAT THE FLOOD"

Composed September, 1802.--Published 1807

IT is not to be thought of that the Flood
Of British freedom, which, to the open sea
Of the world's praise, from dark antiquity

*

Hath flowed, "with pomp of waters, unwithstood," †
Roused though it be full often to a mood
Which spurns the check of salutary bands,2
That this most famous Stream in bogs and sands
Should perish; and to evil and to good

Be lost for ever.

In our halls is hung

Armoury of the invincible Knights of old:

We must be 3 free or die, who speak the tongue That Shakespeare spake; the faith and morals hold Which Milton held.-In every thing we are sprung Of Earth's first blood, have titles manifold.

1 1807.

But to

2 1827.

unwithstood,

Road by which all might come and go that would,
And bear out freights of worth to foreign lands;

3 1807.

must live

MS.

1803.

1803.

5

ΙΟ

* It was first printed in The Morning Post, April 16, 1803, and signed W. L. D.-ÉD.

+ Compare Daniel's Civil War, book ii. stanza 7.—ED.

"WHEN I HAVE BORNE IN MEMORY WHAT

HAS TAMED "

Composed September, 1802.-Published 1807

*

WHEN I have borne in memory what has tamed
Great Nations, how ennobling thoughts depart
When men change swords for ledgers, and desert
The student's bower for gold, some fears unnamed
I had, my Country !- -am I to be blamed ?

1

Now, when I think of thee, and what thou art,
Verily, in the bottom of my heart,

Of those unfilial fears I am ashamed.2

For dearly must we prize thee; we who find
In thee a bulwark for the cause of men ;3
And I by my affection was beguiled:
What wonder if a Poet now and then,
Among the many movements of his mind,
Felt for thee as a lover or a child!

5

ΤΟ

1 1845. But,

1803.

2 1807.

I of those fears of mine am much ashamed.

1803.

3 1845.

But dearly do I prize thee for I find

In thee a bulwark of the cause of men ;

1803.

But dearly must we prize thee; we who find

1807.

for the cause of men ;

1827.

1838.

Most dearly

The text of 1840 returns to that of 1827.

* But printed previously in The Morning Post, September 17, 1803, under the title England, and signed W. L. D. Also, see Coleridge's Poems on Political Events, 1828-9.-ED.

COMPOSED AFTER A JOURNEY ACROSS
THE HAMBLETON HILLS,* YORKSHIRE

Composed October 4, 1802.-Published 1807

[Composed October 4th, 1802, after a journey over the Hambleton Hills, on a day memorable to me-the day of my marriage. The horizon commanded by those hills is most magnificent. The next day, while we were travelling in a post-chaise up Wensleydale, we were stopped by one of the horses proving restive, and were obliged to wait two hours in a severe storm before the post-boy could fetch from the inn another to supply its place. The spot was in front of Bolton Hall, where Mary Queen of Scots was kept prisoner, soon after her unfortunate landing at Workington. The place then

belonged to the Scroops, and memorials of her are yet preserved there. To beguile the time I composed a Sonnet. The subject was our own confinement contrasted with hers; but it was not thought worthy of being preserved.—I. F.]

One of the "Miscellaneous Sonnets."-ED.

DARK and more dark the shades of evening fell;
The wished-for point was reached--but at an hour
When little could be gained from that rich dower 1
Of prospect, whereof many thousands tell.
Yet did the glowing west with marvellous power
Salute us; there stood Indian citadel,

Ere we had reach'd the wish'd-for place, night fell:
We were too late at least by one dark hour,

And nothing could we see of all that power

5

Dark, and more dark, the shades of Evening fell;

The wish'd-for point was reach'd—but late the hour;
And little could we see of all that power

1815.

And little could be gained from all that dower

1827.

* Called by Wordsworth, "The Hamilton Hills" in the editions from 1807

to 1827.-ED.