Part 28

But, ere her bloom had fled by health preserved To decorate a cheek no longer young, MS. ]

[Footnote 658: 1836.

Of open schemes, and all his ... 1814. ]

[Footnote 659: 1827.

... these ... 1814. ]

[Footnote 660: 1836.

In ... 1814. ]

[Footnote 661: Italics were first used in 1836.]

[Footnote 662: 1836.

... 'twixt ... 1814. ]

[Footnote 663: 1845.

... would never quit; Hither, ere long, that lowly, great, good Man Will be conveyed. An unelaborate Stone 1814.

Into its graveyard will ere long be borne That lowly great good man. A simple stone May cover him, and by that record's help, C. ]

[Footnote 664: 1827.

... frames ... 1814. ]

[Footnote 665: 1845.

... and instantly dissolves. --Noise ... 1814. ]

[Footnote 666: 1832.

... where'er he may? 1814. ]

[Footnote 667: 1836.

... deeds and purposes; ... 1814. ]

[Footnote 668: 1836.

... discomfiture ... 1814. ]

[Footnote 669: 1827.

... through fields And cottages, ... 1814. ]

[Footnote 670: 1845.

... this ... 1814. ]

[Footnote 671: 1845.

Of what it holds ... 1814. ]

[Footnote 672: 1836.

... tow'rds ... 1814. ]

[Footnote 673: 1814.

Beneath that pine which rears its dusky head Aloft, and covered by a plain blue stone Briefly inscribed, a gentle Dalesman lies; Quoted from MS. in _Essay upon Epitaphs_. 1810. ]

[Footnote 674: 1814.

No husband's ... 1810. ]

[Footnote 675: 1836.

... had each ... 1814. ]

[Footnote 676: 1836.

To the assembled spirits of the just From imperfection and decay secure. 1814. ]

[Footnote 677: 1845.

To think of One, who cannot see, advancing Towards some precipice's airy brink! 1814.

Toward ... 1832.

To think of one, who cannot see, advancing Straight toward some precipice's airy brink! 1836. ]

[Footnote 678: 1827.

... brink ... 1814. ]

[Footnote 679: 1836.

Or ... 1814. ]

[Footnote 680: 1827.

... and ... 1814. ]

[Footnote 681: 1827.

... may win their recompence; 1814. ]

[Footnote 682: 1814.

Not least for this that here might be perceived A type and shadow of that awful truth. C. ]

[Footnote 683: 1827.

... of the space 1814. ]

[Footnote 684: 1827.

... with attentive ear, Nor disbelieves the tidings which he hears. Meanwhile the incense offered up by him Is of the kind which beasts and birds present 1814. ]

[Footnote 685: 1827.

... horizon's edge, Transparent texture, framing in the east A veil ... 1814. ]

[Footnote 686: 1827.

... hath owed to him 1814. ]

[Footnote 687: 1827.

The loftiest of her pendants. Help he gives To lordly mansion rising far or near; The enormous wheel that turns ten thousand spindles, 1814.

... pendants. And the wheel Enormous, that turns round ten thousand spindles, MS. ]

[Footnote 688: 1827.

... their ... 1814. ]

[Footnote 689: 1827.

Among the mountain coves, or keen research In forest, park, or chace. Yon household Fir, 1814. ]

[Footnote 690: 1827.

... lasses ... 1814. ]

[Footnote 691: 1827.

... of their fate. Not one would have his pitiful regard, For prized accommodation, pleasant use, For dignity, for old acquaintance sake, For ancient custom or distinguished name. His sentence ... 1814. ]

[Footnote 692: 1827.

And promising to stand from year to year, 1814. ]

[Footnote 693: 1827.

Was given, the crown and glory of the whole! Welcomed with joy, whose penetrating power Was not unfelt amid that heavenly calm 1814. ]

[Footnote 694: 1827.

... from his open door, And from the laurel-shaded seat thereby, Day after day ... 1814. ]

[Footnote 695: 1836.

... and almost all ... 1814. ]

[Footnote 696: 1836.

... the ... 1814. ]

[Footnote 697:

Range round the garden-walk, whose first Spring flowers Were peeping forth, even at that hopeful time, MS. ]

[Footnote 698: 1827.

