The Prose Works of William Wordsworth Part 23

_WITH ADDITIONS FROM UNPUBLISHED Ma.n.u.sCRIPTS_.

Edited, with Preface, Notes and Ill.u.s.trations,

BY THE REV. ALEXANDER B. GROSART, ST. GEORGE'S, BLACKBURN, LANCASHIRE.

IN THREE VOLUMES.

VOL. II.

AESTHETICAL AND LITERARY.

LONDON: EDWARD MOXON, SON, AND CO. 1 AMEN CORNER, PATERNOSTER ROW.

1876.

AMS Press, Inc. New York 10003 1967 Manufactured in the United States of America

CONTENTS OF VOL. II.

*** A star [*] designates publication herein _for the first time_ G.

AESTHETICAL AND LITERARY.

I. Of Literary Biography and Monuments: (_a_) A Letter to a Friend of Robert Burns, 1816 (_b_) Letter to a Friend on Monuments to Literary Men, 1819 (_c_) Letter to John Peace, Esq., of Bristol, 1844 II. Upon Epitaphs: (_a_) From 'The Friend'

*(_b_) From the Author's MSS.: The Country Church-yard, and critical Examination of Ancient Epitaphs *(_c_) From the Author's MSS.: Celebrated Epitaphs considered III. Essays, Letters, and Notes, elucidatory and confirmatory of the Poems, 1798-1835: (_a_) Of the Principles of Poetry and the 'Lyrical Ballads,'

1798-1802 (_b_) Of Poetic Diction (_c_) Poetry as a Study, 1815 (_d_) Of Poetry as Observation and Description, and Dedication of 1815 (_e_) Of 'The Excursion:' Preface *(_f_) Letters to Sir George and Lady Beaumont and others, on the Poems and related Subjects[1]

(_g_) Letter to Charles Fox with the 'Lyrical Ballads,'

and his Answer, &c.

(_h_) Letter on the Principles of Poetry and his own Poems to (afterwards) Professor John Wilson IV. Descriptive: (_a_) A Guide through the District of the Lakes, 1835 (_b_) Kendal and Windermere Railway: two Letters reprinted from the _Morning Post_. Revised, with Additions, 1844 NOTES AND ILl.u.s.tRATIONS

[1] The Beaumont Letters are given from the originals, and in many cases, as elsewhere, contain important additions and corrections. G.

AESTHETICAL AND LITERARY.

I. OF LITERARY BIOGRAPHY AND MONUMENTS.

(_a_) A LETTER TO A FRIEND OF ROBERT BURNS, 1816.

(_b_) LETTER TO A FRIEND ON MONUMENTS TO LITERARY MEN, 1819.

(_c_) LETTER TO JOHN PEACE OF BRISTOL, 1844.

NOTE.

For details on the several portions of this division, see the Preface in Vol. I. G.

A LETTER TO A FRIEND OF ROBERT BURNS: OCCASIONED BY AN INTENDED REPUBLICATION OF THE ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE OF BURNS, BY DR. CURRIE; AND OF THE SELECTION MADE BY HIM FROM HIS LETTERS.

BY WILLIAM WORDSWORTH.

_LONDON_:

PRINTED FOR LONGMAN, HURST, REES, ORME, AND BROWN, PATERNOSTER-ROW.

1816.

(_a_) A LETTER TO A FRIEND OF ROBERT BURNS.

TO JAMES GRAY, ESQ., EDINBURGH.

DEAR SIR,

I have carefully perused the Review of the Life of your friend Robert Burns,[2] which you kindly transmitted to me; the author has rendered a substantial service to the poet's memory; and the annexed letters are all important to the subject. After having expressed this opinion, I shall not trouble you by commenting upon the publication; but will confine myself to the request of Mr. Gilbert Burns, that I would furnish him with my notions upon the best mode of conducting the defence of his brother's injured reputation; a favourable opportunity being now afforded him to convey his sentiments to the world, along with a republication of Dr. Currie's book, which he is about to superintend.

