The Poetical Works of William Wordsworth Volume Iii Part 41

[Footnote L: Compare the reference to the "rude piece of self-taught art," at the Swan Inn, in the first canto of 'The Waggoner', p. 81.

William Hutchinson, in his 'Excursion to the Lakes in 1773 and 1774'

(second edition, 1776, p. 185), mentions "the White Lion Inn at Bownas."--Ed.]

[Footnote M: Dr. Cradock told me that William Hutchinson--referred to in the previous note--describes "Bownas church and its cottages," as seen from the lake, arising "'above the trees'." Wordsworth, reversing the view, sees "gleams of water through the trees and 'over the tree tops'"--another instance of minutely exact description.--Ed.]

[Footnote N: Robert Greenwood, afterwards Senior Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge.--Ed.]

[Footnote O: Compare 'Lines composed a few miles above Tintern Abbey', vol. ii. p. 51.--Ed.]

[Footnote P: Wetherlam, or Coniston Old Man, or both.--Ed.]

[Footnote Q:

"The moon, as it hung over the southernmost sh.o.r.e of Esthwaite, with Gunner's How, as seen from Hawkshead rising up boldly to the spectator's left hand, would be thus described."

(H. D. Rawnsley.)--Ed.]

[Footnote R: Esthwaite. Compare 'Peter Bell' (vol. ii. p. 13):

'Where deep and low the hamlets lie Beneath their little patch of sky And little lot of stars.'

Ed.]

[Footnote S: See in the Appendix to this volume, Note II, p. 388.--Ed.]

[Footnote T: See 'Paradise Lost', ix. l. 249.--Ed.]

[Footnote U: The daily work in Hawkshead School began--by Archbishop Sandys' ordinance--at 6 A.M. in summer, and 7 A.M. in winter.--Ed.]

[Footnote V: Esthwaite.--Ed.]

[Footnote W: The Rev. John Fleming, of Rayrigg, Windermere, or, possibly, the Rev. Charles Farish, author of 'The Minstrels of Winandermere' and 'Black Agnes'. Mr. Carter, who edited 'The Prelude' in 1850, says it was the former, but this is not absolutely certain.--Ed.]

[Footnote X: A "cottage latch"--probably the same as that in use in Dame Tyson's time--is still on the door of the house where she lived at Hawkshead.--Ed.]

[Footnote Y: Probably on the western side of the Vale, above the village. There is but one "'jutting' eminence" on this side of the valley. It is an old moraine, now gra.s.s-covered; and, from this point, the view both of the village and of the vale is noteworthy. The jutting eminence, however, may have been a crag, amongst the Colthouse heights, to the north-east of Hawkshead.--Ed.]

[Footnote Z: Compare in the 'Ode, Intimations of Immortality':

'... those obstinate questionings Of sense and outward things, Fallings from us, vanishings,' etc.

Ed.]

[Footnote a: Coleridge's school days were spent at Christ's Hospital in London. With the above line compare S. T. C.'s 'Frost at Midnight':

'I was reared In the great city, pent 'mid cloisters dim.'

Ed.]

[Footnote b: Compare 'Stanzas written in my Pocket Copy of Thomsons "Castle of Indolence,"' vol. ii. p. 305.--Ed.]

BOOK THIRD

RESIDENCE AT CAMBRIDGE

It was a dreary morning when the wheels Rolled over a wide plain o'erhung with clouds, And nothing cheered our way till first we saw The long-roofed chapel of King's College lift Turrets and pinnacles in answering files, 5 Extended high above a dusky grove, [A]

Advancing, we espied upon the road A student clothed in gown and ta.s.selled cap, Striding along as if o'ertasked by Time, Or covetous of exercise and air; 10 He pa.s.sed--nor was I master of my eyes Till he was left an arrow's flight behind.

As near and nearer to the spot we drew, It seemed to suck us in with an eddy's force.

Onward we drove beneath the Castle; caught, 15 While crossing Magdalene Bridge, a glimpse of Cam; And at the 'Hoop' alighted, famous Inn. [B]

My spirit was up, my thoughts were full of hope; Some friends I had, acquaintances who there Seemed friends, poor simple school-boys, now hung round 20 With honour and importance: in a world Of welcome faces up and down I roved; Questions, directions, warnings and advice, Flowed in upon me, from all sides; fresh day Of pride and pleasure! to myself I seemed 25 A man of business and expense, and went From shop to shop about my own affairs, To Tutor or to Tailor, as befel, From street to street with loose and careless mind.

I was the Dreamer, they the Dream; I roamed 30 Delighted through the motley spectacle; Gowns, grave, or gaudy, doctors, students, streets, Courts, cloisters, flocks of churches, gateways, towers: Migration strange for a stripling of the hills, A northern villager.

As if the change 35 Had waited on some Fairy's wand, at once Behold me rich in monies, and attired In splendid garb, with hose of silk, and hair Powdered like rimy trees, when frost is keen.

My lordly dressing-gown, I pa.s.s it by, 40 With other signs of manhood that supplied The lack of beard.--The weeks went roundly on, With invitations, suppers, wine and fruit, Smooth housekeeping within, and all without Liberal, and suiting gentleman's array. 45

The Evangelist St. John my patron was: Three Gothic courts are his, and in the first Was my abiding-place, a nook obscure; [C]

Right underneath, the College kitchens made A humming sound, less tuneable than bees, 50 But hardly less industrious; with shrill notes Of sharp command and scolding intermixed.

Near me hung Trinity's loquacious clock, Who never let the quarters, night or day, Slip by him unproclaimed, and told the hours 55 Twice over with a male and female voice.