APPENDIX. NOTE A. (See p. 2.) The grave of James Patrick,-the pedlar whose character and habits gave rise to 'The Wanderer' of The Excursion,-may still be seen in the church-yard within the town of Kendal. The following extract from the Papers, Letters, and Journals of William Pearson, edited by his widow, and printed in London, in 1863, for private circulation, refers to Patrick. "He" (i.e., William Pearson) "sometimes went to Kendal on Sundays, in order to worship with Unitarians, in the old Presbyterian meeting-house. This quiet secluded building, though situated in the heart of the town, is overshadowed by trees, beneath which rest many worthies of departed times: one of whom, James Patrick, was the prototype of the Wanderer of the 'Excursion.' A plain mural slab, outside the east wall of the chapel-which was his spiritual home-bears the following inscription: NEAR THIS PLACE ARE BURIED JOHN PATRICK OF BARNARD CASTLE, OF JAMES AND MARY PATRICK, WHO DIED NOVEMBER 26TH, 1767, IN HER INFANCY ; WHO DIED MARCH 2D, 1787, AGED 71 YEARS. When staying in Kendal, with his friend Mr Thomas Cookson, Mr Wordsworth himself was an occasional worshipper, along with the family, at this chapel; and thus became acquainted with the minister, the Reverend John Harrison, and with one of his congregation, the well-known blind mathematician and botanist, Mr John Gough, with the delineation of whose remarkable powers and character, the poet has enriched his 'Excursion'; and in turn, has, by the touch of his genius, imparted to them a lustre that will not fade, whilst English Literature shall endure" (p. 13.) For references to John Gough, see p. 313 of this volume, and note G in the Appendix. NOTE B. (See p. 15.) The following unpublished letter from Wordsworth to Mr Dyce, shews his estimation of the text of the first octavo (1820), as compared with that of the earliest quarto edition (1814):— "MY DEAR SIR,-When you read The Excursion do not read the quarto. It is improved in the 8vo E.:--but I thought the quarto might have its value with you as a collector.-Believe me, faithfully "W. WORDSWORTH." yours, 7th April, my birthday-61, 12 Bryanston Street. NOTE C. (See p. 45.) I am indebted to H. T. Rhoades, Esq., Rugby, for directing my attention to the passage in Moschus's epitaph on Bion, referred to at p. 45, and to the passages from Virgil and Catullus. The full text of the passage, from the beginning of Moschus's epitaph on Bion, 1-7, i , is as follows: *Αιλινά μοι στοναχέιτε νάπαι καὶ Δώριον ὕδωρ, Νῦν ῥόδα φοινίσσεσθε τὰ πένθιμα, νῦν ἀνεμώναι, Νῦν ὑάκινθε λάλει τὰ σὰ γράμματα, καὶ πλέον "Αι ̓Αι See also Theocritus, Idyll 3, and compare the philosophic myths in the stories of Orpheus, Amphion, &c. NOTE D. The following extract from Dr Daniel E. Brinton's work, the Myths of the New World, reached me after the preceding pages had gone to press : "As in oriental legends, the origin of man from the earth was veiled under the story that he was the progeny of some mountain by the embrace of Mithras or Jupiter, so the Indians often pointed to some height or some cavern as the spot whence the first of men issued, adult and armed, from the womb of the All-mother Earth. The oldest name of the Alleghany Mountains is Paemotinck, or Pemolnick, an Algonkin word, the meaning of which is said to be "The origin of the Indians." "The Witchitas, who dwelt on the Red River among the mountains named after them, have a tradition that their progenitors issued from the rocks about their homes, and many other tribes, the Tahkalis, Navajos, Coryoteras, and the Hailians, for instance, set up this claim to be Autochthones. . . ... "All those tribes, the Creeks, Seminoles, Choctaws, Chicasaws, and Natchez, who, according to tradition, were in remote times banded into one common confederacy under the headship of the last-mentioned, located their earliest ancestry near an artificial eminence in the Valley of the Big Black River, in the Natchez country, whence they pretended to have emerged. "A parallel to this southern legend occurs among the Six Nations of the north. They with one consent, if