Unusual aspects, or by questions apt
Wake sudden recognitions, that were like
Creations in the mind (and were indeed
Creations often) then when he discoursed
Of mountain sights, this untaught shepherd stood
Before the man with whom he so conversed
And looked at him as with a poet's eye.
But speaking of the vale in which he dwelt,
And these bare rocks, if you had asked if he
For other pasture would exchange the same
And dwell elsewhere

you then had seen At once what spirit of love was in his heart.

166

170

FRAGMENTS.

Being transcripts by Dorothy Wordsworth in her MS. book (1802 or 1800 ?); first published by Professor Knight in his "Life of Wordsworth," vol. i. p. 389.-ED.

1.

ALONG the mazes of this song I go

As inward motions of the wandering thought
Lead me, or outward circumstance impels.
Thus do I urge a never-ending way

Year after year, with many a sleep between,
Through joy and sorrow; if my lot be joy
More joyful if it be with sorrow sooth'd.

2.

The rains at length have ceas'd, the winds are still'd,
The stars shine brightly between clouds at rest,
And as a cavern is with darkness fill'd,
The vale is by a mighty sound possess'd.

3.

Witness thou

The dear companion of my lonely walk,
My hope, my joy, my sister, and my friend,
Or something dearer still, if reason knows
A dearer thought, or in the heart of love
There be a dearer name.

AMONG ALL LOVELY THINGS MY
LOVE HAD BEEN.

on

Written April 12, 1802; published in "Poems in two volumes,"
1807; not reprinted by Wordsworth. In a letter to Coleridge
of April, 1802, Wordsworth writes: "I parted from M-
Monday afternoon about six o'clock, a little on this side Rushy-
ford. Soon after I missed my road in the midst of the storm.
Between the beginning of Lord Darlington's park at Raby and
two or three miles beyond Staindrop I composed the poem.
The incident of the poem took place about seven years ago
between my sister and me." Dorothy Wordsworth, who names
the poem "The Glow-worm," gives a similar account of its com-
position in her Journal. See Professor Knight's "Life of Words-
worth," vol. i. p. 307.-ED.

AMONG all lovely things my Love had been;
Had noted well the stars, all flowers that grew
About her home; but she had never seen
A Glow-worm, never one, and this I knew.

While riding near her home one stormy night
A single Glow-worm did I chance to espy;
I gave a fervent welcome to the sight,
And from my Horse I leapt; great joy had I.

Upon a leaf the Glow-worm did I lay,

5

To bear it with me through the stormy night: 10 And, as before, it shone without dismay;

Albeit putting forth a fainter light.

When to the Dwelling of my Love I came,
I went into the Orchard quietly;

And left the Glow-worm, blessing it by name, 15
Laid safely by itself, beneath a Tree.

The whole next day, I hoped, and hoped with fear;
At night the Glow-worm shone beneath the Tree:
I led my Lucy to the spot, "Look here!"
Oh! joy it was for her, and joy for me!

20

INSCRIPTION FOR A SUMMER HOUSE IN THE ORCHARD, TOWN END, GRASMERE.

Wordsworth writes to Sir G. Beaumont, Grasmere, December 25, 1804: "We have lately built in our little rocky orchard a circular hut, lined with moss, like a wren's nest, and coated on the outside with heath, that stands most charmingly, with several views from the different sides of it, of the Lake, the Valley, and the Church. I will copy a dwarf inscription which I wrote for it the other day, before the building was entirely finished, which indeed it is not yet."-ED.

No whimsy of the purse is here,
No pleasure-house forlorn;
Use, comfort, do this roof endear;
A tributary shed to cheer

The little cottage that is near,
To help it and adorn.

TO THE EVENING STAR OVER GRASMERE WATER, JULY, 1806.

From a transcript in Dorothy Wordsworth's MS. book; first published by Professor Knight in his "Life of Wordsworth," vol. i. pp. 389-390.-ED.

THE Lake is thine,

The mountains too are thine, some clouds there are,
Some little feeble stars, but all is thine,
Thou, thou art king, and sole proprietor.

A moon among her stars, a mighty vale,

Fresh as the freshest field, scoop'd out, and green As is the greenest billow of the sea.

5

The multitude of little rocky hills,

Rocky and green, that do like islands rise
From the flat meadow lonely there.

10

GEORGE AND SARAH GREEN.

Written in 1808; first published in De Quincey's "Recollections of Grasmere," "Tait's Magazine," Sept., 1839. Professor Knight gives variations from a MS. copy made by Dorothy Wordsworth for Lady Beaumont, April 20, 1808; and of four additional stanzas in the MS. (following stanza 4) he gives the following:

"Our peace is of the immortal soul,

Our anguish is of clay;

Such bounty is in Heaven: so pass
The bitterest pangs away."

For the story of the Greens, see De Quincey's "Early Memorials of Grasmere."-ED.

WHO weeps for strangers? Many wept
For George and Sarah Green;
Wept for that pair's unhappy fate,
Whose grave may here be seen.

By night, upon these stormy fells,
Did wife and husband roam;
Six little ones at home had left,
And could not find that home.

5

For any dwelling-place of man

As vainly did they seek.

10

He perish'd; and a voice was heard—
The widow's lonely shriek.

Not many steps, and she was left

A body without life

14

A few short steps were the chain that bound
The husband to the wife.

Now do those sternly-featured hills
Look gently on this grave;

And quiet now are the depths of air,
As a sea without a wave.

But deeper lies the heart of peace

In quiet more profound;

The heart of quietness is here

Within this churchyard bound.

20

And from all agony of mind
It keeps them safe, and far

From fear and grief, and from all need
Of sun or guiding star.

O darkness of the grave! how deep,
After that living night-

That last and dreary living one

Of sorrow and affright?

O sacred marriage-bed of death,
That keeps them side by side

In bond of peace, in bond of love,
That may not be untied!

TRANSLATION OF PART OF THE FIRST BOOK OF THE ENEID.

Written in or about 1816; first published in "The Philological Museum," 1832. For comment and criticism by Wordsworth himself, and by Coleridge, see Knight's "Life of Wordsworth," vol. ii. pp. 296-302. Wordsworth translated three books of the Eneid, of which translation this fragment is the only portion published.-ED.

TO THE EDITORS OF THE "PHILOLOGICAL MUSEUM." Your letter, reminding me of an expectation I some time since held out to you of allowing some specimens of my translation from the Eneid to be printed in the "Philological Museum," was not very acceptable; for I had abandoned the thought of ever sending into the world any part of that experiment-for it was nothing more-an experiment begun for amusement, and I now think a less fortunate one than when I first named it to you. Having been displeased in modern translations with the additions of incongruous matter, I began to translate with a resolve to keep clear of that fault, by adding nothing; but I became convinced that a spirited translation can scarcely be accomplished in the English language without admitting a principle of compensation. On this point, however, I do not wish to insist, and merely send the following passage, taken at random, from a wish to comply with your request.-W. W.

BUT Cytherea, studious to invent

Arts yet untried, upon new counsels bent, Resolves that Cupid, chang'd in form and face To young Ascanius, should assume his place ; Present the maddening gifts, and kindle heat 5