torical consistency. We have a natural sequence, if we begin with the earliest and go on to the latest readings. Then, all the readers of Wordsworth who care to possess or to consult this new edition, will doubtless possess one or other of the complete copies of his works, which contain his final text; while probably not one in twenty have ever seen the first edition of any of his poems, with the exception of The Prelude. If they turn to this edition for the original version of any poem, it would certainly be pleasanter for them to read it in a continuous form in the main text, than to have the trouble and distraction of a constant reference to footnotes. Some, indeed, will prefer that all the various readings, with their respective dates, should be printed at the end of the work, or at least at the end of each volume, and not at the foot of every page. It is true that if the reader turns to a footnote to compare the versions of different years, while he is reading for the sake of the poetry, he will be so distracted that the effect of the poem as a whole will be entirely lost; because the critical spirit, which judges of the text, works apart from the spirit of sympathetic appreciation, in which all poetry should be read. But it is not necessary to turn to the footnotes, and to mark what may be called the literary growth of a poem, while it is being read for its own sake: and if these notes are printed in smaller type, they will not obtrude themselves on the eye of the reader. Against the adoption of the earlier text, there is this fatal objection, that if it is to be done at all, it must be done throughout; and, in the earliest poems Wordsworth wrote -viz., An Evening Walk and Descriptive Sketches,-the subsequent alterations amounted almost to a cancelling of the earlier version. His changes were all, or almost all, unmistakeably for the better. Indeed, there was little in these works--in the form in which they first appeared—to lead to the belief that an original poet had arisen in England. It is true that Coleridge saw in them the signs of the dawn of a new era, and wrote thus of the Descriptive Sketches, before he had met its author, "Seldom, if ever, was the emergence of a great and original poetic genius above the literary horizon more evidently announced." The earliest text of these Sketches is, however, in many places, so artificial, prosaic, and dull, that its reproduction (except in the form of footnotes) would be an injustice to Wordsworth. On the other hand, the passages subsequently cancelled are so numerous and so long, that if placed in footnotes the latter would in some instances be more extensive than the text. The quarto of 1793 will therefore be printed as a whole, in an Appendix to the first volume of this edition, along with the School Exercise written at Hawkshead in the poet's fourteenth year.1 Passing over these juvenile efforts, there are poems such as Guilt and Sorrow, Peter Bell, and many others-in which the earlier text is an inferior one, which was either corrected or abandoned by Wordsworth in his maturer years. It would be a conspicuous blunder to print in this edition, in the place of honour, the crude original which was afterwards repudiated by its author. Prima facie, it seems fair that every great writer, and especially every poet, should have the right of saying to posterity in what form he wishes to be finally known. It may seem an impertinence in any one else to interfere with 1 Let the indiscriminate admirer of "first editions" turn to this quarto, and even he may perhaps wonder why it has been rescued from oblivion. I am only aware of the existence of a single copy of the edition of 1793; and although it has a certain biographic value, and may therefore be fitly reproduced in this edition, I can scarcely think that many who read it once will return to it again, except as a literary curiosity. Here -and not in Lyrical Ballads or The Excursion—was the quarry where Jeffrey or Gifford might have found abundant material for criticism. an author's own judgment on this point, since his finally adopted text is an important element in the transmission of literary work to future generations. Besides, the growth of a poet's mind can be shown with equal clearness by adopting his own final emendations as the textus receptus, as by selecting his earlier readings, if it be understood that the whole previous literary history of the poem is contained in the footnotes. It may be remembered, in connection with Wordsworth's text, that he himself said, "I am for the most part uncertain about my success in altering poems; but, in this case" (he is speaking of an insertion) "I am sure I have produced a great improvement." (Memoirs I., p. 174.)1 Again, in writing to Mr Dyce in 1830, "You know what importance I attach to following strictly the last copy of the text of an author." It is also worthy of note that the study of their chronology casts some light on the changes which the poems underwent. The second edition of Lyrical Ballads appeared in 1800. In that edition the text of 1798 is scarcely altered: but, in the year in which it was published, Wordsworth was engrossed with his settlement at Grasmere; and, in the springtime of creative work, he probably never thought of revising his earlier pieces. In the year 1800, he composed at least twenty-five new poems. The third edition of Lyrical Ballads appeared in 1802; and during that year he wrote thirty-six new poems, many of them amongst the most perfect of his Lyrics. His critical instinct had become much more delicate since 1800: and it is not surprising to find-as we do find-that between the text of the Lyrical Ballads of 1800, and that of 1802, there are many important variations. This is seen, for example, in the way in. 1 It is unfortunate that the Memoirs do not tell us to what poem the remark applies, or to whom the letter containing it was addressed. which he dealt with The Female Vagrant, which is altered throughout. Its early redundance is pruned away; and, in many instances, the final text, sanctioned in 1845, had been already adopted in 1803. Without going into further detail, it is sufficient to remark that in the year 1803 the critical faculty, the faculty of censorship, had developed almost step for step with the creative originality of his genius. In that prolific year, when, week by week, almost day by day, fresh poems were thrown off with marvellous facility-as we see from his sister's journal-he had become a severe if not a fastidious critic of his own earlier work. A further explanation of the absence of critical revision in the edition. of 1800 may be found in the fact that during that year Wordsworth was engaged in writing the "Preface" to his poems, which dealt in so remarkable a manner with the nature of poetry in general, and with his own theory of it in particular. A further reference to the Evening Walk will illustrate Wordsworth's way of dealing with his earlier text in the later editions. This poem showed from the first a minute. observation of Nature, not only in her external form and colour, but also in her suggestiveness—though not in her symbolism; and we also find the same transition from Nature to Man, the same interest in rural life, and the same lingering over its incidents that we see in his maturer poems. Nevertheless, there is much that is very conventional in the first edition of the Evening Walk-that of 1793. I need only mention, as a sample, the use of the phrase "silent tides" to describe the waters of a lake. Now, when this poem was gone over in the year 1815-with a view to its insertion in the first edition of the collected works— Wordsworth simply omitted large portions of it, and some of the best passages were struck out. He scarcely amended the text at all. In 1820, however, he pruned and im proved it throughout; so that between this poem, as recast in 1820, (and reproduced almost verbatim in the next two editions of 1827 and 1832,) and the happiest descriptions of Nature in his most inspired moods, there is no great difference. Then, in 1836, he still further altered it in detail; and in that state practically left it, apparently not caring to revise or change it further, in the editions of 1843, 1845, and 1849. So far as I can judge there is one alteration for the worse, and one only. The reading, in the edition of 1793, In these lone vales, if aught of faith may claim is better than that finally adopted, In these secluded vales, if village fame, Strange apparitions mocked the shepherds' sight. It will be seen, however, from the changes made in the text of this poem, how Wordsworth's observation of Nature developed, and how thoroughly dissatisfied he soon became with everything conventional, with every image not drawn directly or at first hand from Nature. The same thing is true of the Descriptive Sketches. In the year 1827, there were scarcely any alterations made on the text of 1820; still fewer were added in 1832; but in 1836 the whole poem was virtually rewritten, and in that state was finally left, although in 1845 a few significant changes were made. A third feature of this edition is the publication of several new readings, or suggested changes of text, which were written by Wordsworth on the margin of a copy of his edition of 1836-7, which he kept beside him at Rydal Mount. These MS. notes seem to have been written down |