University of Virginia Library

A Note on Pseudonyms

The signatures appended to Wordsworth's newspaper poems have perhaps more than a chance significance. A discernible pattern emerges. Poems published on Stuart's initiative generally carried either Wordsworth's name or a reference to Lyrical Ballads; poems submitted by Wordsworth himself appeared unsigned (except for the political sonnets of 1803, signed "W. L. D."); poems sent under Coleridge's auspices were sometimes decorated with a pseudonym of some point or wit. It is these last signatures that need comment. The first Wordsworth poem to make an appearance in the paper is "The Convict", and it is signed "MORTIMER". It has been thought that this combination of pseudonym and poem indicated Wordsworth's depressed response to the rejection of The Borderers at Covent Garden. But there is another and more probable inference to be drawn. In the spring of 1798 two more poems were signed "MORTIMER"; on December 7, a week before "The Convict" was published Coleridge's own first contribution to the Morning Post appeared under the signature "ALBERT"; in January and February 1798, Southey began his association with the newspaper with five poems signed "WALTER".[10] Surely this use of the names of the heroes of their plays was no accident. It was perhaps a means of letting a few interested people know who the real authors were; Southey's "Walter" could not have been widely recognized, but "Mortimer" and "Albert" must have meant something to readers like Lamb, Poole, Thelwall, Cottle, Lloyd, Bowles, Tom Wedgwood, Sheridan, perhaps Wrangham, Southey of course, and no doubt, others.[11]

---

159

The signatures of the Wordsworth poems own possibly further refinements; they perhaps indicate whether or not Coleridge had made any radical alterations to poems he had obtained from Wordsworth. The text of "The Convict", for instance, is altered for the Morning Post, and though this may be Coleridge's work, one cannot with any certainty make that assumption, for on the two other occasions when the signature "Mortimer" is used, we have full manuscript evidence that the texts are wholly Wordsworth's. The signature "Nicias Erythræus" suggests something very different, however. The two poems with this pseudonym, "The Old Man of the Alps" and "Lewti", are perhaps in similar ways the result of joint authorship; "Lewti" is an early poem of Wordsworth's completely rewritten by Coleridge, and similarly "The Old Man of the Alps", though it probably owes something of its origin to Wordsworth, may have become Coleridge's. Significantly, the full signature here should read "Janus Nicias Erythræus".[12] Again, on February 13, 1798, the signatures "Publicosa" and "W. W." appear beneath poems that are originally Wordsworth's, and, after considering the textual histories of these poems, I take the difference in signature to indicate that the textual revisions of the first are Coleridge's, and of the second, Wordsworth's. I do indeed suspect that there is more than the accidental in the choice of signatures for the newspaper poems; even if some of them had meaning only for Wordsworth, may this not have been Coleridge's device for indicating his varying shades of indebtedness?[13]

Table of Abbreviations, Etc.

• C. Courier.
• Coleridge Letters. All quotations are from the edition of Professor E. L. Griggs (Oxford), 1956—

---

160




• CPW. Complete Poetical Works of Samuel Taylor Coleridge, edited by E. H. Coleridge, 2 vol. 1912.
• DCP. Dove Cottage Papers, Grasmere, England.
• MP. Morning Post.
• Wordsworth Letters. All quotations are from de Selincourt's edition in six volumes (Oxford) 1935-39.
• WPW. Poetical Works of William Wordsworth, edited by de Selincourt and Helen Darbishire, 5 vol. 1940-49. Revised edition vol. I, Second edition, vols. II and III.
• <>= a word or words later inserted in MS.
• [. . .]=an illegible word or words.
• [?word]=an uncertain reading.
• [[word]]=word or words crossed out in MS.
• * denotes a newspaper appearance not noted by previous editors.
• † denotes a newspaper appearance previously noted but requiring correction.
• [ ] An entire entry in square brackets indicates that the poem has probably
• some Wordsworth connexion but cannot be fully attributed to him.
• Punctuation variants and typographical varieties have not been recorded; hence,
• all titles are presented uniformly.

1797

• †December 14, MP. The Convict. Signed "MORTIMER." The Brown Quarto Notebook, DCP. MS.4, contains the several MS. versions of the poem. It is drafted on pp. 6,11,13-17,20, and on pp. 21-23 is in part, perhaps entirely, a fair copy with later inserted revisions. All is in Wordsworth's hand. De Selincourt (WPW. I, 312-14) obtained his variant text from the fair copy but omitted the revised readings there and thus obscured the fact that in many places the MP. version is not unlike the revised text in MS.4. In one respect, however, the two versions are quite unlike: the early anti-religious feeling has been removed for the MP. publication. Page 21 of MS.4 contains a draft of lines 1-16 and includes after line 16 an entire verse suppressed in the newspaper version. Only a stub remains of the next page, p.21/22. On the recto of this stub there is clearly space for five stanzas. The initial letters indicate that the two bottommost stanzas were lines 33-40. Of the twelve lines above these only the seventh and eighth lines have clear initial letters; each begins with A. This suggests lines 27 and 28. One might assume, therefore, that lines 5-12 of p.21/22 were lines 25-32 of the WPW. text. What then were the first four lines? Possibly they were one of the two stanzas, lines 17-24. Neither of these stanzas, however, exists in draft form in MS.4, whereas all other stanzas do. So we have no help here. Presumably one of these stanzas did appear at the top of p. 21/22 recto, while the other was written to take the place of the rejected anti-religious stanza (lines 16/17) which appears at the bottom of p. 21 of MS. 4. It is at least possible that this change from an anti-religious to a somewhat pietistic sentiment is Wordsworth's and not Coleridge's as it was not removed when the text was prepared for the Lyrical Ballads. The various versions in the MS. are collated below against the MP. text:
  1-4. The Sun was dilating his orb in the West;
  And the still Season's mellowing charm,
  Diffus'd thro' all Nature, was felt in the breast,
  And the breast became kindly and warm. MP.
  

  ---

  161

  
  
  
  When extending his beams the mild sun[[in]]<from> the west
  Diffuses that [[exquisite]] <soft mellowing> charm
  Which [[mellows each thought and]] <felt through all nature> illumines the breast
  With tender benevolence warm MS.4,p.21.
  
  There are two drafts of this stanza on p.15; one is identical with the uncorrected version on p. 21 (above), the other and first version is as follows:
  When extending his radiance the sun from the west
  Diffuses thought [sic] tenderest charm
  And the labourer [space in MS.] but an hour from his rest
  Lifts his mattock with [space in MS.] arm MS.4,p.15
  
  5-8 And must I then part from these objects so fair?
  In the pain of my spirit I said:
  But, subduing the thought, I made haste to repair
  To the Cell where the CONVICT is laid. MP.
  
  <And must we then part from these objects so fair>
  [[When the labourer just ending the task of the day]]
  <In the pain of my spirit I said>
  More chearily presses his spade
  <Nor impelled by the thought was I slow to repair>
  Then feeling the price of existence I stray
  To the cell where the convict is laid MS.4,p.21.
  
  On p. 15 there is an alternative draft for line 5: "Then quitting the pleasure that [. . .] in [. . .]"; this is crossed through.
  9-12 The thick-ribbed walls that o'ershadow the gate
  Resound—and the dungeons unfold:
  I pause; and at length, through the glimmering grate
  That outcast of pity behold. MP.
  
  Only one line is thoroughly reworked: line 11 on p. 16, MS.4, first read:
  I[[stand]] <pause> my sight clears>
  And my eyeballs expanding at length [?the] grate
  
  On p. 21 the line becomes:
  I pause — my sight clears — and at length through the grate
  
  Otherwise line 12 has "beholds" for "behold" on p. 21 and "[[pity]] behold <hope can behold>" on p. 16.
  13-16 His black matted hair on his shoulder is bent,
  And deep is the sigh of his breath;
  While with stedfast dejection his eye is intent
  On the fetters that link him to death! MP.
  
  Lines 13 and 14 differ little from MP. in MS. versions: p. 21 has "bosom" for "shoulder", and in the draft on p. 13 the convict is addressed directly: "Thy black matted head . . ." etc. On p. 13, line 15 first read: "While thou countest the slow-pacing moments intent". On p. 21, it becomes: "While he

  ---

  162

  
  
  
  numbers the slow-pacing minutes, intent". Line 16 has the variant "linked thee" instead of "link him" on p. 13.
  17-24 'Tis sorrow enough on that visage to gaze,
  That body dismiss'd from his care;
  But my fancy has pierc'd to his heart, and pourtrays
  More terrible images there.
  
  His bones are consum'd, and his life blood is dried
  In wishes the past to undo;
  And his crime, thro' the pains that o'erwhelm him, descried,
  Still blackens and grows on his view. MP.
  
  It is worth noting that de Selincourt has omitted two variants here: 19 But] Yet Lyrical Ballads; 22 In ] With Lyrical Ballads.

  These two stanzas do not appear in the MS. in either fair copy or draft form. Nor are they traceable on the stubs. Possibly they were written specially for the MP. and replace the following MS. stanza which is not found in any printed version:

  From the mighty destroyers the plagues of their kind
  What corner of earth is at rest
  While Fame with great joy blows her trumpet behind
  And the work by Religion is blest MS.4,p.21
  
  This is identical with the draft version on p. 11 except that "at" is omitted from "at rest".
  25-28 When from the dark Synod, or blood-reeking field,
  To his chamber the MONARCH is led,
  All soothers of sense their soft virtue shall yield,
  And silent attention shall pillow his head. MP.
  
  De Selincourt has omitted a variant here: 28 "And quietness pillow his head." Lyrical Ballads.

  The stub of MS.4, p. 21/22 suggests but does not establish that this stanza was copied there. The draft versions on pp. 13 and 17 are identical with the MP. version; p. 13, line 25, "black" has been written over to become "dark". A single line, a draft of 28, exists on p. 14: "And Silent Attention must pillow their head".

