at this, and the more so because, like most children, I had been in the habit of watching the moon through all her changes, and had often continued to gaze at it when at the full, till half blinded.-I. F. Dated by Wordsworth 1826; first published 1827; placed, previous to 1845, among "Epitaphs and Elegiac Poems." Text unchanged.-ED. To the Lady Fleming (page 37). After thanking Lady Fleming in prose for the service she had done to her neighbourhood by erecting this Chapel, I have nothing to say beyond the expression of regret that the architect did not furnish an elevation better suited to the site in a narrow mountain-pass, and, what is of more consequence, better constructed in the interior for the purposes of worship. It has no chancel ; the altar is unbecomingly confined; the pews are so narrow as to preclude the possibility of kneeling with comfort; there is no vestry; and what ought to have been first mentioned, the font, instead of standing at its proper place at the entrance, is thrust into the farther end of a pew. When these defects shall be pointed out to the munificent Patroness, they will, it is hoped, be corrected. -I. F. Dated by Wordsworth 1823 (sent in MS. to Lady Beaumont, Feb. 5, 1823); first published 1827. Placed, with the next following, among "Poems of Sentiment and Reflection," previous to 1845. The names Fleming" and "Rydal" were left blank until 1843. Professor Knight gives several various readings-much inferior to the printed text-from the copy sent to Lady Beaumont. In 1827 the present third and fourth stanzas appeared in a reverse order. Ll. 21-23 (1832); in 1827: "Even Strangers, slackening here their pace, Shall bless this work of pious care, Lifting its". L. 35, "wild wandering (1837); previously "wild wandering." Ll. 41-46 (1832); in 1827: "Not yet the corner stone is laid Hears, o'er the lake, the warning clock Ll. 69, 70 a return in 1845 to the text of 1827; in 18321843: "Yea, strives for others to bedim The glorious Light too pure for him." L. 86 (1832); in 1827, "Through Mosedale-Cove from Carrock's side."-ED. On the Same Occasion (page 40). Dated by Wordsworth 1823; first published 1827. Text unchanged.-ED. The Horn of Egremont Castle (page 42). This story is a Cumberland tradition. I have heard it also related of the Hall of Hutton John, an ancient residence of the Hudleston's, in a sequestered valley upon the river Dacor.-W. W. A tradition transferred from the ancient mansion of Hutton John, the seat of the Hudlestons, to Egremont Castle.-I. F. Dated by Wordsworth 1806; first published 1807; placed in 1815 among " Poems of the Imagination," with a footnote: "This poem and the Ballad [Goody Blake'] which follows it as they rather refer to the imagination than are produced by it would not have been placed here but to avoid a needless multiplication of the Classes." It is interesting to find this early impression operative as late as 1845, for in that year this poem and " Goody Blake" were removed from "Poems of Imagination," and were assigned their present position. The poem was retouched in 1845. Ll. 1-4 (1845); previously: "When the Brothers reach'd the gateway, To the Horn which there was hanging; Professor Knight gives an earlier version of these lines from MS. L. 9 (1845); previously "Heirs from ages without record." Ll. 11, 12 (1845); previously: "Who of right had claimed the Lordship L. 38 (1845); previously "From the Castle forth they went." L. 48, "Lands'" (1832); previously "Land's." L. 62 (1845); previously "He has nothing." Ll. 67, 68 (1845); previously: "For the sound was heard by no one Of the proclamation-horn."-ED. Goody Blake and Harry Gill (page 45). Written at Alfoxden. The incident from Dr. Darwin's "Zoönomia."-I. F. Dated by Wordsworth 1798; first published 1798. As to its place in the classification of Wordsworth, see note on the last poem. The source is Erasmus Darwin's "Zoonomia" (vol. iv. pp. 68-69, ed. 1801):-"I received good information of the truth of the following case, which was published a few years ago in the newspapers. A young farmer in Warwickshire, finding his hedges broke, and the sticks carried away during a frosty season, determined to watch for the thief. He lay many cold hours under a haystack, and at length an old woman, like a witch in a play, approached, and began to pull up the hedge; he waited till she had tied up her bottle of sticks, and was carrying them off, that he might convict her of the theft, and then springing from his concealment, he seized his prey with