The Prose Works of William Wordsworth Part 2

VOL. II.

AESTHETICAL AND LITERARY.

I. _Of Literary Biography and Monuments_.

(_a_) A Letter to a Friend of Robert Burns, 1816.

(_b_) Letter to a Friend on Monuments to Literary Men, 1819.

(_c_) Letter to John Peace, Esq., of Bristol, 1844.

These naturally group themselves together. Of the first (_a_), perhaps it is hardly worth while, and perhaps it is worth while, recalling that WILLIAM HAZLITT, in his Lectures upon the English Poets, attacked WORDSWORTH on this Letter with characteristic insolence and uncritical shallowness and haste. Under date Feb. 24th, 1818, Mr. H. CRABB ROBINSON thus refers to the thing: 'Heard part of a lecture by HAZLITT at the Surrey Inst.i.tution. He was so contemptuous towards WORDSWORTH, speaking of his Letter about Burns, that I lost my temper. He imputed to WORDSWORTH the desire of representing himself as a superior man' (vol.

i. p. 311, 3d ed.). The lecture is included in HAZLITT'S published Lectures in all its ignorance and wrong-headedness; but it were a pity to lose one's temper over such trash. His eyes were spectacles, not 'seeing eyes,' and jaundice-yellow, (_b_) and (_c_) are sequels to (_a_), and as such accompany it.

II. UPON EPITAPHS.

(_a_) From 'The Friend.' (_b_ and _c_) From the Author's MSS., for the first time.

Of (_a_) CHARLES LAMB wrote: 'Your Essay on Epitaphs is the only sensible thing which has been written on that subject, and it goes to the bottom' (Talfourd's 'Final Memorials,' vol. i. p. 180). The two additional Papers--only briefly quoted from in the 'Memoirs' (c. x.x.x.

vol. i.)--were also intended for 'The Friend,' had COLERIDGE succeeded in his announced arrangement of principles. These additional papers are in every respect equal to the first, with Wordsworthian touches and turns in his cunningest faculty. They are faithfully given from the MSS.

III. ESSAYS, LETTERS, AND NOTES ELUCIDATORY AND CONFIRMATORY OF THE POEMS, 1798-1835.

(_a_) Of the Principles of Poetry and the 'Lyrical Ballads' (1798-1802.)

(_b_) Of Poetic Diction.

(_c_) Poetry as a Study (1815).

(_d_) Of Poetry as Observation and Description, and Dedication of 1815.

(_e_) Of 'The Excursion:' Preface.

(_f_) Letters to Sir George and Lady Beaumont and others on the Poems and related Subjects.

(_g_) Letter to Charles Fox with the 'Lyrical Ballads,' and his Answer, &c.

(_h_) Letter on the Principles of Poetry and his own Poems to (afterwards) Professor John Wilson.

(_a_) to (_e_) form appendices to the early and later editions of the Poems, and created an epoch in literary criticism. COLERIDGE put forth his utmost strength on a critical examination of them, oblivious that he had himself impelled, not to say compelled, his friend to write these Prefaces, as WORDSWORTH signifies. It is not meant by this that COLERIDGE was thereby shut out from criticising the definitions and statements to which he objected.

IV. DESCRIPTIVE.

(_a_) A Guide through the District of the Lakes, 1835.

(_b_) Kendal and Windermere Railway: two Letters, &c.

These very much explain themselves; but of the former it may be of bibliographical interest to state that it formed originally the letterpress and Introduction to 'Select Views in c.u.mberland, Westmoreland, and Lancas.h.i.+re,' by the Rev. JOSEPH WILKINSON, Rector of East Wrotham, Norfolk, 1810 (folio). It was reprinted in the volume of Sonnets on the River Duddon. The fifth edition (1835) has been selected as the Author's own final text. In Notes and Ill.u.s.trations in the place, a strangely overlooked early account of the Lake District is pointed out and quoted from. The 'Two Letters' need no vindication at this late day.

Ruskin is reiterating their arguments and sentiment eloquently as these pages pa.s.s through the press. Apart from deeper reasons, let the fault-finder realise to himself the differentia of general approval of railways, and a railway forced through the 'old churchyard' that holds his mother's grave or the garden of his young prime. It was a merely sordid matter on the part of the promoters. Their professions of care for the poor and interest in the humbler cla.s.ses getting to the Lakes had a Judas element in them, nothing higher or purer.

VOL. III.

CRITICAL AND ETHICAL.

I. _Notes and Ill.u.s.trations of the Poems, incorporating_:

(_a_) The Notes originally added to the first and successive editions.

(_b_) The whole of the I.F. MSS.