  29-32. If the less guilty CONVICT a moment would doze,
  And oblivion his tortures appease,
  On the iron that galls him his limbs must repose
  In the damp-dripping vault of disease. MP.
  
  There are no initial letters remaining on the stub of p. 21/22 which can clearly belong to this stanza. Two incomplete lines are drafted on p. 20:
  When Nature herself a short respite might sign
  And grief self-exhausted might
  

  ---

  163

  
  
  
  33-36 When full fain he would sleep, and has patiently tried
  No longer his body to turn,
  And the iron that enters so deep in his side
  Has enter'd too deep to be borne; MP.
  
  De Selincourt prints "had" for MP. "has" in line 33. Initial letters remaining on the stub of p. 21/22 suggest that the fair copy of this stanza had been on this missing page. The same initial letters appear in a draft of the stanza on p. 13:
  When fixed resolution to slumber applied
  Forbids thee thy body to turn
  And the iron that enters so deep in thy side
  At length can no longer be born
  
  An earlier working appears on p. 13 also:
  But th[[ou]]<ee> forced by hunger one moment to swerve
  [[Deep [. . .] thy]] [space in MS.] fetters must bear
  The bloodhounds of [?conscience] must bear
  Which the tossings of anguish can hardly preserve
  From the rust of the tears of Despair
  
  The last two lines of this draft are repeated on p. 22 and are written out again on p. 13 with only a slight variant: can hardly preserve] are all that preserve p. 13.
  37-40 While the jail-mastiff howls at the dull-clanking chain,
  From the roots of his hair there shall start
  A thousand sharp punctures of cold-sweating pain,
  And terror shall leap at his heart! MP.
  
  The final initial letters on the stub of p. 21/22 again suggest that the stanza was originally copied there. There are slight variants in the draft on p. 13: 37 jail mastiff ] [[loud]] <jail> mastiff; 38 his ] thy; 40 his ] thy.

  The earlier working on p. 11 is identical with the uncorrected version on p. 13 except for:

  37 dull-clanking chain ] clink of thy chain
  
  41-44 But now he half-raises his deep-sunken eye,
  And the motion unsettles a tear!
  It seems the low voice of despair to supply
  And asks of me, why I am here? MP.
  
  There is no early draft of this stanza. The version on p.22 of MS.4 varies only slightly from the MP. text; line 43 reads in the fair copy:
  That seems the mute voice of despair to supply p. 22.
  
  45-48 Poor victim! no idle intruder has stood
  With o'er weening complacence our states to compare;
  But one whose first wish is the wish to be good,
  Is come as a brother thy sorrows to share. MP.
  

  ---

  164

  
  
  
  The last three lines of this stanza are on p. 22 of MS.4. The only variant is "state" for "states", 46.
  49-52 At thy name, though compassion her nature resign,
  Tho' in virtue's proud mouth thy report be a stain
  My care, if the arm of the mighty were mine,
  Would plant thee where yet thou might'st blossom again. MP.
  
  Except for the mis-spelling of "arm" as "army" (51) the version of this stanza on p. 22 of MS.4 is identical with that of MP.
  53-56 Vain wish! yet misdeem not that vainly I grieve —
  When vengeance has quitted her grasp on thy frame,
  My pity thy children and wife shall reprieve
  From the dangers that wait round the dwellings of shame. MP.
  
  This stanza was omitted from the Lyrical Ballads. The version of this stanza on p. 22 of MS. 4 shows one variant reading, line 54:
  <[[thy]] vengeance has lost hold <grasp> on thy frame>
  When [[thy soul]] shall repose from that heartgnawing flame p. 22
  

  There are a further two stanzas in MS.4 which were never printed by Wordsworth:

  57-60 <And Mercy forbid>
  [[Farewell! and Heaven grant]] that the voice of a friend
  Be [[not]] lost in this season of uttermost woe
  <For [?he] to the grave where his terrors must end>
  To the grave where thy terrors [[must soon have]] an end
  Not entirely rejected of men dost thou go. MS.4,p.23.
  
  The draft on p. 20 is identical with the uncorrected version above except for "moment" instead of "season" in line 58.
  61-64 For us who remain — is there one but may die
  By the murders which men to their fellows allow
  Or one who self-questioned can inly reply
  That he is more worthy of being than thou? MS.4,p.23.
  
  There are no other versions of this stanza.

1798

• * February 13, MP. Translation of a Celebrated Greek Song. Signed "PUBLICOSA." There are two MS. versions of this poem, both in DCP. The earlier is in the Windy Brow notebook (pages 34 and 36) and is printed by de Selincourt (WPW. I, 299-300). The second is a formal autograph copy on a single sheet and it was printed by Knight ("A Lost Wordsworth Fragment", The Classical Review, XV [1901], 82). This manuscript came to Knight from Mary Carr who found it among the papers of the Quaker, Thomas Wilkinson. Wilkinson was in the habit of giving his poems to Wordsworth (I know of three), and this translation must have been a reciprocal gesture. This formal copy — the Wilkinson MS. — cannot be dated before the very end of 1799, when Wordsworth came to Grasmere

  ---

  165

  
  
  
  and presumably soon got to know Wilkinson. This must account for Knight's date of 1800.

  The MS. versions are collated below against the MP. text and it becomes clear that the Wilkinson MS. (c. 1800) is closer to the Windy Brow text (c. 1795) than it is to that of the MP. Probably, then, Coleridge revised and sent the poem to the newspaper. That he had an interest in this "celebrated Greek Song" is undeniable. In a copy of Ritson's A Select Collection of English Songs (1783), I, x, Coleridge has noted in the margin against another translation of this same poem:

  O the / Crush of / Dullness! / The substan/tial Flatness,/ of this version! / It reminds /me of Southey's/ remark/ on two/ versions of/ Milton,/ that M./ had been/ overset/ ("overgeset") / into Dutch/ and /traduced/ (traduit) / in French./ S.T.C.
  (Quoted by kind permission of Mrs. Dickson, The Stepping Stones, Ambleside.)
  The revisions made for the MP. text seem to suggest Coleridge and the demands of the newspaper: the poem is put into regular and presentable stanza form (at the expense of the accuracy of the translation); Wordsworth's consistent spelling "Aristogiton" becomes "Aristogeiton", i.e. the Greek and not the Latin spelling is used; finally, the signature "PUBLICOSA" perhaps implies that the poem is not wholly Wordsworth's, for, as we noted earlier, poems entirely Wordsworth's seem to have been signed "W. W." or "MORTIMER".

  Neither Wordsworth's nor Coleridge's interest in the poem can be dated with accuracy. Even Coleridge's marginalia in Ritson is undated but probably both poets knew the poem from schooldays. It appeared in Greek and Latin versions in school text books (see, for example, Poetae Graeci: sive Selecta ex Homeri Odyss. etc. 1814, which was in use at Eton). It is incidentally worth remembering that the poem is no evidence of Wordsworth's knowledge of Greek, for the translation might just as easily be "From the Latin". De Selincourt's date of 1794 is undoubtedly too late. It is, of course, likely that the poem was copied into the Windy Brow notebook at this date, but it belongs probably to Wordsworth's schoolboy translations. Indeed, in the Prelude (X, 159-176) he mentions Harmodius and Aristogiton in connexion with truths that are "the commonplaces of the Schools, A theme for boys."

  The Windy Brow and Wilkinson MSS. are collated against the MP. text which appears below:

  TRANSLATION OF A CELEBRATED GREEK SONG.

  • 1 I will bear my vengeful blade, With the myrtle boughs array'd, As Harmodius before, As Aristogetion bore:
  • 5 When the tyrants' breast they gor'd With the myrtle-braided sword; Gave to triumph freedom's cause, Gave to Athens equal laws.

  ---

  166

  
  
  
  • 9 Where, Harmodius! art thou fled?
  • We deem thee not among the dead.
  • Dear son of fame! 'tis thine to rest
  • In the islands of the blest;
  • 13 Where old Mœonides reclin'd,
  • Still pours in song his mighty mind;
  • While Achilles list'ning nigh,
  • Nods his helmed head for joy.
  • 17 I will bear my vengeful blade,
  • With the myrtle boughs array'd,
  • As Harmodius did before,
  • As Aristogeiton bore!
  • 21 Let thy name, Harmodius dear!
  • Live thro' Heav'n's eternal year:
  • Long as Heaven and Earth survive,
  • Dear Aristogeiton, live.
  • 25 With the myrtle-braided sword
  • Ye the tyrants' bosom gor'd;
  • Gave to triumph freedom's cause,
  • Gave to Athens equal laws!
  • 1 I] And I WB. Wilk. 3 Aristogeiton ] Aristogiton WB. Wilk.
  • 5 Knight misread "breast" as "heart". 6 De Selincourt misread "myrtle-braided" as "myrtle-branded".
  • 9-10 Where unnumbered with the dead Dear Harmodius art thou fled WB. Wilk.
  • 11 Dear son of fame! ] Athens says WB. ] Athens sings Wilk.
  • 13-16 These lines do not appear in either MS.
  • 16-17 Where Achilles swift of feet And the brave Tydides meet WB. Wilk. 20 Aristogeiton ] Aristogiton WB. Wilk.
  • 20/21 Towering mid the festal [[plain]] train Oer the man Hipparchus slain Tyrant of his brother men WB. [These lines are bracketed as a triplet in the MS.] When in Athen's festal time The tyrant felt their arm sublime Wilk.
  • 24 Aristogeiton ] Aristogiton WB. Wilk.