Range round the garden-walk, whose low ground-flowers Were peeping forth, shy messengers of spring,-- Even at that hopeful time,--the winds of March, One sunny day, smiting insidiously, 1814. ]

[Footnote 699: 1827.

.... their hope and soul's delight. --But Providence, that gives and takes away By his own law, is merciful and just; Time wants not power ... 1814. ]

[Footnote 700: 1836.

... a peaceful grave. On a bright day, the brightest of the year, These mountains echoed with an unknown sound, 1814. ]

[Footnote 701: 1827.

... The mountain Ash, Decked ... 1814.

...The mountain ash Ye may have mark'd mid yet unfaded woods Deck'd with autumnal berries that outshine The richest blossoms of the Spring, or seen MS. ]

[Footnote 702: 1827.

Spring's richest blossoms, yields a splendid show, Amid the leafy woods; and ye have seen, 1814. ]

[Footnote 703: 1827.

Had bounteously ... 1814. ]

[Footnote 704: 1814.

Fleeing for life the fox was taught to dread His voice and indefatigable feet. C.

Or,

The fox in many wiles however versed Or spent in strength by forward flight O'er { hill and vale } was taught to dread { vale and stream } His voice and indefatigable feet Still foremost, longest in the obstinate chase. C. ]

[Footnote 705: 1827.

... he could lift ... 1814. ]

[Footnote 706: 1836.

... steady aim. From Gallia's coast a Tyrant's threats were hurled; 1814.

From Gallia's coast a Tyrant hurled his threats; 1827. ]

[Footnote 707: 1827.

... preparations vast 1814. ]

[Footnote 708: 1832.

... and ... 1814. ]

[Footnote 709: 1827.

... tow'rds ... 1814. ]

[Footnote 710: 1827.

... Judea's ... 1814. ]

[Footnote 711: 1836.

... or ... 1814. ]

[Footnote 712: 1836.

This spoken, from his seat the Pastor rose, And moved towards the grave;--instinctively His steps we followed; and my voice exclaimed, 1814. ]

[Footnote 713: 1836.

When these involuntary words had ceased, 1814. ]

[Footnote 714: 1836.

... power to pierce. Why do ye quake, intimidated Thrones? 1814. ]

[Footnote 715: 1836.

... Seats, 1814. ]

[Footnote 716: 1836.

... who still Exist, as Pagan Temples stood of old, By very horror of their impious rites Preserved; are suffered to extend their pride, 1814. ]

[Footnote 717: 1845.

One summer's day, a day of annual pomp 1814. ]

[Footnote 718: 1827.

... too negligent of self, (A natural failing which maturer years Would have subdued) took fearlessly--and kept-- His wonted station in the chilling flood, Among a busy company convened To wash his Father's flock. Convulsions dire 1814. ]

[Footnote 719: 1827.

Which ... 1814. ]

[Footnote 720: 1827.

... tow'rds ... 1814. ]

[Footnote 721: 1827.

That task would foil." And, with these added words, He thitherward advanced, "Tradition tells 1814. ]

[Footnote 722: 1827.

... in his soul When years admonished him of failing strength And he no more rejoiced in war's delights, 1814.

Long crush'd beneath ... MS. ]

[Footnote 723: 1845.

The Knight arrived, with pomp of spear and shield, And borne upon a Charger covered o'er With gilded housings.... 1814. ]

[Footnote 724: 1836.

... the ... 1814. ]

[Footnote 725: 1827.

... which ... 1814. ]

FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote IC: In the end of May and in June 1791, Wordsworth went with his friend Jones on a pedestrian tour in Wales.--ED.]

[Footnote ID: Note the exactness of the reference to the "playground of the village-school." It is described as "smooth" because it had no graves in it at that time. "The school," writes Dr. Cradock, "was then, and long afterwards, held at the house abutting the Lichgate, and the children had no playground but the churchyard. The portion of the ground nearest the school was not used for burial, until the want of room made it necessary to encroach on it. The oldest tombstone bears the date of 1777."--ED.]

[Footnote IE: This "tuft of trees" is still standing (1896).--ED.]

