Reader, farewell! My last words let them be-
If in this book Fancy and Truth agree;

If simple Nature trained by careful Art
Through It have won a passage to thy heart;
Grant me thy love, I crave no other fee!

1839.

The fourteen sonnets "Upon the Punishment of Death were originally published in the Quarterly Review (in December 1841), in an article on the "Sonnets of William Wordsworth" by Henry (now Sir Henry) Taylor, the author of Philip van Artevelde, and other poems. Towards the close of this article, after reviewing the volume of sonnets published in 1838, Sir Henry adds, "There is a short series written two years ago, which we have been favoured with permission to present to the public for the first time. It was suggested by the recent discussions in Parliament and elsewhere on the subject of the 'Punishment of Death.'" When republishing this and other critical Essays on Poetry, in the collected edition of his works in 1878, Sir Henry omitted the paragraphs relating to these particular sonnets.

SUGGESTED BY THE VIEW OF LANCASTER CASTLE (ON THE ROAD FROM THE SOUTH.)

THIS Spot at once unfolding sight so fair

Of sea and land, with yon grey towers that still

Rise up as if to lord it over air—

"In the session of 1836, a report by the Commissioners on Criminal Law-of which the second part was on this subject (the Punishment of Death) was laid before Parliament. In the ensuing session this

Might soothe in human breasts the sense of ill,
Or charm it out of memory; yea, might fill
The heart with joy and gratitude to God
For all his bounties upon man bestowed:
Why bears it then the name of "Weeping Hill?
Thousands, as toward yon old Lancastrian Towers,
A prison's crown, along this way they past
For lingering durance or quick death with shame,
From this bare eminence thereon have cast
Their first look-blinded as tears fell in showers
Shed on their chains; and hence that doleful name.

II. †

TENDERLY do we feel by Nature's law

For worst offenders: though the heart will heave
With indignation, deeply moved we grieve,
In after thought, for Him who stood in awe
Neither of God nor man, and only saw,

was followed by papers presented to Parliament by her Majesty's command, and consisting of a correspondence between the Commissioners, Lord John Russell, and Lord Denman. Upon the foundation afforded by these documents, the bills of the 17th July 1837-(7th Gul. IV. and 1st Vict. cap. 84 to 89 and 91)—were brought in and passed. These acts removed the punishment of death from about 200 offences, and left it applicable to high treason, -murder and attempts at murder-rape-arson with danger to life-and to piracies, burglaries, and robberies, when aggravated by cruelty and violence." (Sir Henry Taylor, Quarterly Review, Dec. 1841, p. 39.) Some members of the House of Commons-Mr Fitzroy Kelly, Mr Ewart, and others-desired a further limitation of the punishment of death to the crimes of murder and treason only: and the question of the entire abolition of capital punishment being virtually before the country, Wordsworth dealt with it in the following series of sonnets.-Ed.

* The name given to the spot from which criminals on their way to the Castle of Lancaster first see it.-ED.

+ "The first sonnet prepares the reader to sympathise with the sufferings of the culprits. The next cautions him as to the limits within which his sympathies are to be restrained." (Sir H. Taylor.)-ED.

Lost wretch, a horrible device enthroned.

On proud temptations, till the victim groaned
Under the steel his hand had dared to draw.
But O, restrain compassion, if its course,
As oft befalls, prevent or turn aside

Judgments and aims and acts whose higher source
Is sympathy with the unforewarned, who died1
Blameless-with them that shuddered o'er his grave,
And all who from the law firm safety crave.

III. *

THE Roman Consul doomed his sons to die
Who had betrayed their country. ‡ The stern word
Afforded (may it through all time afford)

A theme for praise and admiration high.
Upon the surface of humanity

He rested not; its depths his mind explored;

He felt; but his parental bosom's lord
Was Duty,-Duty calmed his agony.

And some, we know, when they by wilful act
A single human life have wrongly taken,
Pass sentence on themselves, confess the fact,
And, to atone for it, with soul unshaken
Kneel at the feet of Justice, and, for faith
Broken with all mankind, solicit death.

1 1840.

that died

1839.

* "In the third and fourth sonnets the reader is prepared to regard as low and effeminate the views which would estimate life and death as the most important of all sublunary conditions." (Sir H. Taylor.)—Ed. + Lucius Junius Brutus, who condemned his took in the conspiracy to restore the Tarquins.

sons to die for the part they

(See Livy, Book II.)-ED.

IV.

Is Death, when evil against good has fought
With such fell mastery that a man may dare
By deeds the blackest purpose to lay bare
Is Death, for one to that condition brought,
For him, or any one, the thing that ought
To be most dreaded? Lawgivers, beware,
Lest, capital pains remitting till ye spare
The murderer, ye, by sanction to that thought
Seemingly given, debase the general mind;
Tempt the vague will tried standards to disown,
Nor only palpable restraints unbind,

But upon Honour's head disturb the crown,
Whose absolute rule permits not to withstand
In the weak love of life his least command.

V.

NOT to the object specially designed,
Howe'er momentous in itself it be,
Good to promote or curb depravity,

Is the wise Legislator's view confined.

His Spirit, when most severe, is oft most kind;

As all Authority in earth depends

On Love and Fear, their several powers he blends,

Copying with awe the one Paternal mind.

Uncaught by processes in show humane,

He feels how far the act would derogate

From even the humblest functions of the State;

If she, self-shorn of Majesty, ordain

That never more shall hang upon her breath

The last alternative of Life or Death.

96 BEFORE THE WORLD HAD PASSED HER TIME OF YOUTH.

VI.*

YE brood of conscience- Spectres! that frequent
The bad Man's restless walk, and haunt his bed-
Fiends in your aspect, yet beneficent

In act, as hovering Angels when they spread
Their wings to guard the unconscious Innocent-
Slow be the Statutes of the land to share

A laxity that could not but impair

Your power to punish crime, and so prevent.
And ye, Beliefs! coiled serpent-like about
The adage on all tongues, "Murder will out,"
How shall your ancient warnings work for good
In the full might they hitherto have shown,
If for deliberate shedder of man's blood
Survive not Judgment that requires his own?

VII.

BEFORE the world had passed her time of youth
While polity and discipline were weak,

The precept eye for eye, and tooth. for tooth,
Came forth a light, though but as of day-break,
Strong as could then be borne. A Master meek
Proscribed the spirit fostered by that rule,

Patience his law, long-suffering his school,

And love the end, which all through peace must seek.

But lamentably do they err who strain

His mandates, given rash impulse to controul

* "The sixth sonnet adverts to the effects of the law in preventing the crime of murder, not merely by fear, but by horror, by investing the crime itself with the colouring of dark and terrible imaginations." (Sir H Taylor.)-ED.