ten; in 1840 from one; and in 1845 from threefrom twenty-five places in all. Matthew Arnold, in his Poems of Wordsworth, retains the original version (1807) of 11. 9-12, but adopts the reading of 1836 in 1. 13. In 1820 1. 29 became : "I listen'dmotionless and still:" Of ll. 19, 20 Mr. A. G. Swinburne observes : "In the whole expanse of poetry there can hardly be two verses of more perfect and profound and exalted beauty."

Stepping Westward (page 14).-Composed before April, 1805, and, according to Dorothy, "long after" the incident it records, which occurred on Sunday, September 11, 1803.

1803.

Glen-Almain (page 16).-Composed probably in Like the three preceding pieces, it appears in that part of Dorothy's Recollections of a Tour made in Scotland which was copied in April and May, 1805. Glen-Almain is Glenalmond in Perthshirc, between Crieff and Amulree. 'Almond' and 'Almain' are simply corruptions of the Gaelic Avon (abhuinn), 'river.' In 1827 "in this way" (1. 21) became “in such way -a change contrary to Wordsworth's wont, which was, wherever possible, to substitute

'this' for 'such' (ed. 1836-7 passim). Line 20, however ("this lonely spot"), explains the anomaly.

The Matron of Jedborough (page 18).-Date same as Stepping Westward, q. v. Towards 1827 the reproaches of his critics had weaned the Poet from his early colloquialisms, and his chief faults were now those of a diction somewhat over-Latinized, and a fondness for ornamental periphrasis. Here, for instance, 11. 9 and 10 were replaced by the three following (1827):

66

"A Matron dwells, who though she bears
Our mortal complement of years,
Lives in the light of youthful glee," etc.

By 1837 this reactionary bias no longer warped the Poet's judgment, and he rejected the buckram phrase, “Our mortal complement of years," for the plain but seemly line: "The weight of more than seventy years"-of which the diction is what Coleridge (Biogr. Lit., ed. 1847, ii., p. 132) terms neutral, i.e., equally accordant with prose or verse. Lines 64-67 were rehandled with indifferent success in 1827, and in 1837 took their final shape:

"The more I looked, I wondered more— And, while I scanned them o'er and o'er, Some inward trouble suddenly

Broke from the Matron's strong black eye-"

Lastly, 11. 70, 71 were recast in 1827:

"Nor long this mystery did detain

My thoughts; she told in pensive strain,” etc.

To a Highland Girl (page 23).-" Composed," says Dorothy (Recollections, etc.) "not long after our return from Scotland" (September 25, 1803). Note, in the final text reached in 1845, the cunning economy of the picture (ll. 5-10), the skilful distribution of its constituent features. These,' 'this' (1.5), 'these' (1. 6), 'this' (1. 7), 'this' (1. 9)—all in ed. 1807-become, in 1837, 'those,''that,' those,''this,''this'; but in 1845, by a more artfully varied disposition, 'these,' 'that,' 'those,' 'this,' 'this.' Line 15 (1845) was expanded into the three following:

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But, O fair Creature! in the light
Of common day, so heavenly bright,
I bless Thee, Vision as thou art," etc.

The rhythm of 1. 20 was, in the same year, improved by transposition:

“Thee neither know I, nor thy peers;

In 1. 35 "Soft smiles" replaced "sweet looks (1827). Cf. note on ll. 9-13 of The Solitary Reaper. In like manner 'sweet' is struck out of 1. 2, stanza vii., of Beggars (1845), and from 11. 3 and 41 of the second poem To the Daisy (1836: see pp. 93 and 96). For Coleridge's description of the "Highland Girl" see Letters, ed. Mr. E. H. Coleridge, p. 432 and note: "We stayed all day in the comfortless hovel [the ferry-house on Loch Lomond] but the two little lassies did everything with such sweetness, and one of them, 14, with such native elegance. Oh! she was a divine creature!"

Sonnet composed at Castle (page 28).Composed 1803. The "ancient Dome" is Neidpath Castle, near Peebles, and the "degenerate Douglas "is"that polished, sin-worn fragment of the Court," William, Earl of March and Ruglen, 4th Duke of Queensberry. About 1798 "old Q." stripped the wooded demesnes of Neidpath and

Drumlanrig (Scott's Journal, Aug. 24, 1826; Letters, i., pp. 304, 434; ii., 24) in order to furnish a dowry for Maria Fagniani (whom he supposed to be his daughter) on her marriage with the Earl of Yarmouth. Cf. the Verses on the Destruction of the Woods near Drumlanrig of Burns, and his Stanzas on the Duke of Queensberry. On October 14 and 16 Wordsworth sent to Sir Geo. Beaumont and Walter Scott respectively copies of this Sonnet beginning:

"Now, as I live, I pity that great Lord
Whom pure despite," etc.

“In this original shape Scott always recited it, and few lines in the language were more frequently in his mouth" (Lockhart, Life of Sir W. Scott, chap. xii.).

Address to the Sons of Burns (page 29).—Composed "long after "August 18, 1803 (D. W.) In 1827 several additions and alterations were made. The following exordium was adopted:

"Mid crowded obelisks and urns

I sought the untimely grave of Burns;