That vainly did I seek beneath their stems1
A length of open space, where to and fro
My feet might move without concern or care;
And, baffled thus, though earth from day to day
Was fettered, and the air by storm disturbed,2
I ceased the shelter to frequent,—and prized,
Less than I wished to prize, that calm recess.

The snows dissolved, and genial Spring returned
To clothe the fields with verdure. Other haunts
Meanwhile were mine; till, one bright April day,
By chance retiring from the glare of noon
To this forsaken covert, there I found
A hoary pathway traced between the trees,
And winding on with such an easy line
Along a natural opening, that I stood

Much wondering how I could have sought in vain 3 For what was now so obvious. To abide,

For an alloted interval of ease,

Under my cottage-roof, had gladly come

From the wild sea a cherished Visitant;5

How I could e'er have made a fruitless search.

1$15.

At the sight

Conviction also flashed upon my mind

That this same path (within the shady grove

Begun and ended) by my Brother's steps

Had been impressed.

added in edd. 1815 and 1820.

To sojourn a short while
Beneath my roof he from the barren seas
Had newly come-a cherished Visitant !

1815.

1

And with the sight of this same path-begun,
Begun and ended, in the shady grove,1
Pleasant conviction flashed upon my mind 2
That, to this opportune recess allured,
He had surveyed it with a finer eye,

A heart more wakeful; and had worn the track 3
By pacing here, unwearied and alone,

In that habitual restlessness of foot

That haunts the Sailor measuring o'er and o'er
His short domain upon the vessel's deck,

While she pursues her course through the dreary sea."

When thou hadst quitted Esthwaite's pleasant shore,
And taken thy first leave of those green hills
And rocks that were the play-ground of thy youth,
Year followed year, my Brother! and we two,
Conversing not, knew little in what mould.
Each other's mind was fashioned; and at length
When once again we met in Grasmere Vale,

A heart more wakeful; that, more loth to part
From place so lovely, he had worn the track.

1815.

1815.

In Lord Coleridge's copy of the edition of 1836, there is a footnote in Wordsworth's handwriting to the word "meanwhile," which is substituted for "newly." "If newly come, could he have traced a visible path?"-ED.

Between us there was little other bond

Than common feelings of fraternal love.

But thou, a School-boy, to the sea hadst carried
Undying recollections! Nature there

Was with thee; she, who loved us both, she still
Was with thee; and even so didst thou become
A silent Poet; from the solitude

Of the vast sea didst bring a watchful heart
Still couchant, an inevitable ear,

And an eye practised like a blind man's touch.
-Back to the joyless Ocean thou art gone;
Nor from this vestige of thy musing hours
Could I withhold thy honoured name, and now 1
I love the fir-grove with a perfect love.
Thither do I withdraw when cloudless suns
Shine hot, or wind blows troublesome and strong;
And there I sit at evening, when the steep
Of Silver-how, and Grasmere's peaceful lake,2
And one green island, gleam between the stems
Of the dark firs, a visionary scene!

And, while I gaze upon the spectacle
Of clouded splendour, on this dream-like sight
Of solemn loveliness, I think on thee,
My Brother, and on all which thou hast lost.
Nor seldom, if I rightly guess, while Thou,
Muttering the verses which I muttered first

Among the mountains, through the midnight watch
Art pacing thoughtfully the vessel's deck3

In some far region, here, while o'er my head,
At every impulse of the moving breeze,
The fir-grove murmurs with a sea-like sound,
Alone I tread this path;-for aught I know,
Timing my steps to thine; and, with a store
Of undistinguishable sympathies,

Mingling most earnest wishes for the day

When we, and others whom we love, shall meet

A second time, in Grasmere's happy Vale.

Note. This wish was not granted; the lamented Person not long after perished by shipwreck, in discharge of his duty as Commander of the Honourable East India Company's vessel, the Earl of Abergavenny. 1815.