[Footnote IF: The road "up the heathy waste," and mounting "in mazes serpentine," is the Keswick road over Dunmail Raise, the "easy outlet of the vale."--ED.]

[Footnote IG: The cottage in which the parson of Wytheburn then lived still stands on the right or eastern side of the road, as you ascend the Raise, beyond the Swan Inn. It abuts on the public road about three hundred yards beyond the bridge over Tongue Ghyll beck. "The Clergyman and his family described at the beginning of the seventh book were, during many years, our principal associates in the vale of Grasmere, unless I were to except our very nearest neighbours.... With the single exception of the particulars of their journey to Grasmere--which, however, was exactly copied from real life in another instance--the whole that I have said of them is as faithful to the truth as words can make it." (I. F.)--ED.]

[Footnote IH: Compare Dryden's _Epilogue to Henry II._--

Jane Clifford was her name, as books aver: Fair Rosamond was but her _nom de guerre_.

Also Sir Walter Scott's _Woodstock_, and _The Talisman_.--ED.]

[Footnote II: Compare Gay, _The Shepherds Week_, the Sixth Pastoral, line 91--

Then sad he sung "The children in the wood." Ah! barb'rous Uncle, stain'd with infant blood! ED. ]

[Footnote IJ: Compare _The Prelude_, book vii. ll. 110-115 (see vol. iii. p. 251).--ED.]

[Footnote IK: The chapel of Wytheburn, at the northern or Cumberland side of Dunmail Raise.--ED.]

[Footnote IL: This house, in which Mr. Sympson lived, and which--though no longer the parsonage--still belongs to Wytheburn church, is easily identified. The "blue slabs of mountain-stone," common to all old houses in the vale, remain just as they were, when the old pastor lived, and Wordsworth was his frequent guest. The windows, too, "by shutters weather-fended," are described with minute fidelity.--ED.]

[Footnote IM: Mrs. Sympson was twelve years her husband's junior, and she pre-deceased him by a year and a half.

Compare--

"She, far behind him in the race of years" (l. 226).

And

"Not twice had summer," etc. (l. 247). ED. ]

[Footnote IN: Old Mr. Sympson was found dead in his garden on the opposite side of the road from the cottage, in 1807, in his ninety-second year. There is now a new door into the garden, but the posts are old enough to have been there in Sympson's time.--ED.]

[Footnote IO: The Sympsons are all buried at Grasmere. Their gravestone stands about ten yards north-west from that of their poet, not far from the monument erected in memory of Arthur Hugh Clough. There is only one stone, a low one, with a pointed top. The following is the inscription on it:--"Here lie the remains of the Reverend Jos. Sympson, Minister of Wytheburn for more than 50 years. He died June 27, 1807, aged 92; also of Mary, his wife, who died Jan. 24, 1806, aged 81; also of Eliz. Jane, their youngest Dr., who died Sep. 11, 1801, aged 37."--ED.]

[Footnote IP: The Duddon valley.--ED.]

[Footnote IQ: See the notes to the Duddon sonnets.--ED.]

[Footnote IR: The chapelry of Seathwaite. The reference to "yon hill" suggests that the conversation is carried on at Hackett (rather than Grasmere), whence Wetherlam--which concealed the Duddon valley--would be visible.--ED.]

[Footnote IS: It is so. In the churchyard of Seathwaite a plain stone slab records the fact that he died on the 25th June 1802, in the ninety-third year of his age.--ED.]

[Footnote IT: "The Deaf Man, whose epitaph may be seen in the churchyard at the head of Hawes Water, and whose qualities of mind and heart, and their benign influence in conjunction with his privation, I had from his relatives on the spot."--I. F.

Thomas Holme of Chapel Hill was his name. On his epitaph it is said "he was deprived of the sense of hearing in his youth, and lived about 58 years without the comfort of hearing one word. He reconciled himself to his misfortune by reading, and useful employment." He died in 1773, "aged 67 years."

From this it is clear that we must not look for the "tall pine" or the "plain blue stone" in Grasmere churchyard! and that the localities as well as the narratives of _The Excursion_ are at times composite.--ED.]

[Footnote IU: For another reference to the streams in the Grasmere Vale, compare the _Lines composed at Grasmere_, when Mr. Fox's death was hourly expected (vol. iv. p. 47)--

Loud is the Vale! the Voice is up With which she speaks when storms are gone, A mighty unison of streams! Of all her Voices, One. ED. ]

[Footnote IV: Either Stone Arthur, or Loughrigg. Compare the lines _To the Clouds_, suggested by their appearance on Nab Scar--

Army of Clouds! ye wingéd Host in troops Ascending from behind the motionless brow Of that tall rock, etc. ED. ]

[Footnote IW: "The Blind Man was John Gough, of Kendal, a man known, far beyond his neighbourhood, for his talents and attainments in natural history and science."--I.F. For an account of John Gough, see Appendix, and note [IX] p. 304.--ED.]

[Footnote IX: This John Gough, a friend of Wordsworth's, was one of the first mathematicians of his time, and a most successful teacher. Whewell and King (senior wranglers) were amongst his pupils. So was Dalton. Gough had been deprived of sight by an attack of small-pox, when he was between two and three years of age. He was a great botanist, as is mentioned in the text; and the following remarkable circumstance is recorded of him, showing at once his marvellous memory, and the extreme delicacy of his sense of _touch_. In the _Elegiac Verses_ on his brother John, Wordsworth had described the moss campion, _Silene acaulis_--

It grows upon its native bed Beside our Parting-place; There, cleaving to the ground, it lies With multitude of purple eyes, Spangling a cushion green like moss.

This poem was read to Gough in 1805 (it was not published till 1845), and twelve years afterwards, in 1817, a specimen of the moss campion was placed in his hand, and he said at once, "I have never examined this plant before, but it is _Silene acaulis_." Compare Atkinson's _Worthies of Cumberland_ and note E in the Appendix to this volume, p. 398.--ED.]

[Footnote IY: Compare _Paradise Lost_, book vi. l. 752.--ED.]

[Footnote IZ: See note [XI] above.--ED.]

[Footnote JA: Compare _L'Allegro_, l. 137--

Married to immortal verse. ED. ]

[Footnote JB: See Wordsworth's note, p. 389.--ED.]

[Footnote JC: Compare Burger's _Pfarrers Tochter_--

Drei Spannen lang. ED. ]

[Footnote JD: "This refers to the Greens, a very ancient Grasmere family, settled for generations at Pavement End, which, with a considerable tract of land, is still their property. The poet describes them as dwelling at Gold-rill side, and I have been told that the name was a pure invention to avoid the realism of 'Grasmere,' or 'Pavement End.' Such, however, is not exactly the case. On enquiry from Mr. Fleming Green, one of the family now residing in Grasmere, I find that a small stream to which Wordsworth himself, from some fancy of his own, had given the name of Gold-rill, ran formerly by the road side, and then turned by the side of the farm at Pavement End towards the Lake. When the road was reconstructed, the rill was covered, and can no more be seen there; but it issues freely from a culvert at the back of the premises, and runs by the hedge-side to the Lake. Mr. Fleming Green remembers the rill as it was, and pointed out its course to me. He is a son of one of the 'seven lusty sons' mentioned in the poem. (Mr. Green would read 'six.') He said 'we stuck to the old home till we could no longer stand up in it.' He is one of a race well termed 'lusty.' The 'hoary grandsire' and many of his descendants lie buried in a long row, a little to the left of the path leading from the Church to the lichgate at the north. Among them is little Margaret (her name and age not unrecorded), but her 'daisied hillock three spans long' is now merged in the larger graves of her more aged kindred." (Dr. Cradock to the Editor.)--ED.]

[Footnote JE: "Of the infant's grave I will only say, it is an exact picture of what fell under my own observation."--I. F.]

[Footnote JF: Compare George Herbert's

Sweet Day, so cool, so calm and bright. ED. ]

[Footnote JG: "This young volunteer bore the name of Dawson.... The premature death of this gallant young man was much lamented, and as an attendant upon the funeral, I myself witnessed the ceremony, and the effect of it as described in the poem."--I. F. See the whole of the note (p. 13).

"In _The Excursion_, book vii., is an animated account of the life and death of a young volunteer, one of a company of eighty men, which, when England was threatened with a French invasion, was formed in the Lake District, and was named 'Wedgwood's Mountaineers,' having by him in a generous spirit of patriotism been clothed and armed, and this in the completest manner, as riflemen." See _Fragmentary Remains, Literary and Scientific, of Sir Humphrey Davy, Bart._ (1858), p. 109. The Wedgwood referred to was the Thomas Wedgwood who assisted Coleridge so opportunely.

In 1806 Wordsworth wrote of Dawson: "His calm and dignified manner, united with his tall form and beautiful face, produced in me an impression of sublimity beyond what I ever experienced from the appearance of any other human being."--ED.]

[Footnote JH: The Napoleonic threat of invasion.--ED.]

[Footnote JI: Dr. John Davy, the editor of his brother Sir Humphry Davy's _Fragmentary Remains_, was of opinion (see p. 110) that "in describing the high qualities, intellectual and moral, of the young soldier, the poet has in his mind the memory of the man whose name was so properly associated with the company,--idealising according to his wont,--selecting such qualities as suited his purpose." He refers to Mr. Wedgwood, the founder of this volunteer corps.--ED.]

[Footnote JJ: Compare the Book of _Joshua_, _passim_; Josephus, _Ant._ v. I. Also, _Judges_ vii.; and Josephus, _Ant._ v. 6.--ED.]

[Footnote JK: Is it a reference to the Pauline description of Charity (1 Cor. xiii. 7), "Charity ... hopeth all things, endureth all things"?--ED.]

[Footnote JL: Compare _The White Doe of Rylstone_, canto i. l. 42 (vol. iv. p. 107)--

In great Eliza's golden time. ED. ]

[Footnote JM: See the Fenwick note, p. 13.--ED.]

[Footnote JN: See Spenser's _Faërie Queene_, part 1, canto viii. stanza 2.--ED.]

[Footnote JO: "The pillars of the gateway in front of the mansion remained when we first took up our abode at Grasmere. Two or three cottages still remain which are called Nott Houses, from the name of the gentleman (I have called him a knight) concerning whom these traditions survive. He was the ancestor of the Knott family, formerly considerable proprietors in the district."--I. F.]

[Footnote JP: It is clear from the Fenwick note (see p. 13) that the title, "Sir Alfred Irthing," was Wordsworth's invention. I am indebted to the Rector of Grasmere--the Rev. Henry M. Fletcher--for the following information as to the bells of the church, and to the "Nott house":--

"Three bells hang in the tower. That they are 'clear-sounding and harmonious' I think may be said of them without poetical license. They have not on them the name and title of their donor. Two of them have coats of arms. My son believes that the quarterings show that they were the gifts of the Flemings of Rydal Hall, patrons, for some hundred years, of the living. The third, and smallest, reports of itself that it was recast at the expense of Mrs. Dorothy Knott, in the year 1808, and that Thomas Mears of London did the work. This last inscription is partly in Latin. The two older bells have on them the inscriptions respectively of 'Soli Deo' and 'Gloria in altissimis Deo.'

"Looking over the old book of Church Warden's accounts, I observe that, in the year 1732, there is an item

'Towards casting the bells, and other charges, £40, 3s. 9d.,'

and in the following year, 1733, again

'Towards casting the bells, and other charges, £49, 0s. 3d.'

This, at a time when the whole of the general charge yearly ranged from £2 to £5. It was a re-casting, I presume.

"The 'Nott house' still exists, and is the residence of our chief 'statesman,' James Fleming. It is known as 'Knott's Houses.' In the dialect of this county, when purely used, there is no possessive 's. Mr. Fletcher's letters being always, _e.g._, spoken of at the post-office here as 'Mr. Fletcher letters.' 'Nott house,' therefore, meant a house belonging to Mrs. Dorothy Knott, or her husband's forefathers. A little group of houses has formed round it; but the old Farm House, I make little doubt, is the one for which you ask."

See also Charles Lamb's remarks in his third letter to Wordsworth about _The Excursion_, written in 1814.]

[Footnote JQ: See Wordsworth's note, p. 389.--ED.]

Book Eighth

THE PARSONAGE

ARGUMENT