• τFebruary 13, MP. Sonnet. "If grief dismiss me not to them that rest". Signed "W.W." A full manuscript of this poem exists in the Racedown notebook (DCP.). De Selincourt mentions also "another MS."; he does not describe the MS. and my own search has not brought it to light. His readings of this MS. then (WPW. I, 308), are simply quoted in the collation below. There is a draft of the whole sonnet on f.32v of the Racedown notebook and on f.33 the first six lines are copied in what is clearly their more final version. De Selincourt has printed these first six lines and completed the sonnet with the version on f.32v. Corrected readings are presented in the collation. The sonnet was republished with some further variants in MP. for February 2, 1802 with the following title, in which Wordsworth acknowledges

  ---

  167

  
  
  
  his source: FROM PETRARCH. Si la mia vita de l'aspro tormento, &c. De Selincourt did not note this second MP. text. The translation probably belongs to Wordsworth's Cambridge period. His familiarity with Petrarch is clear from Descriptive Sketches (1793); lines 165-66 are an acknowledged translation from a Petrarchan sonnet. The MP. (1798) text is as follows. Other versions are collated against this.
  If grief dismiss me not to them that rest
  'Till age, thou lovely maid! those starry fires
  Unwatch'd extinguish, and the young desires
  Forget those vermil lips, that rising breast,
  
  And those bright locks, that on thy shoulders play At will; and from thy forehead time displace The vernal garland, with'ring ev'ry grace Which bids concealment on my spirit prey
  
  Haply my bolder tongue may then reveal
  The prison annals of a life of tears!
  And if the chill time on the softer joys
  Smile not, a broken heart perchance may feel
  Sad solace from the unforbidden sighs,
  Heav'd for the fruitless lapse of vernal years.
  
  • 2 'Till age, thou lovely maid! ] Till the gray morn of age Racedown MS.ff.32v and 33. lovely ] beauteous MP. (1802).
  • 3 and ] [[and]] <till> Racedown MS.ff.32v and 33. Extinguish, and the loves and young desires MP. (1802).
  • 4 vermil ] vermeil All other texts.
  • 5 And morning tinted cheek till silver grey <Those locks that now exceed> Racedown MS.f.32v. That cheek [[and]] <those> auburn locks [[that]] which now exceed f.33. bright ] fair MP.(1802).
  • 6 Blithe breathing woodbines hues <and> Time efface Racedown MS.f.32v. The breathing woodbine's hues, till Time efface Racedown MS. f.33. "Fall on those woodbine locks", and time efface another MS. And from thy smooth, white forehead, time displace MP. (1802).
  • 7 With hand remorseless every angel grace Racedown MS.f.32v.
  • 8 bids ] bad Racedown MS.f.32v.] bade MP. (1802). prey ] [[prey]] <feed> Racedown MS.f.32v. De Selincourt wrongly gives "play" as the MP. (1798) reading.
  • 10 prison ] secret MP. (1802).
  • 11 And if my winter clad in sullen guise another MS. And if that season on the softer joys MP. (1802).
  It is interesting that the revised 1802 version is closer to the original Italian.
• [March 8, MP. The Old Man of the Alps. Signed "NICIAS ERYTHRÆUS." In her article, "Coleridge's Use of Wordsworth's Juvenilia" (PMLA, LXV [1950], 422), Professor Smyser tentatively questions on grounds of internal evidence whether this poem is not Wordsworth's rather than Coleridge's. Indeed, the evidence of signature (see note on pseudonymns above) points to possible Wordsworth elements, even origins, but the poem essentially, like "Lewti", is the work of Coleridge. Those elements

  ---

  168

  
  
  
  that are apparently Wordsworth's cannot be adduced as clear evidence of his authorship since they anticipate rather than echo other Wordsworth poems ("The Thorn", "Her eyes were wild"). Nor can a concordance test help since so much mutual borrowing existed between Wordsworth and Coleridge, 1797-98. But the poem, undoubtedly, is mainly Coleridge's and certainly in a letter to his wife of November [23], 1802, he mentions it in a possessive enough way: "If I want the Old Man of the Alps, I will write for it." He is referring most probably to a copy of the poem (now in Dove Cottage Library) sent him in a letter from Francis Wrangham dated April 5, 1802. This copy is identical with the MP. text. Wrangham has written his letter so that the copy of the poem can be detached from his private letter to Coleridge. He writes: "I have left this part blank, that you might be able to disjoin the verses from the letter, if you think your printer can read my MS. & wish to spare yourself the trouble of a transcript." Wrangham had probably seen Coleridge during the latter's visit to Gallow Hill early in March and had learnt of Coleridge's plan to publish a third edition of Poems; at the same time he seems to have extracted from Coleridge a promise to send him "some account of what [he] had read or meditated upon the Middle State." He had clearly hoped for an early response and he continues in his letter:
  Anxious however as I am for the result of your studies or thoughts upon that or any other subject, I did not mean that you should explore it personally for my satisfaction; and therefore, if you would oblige me, let all you say be theory only, and defer actual and experimental statement as long as you can. Your speculations I shall consider as highly valuable, and as a bribe enclose you some good English verses called "The old Man of the Alps".

  Presumably Wrangham was one of those who had known of Coleridge's newspaper contributions in 1798 and had either taken the Morning Post or had had copies of Coleridge's poems sent him by some mutual friend. In any event, his letter does much to establish Coleridge's authorship. Mr. Erdman justly suggests that Southey's letter to Coleridge of December 15, 1799 (published by I. Ehrenpreis, Notes and Queries, March 18, 1950, p.125) supports my thesis. This letter is not without its difficulties. Southey wrote, "If you can procure me the conclusion of Francini & the Hermit of the Alps, by referring to the filed papers—why I should be glad of them in the volume." On December 19, Coleridge replied, "I do not know how to get the conclusion of Mrs Robinson's poem for you—perhaps it were better omitted." Mrs. Robinson's "The Hermit of the Alps" might at first glance appear to be the Hermit poem alluded to, but since both Southey's and Coleridge's remarks are in the context of a discussion of Coleridge's own contributions to the second volume of the Annual Anthology, this is unlikely. "Mrs Robinson's poem" must refer to Coleridge's complimentary verses to Mrs. Robinson, "The Apotheosis, or the Snowdrop", signed "Francini" and published in MP, January 3, 1798 (Erdman, Werkmeister and Woof, "Unrecorded Coleridge Variants", Studies in Bibliography XIV,

  ---

  169

  
  
  
  241). Southey himself was clearly referring to this poem in his reply to Coleridge on December 24: "The Francini piece I thought Stuart might supply—does he not file the papers?" (from a transcript in Victoria College Library, Toronto). Unless it appeared in one of the four missing issues of 1798, Mrs. Robinson's "Hermit of the Alps" was never published in MP; this strengthens the view that Southey's use of that title referred not to her poem, but to Coleridge's "Old Man of the Alps".]

• †April 11, MP. Lines imitated from Catullus. Signed "MORTIMER." The earliest MS of this poem is a two-line fragment, lines 17-18, on page 8 of DCP.MS.4. The handwriting here is that elaborate copper-plate that Wordsworth used as a schoolboy for making fair copies of his poems. "To Lesbia" then can be dated prior to Wordsworth's departure for Cambridge in 1787, some seven years before de Selincourt's suggested date. The whole poem probably, was originally copied into MS.4 since, from the evidence of the stubs, at least three leaves have been torn out between page 7 and the last two lines of the poem at the top of page 8. There is a full MS of the poem in the Racedown notebook, folios 17v and 19 (should be 18, but the pages are wrongly numbered), and it is this version that de Selincourt used for his text (WPW. I, 306). The copy contains some slight revisions (lines 3,4, 5/6,14) and it was perhaps for this reason that de Selincourt ascribed the translation to 1795-97. The third MS (which seems to be in Dorothy Wordsworth's hand) is in BM. Add.MS.27,902. This text was possibly taken from the Racedown notebook sometime between December, 1797 and March,1798 (i.e. after Coleridge had accepted the offer to write for MP.). The largely destroyed fair copy in MS.4 can throw no light on the British Museum text; as the latter repeats the Racedown space in line 3, it must have been made from either the Racedown text or a common original (which might have been in MS.4). Hitherto the version in BM.Add. MS.27, 902 has been thought by all editors to be in Coleridge's hand and thus it has been the basis for two independent printings: that of MP. and that of H.N.Coleridge in Literary Remains (1836), I, 274. In CPW. I, 60-61, E. H. Coleridge (after J. D. Campbell) reprints without explanation the text as it is given in Literary Remains; he makes three corrections, two from Add. MS.27,902 and one from MP., and he adds a new title — "To Lesbia". The collation of the MSS, MP. and Literary Remains (LR.) texts is presented below against the version printed by de Selincourt.

  There is not title or epigraph in any MS; MP. has title given above; LR. adds epigraph: "Lugete, O Veneres, Cupidinesque. CATULLUS."

  • 1 love and live ] love & love 27,902.
  • 3 When first transcribed into the Racedown notebook, line 3 was incomplete — a space was left at the beginning. Wordsworth inserted a reading, crossed it out, making it almost illegible, and then wrote in the published phrase: [[?yon [. . .] ?cold]]<Each cold restraint each>every boding fear
  • 4 her ] his MP. ] its LR. 4/5 In Racedown MS. a fragmentary line, largely illegible, begins: And thought [. . .]
  • 5 Yon sun ] The Sun MP.

