memory in all cases, when he is speaking of a group of his poems. For example, in the edition of 1807, there is a short series described thus, "Poems composed during a tour, chiefly on foot." They are numbered 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. Now, one would naturally suppose that all the poems, in this set of five, were composed during the same pedestrian tour, and that they all referred to the same time. But the series contains Alice Fell (1801), Beggars (1802), The Skylark (1805), and The Leech Gatherer (1807).

Much more valuable than the Fenwick notes, for a certain portion of Wordsworth's life, is his sister's Journal. We can frequently correct the mistakes in the former from this minutely kept diary of those earlier years, when the brother and sister lived together at Grasmere.

Long before the publication of the Fenwick notes, however, Wordsworth himself supplied some data for a chronological arrangement of his works. In the table of contents, prefixed to the first collected edition of 1815, in two volumes, -and also to the second collected edition of 1820, in four volumes, there are two parallel columns; the one giving the date of the composition of the poems, and the other the date of publication. But there are numerous blanks in the former column, which was the only important one; as the year of publication could be ascertained from the editions themselves. Sometimes the date is given vaguely; as in the case of the "Sonnets dedicated to Liberty," where the note runs, "from the year 1807 to 1813." At other times, the entry as to the year of publication is inaccurate; for example, in the case of the Inscription for the spot where the Hermitage stood on St Herbert's Island, Derwentwater. is put down as belonging to the year 1807; but this poem does not occur in the volumes of 1807, but in the second edition of Lyrical Ballads, 1800. It will thus be seen that it is only by comparing Wordsworth's own lists of dates

It

with the contents of the several editions of his works, with the Fenwick notes, and with his sister's Journal, that we can reconstruct the true chronology. To these must be added the internal evidence of the poems themselves, incidental references in letters to his friends, and stray hints. gathered from miscellaneous quarters.

The chronological method of arrangement, however, has its limits. It is not possible always to adopt it: nor is it necessary to do so, in order to obtain a new and a true view of the growth of Wordsworth's mind. In this, as in so many other things both literary and social, wisdom lies in the avoidance of extremes,-the extreme of rigid fidelity to the order of time on the one hand, and the extreme of an irrational departure from it on the other. It is manifestly appropriate that all the poems in a series-such as the "Ecclesiastical Sonnets," or those referring to the "Duddon" -should be printed together, as Wordsworth finally arranged them; even although we may be aware that some of them were written long after the rest, and subsequently placed in the middle of the series. The sonnets referring to "Aspects of Christianity in America "-inserted in the 1845 and 1849 editions of the collected works are found in no previous edition or version of the "Ecclesiastical Sonnets;" and these, along with some others on the offices of the English Liturgy, were suggested to Wordsworth by an American prelate, Bishop Doane, and by Professor Henry Read; but we do not know in what year they were written. The "Ecclesiastical Sonnets," first called "Ecclesiastical Sketches," appeared in 1820. These additions to them appeared twenty-five years afterwards. But they ought manifestly to retain their place, as arranged by Wordsworth in the edition of 1845. The case is much

1 See Memoirs, II., pp. 113, 114..

the same with regard to the Duddon Sonnets.

They were

first published in 1820: but No. XIV., beginning—

"O Mountain Stream; the shepherd and his cot,"

was certainly composed in or before the year 1807, because it appears in the edition of that year. On the other hand, the series of "Poems composed during a tour in Scotland, and on the English Border, in the autumn of 1831"and first published in the year 1835, in the volume entitled Yarrow revisited, and other Poems-contains two, which Wordsworth himself tells us were composed earlier; and there is no reason why these poems should not be restored to their chronological place. The series of itinerary sonnets, published along with them in the edition of 1834, is the record of a supplemental Scottish tour, in the year 1833; and Wordsworth says of them that they were "composed, or suggested, during a tour in the summer of 1833." We cannot now know which of them were written during the tour, and which at Rydal Mount after his return; but it is obvious that they should be printed in the order in which they were left by him, in 1834. [It may here be noted that almost all the "Evening Voluntaries" belong to these years-1832 to 1835-when the author was from sixty-two to sixtyfive years of age.]

Wordsworth's habit of revision may perhaps explain the mistakes into which he occasionally fell as to the dates of his poems, and the difficulty of reconciling what he says as to the year of composition with the date assigned by his sister in her journal. When he says "written in 1801, or 1802," he may be referring to the last revision which he gave to his work. Certain it is, that he sometimes gave a date for the composition, which was subsequent to the first publication of the poem in question.

In the case of poems to which no date is attached, we must

try to find some clue by which to fix an approximate one. Obviously, it will not do to place all the undated poems in a class by themselves. Such an arrangement would be thoroughly artificial; and, while we are in many instances left to conjecture, we can always say that such and such a poem was composed not later than a particular year. When the precise date is quite undiscoverable, I have thought it best to place the poem in or immediately before the year in which it was first published.

It is further to be noted that some of the poems were several years in process of composition, having evidently been laid aside, and taken up again repeatedly; e.g., the Ode on Immortality was written at intervals from 1803 to 1806, and The Prelude, as already stated, from 1799 to 1805. In such cases, the poems are always placed in the year in which they were finished. Disputable questions as to the date of any particular poem will be dealt with in the editorial note appended to it.

Mr Arnold's rearrangement of the Poems, in his volume of Selections, recently published,1 is extremely interesting and valuable; but, as to the method of grouping adopted, I am not sure that it is better than Wordsworth's own. As a descriptive title, "Poems of Sentiment and Reflection' may be as good as "Poems akin to the Antique," and "Poems of the Fancy" quite as appropriate as "Poems of Ballad Form."2

A second distinctive feature of this edition is the publi

1 Poems of Wordsworth selected and arranged by Matthew Arnold. London: Macmillan & Co.

As the chronological arrangement is not only important in itself, but also in its bearing on other features of this edition, a complete list of the poems, thus arranged, is given at the close of the Preface to this volume. It is perhaps too much to hope, however-even after every effort has been made that perfect accuracy as to the date of each poem, in a list of between eight and nine hundred, has been finally secured.

cation of all the various Readings, or variations of text, sanctioned by Wordsworth during his lifetime. Few Eng

lish poets have changed their text more frequently, or with more fastidiousness than Wordsworth. He did not always alter it for the better. Every alteration however, whether for the better or for the worse, is here printed in full. We have thus a record of the fluctuations of his own mind as to the form in which he wished his poems to appear; and it will be found that this record casts considerable light on the development of his genius.1

A knowledge of these changes of text can only be obtained in one or other of two ways. Either the reader must have access to all the thirty-two editions of the works, the publication of which Wordsworth personally supervised; or, he must have all the changes in the successive editions, exhibited in the form of footnotes, and appended to the particular text that is selected and printed in the body of the work. Now, it is extremely difficult-in some cases quite impossible—to obtain the early editions. The great public libraries of the country do not possess them all. It is therefore necessary to fall back upon the latter plan, which seems the only one by which a knowledge of the changes of the text can be made accessible, either to the general reader, or to the special student of English Poetry.

The text which-after much consideration-I have resolved to place throughout in the body of the work is Wordsworth's own final textus receptus, i.e., the text of

1 It need hardly be explained that, in the case of a modern poet, these various readings are not like the conjectural guesses of critics and commentators as to what the original text was (as in the case of the Greek Poets, or of Dante, or even of Shakespere). They are the actual alterations introduced deliberately, as improvements, by the hand of the poet himself.

2 Even the collection in the British Museum is incomplete.