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Copiglit}^^ CQESRICKT DEPOSm { THE ECCLESIASTICAL SONNETS OF WILLIAM WORDSWORTH A CRITICAL EDITION BY ABBIE FINDLAY POTTS Instructor in English in Vassar College A Dissertation Presented to the Graduate School of Cornell University in Partial Fulfilment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy NEW HAVEN: YALE UNIVERSITY PRESS LONDON: HUMPHREY MILFORD OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS MDCCCCXXII / CORNELL STUDIES IN ENGLISH EDITED BY JOSEPH QUINCY ADAMS CLARK SUTHERLAND NORTHUP MARTIN WRIGHT SAMPSON THE ECCLESIASTICAL SONNETS OF WILLIAM WORDSWORTH A CRITICAL EDITION BY ABBIE FINDLAY POTTS Instructor in English in Vassar College A Dissertation Presented to the Graduate School of Cornell University in Partial Fulfilment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy NEW HAVEN: YALE UNIVERSITY PRESS LONDON: HUMPHREY MILFORD OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS MDCCCCXXII 6^"^*" "1?^ Copyright, 1922 By Yale University Press First Published in November, 1922 FEB -2 1923 1C1A69C461 TO PROFESSOR LANE COOPER IN GRATITUDE FOR HIS HELP PREFACE A century has gone by since the pubHcation of the Ecclesi- astical Sketches; but the problems of social life in 1922 are not unlike those on which Wordsworth meditated in 1822. With us, also, recovery from war, rash industrial and political adventure, hunger for novelty or variety in the management of schools and churches, have confused the national mind, and we still need this poet's interpretation of the spiritual history of his country. Nor may we without a careful review assert that we are a hundred years wiser. Therefore the time and the circumstances appear fitting for a critical edition of the series finally known as Ecclesiastical Sonnets. Professor Lane Cooper of Cornell University suggested that I prepare this edition, and has throughout the undertaking directed my research. I am deeply indebted to him for scholarly counsel, and for aid a? well in the humbler concerns of my task. I wish also to acknowledge the friendly and expert guidance of Professor Benton S. Monroe and Professor George P. Bristol in other, but allied, subjects; and to the members of the Committee charged with the Cornell Studies in English I here express my gratitude for their courtesy and support in publishing a centennial edition of the Ecclesiastical Sonnets. For the permission to photograph and to print manuscripts I am obliged to the late Mrs. Henry A. St. John, and to her daughter, Mrs. David Kennedy Fraser; with great kindness they allowed me the use of their Wordsworth collection, and made my labors in it the easier by their cordial interest. Miss Georgina Melville, whose preliminary investigation of this series had not been completed, generously placed in my hands the results of her study. My obligation to previous editors and students of Wordsworth is elsewhere indicated in detail. viii THE ECCLESIASTICAL SONNETS The text is that of the Poetical Works of 1850, I have followed Hutchinson {Poetical Works, Oxford edition) in the use of -ed for ^d, and in these spellings: sea-mew, recompense, mead, control, aery, chestnut, Chicheley, mother-spray, recall, and recalls, Russell's, couldst, and His and Him in reference to Christ; and I have consistently printed through and though and Christian instead of thro' and tho' and christian. Believing that Wordsworth's comma often denotes emphasis or modu- lation, I have retained it in several instances where Hutchinson has discarded it; but I have adopted Hutchinson's punctua- tion in Eccl. Son. 3.29.3 and 341.3; and for 3.9.5-8 I have adopted the punctuation of the text of 1846. I have used single instead of double quotes throughout the text. References to Wordsworth's other poems are made by means of the catch-titles used in Professor Cooper's Concor- dance to the Poems 0/ William Wordsworth. TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION General Discussion i Date of Composition 27 Manuscripts • 30 Editions 42 Structure 60 MANUSCRIPT F 79 ECCLESIASTICAL SONNETS Table of Contents 112 Advertisement of 1822 117 Note of 1827 118 Text of 1850 119 VARIANT READINGS 186 NOTES 205 BIBLIOGRAPHY 305 INDEX 309 ILLUSTRATIONS Facsimile of a page of the letter from Wordsworth to Henry Reed, September 4, 1842. In the collection of Mrs. St. John facing 32 Facsimile of Mary Wordsworth's script, July 18, 1842, In the collection of Mrs. St. John facing 40 Facsimile of MS. F, p. 51. In the collection of Mrs, St. John facing 42 Interior of King's College Chapel, Cambridge. Repro- duced from an engraving by J. Greig in George Dyer's History of the University and Colleges of Cambridge, London, 1814 facing 58 INTRODUCTION GENERAL DISCUSSION I The Ecclesiastical Sonnets, written when Wordsworth was fifty-one years old, should reveal hirh as a profound thinker and a powerful artist. During his career he had with more and more success labored for the perfect union of love and reason, those mutual factors in both life and art. Laodamia notably achieves this union in art; and the words of Pro- tesilaus to Laodamia indicate the cost of the union in life as well: transports shall be moderated, mourning shall be meek; lofty thought embodied in act has wrought deliverance ; reason and self-government are to control rebellious passion, and thus affections will be raised and solemnized.