On his return to Westmoreland, Wordsworth wrote several letters to Gillies; which the latter quotes, with pardonable pride, in his Memoirs. The following are extracts: "RYDAL MOUNT, Nov. 23, 1814.* MY DEAR SIR,-. . . I have to thank you for Egbert, which is pleasingly and vigorously written, and proves that with a due sacrifice of exertion, you will be capable of performing things that will have a strong claim on the regards of posterity. But keep, I pray you, to the great models; there is in some parts of this tale—particularly page fourtoo much of a bad writer, Lord Byron; and I will observe that towards the conclusion, the intervention of the peasant is not only unnecessary, but injurious to the tale, inasmuch as it takes away from that species of credibility on which it rests. I have peeped into The Ruminator, and turned to your first letter, which is well executed, and seizes the attention very agreeably. Your longer poem I have barely looked into, but I promise myself no inconsiderable pleasure in the perusal of this. I thank you for The Queen's Wake. Since I saw you in Edinburgh I have read it. It does Mr Hogg great credit. Of the tales, I liked best, much the best, The Witch of Fife, the former part of Kilmany, and the Abbot Mackinnon. Mr Hogg himself, I remember, seemed most partial to Mary Scott, though he thought it too long. For my own part, though I always deem the opinion of an able writer upon his own works entitled to consideration, I cannot agree with Mr Hogg in this preference. The story of Mary Scott appears to me extremely improbable, and not skilfully conducted; besides, the style of the piece is often vicious. The intermediate parts of The Queen's Wake are done with much spirit, but the style here, also, is often disfigured with * Memoirs of a Literary Veteran, vol. ii., pp. 145-147. false finery, and in too many places it recalls Mr Scott to one's mind. Mr Hogg has too much genius to require that support, however respectable in itself. As to style, if I had an opportunity I should like to converse with you thereupon. Such is your sensibility, and your power of mind, that I am sure I could induce you to abandon many favourite modes of speech; for example, why should you write, 'Where the lake gleams beneath the autumn sun,' instead of ' autumnal '-which is surely more natural and harmonious? We say 'summer sun,' because we have no adjective termination for that season, but vernal and autumnal are both unexceptionable words. Miss Seward uses 'hybernal,' and I think it is to be regretted that the word is not familiar. But these discussions render a letter extremely dull. I sent the alterations of Yarrow Visited to Miss Hutchinson, and my sister, in Wales, who think them great improvements, and are delighted with the poem as it now stands. Second parts, if much inferior to the first, are always disgusting, and as I had succeeded in Yarrow Unvisited, I was anxious that there should be no falling off; but that was unavoidable, perhaps, from the subject, as imagination almost always transcends reality. I remain, with great regard and respect.-Yours most truly, WILLIAM WORDSWORTH." "RYDAL MOUNT, Nov, 12, 1814.* You are a most indulgent and good-natured critic, or I think you would hardly have been so much pleased with Yarrow Visited. We think it heavier than my things generally are, and nothing but a wish to show to Mr Hogg that my inclination towards him, and his proposed work, were favourable, could have induced me to part with it in that state. I have composed three new stanzas in place of the three first, and another to be inserted before the two last, and have made some alterations in other parts; therefore, when you see Mr Hogg, beg from me that he will not print the poem till he has read the copy which I have added to Miss E. Wilson's MS., as I scarcely doubt, notwithstanding the bias of first impressions, that he will prefer it. In the same MS. you will find a sonnet addressed to yourself, which I should have mentioned before, but for a reason of the same kind as kept you silent on the subject of yours. I am not a little concerned that you continue to suffer from morbid feelings, and still more that you regard them as incurable. But this I can confidently say, that poetry and the poetic spirit will either help you, or harm you, as you use them. If you find in yourself more of the latter effect than of the former, forswear the Muses, and apply tooth and nail to law, to mathematics, to mechanics, to anything, only escape from your insidious foe. But, if you are benefited by your intercourse with the lyre, then give yourself up to it, with the enthusiasm which I am sure is natural to you. I should like to be remembered to Mr Lappenberg,* to Mr Hogg, and our friends in Queen Street, of course. Mr Sharpe, I hope, does not forget me. Adieu, most faithfully, and with great respect.—Yours, MY DEAR SIR,-Your account of yourself distresses me. Flee from your present abode. If you resolve on going to London, let me beg of you to take Westmoreland in your You can make a trial here, and should it not answer, you are only so far on your way to town. way.. * Mr Lappenberg translated We are Seven, To a Butterfly, and several others of Wordsworth's poems into German. + Memoirs of a Literary Veteran, vol. ii., pp. 149-151. I am not sure that I com- Your first position, that every idea which passes through a poet's mind may be made passionate, and therefore poetical, I am not sure that I understand. If you mean through a poet's mind when in a poetical mood, the words are nothing but an identical proposition. But a poet must be subject to a thousand thoughts in common with other men, and many of them must, I suppose, be as unsusceptible of alliance with poetic passion as the thoughts that interest ordinary men. But the range of poetic feeling is far wider than is ordinarily supposed, and the furnishing new proofs of this fact is the only incontestible demonstration of genuine poetic genius. Secondly, "The moment a clear idea of any kind is conceived, it ought to be brought out directly, and as rapidly as possible, without a view to any particular style of language." prehend your meaning here. should be noted down in prose? or that he should express them in any kind of verse that they most easily fall into? I think it well to make brief memoranda of our most interesting thoughts in prose; but to write fragments of verse is an embarrassing practice. A similar course answers well in painting, under the name of studies; but in poetry it is apt to betray a writer into awkwardness, and to turn him out of his course for the purpose of lugging on these readymade pieces by the head and shoulders. Or do you simply mean, that such thoughts as arise in the process of composition, should be expressed in the first words that offer themselves, as being likely to be most energetic and natural? If so, this is not a rule to be followed without cautious exceptions. My first expressions I often find detestable; and it is frequently true of second words, as of second thoughts, that they are the best. I entirely accord with you in your third observation, that we should be cautious not to waste our lives in dreams of imaginary excellence, for a thousand reasons, and not the least for this, that these notions of excellence may perhaps be erroneous, and then our inability to catch a phantom of no value may prevent us from attempting to seize a precious substance within our reach. When your letter arrived, I was in the act of reading to Mrs Wordsworth your Exile, which pleased me more, I think, than anything that I have read of yours. There is, indeed, something of mystification' about it, which does not enhance its value with me; but it is, I think, in many passages delightfully conceived and expressed. I was particularly charmed with the seventeenth stanza, first part. This is a passage which I shall often repeat to myself; and I assure you that, with the exception of Burns and Cowper, there is very little of recent verse, however much it may interest me, that sticks to my memory (I mean which I get by heart). Mr Hogg's Badlew (I suppose it to be his) I could not get through. There are two pretty passages-the flight of the deer, and the falling of the child from the rock of Stirling, though both are a little outré. But the story is coarsely conceived, and, in my judgment, as coarsely executed; the style barbarous, and the versification harsh and uncouth. Mr Hogg is too illiterate to write in any measure or style that does not savour of balladism. This is much to be regretted; for he is possessed of no ordinary power. Do not imagine that my principles lead me to condemn Scott's method of pleasing the public, or that I have not a very high respect for his various talents and extensive attainments. -With great respect, I remain yours, WILLIAM WORDSWORTH." Other letters written to Gillies in 1815 and 1816 will be given in a subsequent chapter. |