violent threats. After some altercation, in which her load was left upon the ground, she kneeled upon her bottle of sticks, and raising her arms to Heaven beneath the bright moon then at the full, spoke to the farmer already shivering with cold, 'Heaven grant that thou mayest never know again the blessing to be warm.' He complained of cold all the next day, and wore an upper coat, and in a few days another, and in a fortnight took to his bed, always saying nothing made him warm; he covered himself with many blankets, and had a sieve over his face as he lay; and from this one insane idea he kept his bed above twenty years for fear of the cold air, till at length he died." L. 21, “ Old ” (1802); previously “ Auld.” "This woman dwelt in Dorsetshire, In 1820, ll. 31, 32 as now; ll. 29, 30: "Remote from sheltering village green In 1827 these lines assumed their present form, except that "sheltered" 66 (1836) was sheltering." L. 36, "housed" (1820); previously "dwelt "-altered to avoid repeating a word which occurred in 1. 30. L. 55, turf or stick" (1827); previously "wood or stick." L. 86, "by-way" (1827); previously "by-road."-ED. Prelude (page 49). These verses were begun while I was on a visit to my son John at Brigham, and were finished at Rydal. As the contents of the volume, to which they are now prefixed [i.e., "Poems chiefly of Early and Late Years," 1842], will be assigned to their respective classes when my poems shall be collected in one volume, I should be at a loss where with propriety to place this prelude, being too restricted in its bearing to serve for a preface for the whole. The lines towards the conclusion allude to the discontents then fomented through the country by the agitators of the Anti-Corn-Law League: the particular causes of such troubles are transitory, but disposition to excite and liability to be excited are nevertheless permanent, and therefore proper objects for the poet's regard. -I. F. Dated by Wordsworth March 26, 1842; first published Text unchanged.—ED. 1842. To a Child (page 51). This quatrain was extempore on observing this image, as I had often done, on the lawn of Rydal Mount. It was first written down in the Album of my God-daughter, Rotha Quillinan.—I. F. L. 2 Dated by Wordsworth 1834; first published 1835, with the title, "Written in an Album." In 1837, "Written in the Album of a Child"; in 1845, named as now. (1845); previously "Of Friends, however humble, scorn not one: "-ED. Lines Written in the Album of the Countess of Lonsdale, Nov. 5, 1834 (page 52). This is a faithful picture of that amiable Lady, as she then was. The youthfulness of figure and demeanour and habits, which she retained in almost unprecedented degree, departed a very few years after, and she died without violent disease by gradual decay before she reached the period of old age.—I. F. Dated by Wordsworth Nov. 5, 1834; first published 1835, the name "Lonsdale" being left blank until 1837. Ll. 22-24 (1837); in 1835 two lines: "Towers, and stately Groves, Bear witness for me; thou, too, Mountain stream! " L. 73 (1837); in 1835, " Thou tread, or on the managed steed art borne,"--ED. Grace Darling (page 55). Dated by Wordsworth, incorrectly, 1842; written early in 1843; privately printed in that year; first included in "Wordsworth's Poetical Works," 1845. Writing on March 27, 1843, to Henry Reed, he says of this poem: "I threw it off two or three weeks ago," and he requests at the same time that it may not be reprinted. Text unchanged since 1845. I have not seen the privately printed text. Grace Darling's father was lighthouse keeper on the Farne islands; the shipwreck spoken of in the poem happened in Sept., 1838. Grace Darling died Oct., 1842.-ED. The Russian Fugitive (page 58). Peter Henry Bruce, having given in his entertaining Memoirs the substance of this Tale, affirms that, besides the concurring reports of others, he had the story from the lady's own mouth. The Lady Catherine, mentioned towards the close, is the famous Catherine, then bearing that name as the acknowledged Wife of Peter the Great.-W. W. Early in life this story had interested me, and I often thought it would make a pleasing subject for an opera or musical drama.-I. F. 66 Dated by Wordsworth 1830; first published 1835. Professor Knight gives a few readings from a MS. in Mrs. Wordsworth's handwriting, with the title, “ Ina, or, the Lodge in the Forest, a Russian Tale." Two lines corresponding to ll. 167, 168 are worth preserving: "And smiles, the sunshine of distress, |