^ But these words are the very message of the Ecclesiastical Sonnets, and in this very temper Wordsworth receives upon his affections the burden of institutional reason and traditional government. Has he profited by his own counsel? Is his art delivered by his lofty thought? Although in the third sonnet of the series he writes of Druid and Christianity, he might ask the question about himself, too: Haughty the Bard: can these meek doctrines blight His transports? wither his heroic strains? Some there are, however, who feel that Wordsworth's history of the Church of England, his poetical record of a nation's love and reason, of its lofty thought embodied in act, is not a successful or characteristic poem. To many he remains chiefly the bard of external nature and of the sensa- tions, moods, and feelings celebrated in the poem on the Wye. Even trained readers have marked those passages of his life 1 Laod. 77, 137-8, 140, 73-4, 144. 2 1 2 THE ECCLESIASTICAL SONNETS and art which indicate that he is an ecstatic poet, an oracle rather than a builder. The first half of his life has been the more thoroughly studied — by himself in The Prelude; by his sister in her Journals; by Coleridge in his critical notes; and in the recent interpretation of Professors Legouis and Harper, to both of whom his earlier poetry is more congenial. And hence Harper's conclusion that Wordsworth's life was 'broken in the middle,' ' and Minto's belief that 'after 1807 there is a marked falling off in the quality, though not in the quantity, of Wordsworth's poetic work,' ^ may arise somewhat from the general lack of scholarly regard for the later poetry, and some- what from personal distaste. In the minds of these critics meek doctrines have indeed blighted the transports of the bard, and withered his heroic strains. If the Ecclesiastical Sonnets are to take their rightful place in a survey of Wordsworth's art, his career must be thought of as homogeneous; and this conception would be Words- worth's own. In the year 1815 he was anxious that the arrangement of his poems should 'correspond with the course of human life,' and should exhibit 'the three requisites of a legitimate whole, a beginning, a middle, and an end.' ^ But much earlier he had been concerned for 'the pleasure which the mind derives from the perception of similitude in dissimili- tude,' and he believed that upon this perception 'depend our taste and our moral feelings.' * 'Homogeneous' is not a novel epithet for Wordsworth. It gave Coleridge 'great pleasure, as most accurately and happily describing him'; ^ Dowden approves, and Harper quotes, the opinion of Coleridge; ^ and ^ William Wordsivorth, 1916, 1.6. ^ Enc. Brit., eleventh ed., 28.830. ^ Preface to the edition of 1815, Poetical Works, Oxford ed., 1909, pp. 954-5- * Preface to the second edition of Lyrical Ballads, Prose Works, ed. by Knight, 1896, 1.68. ^Letters of Samuel Taylor Coleridge, ed. by E. H. Coleridge, 1895, 1.373. The letter quoted was written July 13, 1802. ^ Dowden's Memoir, P. W., Aldine ed., 1892-3, i.xxii; and Harper's William Wordsworth 2.44. OF WILLIAM WORDSWORTH 3 Christopher Wordsworth referred to the 'continuous stream of identity' ^ which flowed from the poet's earliest to his latest poems. Of the probable deviations in such a stream Words- worth himself had given warning; ^ but he was sure that the stream advanced. In the Character of the Happy Warrior the combatant is one Who, not content that former worth stand fast, Looks forward, persevering to the last. So, too, a poet would direct the orderly advance of his books: Go, single — yet aspiring to be joined With thy Forerunners that through many a year Have faithfully prepared each other's way.' Wordsworth was not unconscious of the charges brought against him of reaction, political and literary;* and as well in literature as in politics did he face the accusation and answer it, asserting his fidelity to principle, and scorning the implication that with years and experience he had become less wise. His respect for the aged 'Bards of mightier grasp' grew as normally as his respect for constitutions and liturgies. He hailed ever more devotedly Ossian, 'the Son of Fingal'; Homer, 'blind Maeonides of ampler mind'; and 'Milton, to the fountain-head of glory by Urania led. ' ° He remarked in a letter to Talfourd that the great works of Chaucer, Milton, Dryden, and Cowper were composed 'when they were far advanced in life. ' ^ Since Wordsworth himself has opened the way for a com- parison between the years of the artist and the nature of the work of art, additional evidence may be offered. Bede was. an old man when he wrote the Ecclesiastical History; Alfred ^ Memoirs of William Wordsworth, ed. by Reed, 1851, 1.4-5. " Reply to the Letter of Mathetes, Prose Works 1.90. ^ In desultory 17-19, Prelude to the Poems Chiefly of Early and Late Years. * Letters of the Wordsworth Family, ed. by Knight, 1 907, 2.162. ^ Ossian 53, 79-82. ^Letters 3.1 15. 