The Prose Works of William Wordsworth Part 61

78. *_The Widow on Windermere Side_. [x.x.xIV.]

The facts recorded in this Poem were given me and the character of the person described by my highly esteemed friend the Rev. R.P. Graves, who has long officiated as Curate at Bowness, to the great benefit of the parish and neighbourhood. The individual was well known to him. She died before these Verses were composed. It is scarcely worth while to notice that the stanzas are written in the sonnet-form; which was adopted when I thought the matter might be included in 28 lines.

79. _The Armenian Lady's Love_. [x.x.xIV.]

The subject of the following poem is from the 'Orlandus' of the author's friend, Kenelm Henry Digby: and the liberty is taken of inscribing it to him as an acknowledgment, however unworthy, of pleasure and instruction derived from his numerous and valuable writings, ill.u.s.trative of the piety and chivalry of the olden time. *Rydal Mount, 1830.

80. _Percy's 'Reliques'_ (foot-note on 1. 2).

'You have heard "a Spanish Lady How she wooed an English man."'

See in Percy's _Reliques_ that fine old ballad, 'The Spanish Lady's Love'; from which Poem the form of stanza, as suitable to dialogue, is adopted.

81. *_Loving and Liking_. [x.x.xV.]

By my Sister. Rydal Mount, 1832. It arose, I believe, out of a casual expression of one of Mr. Swinburne's children.

82. *_Farewell Lines_. [x.x.xVI.]

These Lines were designed as a farewell to Charles Lamb and his Sister, who had retired from the throngs of London to comparative solitude in the village of Enfield, Herts, [_sic._]

83. (1) _The Redbreast_.

Lines 45-6.

'Of Matthew, Mark, and Luke, and John Blessing the bed she lies upon.'

The words--

'Matthew, Mark, and Luke, and John, Bless the bed that I lie on,'

are part of a child's prayer still in general use through the northern counties.

84. *(2)

Rydal Mount, 1834. Our cats having been banished the house, it was soon frequented by Red-b.r.e.a.s.t.s. Two or three of them, when the window was open, would come in, particularly when Mary was breakfasting alone, and hop about the table picking up the crumbs. My Sister being then confined to her room by sickness, as, dear creature, she still is, had one that, without being caged, took up its abode with her, and at night used to perch upon a nail from which a picture had hung. It used to sing and fan her face with its wings in a manner that was very touching. [In pencil--- But who was the pale-faced child?]

85. *_Her Eyes are wild_. [x.x.xVIII.]

Alfoxden, 1798. The subject was reported to me by a lady of Bristol, who had seen the poor creature.

IV. POEMS ON THE NAMING OF PLACES.

86. _Advertis.e.m.e.nt_.

By persons resident in the country and attached to rural objects, many places will be found unnamed or of unknown names, where little Incidents must have occurred, or feelings been experienced, which will have given to such places a private and peculiar interest. From a wish to give some sort of record to such Incidents, and renew the gratification of such feelings, Names have been given to Places by the Author and some of his Friends, and the following Poems written in consequence.

87. *_It was an April Morn, &c._ [I.]

Grasmere, 1800. This poem was suggested on the banks of the brook that runs through Easedale, which is, in some parts of its course, as wild and beautiful as brook can be. I have composed thousands of verses by the side of it.

88. *'_May call it Emmas Dell'_ (I. 47).

[In pencil, with reference to the last line is this--Emma's Dell--Who was Emma?]

89. *_To Joanna Hutchinson_. [II.]

Grasmere, 1800. The effect of her laugh is an extravagance; though the effect of the reverberation of voices in some parts of these mountains is very striking. There is, in 'The Excursion,' an allusion to the bleat of a lamb thus re-echoed and described, without any exaggeration, as I heard it on the side of Stickle Tarn, from the precipice that stretches on to Langdale Pikes.

90. _Inscriptions_.

In c.u.mberland and Westmoreland are several Inscriptions upon the native rock, which, from the wasting of time, and the rudeness of the workmanship, have been mistaken for Runic. They are without doubt Roman.

The Rotha mentioned in the poem is the River which, flowing through the lakes of Grasmere and Ryedale, falls into Wynandermere. On Helmcrag, that impressive single mountain at the head of the Vale of Grasmere, is a rock which from most points of view bears a striking resemblance to an old woman cowering. Close by this rock is one of those fissures or caverns which in the language of the country are called dungeons. Most of the mountains here mentioned immediately surround the Vale of Grasmere; of the others, some are at a considerable distance, but they belong to the same cl.u.s.ter.

91. *_There is an Eminence, &c._ [III.]

1800. It is not accurate that the eminence here alluded to could be seen from our orchard seat. It arises above the road by the side of Grasmere Lake, towards Keswick, and its name is Stone Arthur.

92. *'_A narrow Girdle of rough Stones and Crags'_ [IV.]

'----Point Kash Judgment' (last line).

1800. The character of the eastern sh.o.r.e of Grasmere Lake is quite changed since these verses were written, by the public road being carried along its side. The friends spoken of were Coleridge and my sister, and the fact occurred strictly as recorded.

93. *_To Mary Hutchinson_. [V.]

Two years before our marriage. The pool alluded to is in Rydal Upper Park.

94. *_When to the Attractions, &c._ [VI.]