The Prose Works of William Wordsworth Part 59

42. *_The Pet Lamb: a Pastoral_. [XIV.]

Town-End, 1800. Barbara Lewthwaite, now living at Ambleside (1843), though much changed as to beauty, was one of two most lovely sisters.

Almost the first words my poor brother John said, when he visited us for the first time at Grasmere, were, 'Were those two angels that I have just seen?' and from his description I have no doubt they were those two sisters. The mother died in childbed; and one of our neighbours, at Grasmere, told me that the loveliest sight she had ever seen was that mother as she lay in her coffin with her [dead] babe in her arm. I mention this to notice what I cannot but think a salutary custom, once universal in these vales: every attendant on a funeral made it a duty to look at the corpse in the coffin before the lid was closed, which was never done (nor I believe is now) till a minute or two before the corpse was removed. Barbara Lewthwaite was not, in fact, the child whom I had seen and overheard as engaged in the poem. I chose the name for reasons implied in the above, and will here add a caution against the use of names of living persons. Within a few months after the publication of this poem, I was much surprised, and more hurt, to find it in a child's school-book, which, having been compiled by Lindley Murray, had come into use at Grasmere school, where Barbara was a pupil. And, alas, I had the mortification of hearing that she was very vain of being thus distinguished; and in after life she used to say that she remembered the incident, and what I said to her upon the occasion.

43. *_Influence of Natural Objects, &c._ [XVI.]

Written in Germany, 1799.

44. *_The Longest Day_. [XVII.]

1817. Suggested by the sight of my daughter (Dora) playing in front of Rydal Mount, and composed in a great measure the same afternoon. I have often wished to pair this poem upon the 'longest' with one upon the 'shortest' day, and regret even now that it has not been done.

45. *_The Norman Boy_. [XVIII.]

The subject of this poem was sent me by Mrs. Ogle, to whom I was personally unknown, with a hope on her part that I might be induced to relate the incident in verse. And I do not regret that I took the trouble; for not improbably the fact is ill.u.s.trative of the boy's early piety, and may concur, with my other little pieces on children, to produce profitable reflection among my youthful readers. This is said, however, with an absolute conviction that children will derive most benefit from books which are not unworthy the perusal of persons of any age. I protest with my whole heart against those productions, so abundant in the present day, in which the doings of children are dwelt upon as if they were incapable of being interested in anything else. On this subject I have dwelt at length in the Poem on the growth of my own mind. ['Prelude.']

III. POEMS FOUNDED ON THE AFFECTIONS.

46. _The Brothers_. [I.]

1800. This poem was composed in a grove at the north-eastern end of Grasmere Lake, which grove was in a great measure destroyed by turning the high-road along the side of the water. The few trees that are left were spared at my intercession. The poem arose out of the fact mentioned to me, at Ennerdale, that a shepherd had fallen asleep upon the top of the rock called the 'pillar,' and perished as here described, his staff being left midway on the rock.

47. _Great Gavel_. (Foot-note.)

'From the Great Gavel down by Leeza's banks' (l. 324).

The Great Gavel, so called, I imagine, from its resemblance to the gable end of a house, is one of the highest of the c.u.mberland mountains. The Leeza is a river which flows into the Lake of Ennerdale.

48. _Artegal and Elidure_. [II.]

Rydal Mount. This was written in the year 1815, as a token of affectionate respect for the memory of Milton. 'I have determined,' says he, in his preface to his History of England, 'to bestow the telling over even of these reputed tales, be it for nothing else but in favour of our English Poets and Rhetoricians, who by their wit well know how to use them judiciously.' See the Chronicle of Geoffrey of Monmouth and Milton's History of England.

49. *_To a b.u.t.terfly_. [III.]

1801. Written at the same time and place.

50 *_A Farewell_. [IV.]

1802. Composed just before my sister and I went to fetch Mary from Gallowhill, near Scarborough.

51. *_Stanzas written in my Pocket-copy of Thomson's 'Castle of Indolence.'_ [V.]

Composed in the Orchard, Grasmere, Town-End. Coleridge living with us much at the time, his son Hartley has said that his father's character and history are here preserved in a livelier way than in anything that has been written about him.

52. *_Louisa. After accompanying her on a mountain Excursion_. [VI.]

Town-End, 1805.

53. *_Strange Fits of Pa.s.sion have I known_. [VII.]

*_She dwelt among the Springs of Dove_. [VIII.]

*_I travelled among unknown Men_. [IX.]

These three poems were written in Germany, 1799.

54. *_Ere with cold Beads of midnight Dew_. [X.]

Rydal Mount, 1826. Suggested by the condition of a friend.

55. *_To_ ----. [XI.]

Rydal Mount, 1824. Prompted by the undue importance attached to personal beauty by some dear friends of mine. [In opposite page in pencil--S. C.]

56. *_'Tis said that some have died for Love_. [XIII.]

1800.

57. *_A Complaint_. [XIV.]

Suggested by a change in the manners of a friend. Coleorton, 1806.

[Town-End marked out and Coleorton written in pencil; and on opposite page in pencil--Coleridge, S. T.]

58. *_To_ ----. [XV.]

Rydal Mount, 1824. Written on [Mrs.] Mary Wordsworth.

59. * '_How rich that Forehead's calm Expanse_!'[XVII.]