Is fitted :—and how exquisitely, too— Can it be called) which they with blended might * and dost possess Within the walls of cities-may these sounds Of those mutations that extend their sway 70 75 This Vision; when and where, and how he lived ;— Be not this labour useless. If such theme 80 85 90 95 1 1827. -Come thou prophetic Spirit, 1814. * See Wordsworth's note (p. 383).-ED. May sort with highest objects, then-dread Power! Express the image of a better time, ΙΟΙ More wise desires, and simpler manners ;-nurse Book First THE WANDERER * ARGUMENT A summer forenoon-The Author reaches a ruined Cottage upon a Common, and there meets with a revered Friend, the Wanderer, of whose education and course of life he gives an account1- The Wanderer, while resting under the shade of the Trees that surround the Cottage, relates the History of its last Inhabitant. 'TWAS summer, and the sun had mounted high: In clearest air ascending, showed far off A surface dappled o'er with shadows flung 5 the Wanderer, of whom he gives an account— 1814. * In a copy of the quarto edition of The Excursion (1814) bequeathed by the Poet to his grandson, the Rev. John Wordsworth, there are numerous changes of text in his own handwriting, or that of his wife. The majority of these were incorporated in later editions. Several of them, however, were These are reproduced in this edition, wherever it has been thought expedient to preserve them, and are indicated as "MS." readings. On the fly-leaf of the same presentation copy of the 1814 edition, Mrs. Wordsworth wrote out Mr. R. P. Gillies' sonnet, addressed to the author of The Excursion.-ED. not. + Compare An Evening Walk (vol. i. p. 9)— When, in the south, the wan noon, brooding still, ED. 2 1 From brooding clouds; shadows that lay in spots 1 1827. From many a brooding cloud; far as the sight 2 1845. Pleasant to him who on the soft cool moss 3 1845. By that impending covert made more soft, Other lot was mine; Other lot was mine; Though with good hope to cheer the sultry hour Mine was at that hour A toilsome lot, yet with good hope that soon * Compare An Evening Walk (vol. i. p. 11)— And its own twilight softens the whole scene. + Compare the sonnet composed in boyhood, beginningSweet was the walk along the narrow lane, and printed in an Appendix to vol. viii.-ED. 1814. 1814. 1814. 1827. C. C. ΙΟ 15 20 ED. With languid steps that by the slippery turf1 Upon that open moorland stood a grove, The Friend I sought; a Man of reverend age, Him had I marked the day before—alone And stationed in the public way, with face With languid feet, which by the slippery ground 2 Across a bare wide common I was toiling 1814. 1827. Now with eyes turned towards the far-distant hills, 3 1845. Upon that open level stood a Grove, C. The wished-for Port to which my steps were bound. 1814. my course was bound. 1827. 4 1845. Him whom I sought; Compare the Sonnet composed at Tour in Scotland,” 1803 (vol. iiì. p. 410)— 1814. 25 30 35 · Castle, in the "Memorials of a A brotherhood of venerable Trees. ED. History of The wonderes 1 Turned toward the sun then setting, while that staff We were tried Friends: amid a pleasant vale, 41 45 50 55 Stationed, as if to rest himself, with face Turned tow'rds the sun then setting, while that staff 1814. Him had I chanced to mark the day before Alone, and stationed in the public way; 2 1845. C. the countenance of the Man Was hidden from my view, and he himself 1814. We were tried Friends: I from my Childhood up *Hawkshead. Compare the notes to The Prelude, in books i. and ii. The Fenwick note tells us, "At Hawkshead, while I was a schoolboy, there occasionally resided a Packman, with whom I had frequent conversations upon what had befallen him, and what he had observed, during his wandering life; and, as was natural, we took much to each other."-ED. |