...referred to Napoleon in the abstract as "the tyrant." They echo Wordsworth's passages, cited earlier: "I see one Man, of men the meanest too! / Raised up...do, undo, / With mighty Nations for his underlings." And in 1810 Wordsworth related Napoleon specifically to Spain: We can endure that he should waste our...

...sonnets, 'October, 1803', which illustrates Napoleon's place at the heart of contemporary affairs, begins: When, looking on the present face of things, I see...meanest too! Raised up to sway the World, to do, undo . . . (my italics, lines 1-3) It is through 'looking' and 'seeing' that Wordsworth registers Napoleon:...

...first hopes? what knowledge could he gain?" Again, in "October, 1803" ('When, looking'), he writes, I see one man, of men the meanest too! Raised up to...do, undo, With mighty Nations for his underlings. . . . In "Anticipation. October, 1803," Wordsworth goes further; he celebrates the inevitable deaths...

...cheerful godliness; and yet thy heart The lowliest duties on itself did lay. (1807) 218. October, 1803 When, looking on the present face of things, I see...venerate; So that almost a doubt within me springs Of Providence, such emptiness at length Seems at the heart of all things. But, great God! I measure...

...sonnet which is as appropriate to us now as it was to our forefathers a century ago ? October 18o3. 'When, looking on the present face of things, I see...great : Nothing is left which I can venerate ; So that at last a doubt within me springs Of Providence, such emptiness at length Seems at the heart of all...

...lakes, and views the seething, struggling mass of humanity, he is despondent and bewails thus : — 'I find nothing great: Nothing is left which I can venerate ; So that a doubt almost within me springs Of Providence ; such emptiness at length Seems at the heart of all...