low Hill Sept. 24. Dorothy writes: "Mary first met us on the avenue. She looked so fat and well that we were made very happy by the sight of her; then came Sara, and last of all Joanna. Tom was forking down, standing upon the corn cart."

On Monday, Oct. 4, Wordsworth was married to Mary Hutchinson, in the old church at Brompton, and set out on the return to Dove Cottage the same day. Dorothy's entry in the Journal for this day (too long to give here) should be read.

Page 288.

STANZAS WRITTEN IN MY POCKET-COPY OF THOMSON'S CASTLE OF INDOLENCE.' ""

Dorothy writes: "We arrived at Grasmere at about six o'clock on Wednesday evening, the 6th of October, 1802. I cannot describe what I felt. On Friday, 8th, Mary and I walked first upon the hillside, and then in John's Grove, then in view of Rydale, the first walk that I had taken with my sister." Thus the circle at Grasmere was widened and enriched; now two high-minded and loving women, through their own sweetness and purity, calmness and goodness, contribute to make his work reach a height of fullness and completion only dreamed of as yet. I am inclined to think that the characters alluded to in this poem are Wordsworth and Coleridge; although there is some difficulty in assigning the stanzas. The editor of the Memoirs conIcludes that the allusions in the first four stanzas are to Wordsworth, and those in the last three to Coleridge.

Page 290. To H. C.

These lines, which Mr. Walter Bagehot styles, "the best ever written on a real and visible child," refer to Hartley Coleridge, the eldest son of Samuel Taylor Coleridge. They are singularly prophetic of that life of dreamy waywardness, of lonely wanderings, of lofty hopes and deep despair which was to be his. The gift of continuous conversation which distinguished his father was his no less, and it won for him hosts of friends. He became the ward of Wordsworth, who never ceased to care for him. He is known in the Lakes as "The children's laureate." His body lies in Grasmere Churchyard, near that of his friend and benefactor, Wordsworth.

Nab Cottage, where Hartley lived and died, is on the coach road from Rydal to Grasmere, and faces Rydal Water. It is now a favorite lodging house in the Lake District. See lines 43-64 in S. T. Coleridge's "Fears in Solitude."

Page 290. To THE DAISY.

This Poem, and two others to the same flower, were written in the year 1802; which is mentioned, because in some of the ideas, though not in the manner in which those ideas are connected, and likewise even in some of the expressions, there is a resemblance to passages in a Poem (lately published) of Mr. Montgom

"Though it happe me to rehersin

That ye han in your freshe songis saied,
Forberith me, and beth not ill apaied,
Sith that ye se I doe it in the honour

Of Love, and eke in service of the Flour."
W. W., 1807.

The best expression of the spirit of Wordsworth's Nature poems-like this and the two following is to be found in Whittier's tribute to Wordsworth,

"The violet by its mossy stone,

The primrose by the river's brim,
And chance-sown daffodil have found
Immortal life through him.

"The sunrise on his breezy lake,

The rosy tints his sunset brought, World-seen, are gladdening all the vales And mountain-peaks of thought." Line 80. Art Nature's favourite. See, in Chaucer and the elder Poets, the honours formerly paid to the flower. W. W.

Ruskin in Modern Painters, "Imagination Contemplative," cites the third and fifth stanzas as illustrations of "fancy regardant," and the sixth of "heavenly imagination."

1803

Page 292. THE GREEN LINNET. The "orchard seat "" was upon the terrace at the rear of the garden, and was reached by stone steps cut by Wordsworth himself. At the present time an arbor stands there.

Coleridge, in his Biographia Literaria, chap. xxii., cites this poem as an illustration of "The perfect truth of Nature in his [Wordsworth's] images and descriptions as taken immediately from Nature, and proving a long and genial intimacy with the very spirit which gives the physiognomic expression to all the works of Nature."

Page 292. YEW-TREES.

Written at Grasmere. In no part of England, or of Europe, have I ever seen a yew-tree at all approaching this in magnitude. W. W.

At this time Wordsworth was at work upon "The Prelude " and "The Excursion."

Coleridge, in challenging for Wordsworth the gift of imagination (and citing this poem), says: "In imaginative power he stands nearest of all modern writers to Shakespeare and Milton, yet in kind perfectly unborrowed and his

own.

Ruskin, alluding to this poem, in Modern Painters, says: "I consider it the most vigor ous and solemn bit of forest landscape ever painted." The " pride of Lorton Vale" has lost its beauty and its grandeur, and in 1883 the "fraternal Four " were visited by a whirlwind

Page 294. DEPARTURE.

Prof. Dowden thinks this was written in 1811, although it refers to events in 1803.

