"In 1813," are his touching words, "we came to Rydal Mount, where we have since lived without any further sorrow, till 1836, when my sister became a confirmed invalid, and our sister Sarah Hutchinson died." A fortunate circumstance marked his entry into Rydal,I allude to the office of Distributor of Stamps in the county of Westmoreland, which was procured for him by the active interest of Lord Lonsdale. He was now "raised to an easy competency," and could without self-upbraiding let his fancy "wander at its own sweet will." "The Excursion" was published in 1814. It is not necessary to protract this Preface by any detail of Wordsworth's long and contemplative life, which resembled one of his own brooks-now seen and now hidden. An Italian tour; a visit to Scotland; a letter to a friend; the wedding, and the funeral of a child; or the publication of a Poem, are the only incidents. It was a common tale of sorrows, joys, and pains "which have been and may be again." With the crown of time came the crown of Fame. He grew popular as he grew old. He had created an audience, and they revered the Teacher. In the spring of 1843, he received a public recognition of his genius; when, on the death of Southey, he was appointed Poet Laureate. He wore the laurel for seven years; and died, full of honours and fond memories, April 23, 1850, in the eighty-first year of his age, and was buried in Grasmere churchyard. The present Volume contains the finest examples of Wordsworth. The Poem, to which I have given the title of "The Deserted Cottage," comprises the first and second Books of "The Excursion." My choice was guided by a remark of Coleridge in his Table Talk::- -"I have often wished that the first two Books of the Excursion had been published separately under the name of The Deserted Cottage. They would have formed, what indeed they are, one of the most beautiful Poems in the English language." The other Specimens exhibit the Author under every light of his Imagination, Fancy, and Reflection ;-whether the Reader turns to the solemn pastorals of "Michael" and "The Old Cumberland Beggar," the Virgilian dignity of "Laodamia," the natural pathos of the "Brothers," the noble "Song of Brougham Castle," the picturesque "Horn of Egremont," the mystical splendour of the Ode on "Immortality," or the tender lyrics which breathe the love and bloom of home, and country affections; nor does the Poet appear to less advantage in the Sonnet; the strict limits of which repressed his occasional habit of wordiness. But his own estimate of his Poems is the truest, and the most worthy; he gives it in a letter to Lady Beaumont :-"To console the afflicted; to add sunshine to daylight, by making the happy happier; to lead the young and the gracious of every age to see, to think, to feel, and to become more actively and securely virtuous,-this is their office, which, I trust they will faithfully perform, long after we (that is, all that is mortal of us) are mouldered in our graves." ST. CATHERINE'S, September 15, 1858. |