4 THE ECCLESIASTICAL SONNETS translated Bede and Gregory late in his career; and the Re- public and the Divina Commedia, no less than the epics of Chaucer and Milton, were tasks 'hallowed by time.' More and Spenser were early productive, but Bacon's labors con- tinued with unabated success, and Shakespeare's Tempest reflects the wisdom of age, not of youth. St. Augustine, the prototype for the modern world of the poet who is a builder, wrote his De Civitate Dei with three score of his years behind him; and according to Bryce 'it is hardly too much to say that the Holy Empire was built upon the foundation of the De Civitate Dei.' ' Indeed, these works of these men are all pro- found studies of the spiritual history and destiny of mankind. They are contemplative and mature; they betoken judgment and long experience in the artists who produced them. As we have noted, Wordsworth was fifty-one when he wrote the Ecclesiastical Sonnets. This fact of itself does not prove the excellence of his poem, but it indicates that his develop- ment was typical : the natural phenomena of his country and the humble activities of his fellow-men made way in his mind for a loftier theme, the spiritual history of a people. So Virgil had renounced Eclogues and Georgics for his ALneid. Words- worth like Dante, Spenser, and Milton, even like Augustine, Alfred, and Bede, accepted the final challenge of life and art. II How would Wordsworth conceive the spiritual history of a people? Here, above all, he would be like himself — homo- geneous. In spite of his desire to be a recluse, the advance in his art, as Minto remarks, had always come to him 'not in his seclusion, but when he was in contact with his fellow- men.' 2 'Stand no more aloof! ' is the exhortation common to Lyrical Ballads, the Poems of 1807, the Convention of Cintra, and the Ecclesiastical Sonnets, these four works being in a ^ The Holy Roman Empire, 1904, p. 94, note. ^ Wordsworth's Great Failure, Nineteenth Century for September, 1889, p. 449. OF WILLIAM WORDSWORTH 5 sense a return to the objective world from the preoccupation of Guilt and Sorrow and The Borderers; from The Prelude, whose theme is self; from The White Doe, whose 'objects . . . derive their influence, not from properties inherent in them, not from what they are actually in themselves, but from such as are bestowed upon them by the minds of those who are conversant with or affected by those objects';^ and, finally, from the unsubstantial theme of The Recluse. In 1793, after a crisis evident in Guilt and Sorrow and The Borderers, Wordsworth was as one betrayed by nature and by judgment. Whether this betrayal had wrought havoc with his personal affections or his social ideals is here of little concern. The remedy lay in a rededication: Long have I loved what I behold. The night that calms, the day that cheers; The common growth of mother-earth Suffices me — ^her tears, her mirth. Her humblest mirth and tears. ^ Out of this humility came the Prologue to Peter Bell, Peter Bell itself, and the personages in Lyrical Ballads. The poet recovered the simple, traditional utterance of English verse ;^ he abandoned the boat twin-sister of the crescent moon, the realm of faery, the might of magic lore, the dragon's wing.'* Like another Antaeus, from his contact with mother-earth Wordsworth drew both courage and refreshment, as is proved by his keen analyses in the Preface of 1800, his exact deline- ation in the Poems on the Naming of Places, and those ' present gifts of humbler industry,' ^ the first two books of The Prelude. In the words of his letter to Coleridge, 1809, he now sought objects 'interesting to the mind, not by its personal feelings or a strong appeal to the instincts or natural affections, but to be interesting to a meditative or imaginative mind, either ^ Letters 2.68. ^P.B. 131-5. ^ Cf. Barstow, Wordsworth' s Theory of Poetic Diction, 1917. *P. B. 80, 101, no, 136. ^Prelude 1. 133-4. 