Dorothy's Journal says: "William and I parted from Mary on Sunday afternoon, Aug. 14, 1803; and William, Coleridge, and I left Keswick on Monday morning, the 15th."

Page 294. AT THE GRAVE OF BURNS.

The party reached Dumfries on the evening of the 17th. Under date of Thursday, the 18th, Dorothy wrote: "Went to the churchyard where Burns is buried. He lies at a corner of the churchyard, and his son Francis Wallace beside him. . . . We looked at the grave with melancholy and painful reflections, repeating to each other his own verses :

Is there a man whose judgment clear
Can others teach the course to steer,
Yet runs himself life's mad career

Wild as the wave?

Here let him pause and through a tear
Survey this grave.'"

"DUMFRIES, August 1803.

"On our way to the churchyard where Burns is buried, we were accompanied by a bookseller, who showed us the outside of Burns's house, where he had lived the last three years of his life, and where he died. It has a mean appearance, and is in a bye situation; the front whitewashed; dirty about the doors, as most Scotch houses are; flowering plants in the window. Went to visit his grave; he lies in a corner of the churchyard, and his second son, Francis Wallace, beside him. There is no stone to mark the spot; but a hundred guineas have been collected to be expended upon some sort of monument. 'There,' said the bookseller, pointing to a pompous monument, ‘lies Mr.' (I have forgotten the name)

a re

markably clever man; he was an attorney, and scarcely ever lost a cause he undertook. Burns

made many a lampoon upon him, and there they rest as you see.' We looked at Burns's grave with melancholy and painful reflections, repeating to each other his own poet's epitaph: Is there a man,' etc.

"The churchyard is full of grave-stones and expensive monuments, in all sorts of fantastic shapes, obelisk-wise, pillar-wise, etc. When our guide had left us we turned again to Burns's grave, and afterwards went to his house, wishing to inquire after Mrs. Burns, who was gone to spend some time by the seashore with her children. We spoke to the maid-servant at the door, who invited us forward, and we sate down in the parlour. The walls were coloured with a blue wash; on one side of the fire was a mahogany desk; opposite the window a clock, which Burns mentions, in one of his letters, having received as a present. The house was cleanly and neat in the inside, the stairs of stone scoured white, the kitchen on the right side of the passage, the parlour on the left. In the room above the parlour the poet died, and his son, very lately, in the same room. The servant told us she had lived four years with Mrs. Burns, who was now in great sorrow for the death of Wallace. She said that Mrs. B.'s youngest son was now at Christ's Hospital. We were glad to leave Dumfries, where we could think of little but poor Burns, and his moving about on that unpoetic ground. In our road to Brownhill, the next stage, we passed Ellisland, at a little distance on our right- his farm-house. Our pleasure in looking round would have been still greater, if the road had led us nearer the spot.

"I cannot take leave of this country which we passed through to-day, without mentioning that we saw the Cumberland mountains within half-a-mile of Ellisland, Burns's house, the last view we had of them. Drayton has prettily described the connection which this neighbourhood has with ours, when he makes Skiddaw

"We talked of Burns, and of the prospect he must have had, perhaps from his own door, of Skiddaw and his companions; indulging ourselves in the fancy that we might have been personally known to each other, and he have looked upon those objects with more pleasure for our sakes."

What could be more fitting than that the first-fruits of this visit to Scotland should be dedicated to the memory of that poet who had taught Wordsworth

Page 297. TO A HIGHLAND GIRL.

The tourists had the usual experience with Scottish weather, and when they left Loch Katrine for Loch Lomond it rained almost continually; the Journal for the 28th has the following:

"When beginning to descend the hill toward Loch Lomond we overtook two girls, who told us we could not cross the ferry until evening, for the boat was gone with a number of people to church. One of the girls was exceedingly beautiful: and the figures of both of them, in gray plaids falling to their feet, their faces only being uncovered, excited our attention before we spoke to them." Long after his return Wordsworth wrote this poem in recollection of the experience at the ferry-house.

Page 298. STEPPING WESTWARD.

From Callander they went to Loch Katrine. "We have never had a more delightful walk than this evening. Ben Lomond and the three pointed-topped mountains of Loch Lomond were very majestic under the clear sky, the lake perfectly calm, and the air sweet and mild. The sun had been set for some time, when our path having led us close to the shore of the calm lake, we met two neatly dressed women, without hats, who had probably been taking their Sunday evening's walk. One of them said to me in a friendly, soft tone of voice, What! are you stepping westward?' I cannot describe how affecting this simple expression was in that remote place, with the western sky in front, yet glowing with the departing sun. William wrote this poem long after, in remembrance of his feelings and mine." -Journal.

Page 298. THE SOLITARY REAPER.