This division of the Prose has cost the Editor more labour and thought than any other, from the scattered and hitherto uncla.s.sified semi-publication of these Notes. Those called 'original' are from the first and successive editions of the Poems, being found in some and absent in other collections. An endeavour has been made to include everything, even the briefest; for judging by himself, the Editor believes that to the reverent and thoughtful student of WORDSWORTH the slightest thing is of interest; _e.g._ one turns to the most commonplace book of topography or contemporary verse in any way noticed by him, just because it is WORDSWORTH who has noticed it, while an old ballad, a legend, a bit of rural usage, takes a light of glory from the page in which it is found. Hence as so much diamond-dust or filings of gold the published Notes are here brought together. Added, and far exceeding in quant.i.ty and quality alike, it is the privilege of the Editor to print _completely and in integrity_ the I.F. MSS., as written down to the dictation of WORDSWORTH by Miss FENWICK. These have been hitherto given with tantalising and almost provoking fragmentariness in the 'Memoirs'

and in the centenary edition of the Poems--again withdrawn in the recent Rossetti edition. In these Notes--many of which in both senses are elaborate and full--are some of the deepest and daintiest-worded things from WORDSWORTH. The I.F. MSS. are delightfully chatty and informal, and ages hence will be treasured and studied in relation to the Poems by the (then) myriad millions of the English-speaking races.

Miss FENWICK, to whom the world is indebted for these MSS., is immortalised in two Sonnets by WORDSWORTH, which surely long ere this ought to have been included in the Poetical Works; and they may fitly reappear here (from the 'Memoirs'):

'_On a Portrait of I.F., painted by Margaret Gillies_.

We gaze--nor grieve to think that we must die, But that the precious love this friend hath sown Within our hearts, the love whose flower hath blown Bright as if heaven were ever in its eye, Will pa.s.s so soon from human memory; And not by strangers to our blood alone, But by our best descendants be unknown, Unthought of--this may surely claim a sigh.

Yet, blessed Art, we yield not to dejection; Thou against Time so feelingly dost strive: Where'er, preserved in this most true reflection, An image of her soul is kept alive, Some lingering fragrance of the pure affection, Whose flower with us will vanish, must survive.

WILLIAM WORDSWORTH.

_Rydal Mount, New Year's Day, 1840_.'

'_To I.F._

The star which comes at close of day to s.h.i.+ne More heavenly bright than when it leads the morn Is Friends.h.i.+p's emblem, whether the forlorn She visiteth, or shedding light benign Through shades that solemnise Life's calm decline, Doth make the happy happier. This have we Learnt, Isabel, from thy society, Which now we too unwillingly resign Though for brief absence. But farewell! the page Glimmers before my sight through thankful tears, Such as start forth, not seldom, to approve Our truth, when we, old yet unchill'd by age, Call thee, though known but for a few fleet years, The heart-affianced sister of our love!

WILLIAM WORDSWORTH.

_Rydal Mount, Feb. 1840_.'

In addition to these Sonnets the beautiful memory of Miss FENWICK has been reillumined in the 'Memoir and Letters of Sara Coleridge' (2 vols.

1873); _e.g._ 'I take great delight in Miss Fenwick, and in her conversation. Well should I like to have her constantly in the drawing-room, to come down to and from my little study up-stairs--her mind is such a n.o.ble compound of heart and intelligence, of spiritual feeling and moral strength, and the most perfect feminineness. She is intellectual, but--what is a great excellence--never talks for effect, never _keeps possession of the floor_, as clever women are so apt to do.

She converses for the interchange of thought and feeling, no matter _how_, so she gets at your mind, and lets you into hers. A more generous and a tenderer heart I never knew. I differ from her on many points of religious faith, but on the whole prefer her views to those of most others who differ from her' (ii. 5). Again: 'Miss FENWICK is to me an angel upon earth. Her being near me now has seemed a special providence.

G.o.d bless her, and spare her to us and her many friends. She is a n.o.ble creature, all tenderness and strength. When I first became acquainted with her, I saw at once that her heart was of the very finest, richest quality, and her wisdom and insight are, as ever must be in such a case, exactly correspondent' (ibid. p. 397). Such words from one so penetrative, so indeceivable, so great in the fullest sense as was the daughter of _the_ COLERIDGE, makes every one long to have the same service done for Miss FENWICK as has been done for SARA COLERIDGE and Miss HARE, and within these weeks for Mrs. FLETCHER. Her Diaries and Correspondence would be inestimable to lovers of WORDSWORTH; for few or none got so near to him or entered so magnetically into his thinking.

The headings and numberings of the successive Notes--lesser and larger--will guide to the respective Poems and places. The numberings accord with ROSSETTI'S handy one-volume edition of the Poems, but as a rule will offer no difficulty in any. The I.F. MSS. are marked with an asterisk [*]: They are _for the first time_ furnished in their entirety, and accurately.

II. _Letters and Extracts of Letters_.