  ---

  170

  
  
  
  • 7 our [space in Racedown MS.] light ] our mortal light MP.] our little light LR.
  • 9 I live ] I'll live LR. 13/14 In the Racedown MS. "Let us throw" is written and crossed through; probably an attempt at line 14.
  • 18 That ] Which LR.
• [April 13, MP. Lewti; or, the Circassian's Love Chant. Signed "NICIAS ERYTHRŒUS." The 36-line fragment found on pages 10,12, 14,16 of DCP.MS.4 and presented (without variants) in WPW. I, 263-64 has been recognized since 1941 as the source of Coleridge's "Lewti", a poem which little resembles its Wordsworth original and in MP. was even three times its length. There are three other MSS of the poem: one in BM.Add. MS.27,902, hitherto thought to be in Coleridge's hand, but apparently in Dorothy Wordsworth's; two later ones in BM. Add.MS.35,343, ff.2 and 3, both in Coleridge's hand. These three MSS are presented by E.H. Coleridge (CPW.II,1049-52). De Selincourt's reading of MS.4 is incomplete; precise readings of MS.4 are given below and any changes between MS.4 and MS. 27,902 are indicated.
  • 2 [[To wander from the form I lov'dx]] To forget the form I loved 27,902. The cross (x) in MS.4 perhaps indicates that a change was intended early for this line.
  • 3 In hope fond Fancy WPW.] In thought <hopes> fond Fancy MS.4
  • 6 Winander's MS.4 ] Tamaha's 27,902.
  • 20 it's skirt <sable> with
  • 25 <Her mouth> Her smiling mouth [[by fits]] can show MS.4
  • 28 And bear, <me> bear me to my love MS.4
  • 32 Heave <Rise> upon MS.4
  • 33-36 As yon <these> two Swans together <soft-heaving> ride <heave> Upon the gently-swelling tide <wave> * * * * * * * * Haste haste som god indulgent prove And bear bear me to my Love. * * * * * * * * * MS.4
  It will be noted that "me" has been added to line 28, but not, contrary to de Selincourt, to line 36. The asterisks may indicate that lines have been omitted (the poem is headed "Fragment"), or may be simply decorative.

  There is no dependence between the punctuation of MS.4 and that of Add.MS.27,902; perhaps Dorothy took down the copy at the dictation of either Wordsworth or Coleridge.]

• †May 10, MP. "The hour-bell sounds, and I must go". Signed "MORTIMER." Few poems have been so consistently misrepresented. The two earliest MSS of the poem are in DCP.MS.4; there are drafts on pages 112-113 and a fair copy on page 87. Both are in Wordsworth's hand. Except for a reduction in punctuation and the variant in line 9, the fair copy is reproduced apparently in Dorothy Wordsworth's hand in BM.Add.MS.27,902, folio 2, and this, except for the addition of a note, one misprint and some punctuation, is the text published in MP.

  ---

  171

  
  
  

  Add.MS.27,902 is the basis of the text given by H. N. Coleridge in Literary Remains (1836), I,275-76 under the added title, "Moriens Superstiti"; unfortunately, H. N. Coleridge also gave the title, "Morienti Superstes", to another fragment in Add.MS.27,902, "Yet thou art happier far than she". He thus suggested a connexion between the two which they simply do not have; the fragment, "Yet thou art happier far than she", is on page 6 of MS.4, some eighty pages from "The hour-bell sounds . . ." De Selincourt's suggestion that the former fragment is a conclusion to Wordsworth's "Death of a Starling" (WPW.I,263) is most likely, particularly if we realize that that poem was probably meant to be an imitation rather than an exact translation of Catullus.

  The titles introduced into Literary Remains have not been without result, one consequence being E. H. Coleridge's presentation of the two poems as one (CPW. I,61-62), and his apparent assumption that they had appeared together in the Morning Post. Accepting this information at its face value, Professor Jane Worthington Smyser ("Coleridge's Use of Words-worth's Juvenilia" PMLA, LXV [1950], 422-25) proves on the basis of the two poems' appearance in MP. that both were by Wordsworth (which is of course true), that they had an essential relation with each other, and finally that de Selincourt's association of "Yet thou art happier far . . ." with "Death of a Starling" was wrong. For corroborating evidence Professor Smyser naturally cites Add.MS.27,902. The wheel thus comes full circle, for it was this manuscript that first suggested a connexion between the two poems to H. N. Coleridge. Professor Smyser has prolonged the first error, and simply shifted it from Coleridge to Wordsworth. Thus, the note to entry 376 in the Coleridge Notebooks I, and a note on page 375 of "Addenda to the Second Edition", WPW. I, need correction.

  For some reason "The hour-bell sounds . . ." is not given in WPW. and I present the text below as it appeared in MP. It was preceded by a note:

  The two following Verses from the French, never before published, were written by a French Prisoner, as he was preparing to go to the Guillotine.

  • 1 The hour-bell sounds, and I must go: Death waits! — again I hear him calling. No cowardly desires have I, Nor will I shun his face appalling.
  • 5 I die in faith and honours rich, But, ah! I leave behind my treasure In widowhood and lonely pain — To live were surely then a pleasure!
  • 9 My lifeless eyes upon thy face Shall never open more to morrow — To morrow shall thy beauteous eyes Be clos'd to love, and drown'd in sorrow.
  • 13 To-morrow Death shall freeze this hand, And on thy breast, my wedded Treasure! I never, never more shall live — Alas! I quit a life of pleasure!

  ---

  172

  
  

  

  Except in punctuation, "honours" for "honour" in line 5 and "face" for "charms" in line 9, MP. text does not differ from fair copies in MSS; the following variants come from the drafts on pages 112-113 of DCP.MS.4.

  • 3 No ] Nor p. 113 4 appalling ] appalling p. 113
  • 5 honours ] honour p. 113
  • 6-8 Alas I quit a life of pleasure And leave behind in widowhood And lonely pain my love my treasure —To live were surely then a pleasure p. 113
  • 9 To meet thy looks my lifeless eyes p. 113
  • 11 thy beauteous ] thy [[life]] beauteous p. 113
  • 14 That bound me to my love my [[treas]] p. 113 And [[never more]] <on thy breast> my wedded treasure p. 112
  • 16 quit a life ] leave [[?plea]] a life p. 113

  Reprinted from MP. in the Lady's Magazine, July, 1798,p.328, with the note shortened into a title: Verses from the French; written by a French Prisoner, as he was preparing to go to the Guillotine.

1800

• * April 2, MP. The Mad Mother. Unsigned. Preceded by the following note:
  It has been the habit of our Paper to present our Readers with none but Original Poetry; but we have been so much captivated with the following beautiful Piece, which appears in a small volume entitled LYRICAL BALLADS, that we are tempted to transgress the rule we have laid down for ourselves. Indeed, the whole Collection, with the exception of the first Piece, which appears manifestly to have been written by a different hand, is a tribute to genuine nature.
  The text is identical with that in Lyrical Ballads (1798). For the text see WPW. II, 107-10. I find that Sara Coleridge noted the presence of this poem in MP. when she was preparing Essays on his own Times, but, of course, there was no occasion for her to publish this information. See Victoria College Library, Toronto, MS.19v.I f.14r.
• * April 7, C. We Are Seven. Unsigned. Preceded by the following note:
  The following beautiful piece of poetry is taken from a small collection called Lyrical Ballads. We do not hesitate to pronounce the author to be one of the first poets of the age, and we earnestly recommend them to the earnest perusal of all our readers.
  The text is identical with that in Lyrical Ballads (1798) except for a misprint in line 50: moaning ] mourning C. For the text see WPW. I, 236-38. Reprinted from C. in Lady's Magazine, April, 1800, p. 214.
• * April 9, C. The Last of the Flock. (From the Lyrical Ballads.)

  ---

  173

  
  
  
  Unsigned. The text is identical with that in Lyrical Ballads (1798) with the exception of the following misprints:
  5 a one ] a man C. 15 whole line omitted in C. 24 a ewe ] an ewe C. 30 encreased ] increas'd C. 41 Ten children ] Six children C. 61-70 whole verse omitted in C. 93 a ewe ] an ewe C. weather ] wether C.
  For the text see WPW. II, 43-46.
• * April 19, C. The Female Vagrant. Unsigned. Preceded by the following note:
  The Female Vagrant is extracted from the Lyrical Ballads, which we cannot too often and too warmly recommend to our Readers. The excellence of the following piece renders it totally unnecessary for us to make any apology for the length of space it occupies.
  The text is identical with that in Lyrical Ballads (1798) with the exception of the following misprints (the numbers in brackets refer to the lines in the 1798 volume):
  252 (72) could ] would C. 273 (93) proud parade ] grand parade C. 274 (94) of want ] from want C. 286 as in variant 1798 (106) those hopes ] that hope C. 405/6 (225) meads ] field C. 421 (241) ear ] ears C. on ] at C.
  For the text see WPW. I, 106-118. Reprinted from C. in Lady's Magazine Supplement for 1800, pp. 721-24.
• * June 21, MP. The following note appeared, probably written by Stuart:
  TO CORRESPONDENTS. It has been repeatedly asked why we have published no further extracts from the Lyrical Ballads, from which we some time ago took the beautiful Poem of The Mad Mother. We would continue those extracts, if it were not the rule of this Paper to give none but Original Poetry, and if the volume of Lyrical Ballads were not already in the hands of everyone who has a taste for Poetry. It is to be had [sic] the corner of Lombard and Gracechurch-streets.
• †July 21, MP. The Farmer of Tilsbury Vale. A Character. Unsigned. This is the earliest of the poems to have a first appearance in the MP. that Wordsworth was to accept into the canon of his verse, and, even so, the poem was not reprinted until Poems (1815). For the text see WPW. IV, 240-44; de Selincourt does not point out that the words, "A Character" are in the title — they were omitted in later versions. This was the only newspaper poem, except for the political sonnets of 1803, that Wordsworth specifically acknoweldged as his own (see introduction above and Wordsworth Letters, Later Years, 941, May 17,1838).
• * September 9, C. Old Man Travelling: Animal Tranquillity and Decay, A Sketch (From the Lyrical Ballads.) Unsigned. Identical with Lyrical Ballads text. See WPW. IV,247.

