it then appeared that Raisley Calvert had bequeathed £900 to Wordsworth on public grounds. He believed that Wordsworth was fitted to render important services as a poet to his country and the world, and he hoped that this small legacy would procure for him a few years at least of fruitful leisure. The purpose was exactly fulfilled; for, whereas Wordsworth had been living, since his return to England, with friends in various parts of the country, he now took up house, settling with his only sister at Racedown, Dorsetshire, in the autumn of 1795. This sister was that Dorothy who, after as well as before his marriage, proved to Wordsworth another self, accompanying him in his rambles, writing to his dictation, chronicling the accidents of his life, and even catering for his muse. It is of her he says:

"She gave me eyes, she gave me ears,
And humble cares, and delicate fears;
A heart the fountain of sweet tears,
And love, and thought, and joy."

One of Wordsworth's first attempts, after settling at Racedown, to turn his genius to pecuniary account, was completely unsuc cessful. It was a tragedy, called The Borderers, which was rejected at Covent Garden in 1797, though he went to London for the purpose of promoting its reception. It was not published till 1842, nearly fifty years after it was composed.

It was at Racedown, too, in June 1797, that Coleridge, who was then living at Bristol, paid his first visit to Wordsworth. Their acquaintance speedily grew into such mutual esteem, that shortly afterwards, when Coleridge took up his abode at Nether Stowey, Somersetshire, Wordsworth removed to Alfoxden, within three miles of that place. An excursion into Devonshire, which they undertook in company, gave rise to the famous ballad, entitled The Ancient Mariner. Their funds being low, it was thought that they might get £5 for a brief joint composition, and they set gaily to work upon the basis of a story furnished by Coleridge. Wordsworth suggested that the old mariner's imaginary crime should be the killing of the albatross, having been interested in this bird by the recent perusal of a book of voyages. The navigation of the ship by the dead crew was also one of Wordsworth's sugges tions, and he contributed a line or two; but his style proved so different from Coleridge's that the attempt at joint composition was abandoned, and Coleridge worked up the story in his own way. The "Ancient Mariner," however, turned out a much longer performance than was originally contemplated; and, as the two poets had not found it possible to work together on the same piece, it was now proposed that they should separately contribute to a collection of pieces, Coleridge undertaking to impart a human interest to supernatural subjects, and Wordsworth undertaking to impart a poetic interest to subjects of ordinary life and nature. This was the origin of the "Lyrical Ballads," of which vol. i. was published in the autumn of 1798, the greater number of them having been contributed by Wordsworth. Cottle, the Bristol publisher, gave Wordsworth £30 for his share of the copyright, and seems to have been himself a loser; for the first edition, which was only of 500 copies, went very slowly off his hands, and after

wards, when he transferred his copyrights to Longman, that of the "Lyrical Ballads" was valued at nil. On that account he begged it back, and presented it, out of compliment, to the authors.

Immediately after the publication of the "Lyrical Ballads," the two poets started for Germany. Sailing from Yarmouth to Hamburgh, they met there repeatedly with Klopstock; but they then took different routes, Coleridge proceeding eastward in company with a friend, and Wordsworth with his sister to the old imperial city of Goslar, where they spent the winter. One of Wordsworth's chief objects was to acquire a thorough knowledge of German, which he would have done much more effectually had he been alone; for complete immersion in the foreign element would then have been a necessity. He himself observed that he would have had much wider opportunities of intercourse with the natives, had his companion been a man and not a woman, or had he been alone; as it was, the Goslarites expected entertainment in return, which Wordsworth had not the means of giving.

He returned to England in the spring of 1799, at the close of which year, having spent the interval chiefly with his friends at Sockburn-on-Tees, county Durham, he fixed his residence in a small cottage at Town-end, Grasmere. He seems now to have resolved upon a life of poetical retirement, and in the following year, published vol. 2 of the "Lyrical Ballads." Opinions were still divided as to the merit of his productions; but he was now able to reduce the arithmetical value of adverse criticisms to zero by writing down as many favourable ones against them in a sort of daybook. Here is an extract from the folio of criticisms on Nutting."

16

Mr C. W.-Worth its weight in gold.

Mr S.-Can make neither head nor tail of it.

In 1802, as has been mentioned, the outstanding claims of the Wordsworth family on the Earl of Lonsdale's estate, were satisfied; and the poet's share of the proceeds seemed such a buttress to his fortunes, that in the same year he married Mary Hutchinson, his own cousin. They had been at the same dame-school together at Penrith; and nothing but the bereavements so common, though so sad, in family life, ever disturbed their domestic happiness.

Wordsworth's poetical activity must not be measured by his rate of publication; for many of his productions, like the Tragedy already noticed, had a long private history, before they appeared in print. Thus the Prelude, finished in June 1805, had been commenced six years before in a fit of enthusiasm, which came upon him as he passed through the gates of Goslar city on his return to England. It lay forty-five years by him, received his final corrections in 1832, and was left for publication at his decease. The subject is the history of his own mind, and its development is traced from his earliest recollections to the commencement of his residence at Grasmere. The poem belongs to the class called metaphysical; and high though its merit in that kind be, it is neither interesting, nor indeed in many parts intelligible, except to those who, besides possessing an inward life of their own, have acquired some experience in the analysis of mental states. The composition of the Prelude was partly intended as an experiment to

see whether he was capable of a great effort. But a feeble murmur of approbation reached him from the outer world, and he was therefore obliged to seek for support within himself; nor has posterity pronounced him a fool. He has been acquitted of selfconceit, and what might have been so in others, is allowed to have been self knowledge in him.