we may credit the account of Cusic, looked to a mountain near the falls of the Oswego River, in the State of New York, as the locality where the forefathers first saw the light of day, and that they had some such legend the name Oneida, 'people of the Stone,' would seem to testify." "An ancient legend of the Aztecs derived their nation from a place called Chicomoztoc, the Seven Caverns, located north of Mexico. Antiquaries have indulged in all sorts of speculations as to what this means. . . . Caverns and hollow trees were in fact the homes and temples of our first parents, and from them they went forth to conquer and adorn the world; and from the inorganic constituents of the soil acted on by Light, treated by Divine Force, vivified by the Spirit, did in reality the first of men proceed. "This cavern, which thus dimly lingered in the memories of nations, occasionally expanded to a nether world, imagined to underlie this of ours, and still inhabited by beings of our kind, who have never been lucky enough to discover its exit. The Mandans and Minnetarees, on the Missouri River, supposed this exit was near a certain hill in their territory...."-Myths of the New World, pp. 224-8.—ED. NOTE E. For the following letters in reference to the "Muccawiss," I am indebted to Mr Henry Reed,-son of the late Professor Reed of Philadelphia, whose assistance in all matters relating to Wordsworth in America has been invaluable. (See the prefatory note to this volume.) "No. 400 CHESTNUT STREET, PHILADELPHIA, "September 26th, 1883. "MY DEAR MR KNIGHT,-Dr Brinton tells me that Muccawiss is the Algonquin for whip-poor-will, and he will ascertain for me the precise spelling, and, if possible, the book from which W. W. probably got his information.-Yours sincerely, HENRY REED." 115 SOUTH SEVENTH STREET, "September 27th, 1883. "DEAR SIR,-I have failed to find the exact word used by Wordsworth-mucca wiss. The nearest to it is "moshkaois," which signifies 'bittern,' a water-fowl of the diver class, to which the name has reference, it being a derivative from a verb meaning to rise to the surface of the water. The word is no doubt of Algonkin origin, and I would suggest that you write to the Algonkin scholar, par excellence, of our country, Colonel J. Hammond Trumbull, Hartford, Conn., who is both able and willing to solve all the enigmas of that difficult tongue.-Very truly yours, D. G. BRINTON." "Henry Reed, Esq." "No 400 CHESTNUT STREET, PHILADELPHIA, "October 2d, 1883. "MY DEAR MR KNIGHT,-I enclose a letter from Colonel Trumbull, which I think you will find satisfactory.-Yours very sincerely, "HENRY REED." "HARTFORD, CONN., Sept. 29th, 1883. "HENRY REED, Esq., Philadelphia. "DEAR SIR, Wordsworth's 'Muccawis' was, certainly, a Whip-poorwill, and he must have taken the Indian name, directly or at secondhand, from Carver's Travels. Among the birds 'found in the interior parts of North America,' Carver (chap. 18) describes the Whipper-will, or, as it is termed by the Indians, the Muckawis. . . . As soon as night comes on, these birds will place themselves on the fences, stumps, or stones that lie near some house, and repeat their melancholy notes without any variation till midnight,' etc. So Wordsworth's 'Melancholy mucca wis Repeated, o'er and o'er, his plaintive cry.' "I have an impression-which I have not just now leisure to verify -that Carver's description of this and some other American birds was reprinted in the Gentleman's Magazine. Two or three English editions of the Travels had been printed before the 'Excursion' was written. "I find no other authority for this 'Indian' name. The Chippeway name for the Whip-poor-will is (as given by Tanner or Dr E. James) Wawonaissa. Nuttall states, the Delaware name was Wecoális: Zeisberger wrote it Wecoolis.-Yours sincerely, "J. HAMMOND TRUMBULL. "P.S.-Carver did not name 'the merry mocking-bird'—which Wordsworth makes the companion of the 'Muccawis'; but Campbell had heard of 'the merry mock-bird's song,' and copied a description of it from Ashe's 'Travels in America,' in a note to Gertrude of Wyoming' (1809), pt. i., st. 3." |