The Poetical Works of William Wordsworth Volume I Part 53

[Sub-Footnote ii: An emendation by S. T. C.--Ed.]

THE BORDERERS

A TRAGEDY

Composed 1795-6.--Published 1842

Readers already acquainted with my Poems will recognise, in the following composition, some eight or ten lines, [A] which I have not scrupled to retain in the places where they originally stood. It is proper however to add, that they would not have been used elsewhere, if I had foreseen the time when I might be induced to publish this Tragedy.

February 28, 1842. [B]

This Dramatic Piece, as noted in its t.i.tle-page, was composed in 1795-6. It lay nearly from that time till within the last two or three months unregarded among my papers, without being mentioned even to my most intimate friends. Having, however, impressions upon my mind which made me unwilling to destroy the MS., I determined to undertake the responsibility of publis.h.i.+ng it during my own life, rather than impose upon my successors the task of deciding its fate. Accordingly it has been revised with some care; but, as it was at first written, and is now published, without any view to its exhibition upon the stage, not the slightest alteration has been made in the conduct of the story, or the composition of the characters; above all, in respect to the two leading Persons of the Drama, I felt no inducement to make any change.

The study of human nature suggests this awful truth, that, as in the trials to which life subjects us, sin and crime are apt to start from their very opposite qualities, so there are no limits to the hardening of the heart, and the perversion of the understanding to which they may carry their slaves. During my long residence in France, while the Revolution was rapidly advancing to its extreme of wickedness, I had frequent opportunities of being an eye-witness of this process, and it was while that knowledge was fresh upon my memory, that the Tragedy of 'The Borderers' was composed. [C]

[Of this dramatic work I have little to say in addition to the short printed note which will be found attached to it. It was composed at Racedown, in Dorset, during the latter part of the year 1795, and in the following year. Had it been the work of a later period of life, it would have been different in some respects from what it is now. The plot would have been something more complex, and a greater variety of characters introduced to relieve the mind from the pressure of incidents so mournful. The manners also would have been more attended to. My care was almost exclusively given to the pa.s.sions and the characters, and the position in which the persons in the drama stood relatively to each other, that the reader (for I had then no thought of the stage) might be moved, and to a degree instructed, by lights penetrating somewhat into the depths of our nature. In this endeavour, I cannot think, upon a very late review, that I have failed. As to the scene and period of action, little more was required for my purpose than the absence of established law and government, so that the agents might be at liberty to act on their own impulses. Nevertheless, I do remember, that having a wish to colour the manners in some degree from local history more than my knowledge enabled me to do, I read Redpath's 'History of the Borders', but found there nothing to my purpose. I once made an observation to Sir W. Scott, in which he concurred, that it was difficult to conceive how so dull a book could be written on such a subject. Much about the same time, but little after, Coleridge was employed in writing his tragedy of 'Remorse'; and it happened that soon after, through one of the Mr. Poole's, Mr.

Knight, the actor, heard that we had been engaged in writing plays, and upon his suggestion, mine was curtailed, and I believe Coleridge's also, was offered to Mr. Harris, manager of Covent Garden. For myself, I had no hope, nor even a wish (though a successful play would in the then state of my finances have been a most welcome piece of good fortune), that he should accept my performance; so that I incurred no disappointment when the piece was _judiciously_ returned as not calculated for the stage. In this judgment I entirely concurred: and had it been otherwise, it was so natural for me to shrink from public notice, that any hope I might have had of success would not have reconciled me altogether to such an exhibition. Mr. C.'s play was, as is well known, brought forward several years after, through the kindness of Mr. Sheridan. In conclusion, I may observe, that while I was composing this play, I wrote a short essay, ill.u.s.trative of that const.i.tution and those tendencies of human nature which make the apparently 'motiveless' actions of bad men intelligible to careful observers. This was partly done with reference to the character of Oswald, and his persevering endeavour to lead the man he disliked into so heinous a crime; but still more to preserve in my distinct remembrance, what I had observed of transitions in character, and the reflections I had been led to make, during the time I was a witness of the changes through which the French Revolution pa.s.sed.--I. F.]

'The Borderers' was first published in the 1842 edition of "Poems, chiefly of Early and Late Years." In 1845, it was placed in the cla.s.s of "Poems written in Youth."--Ed.

DRAMATIS PERSONae

MARMADUKE. OSWALD. WALLACE. - Of the Band of LACY. Borderers.

LENNOX. HERBERT. /

WILFRED, Servant to MARMADUKE.

Host.

Forester.

ELDRED, a Peasant.

Peasant, Pilgrims, etc.

IDONEA.

Female Beggar.

ELEANOR, Wife to ELDRED.

SCENE--Borders of England and Scotland

TIME--The Reign of Henry III.

ACT I

SCENE--Road in a Wood

WALLACE and LACY

LACY The Troop will be impatient; let us hie Back to our post, and strip the Scottish Foray Of their rich Spoil, ere they recross the Border.

---Pity that our young Chief will have no part In this good service.

WALLACE Rather let us grieve That, in the undertaking which has caused His absence, he hath sought, whate'er his aim, Companions.h.i.+p with One of crooked ways, From whose perverted soul can come no good To our confiding, open-hearted, Leader.

LACY True; and, remembering how the Band have proved That Oswald finds small favour in our sight, Well may we wonder he has gained such power Over our much-loved Captain.

WALLACE I have heard Of some dark deed to which in early life His pa.s.sion drove him--then a Voyager Upon the midland Sea. You knew his bearing In Palestine?

LACY Where he despised alike Mohammedan and Christian. But enough; Let us begone--the Band may else be foiled.

[Exeunt.]

[Enter MARMADUKE and WILFRED]

WILFRED Be cautious, my dear Master!

MARMADUKE I perceive That fear is like a cloak which old men huddle About their love, as if to keep it warm.