From 1805 to 1813, there is nothing very notable to record either in the external history or in the poetical activity of Wordsworth. The cottage at Town-end had already in 1805 become too small for his increasing family. For the sake of more room, he spent the winter of 1806-7 at Coleorton, near Ashby-de-la-Zouch, Leicestershire, in a house belonging to Sir George H. Beaumont, to whom Coleridge had introduced him in 1803; and when he returned to Grasmere in the spring of 1808, it was to a larger house, called Allan Bank. From it he removed to the Parsonage in 1811; and it was not till 1813 that he finally settled at Rydal Mount, the residence, of all others, most closely and generally associated with his memory. All these spots are now sacred to the worshippers of genius; and even the mere tourist is indebted to Wordsworth for the descriptive letterpress, which he furnished in 1810 to a handsome work illustrative of the Lake scenery One of his prose compositions belonging to this period was even more unfortunate than his early volumes of poetry. This was an essay on the Convention of Cintra, in which he complained that the war was not actively enough carried on against France; it was published in 1809, but before it appeared, public interest in the matter had subsided, and, although only 500 copies were thrown off, most of them went to the trunkmakers. His only considerable publication as a Poet during this period was in 1807, when two volumes appeared containing his minor poetical effusions during the seven preceding years.

In 1813, the same year in which Wordsworth removed to Rydal Mount, he was made Distributor of Stamps for Cumberland and Westmoreland, an appointment the duties of which did not interfere with his poetical studies, inasmuch as he could discharge them by deputy, while its emoluments were a prop to his worldly fortunes. In the following year appeared the "Excursion," a continuation of the "Prelude," and of the same metaphysical character. How limited was the number of readers who appreciated it may be inferred from the fact, that the first edition of 500 copies lasted six years, and the second, which was of the same number, and did not appear till 1827, lasted still longer.

In 1827, Wordsworth's friend and patron, Sir G. Beaumont, died, leaving him, by will, an annuity of £100 to defray the expenses of an annual tour. Even prior to this he had often enjoyed the luxury of travel, having visited Scotland in 1803, along with his sister and Coleridge, and again in 1814; the continent, including Belgium, the Rhine, Switzerland, Northern Italy, and France in 1820; and Holland in 1823. Nor were the means placed by Sir G. Beaumont at his disposal left unemployed. In 1837 particularly he made a most extensive tour, of which Rome was the limit, over France, Italy, and Southern Germany.

It would be hard to say whether, from this period onwards, Wordsworth's trials or honours came thickest upon him. In 1834

Coleridge, with whom he had been intimately acquainted for thirty years, died, and in 1836 his beloved sister Dorothy became a confirmed invalid. On the other hand in 1839, he was made D.C.L. by the University of Oxford, and his inauguration there was quite a literary festival; in 1840, the newspapers having reported that his gig had been upset by the mail coach, and himself injured, the Dowager Queen Adelaide, who had paid him a visit some months previously, was among the first to inquire after him by letter; in the same year he was allowed to transfer his distributorship of stamps, which was worth about £500 per annum, to his son William, and, not long afterwards, Sir Robert Peel offered him a pension of £300 a-year: finally, in 1843, when the poet-laureateship was vacated by Southey's death, Wordsworth was appointed his successor. This last appointment he at first declined, and was at length induced to accept only by repeated solicitation from the highest quarters. His reluctance was prophetic; for, from this time, his muse was almost wholly silent.

On the 10th March 1850 he attended Rydal Church for the last time. Regular and temperate habits had now brought him to his 80th year, and he had hardly ever been confined by a day's illness. But his constitution was unable to throw off a cold which settled in his chest; and, after about a month's illness, he died on the 7th April 1850. His remains were interred in Grasmere churchyard.

The occasional appearance of a poet, working on Wordsworth's principles, is absolutely necessary to save the poetry of a nation from unreality. Every outburst of national life, whether in politics, religion, or poetry, has a form that survives the substance to which it gave expression; and succeeding generations, sure of possessing the venerable form, are ever in danger of mistaking it for the substance-hence the necessity of their being recalled to the truth of things, in order that, whatever may become of the old form, they may have a life of their own. This mission Wordsworth effectually performed in the department of poetry; for, if comparatively few have read his works, those few have studied them, and in their turn have influenced the masses; so that now no poet can be listened to who does not give proof of ac curate observation and genuine feeling. If truthfulness be more highly valued in poetry, at this present day, than even the graces of style, it is, in great measure, owing to Wordsworth.

To every conscientious labourer, in whatever field, Wordsworth's career is exceedingly instructive and encouraging: instructive, as showing the difficulties which the reformer must always encounter, and encouraging, because merit and perseverance triumphed over them all.

In respect to his politics, Wordsworth was doubly a representative man. He was a type, in general, of that transition from Liberalism to Conservatism, which so often runs parallel with the transition from youth, when hope is in the ascendant, to age, when caution prevails. And he was a type, in particular, of that rebound from republicanism to feudalism, which the horrors of the French Revolution produced in so many individual minds, and which found its expression, on a large scale, in the young England party of politicians.