Nor view of who might sit 1 thereon allowed ; 5 Ever put on; a miserable crowd, Sick, hale, old, young, who cried before that cloud, "Thou art our king, O Death! to thee we groan." Those steps I clomb; the mists before me gave 2 Smooth way; and I beheld the face of one Sleeping alone within a mossy cave, With her face up to heaven; that seemed to have A lovely Beauty in a summer grave ! "The Sonnet that follows," referred to in the Fenwick note, is one belonging to the year 1836, beginning Even so for me a Vision sanctified. See the note to that sonnet. - ED. LINES Composed at Grasmere, during a walk one Evening, after a stormy day, the Author having just read in a Newspaper that the dissolution of Mr. Fox was hourly expected. Composed September 1806.-Published 1807 This poem was ranked among the "Epitaphs and Elegiac Pieces."-ED. Loud is the Vale! the Voice is up With which she speaks when storms are gone, 1 1815. of him who sate 2 1845. 1807. I seem'd to mount those steps; the vapours gave 1807. A mighty unison of streams ! Loud is the Vale; this inland Depth Sad was I, even to pain deprest, 5 10 And many thousands now are sad- 15 A Power is passing from the earth 20 That Man, who is from God sent forth, Charles James Fox died September 13, 1806. He was Minister for Foreign Affairs at the time, having assumed office on the 5th February, shortly after the death of William Pitt. Wordsworth's sadness on this occasion, his recognition of Fox as great and good, and as "a Power" that was "passing from the earth," may have been due partly to personal and political sympathy, but also probably to Fox's appreciation of the better 1 1837. But when the Mighty pass away 1807. * Importuna e grave salma. (Michael Angelo.)-W. W. 1807. side of the French Revolution, and to his welcoming the pacific proposals of Talleyrand, perhaps also to his efforts for the abolition of slavery. The "lonely road" referred to in these Lines, was, in all likelihood, the path from Town-end towards the Swan Inn past the Hollins, Grasmere. A "mighty unison of streams " may be heard there any autumn evening after a stormy day, and especially after long continued rain, the sound of waters from Easdale, from Greenhead Ghyll, and the slopes of Silver How, blending with that of the Rothay in the valley below. Compare Dorothy Wordsworth's Recollections of a Tour made in Scotland, in 1803, p. 229 (edition 1874).—ED. NOVEMBER, 1806 Composed 1806.-Published 1807 Classed among the "Sonnets dedicated to Liberty," renamed in 1845, "Poems dedicated to National Independence and Liberty."-ED. ANOTHER year!-another deadly blow ! Another mighty Empire overthrown ! 5 We shall exult, if they who rule the land 10 Be men who hold its many blessings dear, 1 1827. 2 1807. 3 1820. VOL. IV dares knowledge 1807. MS. venal 1807. E Who are to judge of danger which they fear, Napoleon won the battle of Jena on the 14th October 1806, entered Potsdam on the 25th, and Berlin on the 28th; Prince Hohenlohe laid down his arms on the 6th November; Blücher surrendered at Lübeck on the 7th; Magdeburg was taken on the 8th; on the 14th the French occupied Hanover; and on the 21st Napoleon issued his Berlin decree for the blockade of England.-ED. ADDRESS TO A CHILD DURING A BOISTEROUS WINTER EVENING BY MY SISTER Composed 1806.-Published 1815 [Written at Town-end, Grasmere.-I. F.] One of the "Poems referring to the Period of Childhood." -ED. WHAT way does the Wind come? What way does he go? He rides over the water, and over the snow, As, if you look up, you plainly may see; But how he will come, and whither he goes, There's never a scholar in England knows. * Who are to judge of danger which they fear 5 These two lines from Lord Brooke's Life of Sir Philip Sydney.-W. W. 1807. "Danger which they fear, and honour which they understand not." Words in Lord Brooke's Life of Sir P. Sidney.-W. W. 1837. He will suddenly stop in a cunning nook, 10 Sometimes he'll hide in the cave of a rock, 15 Nothing but silence and empty space; Save, in a corner, a heap of dry leaves, That he's left, for a bed, to 2 beggars or thieves! As soon as 'tis daylight to-morrow, with me 20 You shall go to the orchard, and then you will see 25 Studded with apples, a beautiful show! Hark! over the roof he makes a pause, 30 e: 35 Books have we to read, but that half-stifled knell, |