Advertisement. Some of my Friends having expressed a wish to see all the Sonnets that are scattered through several volumes of my Poems, brought under the eye at once; this is done in the present Publication, with a hope that a collection made to please a few, may not be unacceptable to many others. Twelve new ones are added which were composed while the sheets were going through the press. Mount, May 21st 1838. XXVII. Rydal POEMS, chiefly of early and late years. Including The Borderers, A Tragedy. By William Wordsworth. London: Edward Moxon, Dover Street. 1842. Fcap. 8vo. [This volume includes the poems "Guilt and Sorrow," "Memorials of a Tour in Italy” in 1837, the “Sonnets on the Punishment of Death," a number of "Miscellaneous Sonnets," and the tragedy of "the Borderers."] XXVIII. The POETICAL WORKS of WILLIAM WORDSWORTH. A new edition, in six volumes. London, Edward Moxon, Dover Street. 1843. Fcap. 8vo. [This is, in the main, a reprint of the edition of 1836. It seems to have been printed from the same plates, which had been stereotyped ; but there are several changes introduced, and typographical errors corrected. A seventh volume was added, containing the "Poems chiefly of early and late years" published in 1842. It is printed from the same plates as the edition of 1842; and, although it stands as vol. VII. in the edition of 1843, it is dated 1842. The "Dedication" and "Preface" of 1815 are printed in volume I. The "Preface" to Lyrical Ballads, at the end of volume II., and the "Essay Supplementary" with "appendix," at the close of volume III. The edition was republished in 1846.] XXIX. ODE, performed in the Senate-House, Cambridge, on the sixth of July, M.DCCC.XLVII. At the first commencement after the Installation of his Royal Highness the Prince Albert, Chancellor of the University. Cambridge printed at the University Press. 1847. 4to. XXX. THE POETICAL WORKS of William Wordsworth. London, Edward Moxon, Dover Street. 1845. 1 vol. royal 8vo. [This is the double-column edition, the arrangement of which was suggested to Wordsworth by Professor Reed's American edition of 1836. It was republished in 1847. In this edition, the arrangement of the Poems is slightly altered; those grouped under the head of "Poems of the Imagination" being more numerous-(this was a suggestion of Pro fessor Reed's). It also contains "about three hundred verses not found in any previous edition" (W. W. to H. Reed). Republished in 1846, 1847, 1849, 1851, &c.; the editions issued after 1851 include "The Prelude;" and that of 1869 contains "nine additional poems" of date 1846.] XXXI. THE EXCURSION. A poem. By William Wordsworth. A new edition. London: Edward Moxon, 44 Dover Street. 1847. Fcap. 8vo. XXXII. THE POETICAL WORKS of William Wordsworth, D.C.L., PoetLaureate, &c., &c., in six volumes, a new edition. London, Edward Moxon, Dover St. 1849-50. 12mo. [The first two volumes are dated 1849, the last four are dated 1850. This 12mo pocket edition follows the arrangement of the 1845 single volume 8vo, except in the order of the "Poems of the Imagination;" the "Yarrow Poems," &c., preceding "The White Doe," instead of succeeding it, as in the edition 1845. "The Excursion," forming volume VI. of this edition, was printed separately in 1851, 1853, and 1857.] XXXIII. THE PRELUDE, or Growth of a Poet's Mind; an autobiographical Poem; by William Wordsworth. London: Edward Moxon, Dover Street. 1850. 8vo. An eighth feature of the edition will be a new Life of the poet, and a critical Essay on his genius, which will conclude the last volume. A large amount of the material usually introduced into the life of a literary man will, in this edition, find a more appropriate place in the Notes illustrative of the poems. In the "Memoirs " of Wordsworth-written by his nephew, the Bishop of Lincoln-the Fenwick notes, with the extracts from Miss Wordsworth's Diaries (as well as from letters explanatory of the poems), form the most interesting part of the work. But with these, and similar memoranda, dispersed throughout the present volumes, there will still be sufficient material left for a Biography and critical essay. The last feature of the edition will be the publication of a series of etchings, by C. O. Murray, of localities specially associated with Wordsworth. The localities are Cockermouth, Hawkshead, Alfoxden, Dove Cottage, Grasmere, Lancrigg, Rydal Mount, and Blea Tarn. These etchings will be from drawings by John M'Whirter, A.R.A., and will form the frontispieces to the successive volumes. A portrait of Wordsworth will be published in the last volume. NOTE, EXPLANATORY OF THE VARIOUS READINGS PRINTED IN THIS EDITION. The text adopted is, for the reasons stated in the foregoing preface, that which was finally sanctioned by Wordsworth himself, in the last edition which he revised. But, as every variation from this final text-occurring in the earlier editions is given in footnotes, it may be desirable to explain the way in which these are arranged. It will be seen that whenever the text has been changed a date is given in the footnote, before the other readings are added. This date, which accompanies the reference number of the footnote, indicates the year in which the reading finally retained was first adopted by Wordsworth. The earlier readings then follow, in chronological order, with the year to which they belong invariably noted; and it is in every case to be assumed that the last of the changes indicated was continued in all subsequent editions of the works. It will thus be seen that no direct information is given as to how long a particular reading was retained, or through how many editions it ran. It is to be assumed, however, that it was retained in all the intermediate editions till the next change of text is stated, It would encumber the notes with too many figures if, in every instance in which a change had been made, the corresponding state of the text in all the other editions was indicated. But if no new reading follows the text quoted, as belonging to a particular year, it is to be taken for granted that the reading in question was continued in all subsequent editions, till the text was finally adjusted in 1849-50. The first is a case Two illustrations will make this clear. in which the text was only altered once, the second an instance in which it was altered six times. In the Evening Walk the following lines occur— The dog loud barking 'mid the glittering rocks, Hunts, where his master points, the intercepted flocks. And the footnote is as follows 1836. That barking busy 'mid the glittering rocks, 1793. In the light of what has been said above, and by reference to the preceding bibliography, it will be seen from these two dates that the original text of 1793-given in the footnote -was continued in editions 1820, 1827, and 1832 (it was omitted in the "extract" of 1815); that it was changed in the year 1836; and that this reading was retained in editions. 1843, 1845, and 1849. Again, in Simon Lee, the lines occur But what to them avails the land Which he can till no longer? And the following are the footnotes From this it will be seen that the text adopted in the Lyrical Ballads of 1798 was retained in editions 1800, 1801, 1805, 1815, and 1820; that it was altered in each of the editions of 1827, 1832, 1836, 1843, in the MS. reading in Lord Coleridge's copy of the works, and in the edition of 1845; and that the version of 1845 was retained in the edition of 1849-50. Further, when a verse, or stanza, or line, occurring in one or other of the earlier editions, was omitted from that of 1849, the footnote simply contains the extract along with the date of the year or years in which it occurs; and in such cases the date does not follow the reference number of the footnote, but is placed for obvious reasons at the end of the extract. It may be added that slight changes of spelling which occur in the successive editions, and such alterations as ye for you, are not mentioned. When the change is one of transposition, however, although the text remains unaltered, -as is largely the case in Simon Lee, for example-the change is always indicated. It will be further observed that, at the beginning of every poem, two dates are given; the first, on the left-hand side, being the date of composition; and the second, on the right-hand side, being the date of the first publication of the poem. ST ANDREWS, January, 1882. WILLIAM KNIGHT. |