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LIFE OF WILLIAM WORDSWORTH.

CHAPTER I.

INTRODUCTORY.

WORDSWORTH'S life was given to the world in his Poems. His biography may be said to have been written when the Fenwick notes to the 1856 edition of his works were published, much more truly than that the lives of Shakespeare, or Milton, or any of his predecessors, were written in their works. And some who appreciate him much, would prefer that nothing more should be said about him, that he should remain, if possible, nominis umbra, or, to use his own happy phrase, but "a wandering voice."

Nevertheless, the present generation desires-and posterity will probably desire much more—to know all it can regarding one whose function in the great hierarchy of genius is so distinctive and unique. His supremacy has been slowly but securely won, by the simple process of the survival of the fittest to live. By the sure verdict of time—despite the judgment of contemporary reviewers-the trivial is set aside, and only what is great remains; and Wordsworth now ranks, in his own sphere, as one of the chief teachers of the modern world.

The slender story of his life has been told, with more or less of accuracy, a score of times; and there would be no justification in re-stating it, unless some things had to be added that were previously unknown. Words

worth himself wished that there should be no extended record of his life, and some of his friends, who have given us their own admirable autobiographies (such as Sir Henry Taylor), have thought that the matter might be left as Wordsworth indicated. Sir Henry has said that the path of a great man to posterity runs the risk of being blocked by the very accumulation of materials that go to form his biography. Our greatest men are not, however, the best judges of what posterity may wish to know in regard to themselves; and, as time goes on, almost in exact proportion to the debt we owe to those who have had the chief influence over us, we desire to find out all that is ascertainable regarding them-to learn the authentic story of their lives, fiction and inaccuracy being weeded out, irrelevancy set aside, and all trivial gossip buried in oblivion.

There is one advantage in postponing the work of writing the life of a great man for some time after his death, viz., that the estimates of his contemporaries sink—or rise-by slow degrees to their proper level; and it is almost impossible for any contemporary adequately to appraise the work of an original genius. In this respect, Ben Jonson's appreciation of Shakespeare, and Coleridge's estimate of Wordsworth, are instances of far-reaching critical insight. In reference to the great teachers of the world, however, does it really matter what judgment their contemporaries passed, provided we have a full and accurate knowledge of the 'manner of men' these teachers were, and of how they lived? do not disparage criticism in its own place. Its function is great, and it rightly thrusts aside what does not deserve to live; but it is the fate of by far the larger part of contemporary criticism to be superseded in the next generation, while it is notorious that the reviews which carried most authority in their day, have in many instances been absolutely reversed by the judgment of posterity. When we

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see how the ex cathedra verdicts of Johnson, Jeffrey, and Macaulay have been set aside by the calmer insight of the future, we learn that literary estimates are as uncertain as political prophecy. The really important point is to hand down, before it is too late, a full and unbiassed picture of the life and character of our chief teachers, of what they were, and what they did—a plain unvarnished tale, concealing nothing that is essential, and revealing nothing that is unnecessary.

My aim, therefore, has been to make these volumes authentic, full, impartial, adequate; and to let Wordsworth and his Sister for the most part speak for themselves—he in his poems, and especially in his autobiographical one, she in her journals, and both in their letters. No doubt the Poems teach, and will continue to teach mankind, independently of any record of Wordsworth's life; but, on the other hand, many will appreciate his works all the more because of what they come to know of the man who wrote them.

Coleridge has spoken wisely and well* of the "cravings of worthless curiosity," in reference to the lives of great men, as distinguished from "the thirst after useful knowledge;" and Tennyson has said, in lines that deserve republication, that

Now the poet cannot die,

Nor leave his music as of old,

But round him, ere he scarce be cold,
Begin the scandal and the cry.

"Ah! shameless! for he did but sing
A song that pleased us for its worth ;
No public life was his on earth,
No blazoned statesman he, nor king.

* See The Friend, vol. ii., No. 21.

+ It is to be hoped that he will not consider this republication an instance of the very evil he condemns.

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