For the date of this poem-classed by Wordsworth amongst those on the Naming of Places-I assumed the correctness of his own statement in the edition of 1836, confirmed by Mr Carter in 1857. But, in the Chronological Tables given in edd. 1815 and 1820, the date assigned by Wordsworth was 1802. Captain Wordsworth perished on the 5th of February 1805; and if the poem was written in 1805, it must have been in the month of January of that year. The Note to the poem is explicit "Not long after" he "perished by shipwreck, &c." Thus the poem may have been written in the beginning of 1805; but it is not at all certain that it does not belong to an earlier year. John Wordsworth lived with his brother and sister at the Town-end Cottage, Grasmere, during part of the winter, and during the whole of the spring, summer, and autumn of 1800, William and John going together on foot into Yorkshire from the 14th of May to the 7th of June. John left Grasmere on Michaelmas day (September 29th) 1800, and never returned to it again. The following is Miss Wordsworth's record of that day in her Journal of 1800:-"On Monday, 29th, John left us. William and I parted with him in sight of Ullswater. It was a fine day, showery, but with sunshine and fine clouds. Poor fellow, my heart was right sad, I could not help thinking we should see him again, because he was only going to Penrith." In the spring of 1801, Captain Wordsworth sailed for China in the Abergavenny. He returned from this voyage in safety, and the brothers met once again in London, probably in September 1802-as William Wordsworth spent the whole of that month in Town -the month before his marriage. John went to sea again in 1803, and returned to London in 1804, but could not visit Grasmere; and in the month of February 1805—shortly after he was appointed to the command of the Abergavenny-the ship was lost at the Bill of Portland, and everyone on board perished. It is clear that the latter part of the poem, "When to the attractions of the busy world," was written between John

Wordsworth's departure from Grasmere and the loss of the Abergavenny, i.e., between September 1800 and February 1805, as there are references in it both to what his brother did at Grasmere and to his return to sea

Back to the joyless Ocean thou art gone.

There are some things in the earlier part of the poem that appear to negative the idea of its having been written in 1800. The opening lines seem to hint at an experience somewhat distant. He speaks of being "wont" to do certain things. But, on the other hand, I find an entry in Dorothy Wordsworth's Journal, which leads me to believe that the poem may have been begun in 1800, and that the first part, ending (as it did then) with the line

While she is travelling through the dreary sea,

may have been finished before John Wordsworth left Grasmere ; the second part being written afterwards, while he was at sea; and hence the date given in the editions of 1815 and 1820, viz., 1802.

Passages occur in Miss Wordsworth's Journal to the following effect:"Monday Morning, 1st September.-We walked in the wood by the lake. W. read Joanna and the Firgrove to Coleridge." A little earlier there is the record, "Saturday, 22nd August.-Wm. was composing all the morning. W. read us the poem of Joanna beside the Rothay by the roadside." Then, on Friday, the 28th August, there is the entry, "We walked over the hill by the Firgrove. I sate upon a rock and observed a flight of swallows gathering together high above my head. We walked through the wood to the stepping stones, the lake of Rydale very beautiful, partly still. I left William to compose an inscription, that about the path. ." Then, next day, "Saturday morning, 28th August.-Wm. finished his inscription of the Pathway, then walked in the wood, and when John returned he sought him, and they bathed together."

To what poem Miss Wordsworth referred under the name of the "inscription of the Pathway" has puzzled me much. There is no poem amongst his "Inscriptions" (written in or before August 1800) that corresponds to it in the least. But, if my conjecture is right that this poem "on the naming of places," beginning—

When, to the attractions of the busy world,

was composed at two different times, it is quite possible that "the Firgrove" read along with "Joanna" to Coleridge, on September 1st 1800, was the first part of this very poem.

If this supposition is correct, some light is cast both on the "inscription of the pathway," and on the date assigned by Wordsworth himself to the poem, "When to the attractions of the busy world," &c. As the materials for forming this opinion have only come to light since I had an opportunity of examining Miss Wordsworth's Journal, the date assigned in the Chronological Table is that sanctioned by Wordsworth himself in