POEMS OF WILLIAM WORDSWORTH. SELECTED AND EDITED BY ROBERT ARIS WILLMOTT, INCUMBENT OF BEAR WOOD. ILLUSTRATED WITH ONE HUNDRED DESIGNS BY BIRKET FOSTER, J. WOLF, AND JOHN GILBERT, ENGRAVED BY THE BROTHERS DALZIEL. LONDON: GEORGE ROUTLEDGE & CO. FARRINGDON STREET. NEW YORK: 18, BEEKMAN STREET. MDCCC LIX. PREFACE. WILLIAM WORDSWORTH was born in the town of Cockermouth, Cumberland, April 7, 1770. His father, an attorney of skill and repute, died December 30, 1783. The birthplace of the Poet favoured the growth of his poetical feelings; the Derwent soothed him with its murmurs, and the mouldering castle opened its green courts for the chase of the butterfly. He lost his mother early; and soon afterwards the sweet companionship-in later years to be recovered and prized-of his sister DOROTHY. Like Shenstone, he began with a "Schoolmistress ;" No pompous title did debauch her ear, In his ninth year Wordsworth was removed to a School at Hawkshead, a small market town in Lancashire, embosomed in the green Vale of Esthwaite, with the still lake for a mirror. The School, which was founded by Archbishop Sandys, consisted of a schoolroom on the ground-floor, and some apartments for the Master; the boys being boarded in the neighbouring cottages. The indoor education was good, but the out-of-door was better. The Poet has told us of the fair seed-time of his soul; and even then he felt Gleams like the flashing of a shield: the earth And common face of Nature spoke to him He had already begun to write verses. But a new scene opened. In his eighteenth year he was sent to Cambridge, and on a dreary morning, as he informs us, of October, 1787, he at the Hoop alighted, famous Inn. The Evangelist St. John was his patron; in prosaic phrase, he was entered a student of St. John's College; the Kitchens were under his rooms, and Trinity's "loquacious clock" and pealing organ were his near neighbours. His picture of Academic life is drawn in dark and forbidding colours. But the place was full of solemn interest. One of his friends occupied the room which had been Milton's; and there his young disciple once poured out memorial libations, so many and copious, that they drove him to Chapel in more than Minstrel's phrenzy. The vacations were seasons of joy to the Poet, and carried him back among the green valleys and mountain shadows. He spent his last vacation, August, 1790, on the Continent, in the company of a Cambridge friend. They made the journey on foot, carrying their bundles on their heads, and an oak stick in their hands. The "Descriptive Sketches "-published in 1793-were the fruit of the Tour. Wordsworth took his Bachelor's degree, 1791, and his University career was ended. A visit to London, when the "spirit of Nature" came upon him in the crowd, an exploring walk through North Wales, and a prolonged sojourn in France, filled his heart with many beautiful |