tioning this circumstance to Mrs. Sigourney, the American poetess, she said that she had remarked the same 'sad look,' even in his own house, and when surrounded by his family.

But despite this, who could look at the Bard of Rydal, and not feel a flush of pride, and a glow of satisfaction, that he was in the presence of one of Nature's High Priests? During the whole of the tragedy, and on that first night it occupied nearly five hours in the performance, Wordsworth did not leave his seat, and frequently paid a tribute of admiration to his brother poet, by applauding portions of the piece. Indeed, he thumped with his stick most lustily, and if Talfourd saw him, he must have been not a little gratified by such approvals of his tragedy."

Wordsworth returned to Westmoreland in June, and wrote on the 24th to Robinson that, after two months' absence from home, he had not courage to prepare for a journey to the Continent. A good many negotiations went on about this journey, however, before it was finally rejected for that year. During the summer and autumn of 1836 he was much occupied in revising the text of his poems, for the stereotyped edition of that year, as he wished it to be finished before he started on any distant journey. This was the true reason of his delay in starting for the Continent. Robinson speaks of him as "cheerfully busy" with this work.

The following is his own account, in a letter to Moxon, of the new poems added in the edition of 1836-7 :

"In volume one the political sonnet beginning, What if our numbers barely could defy,

the ecclesiastical sonnet beginning,

In

Coldly we spake, the Saxons overpowered.

O life without the checkered scene,

the second stanza is new; also a new stanza in The Three Cottage Girls. In the fifth volume, two poems from The Evening Voluntaries, one of seventy-two lines, the other of fifty; also the Bird of Paradise poem, and an Epitaph from Chiabrera, and the Lines to the Memory of Charles Lamb and Hogg.

The value of this edition, as hereafter will be universally admitted, lies in the pains which have been taken in the revisal of so many of the old poems, in the re-modelling and often re-writing whole paragraphs, which you know has cost me great labour, and I do not repent of it. In the poems lately written I have had comparatively little trouble."

He wrote to Moxon that he was "quite at ease in regard to the reception which writings that have cost me so much labour will in the end meet with. I can truly say that I have not the least anxiety regarding the fate of this edition. The labour I have bestowed in correcting the style of those poems, now revised for the last time according to the best of my judgment, no one can ever estimate. The consequence of this sort of work is that progress bears no proportion to pains, and that hours of labour are often entirely thrown away, ending in a passage being left as I found it. . . .

22

Writing to Robinson, January 28th, 1837, he said: "In two or three days I hope the printing of my last volume will be begun; the whole of the verses are corrected for the press. But I must have another tug at the Postscript on the Poor Laws, and other things, in which I wish you were to help; Mary wishes it still more.

What do you think of an edition of 20,000 of my Poems being struck off at Boston, as I have been told on good authority? An author in the English Language is becoming a great power for good or evil, if he writes with spirit.

Now for our travels. I trust I shall be ready to start from home by the end of the third week in February."

At the Lancaster Assizes, in September 1836, an important will case, involving the succession to the Hornby Castle estate, turned on the genuineness of certain letters, said to have been written by the testator. To give evidence as to these letters many witnesses were subpoenaed: Southey, Lingard the historian, Dr. Shelton Mackenzie, as well as Wordsworth.* Wordsworth was the only witness sworn. Southey-writing to Henry Taylor, said: "Wordsworth is now a sworn critic, and appraiser of compositions; and he has the whole honour to himself-an honour of which I believe there is no other example in literary history."

Dr. Shelton Mackenzie wrote down his recollections of his meeting with Wordsworth and Southey on this occasion.

"At our meeting on the preceding evening, Mr. Wordsworth gave his opinion of the letters to this effect, judging from external as well as internal evidence, that though they came from one hand, they did not emanate from one and the same mind; that a man commencing to write letters might do so very badly, but as he advanced in life,—particularly if, like Marsden, he wrote many letters, he would probably improve in style; such improvement being constant, and not capricious. That is, if he gradually learned to spell, and write properly, he would not fall back at intervals into his original errors of composition and spelling; that if once he had got out of his ignorance, he could not fall back into it, except by design; that the human mind advances, but cannot recede, unless warped by insanity or weakened by disease. The conclusion arrived at, which facts afterwards proved, was, that the inequality in the letters arose from their being composed by different persons, some ignorant and some well-informed, while another person always copied them fairly for the post.

* See Life and Correspondence of Robert Southey, vol. vii. pp. 299-302.

This is the sum of what Mr. Wordsworth at great length and very elaborately declared as the result he had arrived at. It was thought piled on thought, clear investigation, careful analysis, and accumulative reasoning.

While Wordsworth was speaking, I noticed that Southey listened with great attention. Once or twice Wordsworth referred to him for his coincidence in an argument, and Southey very laconically assented. Dr. Lingard's opinion was already on record, and my friend and myself very briefly stated ours to be precisely the same as Wordsworth's. The next day Wordsworth was put into the witness-box, was sworn, and his examination had commenced, in fulfilment of Mr. Cresswell's promise to the jury that they should hear the opinion of eminent literary characters as to the compound authorship of Marsden's letters. But Sir F. Pollock, the leader on the other side, objected to such evidence, alleging that they might as well examine a batch of Edinburgh reviewers; and that it was substituting speculative opinion for actual fact, besides taking from the jury the power of judgment founded upon opinion. After a long argument, it was decided that this evidence was inadmissible; but, as the verdict eventually showed, the jury evidently thought that there was good reason why such evidence was set aside.

While a friend went for a magistrate's order for us to see the castle (which is used as the prison), Southey, Wordsworth and myself had a brisk conversation.

From the spot on which we stood (a sort of terrace) there was a fine view of the Irish Sea, the country around Lancaster, and to the north the mountains of Cumberland and Westmoreland; which last were eagerly pointed out by Wordsworth. I hazarded the remark, that an American had compared these mountains with some in the vicinity of his own Hudson River, and this led to a conversation about America. 'I always lamented,' said Southey, 'that Gifford's anti-American feeling

should be so prominent in the Quarterly; but he was obstinate, and the more I remonstrated, the more he persevered.' We spoke of American reprints of English works, and Wordsworth said it was wonderful what an interest they took in our literature; It was the yearning of the child for the parent'; while Southey remarked, with a smile, Rather the yearning of the robber for his booty: they reprint English works because it pays them better than to buy native copyrights; and until men are paid, and paid well, for writing, depend on it that writing well must be an exception rather than the rule.'

We now went to visit Lancaster Castle, which need not here be described. After enjoying the fine view from the Keep, we went to see the Penitentiary, within the castle. Dr. Lingard had left us before this, and the ball of conversation was kept up between Wordsworth, Southey, and myself. The principal subject was American literature, with which, at that time, I was pretty well acquainted. Wordsworth could scarcely believe that of a three volume work, published here at a guinea and a half, the reprint was usually sold in New York for two shillings -in later days the price has been as low as sixpence, the great sale making a fraction of profit worth looking for. Wordsworth expressed a strong desire to obtain an American reprint of any of Southey's works; but Mr. Southey appeared quite indifferent. 'I should be glad to see them,' said he, if the rogues would only give me a tithe of what the work of my brains may yield to them.'

Returning to the terrace leading to the courts, Wordsworth and Mr. Quillinan went into the town; while Southey and myself walked up and down for about half an hour. I am glad,' said he, that they would not take our evidence. It was nothing but matter of opinion, and if twenty men of letters swore one way on one day, twenty more would swear the reverse on the next day, and with equal conscientiousness.' I said that I suspected the offering such evidence was enough,