66 Something less than joy, but more than dull content" (page 3). COUNTESS OF WINCHILSEA.-W. W. "Nuns fret not" (page 3). Date uncertain; first published 1807. In 1. 9" for me" (1849) replaced the earlier "to me." In 1. 14 "brief solace" (1827) replaced the earlier “short solace."-ED. Admonition (page 4). Date uncertain; first published 1807. L. 1 (1837); previously "Yes, there is holy pleasure in thine eye!" L. 5, "forbear to sigh" (1827); previously "O do not sigh." L. 7 (1827); previously "Sighing a wish to tear from Nature's book." 66 L. 8, " precious leaf" (1827); previously "blissful leaf." "Harsh impiety" (1815), worst impiety" (1807). L. 9, "must be " (1827); previously "would be." L. 14 (1838); previously "would melt, and melt away." -ED. "Beloved Vale" (page 4). Date uncertain; first published 1807. probably that of Hawkshead. The Vale is L. 7 (1827); previously "Distress'd me; I look'd round, I shed no tears." L. 8, "dread remembrance had I” (1837); “awful vision I had" [" had I" 1827], 1807-20. Ll. 9-11 (1827); previously "By thousand petty fancies I was cross'd To see the Trees, which I had thought so tall, At Applethwaite near Keswick (page 5). -ED. This place was presented to me by Sir George Beaumont with a view to the erection of a house upon it, for the sake of being near to Coleridge, then living, and likely to remain, at Greta Hall near Keswick. The severe necessities that prevented this arose from his domestic situation. This little property, with a considerable addition that still leaves it very small, lies beautifully upon the banks of a rill that gurgles down the side of Skiddaw, and the orchard and other parts of the grounds command a magnificent prospect of Derwent-water, and of the mountains of Borrowdale and Newlands. Many years ago I gave the place to my daughter.-I. F. Written 1804; first published 1842. Text unchanged. -ED. "Pelion and Ossa" (page 6). Dated by Wordsworth 1801; first published 1815. L. 12, "nobler" (1837); previously "fairer." L. 13 (1827); previously "His double-fronted head in higher clouds-ED. "There is a little unpretending rill” (page 6). This rill trickles down the hill-side into Windermere, near Lowwood. My sister and I, on our first visit together to this part of the country, walked from Kendal, and we rested to refresh ourselves by the side of the lake where the streamlet falls into it. This sonnet was written some years after in recollection of that happy ramble, that most happy day and hour.-I. F. Date uncertain; first published 1820. The little rill, as both Wordsworth and his wife informed the Rev. R. P. Graves, is that which "rising near High Skelgill at the back of Wansfell descends steeply down the hill-side, passes behind the house at Dovenest, and crossing beneath the road, enters the lake near the gate of the drive which leads up to Dovenest." The present text is of 1827; 11. 7-14 in 1820: "Oftener than mightiest Floods, whose path is wrought Professor Knight gives some interesting MS. readings, of which one, containing a reference-real or imaginary— to time, may be quoted: "For on that day, now seven years gone, when first We from that blessed water slaked our thirst. This may perhaps refer to an excursion of Wordsworth and Dorothy in 1794 (Knight's "Life," i. 88, 89), and if so the sonnet may, like the last, belong to 1801. Perhaps it remained unfinished till near 1820.-ED. "Her only pilot" (page 7). Date uncertain; first published 1827. Text unchanged. -ED. "The fairest, brightest, hues of ether fade" (page 7). Suggested at Hacket, which is on the craggy ridge that rises between the two Langdales and looks towards Windermere. The cottage of Hacket was often visited by us, and at the time when this Sonnet was written, and long after, was occupied by the husband and wife described in the "Excursion," where it is mentioned that she was in the habit of walking in the front of the dwelling with a light to guide her husband home at night. The same cottage is alluded to in the "Epistle to Sir George Beaumont as that from which the female peasant hailed us on our morning journey. The musician mentioned in the Sonnet was the Rev. Samuel Tillbrook of Peter-house, Cambridge, who remodelled the Ivy Cottage at Rydal after he had purchased it-I. F. Date uncertain; first published 1815. L. 13 (1837); previously: "From which I have been lifted on the breeze."-ED. Upon the Sight of a beautiful Picture (page 8). This was written when we dwelt in the Parsonage at Grasmere. The principal features of the picture are Bredon Hill and Cloud Hill near Coleorton. I shall never forget the happy feeling with which my heart was filled when I was impelled to compose this Sonnet. We resided only two years in this house; and during the last half of the time, which was after this poem had been written, we lost our two children, Thomas and Catharine. Our sorrow upon these events often brought it to my mind, and cast me upon the support to which the last line of it gives expression “The appropriate calm of blest eternity." It is scarcely necessary to add that we still possess the picture.-I. F. Written at the Parsonage, Grasmere, 1811; first published 1815. Sent to Sir G. Beaumont in a letter of Aug. 28, 1811: "The images of the smoke and the travellers are taken from your picture; the rest were added in order to place the thought in a clear point of view, and for the sake of variety." L. 9 (1838); previously "Soul-soothing Art-which Morning, Noontide, Even."-ED. Date uncertain; first published 1827. L. 13, "That" (1837); previously "It."-ED. "Aerial rock-whose solitary brow" (page 9). A projecting point of Loughrigg, nearly in front of Rydal Mount. Thence looking at it, you are struck with the boldness of its aspect; but walking under it, you admire the beauty of its details. It is vulgarly called Holme-Scar, probably from the insulated pasture by the waterside below it.-I. F. "The ; Date uncertain; first published 1819 (with Waggoner"). L. 3, "step" (1827); previously "look" 1. 4, a lingering" (1837); previously “lingering.” Ll. 5-7 (1827); previously : "Shall I discharge to thee a grateful vow ?— To Sleep (page 9). Date uncertain; first published 1807. L. 10, "am I," (1827); previously "I am." ("And" in l. 11, ed. 1815, is a misprint corrected in Errata).-ED. To Sleep (page 10). Date uncertain; first published 1807. L. 3 (1837); previously "The very sweetest words that Fancy frames." -ED. To Sleep (page 10). Date uncertain; first published 1807. L. 5 (1845) replacing: "I've thought of all by turns; and still I lie" (1807-20). "By turns have all been thought of; yet I lie" (1827-32). "I thought of all by turns, and yet I lie " (1837). "I have thought of all by turns, and yet I lie" (1838). Wordsworth probably did not quite like the "do lie" of 1845, but preferred it to beginning a line with "I" and ending with the double i sound of "I lie." In 1. 13 "between" (1832) replaced the earlier "betwixt."-ED. The Wild Duck's Nest (page 11). I observed this beautiful nest on the largest island of Rydal Water.-I. F. Date uncertain; first published 1819 (with "The Waggoner"). Ll. 13, 14 (1837) previously : "I gaze--and almost wish to lay aside A revolt against humanity was no part of Wordsworth's permanent habit of feeling.-ED. Written upon a blank leaf (page 11). "The Date uncertain; first published 1819 (with Waggoner"). L. 2 returns to text of 1819-32, from the 1837-38 reading, "thy name, meek Walton." L. 7 as now in 1827-32, and again 1845-49; but in 1819-20 and 1837-43 O, nobly versed." L. 8 as now in 1827-32 and 1845-49; but in 1819-20, "Meek, thankful soul, the vernal day too short," and in 1837-43, "Who found'st the longest summer day," involving "thy" instead of "his" in I. 9. In 1. 11 "this," 1827 onwards, replaced "thy," |