---

174




• * September 10, C. The Complaint of a Forsaken Indian Woman. (From the Lyrical Ballads.) Unsigned. Identical with Lyrical Ballads text. See WPW. II, 40-42. Reprinted from C. in the Lady's Magazine, December, 1800, pp. 669-70.
• * September 19, C. Lines Written near Richmond, upon the Thames. At Evening (From the Lyrical Ballads.) Unsigned. Identical with Lyrical Ballads text. See WPW. I, 40-41. Reprinted from C. in the Lady's Magazine, November, 1800, pp. 669-70.
• [October 13, MP. The Voice from the Side of Etna; or, The Mad Monk. An Ode, in Mrs. Ratcliff's Manner. Signed "CASSIANI jun." Never collected or acknowledged by Coleridge. It was attributed to him because of its appearance with his signature in The Wild Wreath (1804), edited by M. E. Robinson. For the text see CPW. I, 347-49. We have no certain evidence of the authorship. The curious resemblance of the second stanza of this poem to the first stanza of Wordsworth's Intimations Ode, and of the whole poem to Wordsworth's "'Tis said that some have died for love" has been extensively and ingeniously discussed by S. M. Parrish and D. V. Erdman ("Who Wrote The Mad Monk? A Debate", Bulletin of The New York Public Library, LXIV [1960], 209-237). Mr. Parrish concludes that the poem is by Wordsworth, Mr. Erdman that it is a parody of Wordsworth by Coleridge. Of their many speculations two require comment here: first, the resemblance to "'Tis said that some have died for love" needs not imply parody, but rather a lazy borrowing in what is presumably a hasty composition; second, the suggestion that the Intimations Ode was begun in 1800, while not impossible, is not more plausible than de Selincourt's view that it belongs to 1802 (WPW. IV, 465; incidentally, in his note de Selincourt wrongly dates "The Mad Monk" 1801). The only known facts about "The Mad Monk", besides the resemblances, are that it appeared in 1800 and again in 1804 with some minor changes. The rest is hypothesis. I suggest Coleridge wrote "The Mad Monk" with parody in mind perhaps, though not of Wordsworth; the title itself points to Mrs. Radcliffe (there is perhaps some faint abuse in the mis-spelt name), but the poem generally seems to be an imitation of the kind of writing that Wordsworth and Coleridge attacked, "the frantic novels, sickly and stupid German tragedies . . . idle and extravagant stories in verse", where feeling "gives importance to the action and situation, and not the action and situation to the feeling" (Preface, 1800). The poem seems to be directed chiefly at Mrs. Radcliffe, but it recalls Mrs. Robinson too and even hints, perhaps, at Joseph Cottle. In Mrs. Radcliffe's Italian (1797,III,222-34) there is a situation where a monk, "nearly frantic", confesses to the murder of his beloved when jealousy came and lit his "passions into madness". Coleridge's amused interest in Mrs. Radcliffe continues as late as October, 1810, when he writes to Words-worth about the monotony of her recipe for romance. In Mrs. Robinson's work there are similarly Gothic situations and she has too that more gentle

  ---

  175

  
  
  
  elegiac note which pervades "The Mad Monk" and runs alongside the drama. One must not underestimate the similarity between "The Mad Monk" and Mrs. Robinson's "Anselmo, The Hermit of the Alps". A third modern writer is perhaps mockingly alluded to in the phrase, "The Mad Monk". Coleridge had remembered some remarks of Lamb's about Joseph Cottle's Alfred. Lamb wrote to Coleridge on August 26:
  Now I am touching so deeply upon poetry, can I forget that I have just received from Cottle a magnificent copy of his Guinea Epic. Four-and-twenty Books to read in the dog-days! I got as far as the Mad Monk the first day, & fainted. Mr. Cottle's genius strongly points him to the Pastoral, but his inclinations divert him perpetually from his calling.
  It is not clear which character Lamb is referring to as Cottle's "Mad Monk", but it is clear that Coleridge enjoyed Lamb's remarks; indeed, on November 1, he quoted them almost verbatim to Josiah Wedgewood and they were perhaps in his mind when he wrote the poem. Some of his friends, at least, might have recognized in the title an oblique allusion to one of the most preposterous of modern compositions.

  The idea of writing a poem that mingled elements imitated from other writers could have come to Coleridge from the pages of the Morning Post itself : Mrs. Robinson had published on September 11 a poem "in the manner of the Antient English Poets", an enigmatic "H" had published on October 2 a poem entitled "Imitation of Modern Poetry, An attempt at the simple".[14] In a letter to Stuart of October 7, Coleridge comments on this last poem, asks for the name of the author, and continues, "It was very droll — the only fault . . . and mingled the vices of other kinds of poetry . . .". The letter is unfortunately fragmentary, but it is clear that Coleridge could not entirely approve "H's" imitation. In "The Mad Monk" perhaps we have an indication of his own notion of how to imitate the Moderns. This is not so bold a conjecture when we realize that the fragmentary letter to Stuart probably contained the text of "The Mad Monk" for the newspaper. The imitation of October 2 is merely a crude burlesque; Coleridge's poem is more. Besides the element of parody there is some genuine poetry and I suggest, leaving aside the 1804 signature and the general interests outlined above, that the poetry is Coleridge's, not Wordsworth's. There is nowhere in it that characteristic near awkwardness that comes from Wordsworth's insistence on expressing the precise detail of his observation or vision. Phrases like "the forest's dark recess", "the smooth green turf", "the margin of the flood" are generalized, expected; their effect is cumulative, not single and clear as Wordsworth's so often is. Coleridge's poem, in his own and others' manner, is far from being a success but it is more than an imitation. Wordsworth himself had shown in "The Idiot Boy" how it was possible to make fun of a literary style (Burger's) without abandoning an interest in the passions of man. In "The Mad Monk" Coleridge

  ---

  176

  
  
  
  underlines some literary habits and at the same time creates what one might call a gothic pastoral elegy. His imitation reveals without destroying and it may be that he sent a copy to Mrs. Robinson and had no need to feel any qualm of conscience. In this way, perhaps, "The Mad Monk" came into the Wild Wreath under Coleridge's signature. The newspaper signature, "CASSIANI jun.", can, I suspect, mean many things to many critics but the explanation most in tune with Coleridge's critical assessment of what he imitated comes from the note in Bayle's Dictionary on Cassius Longinus (Lucius): "It is from the judical severity of this Cassius, that very rigid Judges have been called Cassiani." (See A General Dictionary, Historical and Critical . . . of Mr. Bayle, Translated, London, 1739, IV, 166.) There is a parallel to the "jun." in this signature in Coleridge's later "Job junior, circumbendiborum patientissimus"; significantly, this signs a light-hearted verse (see his letter to Poole, September, 1807).

• * October 14, MP. The Solitude of Binnorie, or the Seven Daughters of Lord Archibald Campbell, a Poem. Unsigned. Preceded by the following note which is signed "M.H.":
  Sir, It would be unpardonable in the author of the following lines, if he omitted to acknowledge that the metre (with the exception of the burthen) is borrowed from "The Haunted Beach of Mrs. ROBINSON;" a most exquisite Poem, first given to the public, if I recollect, aright, in your paper, and since then republished in the second volume of Mr. SOUTHEY'S Annual Anthology. This acknowledgement will not appear superfluous to those who have felt the bewitching effect of that absolutely original stanza in the original Poem, and who call to mind that the invention of a metre has so widely diffused the name of Sappho, and almost constitutes the present celebrity of Alcæus.
  The author of this paragraph is presumably Coleridge. He seems to be acknowledging here both his own admiration and friendship for Mrs. Robinson and Wordsworth's metrical debt to her in the poem. Both Wordsworth and Coleridge were likely to have an interest in "The Haunted Beach" since, by its allusions to "The Ancient Mariner," it brought a compliment to Coleridge, but primarily because it was metrically new and interesting. Coleridge had shown his enthusiasm immediately; he wrote to Southey on February 28, 1800:
  In the Morning Post was a poem of fascinating Metre by Mary Robinson — 'twas on Wednesday, Feb. 26. — & entitled the Haunted Beach. I was so struck with it that I sent to her to desire that [it] might be preserved in the Anthology — She was extremely flattered by the Idea of it's being there, as she idolizes you & your Doings. So if it be not too late, I pray you, let it be in — if you should not have received that Day's paper, write immediately that I may transcribe it — it falls off sadly to the last — wants Tale — & Interest; but the Images are new & very distinct — that 'silvery carpet' is so just, that it is unfortunate it should seem so bad — for it is really good — but the Metre — ay! that Woman has an Ear.
  Perhaps Coleridge had suggested the experiment to Wordsworth. "The Solitude of Binnorie" in fact is an exercise in two ways: first, it is an adaptation of Frederica Brun's "Die Sieben Hügel", as Wordsworth himself

  ---

  177

  
  
  
  acknowledged; second, in its metrical intricacy, it is based on Mrs. Robinson's "Haunted Beach". Wordsworth still had that interest in versification that he had shown in Lyrical Ballads (1798), and in 1800 he turned it towards the imitation of the complex, even unsuitable metres of others. Such a technical interest is revealed in "Ellen Irwin", written perhaps a little earlier than "The Solitude of Binnorie"; the somewhat unfortunate stanza there is fundamentally that of Bürger's Leonora. In "The Solitude of Binnorie" Wordsworth follows Mrs. Robinson closely, keeping strictly to the line stresses, the intricate end rhymes, and the internal rhyme, but where she has nine lines, Wordsworth has eleven. Mrs. Robinson's ninth line is always a variant of "Where the green billows play'd", a kind of loose refrain; Wordsworth's two extra lines are used for his refrain: "Sing mournfully, oh! mournfully,/ The solitude of Binnorie!" Here he imitates the refrain of Frederica Brun's poem: "Singt: Leide! Leide! Leide!" and borrows his phrasing from the Scottish ballad, "The Twa Sisters". For a further discussion of the relation of Wordsworth's and Frederica Brun's poems, see, Theodor Zeiger, "Wordsworths Stellung zur deutschen Litteratur", Studien zur vergleichenden Litteraturgeschichte I,273-290. Berlin,1901.

