THE meagerest outline of the historical view of political Poets, the catalogue raisonnée of those poets who had taken an emphatic interest, and evinced a deep zeal in the cause of Freedom and Civil Liberty-and of those who had by their pen zealously espoused certain partizan doctrines or the governing principles of their age-we have found too wide for a single paper; and, therefore, after a few glances at the general subject, shall confine ourselves to the text which forms the caption of the present article. In its most comprehensive sense, we might call all poetry political: for all truly inspired verse is the outpouring of the Spirit of Freedom, and the Spirit of Humanity. A similar love of freedom animates both the Poet and the Patriot, and the latter acts out, what the other in song exhorts all men to act. Music, declamation, and all the refinements, both of art and learning, flourish in the most servile communities, and under the reign of despots: only true poetry and vigorous eloquence (worth all the rest) decay and wilt away, uncongenial plants in such a soil. All the master-bards, and the vast majority of lesser lights (so they burn with original lustre), of necessity are eulogists of freedom in the abstract, as of the Law of Right, the Law of Truth, and the reverence of the Beautiful; for, without these, what were poetry but a mere heap of fables and false devices. But that generous code of criticism which followed the trained system of French classicality, has taught us the infinite worth of Poetry, as a mine of the highest truth and the deepest wisdom, apart from its beneficial moral tendency, and quite separate from its claims upon us as the sweetest of charmers, "most musical," though by no means "most melancholy." Of all writers, the Poets are the most moral, the most metaphysical, and we may add, the most political.

As philosophers, (for the Poet is the right popular philosopher), they cannot avoid the propagation of free principles and liberal ideas; if only on the shallow grounds of diplomatic expe

diency; and this applies with the greater force in a free country and in an enlightened epoch. As humanitarians, (since the Poet by his vocation is a philanthropist), the Poets feel as no other race or class of men can feel; for the whole circle of human necessities, from the lowest animal desires, up to the most elevated spiritual impulses, is included in their sympathies; and, those, too, of the most delicate and intelligent description. The Poet is the brother of his fellow-men and "Creation's heir," with the same fortunes and a similar destiny.

The genuine Poet, then, is a patriot: sometimes, he is a bigot, a satirist, a partizan. Personal gratitude has inclined many a man of political genius to embrace a particular side; the prospect of future fame, or a desire to secure present patronage, has been the motive with many for enlisting under the banners and swearing by the shibboleth of party. The Muse is, sometimes, seen in a political livery; though Freedom has been, not inappropriately, styled "the Mountain Nymph." Yet there have been, and still are, authors who unite the poet and the partizan of admirable genius in the former capacity, and of unquestioned integrity in the last. These have been the noblest defenders of true independence, "Lords of the lion heart and eagle eye," as Smollett, a writer of this rare stamp, styles them. The names of the chief of these we have mentioned before, and the list might easily be swelled out; we have, however, selected Wordsworth as a single proof of our theory, and as one of the safest witnesses that could be brought upon the stand. He (true Poet-like) has held the most opposite creeds; and it is to be inferred, from the turn of his life, and the tone of his writings, that he is now as sincere in his present belief as he was in his early devotion to democratic principles. Like many other sanguine advocates of the French Revolution, in his youth Mr. Wordsworth became discontented, as that convulsion in its progress seemed to involve greater calamities than those it was

expected to remove: mature manhood moderated his Republicanism, and with his associates, fellow-poets and brother politicians, Coleridge and Southey, he proceeded so far, as in time utterly to recant his cherished dogmas and Ideal state, and came over to the ranks of the conservatives. He is now a zealous churchman, and a loyal subject. Age, which sobers the early visions of youth into truest pic tures of reality; which teaches distrust from the occurrence of frequent failure, and induces a skepticism as to the proposed benefits of innovation, has confirmed the author of the "Excursion" in his respect for authority, for precedent, for an established church, and a settled Monarchy. When we consider, too, the truly royal position that Wordsworth now holds as Prince of living English Poets; that his peculiar department is that of profoundly meditative and philosophic poetry, which instructs, impresses, exhorts the reader, and scorns light entertainment or trivial fancies; we think we see an additional reason for Mr. Wordsworth's political faith. Full of human sympathy as is the poetry of this great master, it is the feeling and compassion of a superior, not of an equal. There is no democracy in his verse, nor do we suspect in his character. We rather incline to picture him as one of the modest and most benevolent of aristocrats, but still an aristocrat. Neither in theory or practice, in his poetry or philosophy, does the mass occupy his whole mind. He has national appeals; but no popular addresses. When he does worship the "great, good" poor man; when he does reverence worth in the beggar; it is the individual he regards and paints, not the class. We have abundant individual instances of Wordsworth's humanity; but we want an illustration of his love for the people as such, not as paupers, or citizens, or as Christians or politicians, but as brethren. We may err, but we apprehend such an illustration is not to be found. We are obliged, hence, to abandon the hope of adding this illustrious name to the list of democratic poets; but he has, nevertheless, powerful claims to prefer. He is the Poet of Liberty in the abstract, and in very many instances of Freedom in the concrete

also. Though a monarchist and a conversative, our Poet is yet a man, and his manliness is often more than a match for his confined formularies. His soul cannot be so far restrained in the expression of its impulses, as to make him recreant to a higher cause than that of any human system of policy. His Christianity fills out and vivifies his attachment to the British church, but is too expansive to be cramped by liturgies or articles of faith.