Having crossed Loch Lomond they continued their journey through Glenfalloch and Glengyle, along the side of Loch Voil between the braes of Balquidder and Stratheyer, and returned to Callander. Of the scenery by Loch

Voil Dorothy says: "As we descended, the scene became more fertile, our way being pleasantly varied, through coppice or open fields, and passing farm-houses, though always with an intermixture of uncultivated ground. It was harvest-time, and the fields were quietly -might I say pensively? - enlivened by small companies of reapers. It is not uncommon in the more lonely parts of the Highlands to see a single person so employed. This poem was suggested to William by a beautiful sentence in Thomas Wilkinson's Tour in Scotland."

Page 299. ADDRESS TO KILCHURN CASTLE,

Soon after leaving Loch Lomond, Coleridge parted with the Wordsworths, and they passed on to Inverary and by Loch Awe to Dalmally.

Not far from the spot where Wordsworth poured out these verses is now to be seen a monument of rude unhewn stones cemented together. This monument has been erected to the memory of Duncan MacIntyre, the Bard of Glenorchy-Fair Duncan of the Songs. He lived on the lands of the Earl of Breadalbane, by whose family Kilchurn Castle had been built.

Line 43. Lost on the aërial heights of the Crusades. The tradition is that the Castle was built by a Lady during the absence of her Lord in Palestine. W. W.

Page 301. SONNET COMPOSED AT CASTLE.

On returning from the Highlands they spent a day in Edinburgh and then went to Roslin. On the morning of Sept. 17 they walked to Lasswade, and met, for the first time, Walter Scott, who was living there. In the afternoon Scott accompanied them to Roslin and left them with the promise to meet them at Melrose two days after. Passing on to Peebles they traveled down the Tweed, past Neidpath Castle.

Page 301. YARROW UNVISITED.

The Journal has the following: "September 18. We left the Tweed when we were within about a mile and a half or two miles of Clovenford, where we were to lodge. Turned up the side of a hill and went along the sheep-grounds till we reached the spot, a single stone house. On our mentioning Mr. Scott's name the woman of the house showed us all possible civility. Mr. Scott is respected everywhere; I believe that by favour of his name one might be hospit ably entertained throughout all the borders of Scotland.

"At Clovenford, being so near to Yarrow, we could not but think of the possibility of going thither, but came to the conclusion of reserving the pleasure for some future time, in consequence of which, after our return, William wrote the poem which I shall here transcribe."

The three poems upon the Yarrow, written in the metre of the old Yarrow ballads, should

be read as a trilogy, and Wordsworth's earlier and later styles compared.

"He hoarded his joys and lived upon the interest which they paid in the form of hope and expectation." R. H. HUTTON.

Line 35. See Hamilton's ballad, "The Braes of Yarrow," line 50.

Page 302.

THE MATRON OF JEDBOROUGH AND HER HUSBAND.

After leaving Clovenford they proceeded to Gala Water and on to Melrose, where they were met by Scott, who conducted them to the Abbey. The next day they went to Jedborough, where Scott, as Shirra," was attending the Assizes. The inns being full, they secured lodgings in a private house. The Journal continues: "We were received with hearty welcome by a good woman who though above seventy years old moved about as briskly as if she were only seventeen. The alacrity with which she guessed at and strove to prevent our wants was surprising. Her husband was deaf and infirm, and sat in a chair with scarcely the power to move a limb, an affecting contrast! The old woman said they had been a very hardworking pair; they had wrought like slaves at their trade, - her husband had been a currier; she told me they had portioned off their daughters with money, and each a feather bed.

"Mr. Scott sat with us an hour or two, and repeated a part of the 'Lay of the Last Minstrel.' When he was gone, our hostess came to see if we wanted anything, and to wish us good-night. William long afterward thought it worth while to express in verse the sensations which she had excited."

Page 303. "FLY, SOME KIND HARBINGER." This was composed the last day of our Tour, between Dalston and Grasmere. W. W.

The next day, Scott being busy at the courts, William Laidlaw, who lived in the dale of Yarrow, and who had been delighted with some of Wordsworth's poems, accompanied them to the vale of Jed. Dorothy says of him: "At first meeting he was as shy as any of our Grasmere lads, and not less rustic." On the following day Scott was glad to leave the Judge and his retinue and travel with them through the vale of Teviot to Hawick, from which place they had an extensive view of the Cheviot Hills. Here they were obliged to part, as Scott had to return to his duties. Two days later the Journal has the following: "Arrived home between eight and nine o'clock, where we found Mary in perfect health, Joanna Hutchinson with her, and little John asleep in the clothes-basket by the fire."

Page 308. THE FARMER OF TILSBURY VALE.