  Wordsworth finished writing "The Solitude of Binnorie" on August 17, 1800 (see Dorothy's Journal, I,55). Perhaps it was because the poem was so patently an exercise of metre and adaptation that he excluded it from the forthcoming second volume of Lyrical Ballads. When Coleridge was at Grasmere, October 5-7, Wordsworth had already sent to Bristol on September 15, a group of poems for Lyrical Ballads. As Dorothy's Journal shows (I, 64), Coleridge was expressing his distress at having to write for Stuart, and perhaps it was in this October visit that Wordsworth gave Coleridge not only "The Solitude of Binnorie" but also two other poems which he had decided not to publish in Lyrical Ballads (see below, October 21 and November 24). Thus, when Coleridge arrived back in Keswick, he wrote to Stuart, possibly about his contributions. Unfortunately the letter is now only a fragment; it is dated October 7, 1800, and includes this remark: "I shall fill these Blanks with a few Poems—. It grieves me to hear of poor Mrs. Robinson's illness." "The Solitude of Binnorie" must have been sent to Stuart at this time, or along with the essays that Coleridge sent him on the following day.

  The poem was reprinted by Wordsworth in his Poems (1807) only at the request of Sir Walter Scott (see Wordsworth Letters, Middle Years, I,71 and I,105). For the text, see WPW. II, 146-48; de Selincourt has not noted the MP. publication and there are several interesting variants:

  Title. This was changed to: THE SEVEN SISTERS OR THE SOLITUDE OF BINNORIE.

  • 3 You ] I MP.
  • 5-8 A garland of seven lilies wrought!
  • Seven Sisters that together dwell;
  • But he, bold Knight as ever fought,
  • Their Father, took of them no thought. WPW.

  ---

  178

  
  
  
  • Seven lilies in one garland wrought,
  • Together did they dwell;
  • But he, bold Knight as ever fought,
  • Of those fair daughters took no thought. MP.
  • 12 Fresh blows the wind, a western wind, WPW.
  • Fresh blows the wind from out the west, MP.
  • 18 land, ] sand, MP.
  • 23-26 Beside a grotto of their own,
  • With boughs above them closing,
  • The Seven are laid, and in the shade
  • They lie like fawns reposing. WPW.
  • Close by a grotto of their own,
  • The Seven, in rural fashion,
  • Beneath a tree were sitting, free
  • From all unquiet passion; MP.
  • 49-52 A lake was near; the shore was steep;
  • There never foot had been;
  • They ran, and with a desperate leap
  • Together plunged into the deep, WPW.
  • A lake was near, its shores were deep,
  • Its margin smooth and green;
  • The damsels ran like mountain sheep,
  • And in together did they leap, MP.
  It is interesting that lines 51, 52 are very similar to the MS. version quoted by de Selincourt:
  • The sisters ran like Mountain Sheep,
  • And in together did they leap
  • 57-58 As through the glen it rambles,
  • Repeats a moan WPW.
  • As down the rock it ambles,
  • Doth make a moan MP.
  • 60-61 Seven little Islands, green and bare,
  • Have risen from out the deep: WPW.
  • Each like a tall maid's grave, there are
  • Seven mossy heaps hard by; MP.
  • 63 all are ] were all MP. ] are all Poems (1807).
  • 64 sleep ] lie! MP.
  De Selincourt does not note this 1807 variant.

• †October 21, MP. Inscription for a Seat by a Road Side, Half Way up a Steep Hill, Facing the South. Signed "VENTIFRONS." This poem was never republished by either Wordsworth or Coleridge. E. H. Coleridge printed the MP. text and attributed the poem to Coleridge (see CPW. I, 349-50). There are two misreadings in the CPW. text: line 19 "on those"

  ---

  179

  
  
  
  should read "on them"; line 27 "thy motions high" should read "thy motions light". De Selincourt discovered the poem in the Racedown notebook, rightly attributed it to Wordsworth and printed from the fair copy in the MS. (see WPW. I, 301-302). There are misreadings and omissions in de Selincourt's text and his collation of the MS. with the MP. text is imperfect. A full collation is given below.

  There are drafts of the poem on folios 11v, 12, 19, 19v, and 20 of the Racedown notebook. The drafts reveal how thoroughly Wordsworth applied himself to the composition of this poem but they do not differ significantly from the fair copy on folios 22-24 and so the slight variants and repetitions of the drafts are not indicated in the following collation. The fair copy contains some revisions not noted by de Selincourt and these are now presented.

  The poem cannot be dated with any certainty; de Selincourt dates it 1797 on the grounds that he detects the hand of Mary Hutchinson. It must at least belong to sometime after May, 1794, when Wordsworth was staying at Windy Brow ("Ventifrons") and wrote an octosyllabic poem on the same subject (see WPW. I, 300). Whenever this latter poem was revised, it was perhaps not immediately turned into blank verse. There is in one of the Racedown drafts a beginning in heroic couplets. This clearly was soon discarded and Wordsworth concentrates on blank verse. Lines 1 and 2 of the three stages are as follows:

  Ye, who with buoyant spirits blessed
  And rich in vigour need not rest, 1794 poem.
  Thou who with [[store of]] youthful vigour [[blest]] <rich and light>
  [[And light]] with youthful thoughts dost need no rest MS.f.22
  Thou who with youthful vigour rich and light
  With youthful thoughts dost need no rest — MS.f.22v
  
  The revisions for the MP. publication are more sweeping and we do not know whether they are the work of Wordsworth or Coleridge.

  The Racedown MS. is collated below against the MP. text (CPW. I, 349-50). The poem has no title in the MS.

  • 2-5 O thou, To whom alike the valley and the hill Present a path of ease! Should e'er thine eye Glance on this sod, and this rude tablet, stop! MP. to whom The plain & mountain's breast alike present A path of ease, if chance thy careless eye Glance on this [[spot]] <turf> here stop & think on them MS.
  • 6-11 'Tis a rude spot; yet here, with thankful hearts, The footworn soldier and his family Have rested, wife and babe, and boy, perchance, Some eight years old or less, and scantly fed, Garb'd like his father, and already bound To his poor father's trade! Or think of him, MP.

    ---

    180

    
    
    
    The [[houseless]] <weary> homeless vagrants of the earth Or [[of]] that poor man the rustic artisan MS.
  • 13 some ] his MS. 15 limbs ] frame MS.
  • 17 he hath reach'd so far; ] to recruit his strength MS.
  • 19 Finds restoration. Or reflect on them, ] [[Doth find a grateful calm]] <a grateful quiet finds> or think on them MS.
  • 21-24 that needlessly Bends double their weak frames, already bow'd By age or malady; and when, at last, They gain this wish'd-for turf, this seat of sods, MP. that double bends Their bodies, bowed by age or malady, And having gazed [sic] at last the wished for [[spot]] <seat> MS.
  • 27 thy motions light, ] each motion light MS.
  • 29 feeble, wither'd ] mournful feeble MS.
  • 31 De Selincourt prints "compel" for Racedown MS. "impel"; MP. "impel" supports this new reading.
  • 32 To make thy present strength ] To lend thy strength to be MS.
  • 33 Their staff and resting place: so shalt thou give MP. That need support; so [space in MS.] shalt thou give MS.
  • 35 Provide ] prepare MS.
  • 36 of various life a seat Not built by hands, on which thy inner part, Imperishable, many a grievous hour, Or bleak, or sultry, may repose; yea, sleep The sleep of death, and dream of blissful worlds, Then wake in Heav'n, and find the dream all true! MP. of years and pain, that balm Which mid a tossing world shall soothe thy heart, Even till thou sink beneath the waves to Peace. MS.

  November 24, MP. Alcæus to Sappho. Unsigned. The only manuscript of this poem is in a letter from Coleridge to Stuart, October 7, 1800 (Coleridge Letters, I, 629), and hence Coleridge was thought to be the author (CPW. I, 353). However, Wordsworth's authorship was proved by a letter to Coleridge of February, 1799 (Early Letters, 222), in which he expresses a poor opinion of his poem but unfortunately quotes only the first line. Thus we do not know if and how far Coleridge revised the text; he obviously revised the title for MP., turning the poem into a compliment to Mrs. Robinson. See also WPW. II, 465 and note, 531.

1801

• * January 28, C. Lucy Gray. By W. Wordsworth. From the Second Volume of Lyrical Ballads, just published. There are two misprints: 6 wide ] wild C. 56 were ] was C. Reprinted from C. in the Lady's Magazine, April, 1801, p. 212. For the text see WPW. I, 234-36.

---

181




• * January 29, C. To a Sexton. Unsigned. Reprinted without mention of Lyrical Ballads. For the text see WPW. II, 134-35.
• * January 30, MP. The Childless Father. Signed "MR WORDSWORTH". Preceded by the following note: "The following piece is extracted from Mr. Wordsworth's second Volume of Lyrical Ballads." For the text see WPW. II, 55-56.

  February 10, C. Ruth. From the Lyrical Ballads. Unsigned. Reprinted with the following misprints:

  111 those ] the C. 214 (footnote) river of ] river in C. 221 taxed them with ] taxed with C. 228 home ] bed C.
  For the text see WPW. II, 227-35.

• * February 16, MP. Andrew Jones. (From the Lyrical Ballads.) Unsigned. In line 26 "stopp'd" appears as "stop'd". For the text see WPW. II, 463-64.
• * March 2, MP. (From the Lyrical Ballads.) "Three years she grew in sun and show'r". Unsigned. Reprinted correctly. For the text see WPW. II, 214-16.
• * August 10, C. Ellen Irwin; or, The Braes of Kirtle. Unsigned. Reprinted without mention of Lyrical Ballads. There are two misprints:
  19 sit ] sat C. 51 Kirkonnel ] Kirkennel C.
  For the text see WPW. III, 71-72.
• * August 11, C. Lucy. "She dwelt among th'untrodden ways". Unsigned. Reprinted without mention of Lyrical Ballads where the poem was called "Song". In C. "She dwelt among . . ." and "A Slumber did my spirit seal" have been printed together as though they were one poem. For the text see WPW. II, 30 and 216.
• * August 18, C. Poor Susan. Unsigned. Reprinted without mention of Lyrical Ballads and with one misprint: 15 will ] with C. For the text see WPW. II, 217.

1802

• * February 2, MP. From Petrarch. Si la mia vita de l'aspro tormento, &c. "If grief dismiss me not to them that rest". Unsigned. Wordsworth acknowledges here, in title and epigraph, the source of this sonnet, hitherto thought original. For text see WPW. I, 308; for details of textual variants see entry above for February 13, 1798.
• †February 12, MP. To a Beautiful Young Lady, who had been harshly spoken of on account of her fondness for taking long walks in the country. Unsigned. For the text see WPW. II,287-88. De Selincourt states incorrectly

  ---

  182

  
  
  
  that the poem appeared on February 11, 1802, omits the original title sentence and does not note that the 1802 text is identical with that in Poems (1807).

• †February 13, MP. Sonnet. Written at Evening. "Calm is all nature as a resting wheel". Unsigned. See WPW.I,3. Wordsworth thought of this sonnet as a schoolboy poem and in 1836 dated it 1786. There may be more truth in this dating than de Selincourt allows; the Racedown notebook, which contains, on folio 34, an almost complete MS. of the poem, tends to support Wordsworth's claim. The first 9½ lines appear there in what seems to be a fair copy, presumably entered 1795-97; there is then a space and the poem continues with the second half of line 11, drafted in a very rough hand. These last lines are:

  • oh my friends restrain
  • 12 Those busy cares that must renew my pain
  • 13 Go near the [space in MS.] plant quick shall it feel
  • 14 The fond officious touch and droop again
  De Selincourt completely omits line 13 in his presentation of the MS. Line 13, interestingly enough, is the one scrap of the poem that exists in MS.4. It appears at the top of page 88 and is possibly a later version of line 13 than that in the Racedown notebook, since it specifically brings in "mimosa" in place of "plant":
  Go [n/r?]ear the shrunk mimosa it shall feel
  The fond
  
  The mimosa appears again in MP. text. There was perhaps a copy of the entire poem on the page before 88, for it is clear from the stubs and watermarks that a page has been torn out between pages 87 and 88. Perhaps this copy was a revision of the Racedown text.

  De Selincourt notes MP. publication but does not collate it against the accepted 1807 text. Except for line 13, he presents the Racedown text and this is not included in the collation below.

  • 2-7 The kine are couched upon the dewy grass; The horse alone, seen dimly as I pass, Is cropping audibly his later meal: Dark is the ground; a slumber seems to steal O'er vale, and mountain, and the starless sky. Now, in this blank of things, a harmony, WPW. Along the glimm'ring vale the last lights die; Couch'd on the grass the kine around me lie, The horse is cropping yet his later meal. How still! a timely slumber seems to steal O'er vale and mountain. Now, while ear and eye Are both reposing, a soft harmony, MP.
  • 8 comes ] seems MP. 9 the senses ] my senses MP.

  ---

  183

  
  
  
  • 10-14 Fresh food; for only then, when memory Is hushed, am I at rest. My Friends! restrain Those busy cares that would allay my pain; Oh! leave me to myself, nor let me feel The officious touch that makes me droop again. WPW. Fresh food. For never but when Memory Is hush'd, am I at peace: My Friends! restrain Those busy cares that would relieve my pain; Go, rear the shrunk Mimosa — it shall feel The fond officious touch — and droop again. MP.

• [†March 9, MP. Written in a Grotto. Unsigned. The poem was followed by a not insignificant note which has hitherto been overlooked:
  The shepherds of Smyrna shew a cave, where, as they say, LUNA descended to ENDYMION, and a bed under a large oak, which was the scene of their loves. — See CHANDLER'S Travels into Asia Minor.
  The poem has been conjecturally assigned to Wordsworth, though de Selincourt remarks that the "evidence is of the flimsiest" (WPW. III,413-14 and note). De Selincourt wrongly dates MP. appearance as February 9 and the evidence becomes even more flimsy with the correct March 9 date as the poem is separated by a month from a group of three Wordsworth items in February. The note below the poem indicates Southey perhaps rather than Wordsworth or Coleridge, as, in 1801, in Thalaba, Southey had made specific reference to Chandler's Travels.]

• †September 16, MP. Sonnet. "I griev'd for Bonaparte . . ." Unsigned. Composed May 21, 1802 (see Dorothy Wordsworth's Journal for that date). Wordsworth probably handed this sonnet to Stuart directly, as we know that he dined with Stuart in the previous week (see introduction). It appeared again in MP. on January 29, 1803. For the text see WPW. III,110-111. De Selincourt wrongly dates the first MP. publication as September 6, 1802. Mrs. Moorman accepts this dating and adds incorrectly that the signature "W.L.D." was affixed to the poem (William Wordsworth, I,570-71).

• October 9, MP. A notice appeared concerned with both Wordsworth and Coleridge:

  Monday last, W. WORDSWORTH, Esq. was married to Miss HUTCHINSON, of Wykeham, near Scarborough, and proceeded immediately, with his wife and his sister, for his charming cottage in the little Paradise — vale of Grasmere. His neighbour, Mr. COLERIDGE, resides in the vale of Keswick, 13 miles from Grasmere. His house (situated on a low hill at the foot of Skiddaw, with the Derwent Lake in front, and the romantic River Greta windidg [sic] round the hill) commands, perhaps, the most various and interesting prospects of any house in the island. It is a perfect panorama of that wonderful vale, with its two lakes, and its complete circle, or rather ellipse, of mountains.
  De Quincey, and Mrs. Moorman after him (William Wordsworth,I,575), "understood that the whole affair [above notice in MP.] was an unseasonable

  ---

  184

  
  
  
  jest of Coleridge's or Lamb's." But De Quincey's account reads like an imperfect recollection of a conversation:
  I have heard that there was a paragraph inserted on this occasion in the Morning Post or Courier — and I have an indistinct remembrance of having once seen it myself — which described this event of the poet's marriage in the most ludicrous terms of silly pastoral sentimentality; the cottage being described as "the abode of content and all the virtues," the vale itself in the same puerile slang, and the whole event in the style of allegorical trifling about the Muses, &c. (Recollections of the Lake Poets, ed. E.Sackville-West,1948, p.163.)
  Dorothy Wordsworth, however, put the blame on Stuart, for when, on Coleridge's expected return from Malta, a similar notice appeared in the Morning Post, she wrote to Lady Beaumont: "You must know that this is one way that Stuart adopts of obliging his Friends. Upon my Brother's marriage he inserted in the Morning Post the most ridiculous paragraph that ever was penned." (Early Letters, 515, August 7,1805.)

1803

• * January 13, MP. "Is it a reed that's shaken by the wind". Unsigned. Preceded by the following note:
  The following beautiful lines, never before published, were written by one of the first poets of the present day; and we call attention to them the more particularly, as the sentiments they express so closely agree with those of this Paper:
  Below the text this sonnet is dated "August, 1802"; internal evidence would support this date. For the text see WPW. III, 109.

  January 29, MP. The first two political sonnets reappeared preceded by a note announcing a plan for "a dozen Sonnets of a Political nature". This note is quoted in full in the introduction.

  Sonnet. No. I. "I griev'd for Bonaparte . . ." Signed "W. L. D." See entry for September 16, 1802.
  Sonnet. No. II. August, 1801. "Is it a reed that's shaken by the wind". Signed "W.L.D." See entry for January 13, 1803. The texts are identical except that "slav'ry" in line 14 replaces "slavery" of January 13.

• †February 2, MP. Sonnet. No. III. To Toussaint l'Ouverture. Signed "W.L.D." For the text see WPW. III, 112-113 (dated "probably August, 1802"). The Oxford editors do not note the MP. variants:
  • 2-4 The WPW. variant marked "MSS.-1807" appears also in MP.
  • 6-9 do thou Wear rather in thy bonds a cheerful brow: Though fallen thyself, never to rise again, Live, and take comfort. WPW. be thou Life to thyself in death; with cheerful brow Live, loving death, nor let one thought in ten Be painful to thee. MP.
  The MP. text is the earliest known version of this sonnet.

---

185




• †February 11, MP. Sonnet. No. IV. The Banished Negroes. "We had a fellow-passenger who came". Signed "W. L. D." Reprinted Poems (1807) and there dated by Wordsworth September 1, 1802. For the text see WPW. III,113-114; the original MP. title is not noted in the variants.
• †February 26, MP. Sonnet. No. V. August 15, 1802. "Festivals have I seen that were not names". Signed "W.L.D." Reprinted Poems (1807) where Wordsworth entitles the sonnet "Calais". For the text see WPW.III,111; the slight title change is not noted there, nor the variant in line 8:
  To the sea-coast ] To this sea coast MP.
• April 16, MP. Sonnet. No. VI. "It is not to be thought of that the flood". Signed "W.L.D." For the text see WPW, III, 117 (dated "1802 or 1803").
• September 17, MP. Sonnet. No. VIII. England. "When I have borne in memory what has tamed". Signed "W.L.D." For the text see WPW. III, 117-18 (dated "1802 or 1803").
• †October 5, MP. Translated from the Italian of Milton. Written during his Travels. "A plain youth, Lady! and a simple lover". Unsigned. For the text see WPW.III,577; the editors note that the sonnet appears in MS.W (pages 31-32). Mrs. Moorman (William Wordsworth,I,571) notes the MP. publication. There is an unrecorded variant:
  6 prompt to wake ] prompt, awake MP.
  This variant is repeated in Poetical Register, 1803 (1805), p.344, a reprinting not previously noticed.
• October 10, MP. Sonnet. "I find it written of Simonides". Unsigned. Never reprinted by Wordsworth. For the text see WPW. III,408.
• *October 17, MP. Cantata, from Metastasio. Unsigned. This translation is now first attributed to Wordsworth. The text is as follows:
  LAURA, farewell my LAURA!
  'Tis come, that hour distressing;
  How shall I live, my blessing,
  So far from thee?
  