Before entering into the heart of our subject, we must premise two observations; the first, of a general description, the second, relative to the poet personally; and both may serve for an apology (were one essential), for the fact of Wordsworth's derelictions from his early creed, or, as it is too often and too harshly termed, his apostasy. In the first place, all of the poets (really worthy of the title) who have taken any sincere interest in government and in the governed, have almost uniformly been at one period of their lives enthusiastic builders of ideal commonwealths. It is said to be a test of man's natural talent for 'metaphysical speculation, that he be at the early date of his philosophical career, an ardent admirer of the Berkleian system. Idealism, they imagine, the touch-stone of intellectual acuteness. In the same way, we may infer the free spirit of the poet is to be judged. To become a rational lover of freedom in mature life, it is well that he runs riot in youthful aspirations after a perfect, Platonic, republican Utopia, not to be realized for centuries to come. Thus, too, we allow in the youthful writer a prodigal diffuseness, knowing full well, that this will settle down into condensed force, if real vigor be present. The only fear is, that from one extreme, the poetical politician may run into the other; that from an unrestrained licentiousness, he may teorize himself into the belief, that a government cannot be too strong or despotic. Both views are perfectly erroneous. We want the best possible government; but that we need. For the most intelligent and conscientious, laws are comparatively needless; but how greatly, alas! does ignorance and an uninformed moral sense preponderate even in the wisest and most virtuous community. Words

worth, however, is not to be considered an instance of violent conversion. A man of reflection, his creed is uninspired by passionate excitement; the avenue to his heart is through his reason, and his feelings are fortified by the deductions of his understanding. He is a rational advocate of liberty, without any great enthusiasm or strong impulses. His poetry is destitute of these attractions; and comparatively his character is, on the whole, equable and unimpassioned. There is more of the storm and tempest of passion in a canto of Byron, than in a volume of Wordsworth; and to acknowledge an individual preference, we would not exchange the deep sentiment of the second for the impetuous fire of the first; but, at the same time, we must confess Wordsworth's defects as an heroic poet, one to stir the national heart, or rouse freemen into glorious action.

Again, no generous critic or faithful student of Wordsworth's poetry, can ever be brought to believe, that his office of Distributor of Stamps, from which we learn that he has lately retired on a pension, weighed a jot in the scale of determining his political opinions. The office of Stamp Distributor must be not the most agreeable to a man of our poet's peculiarly sensitive temper and secluded habits. His private fortune, we should suppose (from De Quincey's relation), to be abundantly commensurate with all his wants and desires; so that a salary could hardly have been a sufficient bribe, even admitting (which we could not for a moment) that Wordsworth was a man to be bribed. No; we pretend not to question the sincerity of the poet's present views, nor the fidelity of his attachment to the party of which he now forms a most distinguished member.

Independently, however, of Wordsworth's personal politics or individual career, the Sonnets dedicated to Liberty are instinct with an intrinsic worth, and possess a peculiar interest. They are picturesque and historical, as well as political, and conveying personal impressions. If the special turn given to a few give rise to objection, the eternal philosophical verities with which others are filled, secure for them lasting importance.

A general objection might be raised against the favorite plan of Wordsworth, of writing a series of sonnets on any particular topic or occasion. Serial poetry becomes tiresome from its minuteness and monotony. As we would have done with all cavil, at as early a stage as possible, we will add the defects that occur to us, at once, in order to leave room and time for dwelling upon what is beautiful and noble in these miniature epics. Many of these are bare and cold, and might for all the purposes of utility have been as well written in prose, for they are prosaic in all but the form of poetry. They are entirely discriminated, and each is an independent historical picture, or philosophical lecture. Now, continuity is a powerful beauty of all writings continued in series. Drayton (the author of the Polyolbion and England's Heroical Epistles) would have written a connected poetical history of Europe during the space of time, about fifteen years, over which the Sonnets of Wordsworth extend. But Wordsworth is much more of a philosopher than the musical Drayton; loves to paint sentiment, and conduct reflective disquisitions. The Sonnets dedicated to Liberty are, for the most part, picturesque arguments to a mighty acted but unwritten Epic of the Past, that grand heroic poem, whose chief action was taken up with the career of Napoleon, and in which the French Revolution, the extinction of the Venetian Republic, the story and fate of Toussaint L'Ouverture, the abolition of the Slave Trade, the patriotic valor of Hofer and the Tyrolese, the retreat from Moscow, the Peninsular War, and the other stirring events, ending with the Battle of Waterloo, were the most striking episodes. The whole body of Sonnets are divided into two parts, which we shall separately consider.

Part the First is the shortest and the best, not from its brevity, but its greater freshness, and a heartier feeling and sense of power displayed in it. It contains some of the very finest sonnets Wordsworth ever wrote, especially those marked XIII., XIV., and XV., which have been repeatedly referred to. There are others much less known, but almost as fine, and in many there are lines and sentences of golden beauty and inestimable value. Here are two: