"Wordsworth was a great critic, and it is to be sincerely regretted that he has not left - SIR HENRY TAYLOR. "Admirable specimens of philosophical criticism.". BOSTON, U.S.A.: D. C. HEATH & CO., PUBLISHERS. 1892. 59401 COPYRIGHT, 1892, By A. J. GEORGE. 903 TYPOGRAPHY BY J. S. CUSHING & Co., BOSTON, U.S.A. PRESSWORK BY BERWICK & SMITH, BOSTON, U.S.A. ΤΟ Aubrey De, Vere, LL.D., THE FRIEND OF WORDSWORTH, WHO HAS NOBLY ILLUSTRATED IN PROSE AND VERSE THE PRINCIPLES OF LITERATURE AND LIFE CONTAINED IN THESE PREFACES. INTRODUCTION. "He too upon a wintry clime He spoke, and loosed our heart in tears; On the cool flowery lap of earth, Smiles broke from us, and we had ease; The freshness of the early world.” 1 A spirit of manly independence has characterized every era of reformation, but in our own century this spirit has had a wider range, and has manifested itself in a greater variety of movements, than ever before. Independence in literature and art, in church and state, in social and political life, has been the distinguishing feature of the nineteenth century. In the literature of Greece and Rome the state is the centre, and the individual is of little account. In the Middle Ages the church 1 Matthew Arnold. vii |