With this picture, which was taken from real life, compare the imaginative one of "The Reverie of Poor Susan," p. 70; and see (to make up the deficiencies of this class) "The Excursion," passim. W. W.

1804

This year much of "The Prelude" was written.

Page 310. To THE CUCKOO.

Composed in the orchard at Town-End, Grasmere, 1804. W. W.

If, as Prof. Dowden thinks, the following from Dorothy's Journal refers to this poem, the date should be 1802. She writes (May 14, 1802): "William tired himself with seeking an epithet for the Cuckoo."

Of all Wordsworth's illustrations of the effect of sound upon the spiritual nature this is the finest. "Of all his poems," Mr. R. H. Hutton says, "the 'Cuckoo' is Wordsworth's own darling."

Page 311. "SHE WAS A PHANTOM OF DELIGHT."

That so trivial an incident as the meeting of this Highland maid should have been thus cherished by the poet, and reproduced here, and in the "Three Cottage Girls," written nearly twenty years after, shows us how he valued his experiences.

It is hardly necessary to say that the subject of the poem is Mrs. Wordsworth. Allusions are also made to her in "The Prelude," book vi. 224; xii. 151; xiv. 266; and in A Farei. well," "To M. H.," "O dearer far than light and life are dear," 1824.

Page 311. "I WANDERED LONELY AS A CLOUD."

Town-End, 1804. The two best lines in it are by Mary. W. W.

66

The incident upon which this poem was founded occurred during a walk in Patterdale. Dorothy's Journal says: When we were in the woods beyond Gowbarrow Park we saw a few daffodils close to the water-side. We fancied that the sea had floated the seeds ashore, and that the little colony had so sprung up. But as we went along there were more, and yet more; and at last under the boughs of the trees we saw that there was a long belt of them along the shore. . . . I never saw daffodils so beautiful they tossed and reeled and danced as if they verily laughed with the wind that blew upon them over the lake."

Lines 21, 22. These lines were suggested by Mrs. Wordsworth. Daffodils still grow abundantly about Ullswater.

Page 312. THE AFFLICTION OF MARGARET. Written at Town-End, Grasmere. This was taken from the case of a poor widow who lived in the town of Penrith. Her sorrow was well known to Mrs. Wordsworth, to my sister, and, I believe, to the whole town. She kept a shop, and when she saw a stranger passing by, she was in the habit of going out into the street to inquire of him after her son. W. W.

No poet could have drawn this portrait until

Page 315. ADDRESS TO MY INFANT DAUGHTER, DORA.

Of Wordsworth's strong and deep love for his children we have frequent evidence in his poems. For Dora he seems to have had the most intense affection, loving her as his own soul. "The Longest Day," written in 1817, is addressed to her. After the sad illness of the dear sister, Dora became his comforter and stay, and occupied in his later life the same position which Dorothy had in his earlier. So dependent upon her did he become, that her marriage was a severe trial for him.

'When, in 1847, death came to her, a silence as of death fell upon him. I believe his genius never again broke into song."-SIR HENRY TAYLOR.

Wordsworth assigned two dates to this poem. In editions of 1815, 1820, it is 1802; while in the edition of 1836 and later editions, it is 1805.". - DOWDEN. I have therefore placed it before those relating to his brother's death. In the year 1800 the brothers spent eight months together at the Grasmere home; they had seen but little of each other since childhood, and at this time the Poet found in his brother an intense and delicate appreciation of his poetry. In the fir-grove, now called John's Grove, they spent many hours discussing what would be the future of the Lyrical Ballads; John Wordsworth confidently believed that they would in time become appreciated, and hence he determined to assist his brother in all possible ways. As captain of a merchant vessel he had acquired some means, had helped furnish the cottage, and looked forward to the time when he could settle at Grasmere, and enjoy the home in company with Dorothy and William.

The fir-grove is not far from the WishingGate on the road over White Moss Common. It is one of the most interesting of the localities connected with the poet and his brother. See "The Prelude," vii. 43.

Page 324. ELEGIAC VERSES IN MEMORY OF MY BROTHER, JOHN WORDSWORTH.

When in September, 1800, John Wordsworth left Grasmere, the brother and sister accompanied him as far as Grisdale Tarn, on the way to Patterdale. They then little thought it was to be his farewell to Grasmere, but so it proved. Soon he was appointed captain of the Abergavenny," an East Indiaman; and on Feb. 5, 1805, when setting sail from Portsmouth, through the incompetence of the pilot, she struck the reefs of the Bill of Portland, and was lost. Wordsworth says:

"A few minutes before the ship went down my brother was seen talking to the first mate with apparent cheerfulness; he was standing at a point where he could overlook the whole ship