  Sorrows will still pursue me,
  No good will e'er come to me;
  And thou, who knowst if ever
  Thou wilt remember me?
  
  Let, at least, in the footing
  Of my peace that is departed,
  Some thoughts heavy-hearted
  Thy pursuivants be:
  
  Though far off, still in union,
  I will be thy companion;
  And thou, who knowst if ever
  Thou wilt remember me!
  

  ---

  186

  
  
  
  Although there is no MS. extant of this poem, it can safely be included among Wordsworth's Italian translations of the end of 1802 (see Dorothy Wordsworth's Journal, I, 185, 188). Of five other translations from Metastasio, four are published in the MP. The Italian of this cantata is not included in Agostino Isola's collection from which Wordsworth translated the other five poems, but we know that it was one of the most popular of Metastasio's short poems (see J.C. Fucilla, "The European and American Vogue of Metastasio's Shorter Poems", Studies and Notes, Naples-Rome [1953], 335-36). In addition, coincidence and similarity of style imply Wordsworth's authorship; there are references to Laura, for example, both in this translation and in the next (appearing in MP. October 22) as it appears in an unpublished MS. now in the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge. There is no reference to Laura in either of the Italian texts.

  The poem is a translation of the first two stanzas of Metastasio's "Canzonetta V, — La Partenza. Composta dall' autore in Vienna l'anno 1746." Opere, Milan (1815), V,366-67. The text of the Italian is not printed in MP. and is as follows:

  Ecco quel fiero istante;
  Nice, mia Nice, addio,
  Come vivrò, ben mio,
  Così lontan da te?
  Io vivrò sempre in pene,
  Io non avrò più bene;
  E tu chi sa se mai
  Ti sovverrai di me!
  
  Soffri che in traccia almeno
  Di mia perduta pace
  Venga il pensier seguace
  Su l'orme del tuo piè
  Sempre nel tuo cammino,
  Sempre m'avrai vicino;
  E tu chi sa se mai
  Ti sovverrai di me!
  

• *October 22, MP. Cantata del Metastasio.
  Alla silva, al prato, al fonte
  Io n'andrò col gregge amato,
  E alla silva, al fonte, al prato
  L'idol mio con me verrà,
  In quel rozzo augusto tetto,
  Che ricetto a noi darà,
  Con la gioia, e col diletto
  L'innocenza albergherà.
  
  Translation from the above. "To the grove, the meadow, the well". Unsigned. Wordsworth's translation is written in the margin of pages 10-11 of Agostino Isola's collection. (All quotations from this manuscript are reproduced from a microfilm and by permission of the Syndics of the Fitzwilliam

  ---

  187

  
  
  
  Museum, Cambridge.) This translation is printed by the Oxford editors (WPW.IV,369), though the punctuation of the Italian text is generally followed rather than that of the English version in Wordsworth's hand. The emendation of line 4 is omitted and the MP. publication of the poem is not noted. Line 4 in the MS. reads:
  "[[My Goddess]] <Laura> will find with me". "My Goddess" only appears in WPW.; the MP. text reads "Laura".
  Other MP. variants are:
  3 By the Well ] At the well MP. 6 a cover be ] a covert be MP. The cantata is from Metastasio's "Il Re Pastore", I,1. Opere, VII,92. In lines 1 and 3 MP. has "silva", misprinted for "selva".
• *October 28, C. Anticipation. — A Sonnet. By Wm. Wordsworth, Esq. Wordsworth sent a copy of this sonnet and another to Sir George Beaumont on October 14, 1803 with the note:
  . . . if you think, either you or Lady Beaumont, that these last two Sonnets are worth publication, would you have the goodness to circulate them in any way you like? (Early Letters, 342,note).
  Beaumont replied full of enthusiasm on October 24:
  I am delighted with your patriotic lines they are animated to a degree & as I have your permission I shall send them to the papers, which I think will be the best mode of making them generally known — (MS in DCP.)
  Beaumont presumably sent the sonnets to the newspaper, although a slight textual variant casts some doubt on the matter. In Wordsworth's letter, line 12 of "Anticipation" reads: "The loss and [[remembrances]] sore prospect> of the Slain"; in C. the line is : "The loss and e'en the prospect of the slain". Line 13 of this sonnet in the letter has an interesting emendation; Wordsworth deleted "approves" and replaced it by "enjoys". Thus the rhyme scheme is completed but some of the original sense is lost. For C. text of "Anticipation" see WPW. III,122, using the variants for the Poetical Register, 1803 (1805), and, line 9 : "Grandams'". The other sonnet sent to Beaumont, "Vanguard of Liberty", has not so far been discovered in any newspaper.
• *November 2, MP. Cantata del Metastasio.
  Rondinello, a cui rapita
  fu la dolce sua conpagna,
  vola incerta, va smarrita
  dalla selva alla campagna,
  e si lagna intorno al nido
  dell'infido cacciator;
  chiare fonti, apriche rive
  più non cerca, al dì s'invola;
  sempre sola, e finche vive
  si rammenta il primo amor.
  

  ---

  188

  
  
  
  Imitated from the Above. "The Swallow, that hath lost". Unsigned. The manuscript of this poem is in Dorothy's hand on page 26 of Agostino Isola's collection. It is printed WPW. IV,369-70 but two MS variants are not mentioned: line 5 has an illegible crossed out variant for "Nor finds rest"; line 6 "Pastime in heaven" originally read "A home in heaven". The MP. publication is identical with the MS except for punctuation. The newspaper Italian text prints "finche" for "sinchè" in line 9, probably because the Isola volume uses the long printed "s". The poem is from Metastasio's "Semiramide", I, 15 (variation, see Opere, in "Scrittori d'Italia" series, II, page 69).
• *November 15, MP. Cantata from Metastasio.
  Placido Zeffiretto,
  Se trovi il caro oggetto,
  Digli che sei sospiro,
  Ma non gli dir di chi.
  
  Limpido Ruscelletto
  Se mait incontri in lei,
  Delle che pianto sei
  Ma non le dir qual ciglio
  Luscer ti fe così.
  
  Translation. "Gentle Zephyr". Unsigned. The MS on pages 80-81 in Isola is in Wordsworth's hand and is printed WPW. IV,370. There are no MS changes and no textual variants. There are the following misprints in the MP. Italian text:
  6 "mait incontri" should read "mai t'incontri"; 7 "Delle" should read "Dille"; 9 "Luscer" should be "Crescer", and "fe" should be "fè".
  The cantata is from the end of "Amor Timido", Opere, VIII,328-29.
• *December 12, MP. Cantata del Metastasio.
  Quanto mai felici siete,
  Innocenti pastorelle,
  Che in amor non conoscete
  Altra legge, che l'amor.
  
  Ancor io sarei felice,
  Se potessi all' idol mio,
  Palesar come a voi lice,
  Il desio
  Di questo cor.
  
  Translation from the above. "Oh! bless'd all bliss above". Unsigned. There are two MS versions of this in Agostino Isola, pages 52-53, and both are in Wordsworth's hand. The Oxford editors print the version on page 53, WPW., IV, 370, and this text is identical with that printed in MP. The text

  ---

  189

  
  
  
  on page 52 is probably an earlier version, and has variants which seem to imply that Wordsworth was not quite certain of the sex of the speaker:
  Oh bless'd all bliss above
  Innocent shepherdesses
  Whom [[in love]] no thing <in law> distresses
  Who have no law but love.
  
  Could I as ye may do
  To my goddess make part
  Of the thought of my heart
  Bless'd were it too,
  all bliss above.
  
  The cantata is from Metastasio, "Ezio", I, 7. Opere, II, 192. Wordsworth later uses a phrase surely recalling this translation; see "A Complaint", line 8: "Bless'd was I then all bliss above!" WPW. II, 34.

1809

• November 18, C. Sonnet, Suggested by the efforts of the Tyrolese, Contrasted with the present state of Germany. From the 14th Number of Mr. Coleridge's Friend. Signed "W.W." The issue of The Friend referred to here had appeared on November 16. For the text see WPW. III, 130 with the variant in line 4; for the title see the note, ibid., p. 458.

1814

• January 1, C. Sonnet. "Now that all hearts are glad, all faces bright". Signed "W.W." For the text see WPW. III,143 where the sonnet is entitled "November, 1813", with the remark, "Composed November, 1813.—Published 1815." H. C. Robinson (Books and their Writers, 848) said he saw it in the Courier shortly before January 21, 1813 — plainly a mistake for January 21,1814. There are the following variants in MP. text:
  6-8 Whom no weak hopes deceived; whose mind ensued,
  Through perilous war, with regal fortitude,
  Peace that should claim respect from lawless Might. WPW.
  Whose royal fortitude upheld the cause
  Of Independence and time-hallowed laws
  Against the fierce assaults of lawless might. C.
  11 inner ] inward C. 12 to kindle, and to embrace ] to gladden, and embrace C. 13 Though it were ] Though were it C.