From the respect which I have long felt for the character of the person who has thus honoured me, and from the grat.i.tude which, as a lover of poetry, I owe to the genius of his departed relative, I should most gladly comply with this wish; if I could hope that any suggestions of mine would be of service to the cause. But, really, I feel it a thing of much delicacy, to give advice upon this occasion, as it appears to me, mainly, not a question of opinion, or of taste, but a matter of conscience. Mr. Gilbert Burns must know, if any man living does, what his brother was; and no one will deny that he, who possesses this knowledge, is a man of unimpeachable veracity. He has already spoken to the world in contradiction of the injurious a.s.sertions that have been made, and has told why he forbore to do this on their first appearance.

[2] _A Review of the Life of Robert Burns, and of various Criticisms on his Character and Writings_, by Alexander Peterkin, 1814.

If it be deemed adviseable to reprint Dr. Currie's narrative, without striking out such pa.s.sages as the author, if he were now alive, would probably be happy to efface, let there be notes attached to the most obnoxious of them, in which the misrepresentations may be corrected, and the exaggerations exposed. I recommend this course, if Dr. Currie's Life is to be republished, as it now stands, in connexion with the poems and letters, and especially if prefixed to them; but, in my judgment, it would be best to copy the example which Mason has given in his second edition of Gray's works. There, inverting the order which had been properly adopted, when the Life and Letters were new matter, the poems are placed first; and the rest takes its place as subsidiary to them. If this were done in the intended edition of Burns's works, I should strenuously recommend, that a concise life of the poet be prefixed, from the pen of Gilbert Burns, who has already given public proof how well qualified he is for the undertaking. I know no better model as to proportion, and the degree of detail required, nor, indeed, as to the general execution, than the life of Milton by Fenton, prefixed to many editions of the _Paradise Lost_. But a more copious narrative would be expected from a brother; and some allowance ought to be made, in this and other respects, for an expectation so natural.

In this prefatory memoir, when the author has prepared himself by reflecting, that fraternal partiality may have rendered him, in some points, not so trustworthy as others less favoured by opportunity, it will be inc.u.mbent upon him to proceed candidly and openly, as far as such a procedure will tend to restore to his brother that portion of public estimation, of which he appears to have been unjustly deprived.

Nay, when we recall to mind the black things which have been written of this great man, and the frightful ones that have been insinuated against him; and, as far as the public knew, till lately, without complaint, remonstrance, or disavowal, from his nearest relatives; I am not sure that it would not be best, at this day, explicitly to declare to what degree Robert Burns had given way to pernicious habits, and, as nearly as may be, to fix the point to which his moral character had been degraded. It is a disgraceful feature of the times that this measure should be necessary; most painful to think that a _brother_ should have such an office to perform. But, if Gilbert Burns be conscious that the subject will bear to be so treated, he has no choice; the duty has been imposed upon him by the errors into which the former biographer has fallen, in respect to the very principles upon which his work ought to have been conducted.

I well remember the acute sorrow with which, by my own fire-side, I first perused Dr. Currie's Narrative, and some of the letters, particularly of those composed in the latter part of the poet's life. If my pity for Burns was extreme, this pity did not preclude a strong indignation, of which he was not the object. If, said I, it were in the power of a biographer to relate the truth, the _whole_ truth, and nothing _but_ the truth, the friends and surviving kindred of the deceased, for the sake of general benefit to mankind, might endure that such heart-rending communication should be made to the world. But in no case is this possible; and, in the present, the opportunities of directly acquiring other than superficial knowledge have been most scanty; for the writer has barely seen the person who is the subject of his tale; nor did his avocations allow him to take the pains necessary for ascertaining what portion of the information conveyed to him was authentic. So much for facts and actions; and to what purpose relate them even were they true, if the narrative cannot be heard without extreme pain; unless they are placed in such a light, and brought forward in such order, that they shall explain their own laws, and leave the reader in as little uncertainty as the mysteries of our nature will allow, respecting the spirit from which they derived their existence, and which governed the agent? But hear on this pathetic and awful subject, the poet himself, pleading for those who have transgressed!

One point must still be greatly dark, The moving _why_ they do it, And just as lamely can ye mark How far, perhaps, they rue it.

Who made the heart, 'tis _he_ alone Decidedly can try us; He knows each chord--its various tone, Each spring, its various bias.

Then at the balance let's be mute, We never can adjust it; What's done we partly may compute, But know not what's _resisted_.