6 THE ECCLESIASTICAL SONNETS from the moral importance of the pictures, or from the em- ployment they give to the understanding affected through the imagination, and to the higher faculties.' ^ Now, too, he had found A hoary pathway traced between the trees, And winding on with such an easy line Along a natural opening, that I stood Much wondering how I could have sought in vain For what was now so obvious. ^ Although this pathway led through a profound study of self. The Prelude, yet thence, moderated and composed, with an enthusiasm for humanity transcending his enthusiasm for external nature and his enthusiasm for his own lofty hopes, Wordsworth made his second definite return: henceforth he would exercise his skill even more devotedly. Not in Utopia, — subterranean fields, — Or some secreted island. Heaven knows where! But in the very world, which is the world Of all of us, — the place where, in the end. We find our happiness, or not at all!^ The Ode to Duty and the Character of the Happy Warrior show the result of this adjustment. Moreover, Wordsworth had partaken of 'the very world' in certain intimate and memor- able ways. After the death of John Wordsworth he could write: A deep distress hath humanized my Soul.^ From his bereavement grew the sense of a holier joy, which, with the renewed yearning for seclusion, is expressed in The White Doe, the fairest image of one side of Wordsworth's genius, and in temper akin to the Ecclesiastical Sonnets. Yet the solution of The White Doe, as its motto implies, is meek 1 Letters 3.473. 2 When, to 47-52. ^ Prelude 1 1 . 1 39-43 . ^ Peek Castle 36. OF WILLIAM WORDSWORTH 7 and heroic, but not rational; and the poem itself appears as 'faintly, faintly tied to earth' as was its heroine, standing like her 'apart from human cares.' ^ Of this Wordsworth must have been aware, for again he turned his eye upon life's daily prospect; following his method in The Happy Warrior and in the existent sonnets, he directed his thought to 'social and civic duties, chiefly in1;eresting to the imagination through the understanding'; 2 and he restated the problems of will, duty, morality, justice, and virtue. His open-minded study of the writings of Bacon, Thomas Browne, and Weever, of geog- raphies and books of travel, of the sources of contemporary history, gave him new power over the essay, the scientific treatise, and the political pamphlet. Nor was he a superficial student of natural and moral science; witness the Description of the Scenery of the Lakes and the Convention of Cintra. Meanwhile Wordsworth's explicit purpose for The Recluse had undergone a change. In 1798, as we learn from a letter to James Tobin, this poem was to give pictures of 'Nature, Man, and Society';^ in 18 14, when a part was published as The Excursion, the whole was in conception still a poem of 'views,' but the order of the theme had been changed to 'Man, Nature, and Society,' and the author spoke through intervenient dramatic characters. Minto has keenly analyzed The Recluse, Wordsworth's 'great failure,'* but lets fall no hint of a possible alternative for such a philosophical poem. To him the actual value even of The Excursion is found in the passages where Wordsworth is speaker, the record of the poet's ' own moods, ' ' the harvest of his own long observation and cheerful fancy, the fortitude of his own resolute will.' But this resort to what was merely 'his own' was the same blind alley into which Wordsworth had gone on the banks of the Wye, the same tangle of phantom characters as in The Borderers, projections of the poet's self. 1 White Doe 1864-5, 1859. 2 Letters 3.473-4. ^ Letters 1.115. ^ Op. cit. in the Nineteenth Century, pp. 435~5i- 8 THE ECCLESIASTICAL SONNETS Was it not to turn the light dawning from the east into a 'steady morning'^ that The Prelude was written? And is The Excursion not powerful because in i1 the poet as a drama- tist has grappled with the minds of men, not the mind of Wordsworth alone? Four months after The Excursion was published Wordsworth wrote to R. P. Gillies: 'Our inability to catch a phantom of no value may prevent us from attempting to seize a precious substance within our reach.' ^ Phantom or substance, The Recluse was never completed. Presumably its author under- stood his own great failure as well as Minto, and at last came to realize that 'philosophy means love of wisdom — true wisdom is to let insoluble problems alone.* ^ Be that as it may, Wordsworth's explicit comment on great failures is adequate to his own circumstances: memory has too fondly hung on 'new-planned cities and unfinished towers'; self is to be annulled, her bondage prove The fetters of a dream opposed to love.* So Wordsworth understood and partook of the experience of Chaucer, Virgil, Hooker, the giants of Malham Cove, and the cathedral-builders of Cologne: his mortal hopes, too, were defeated, and he did not miss the sole true glory That can belong to human story! At which they only shall arrive Who through the abyss of weakness dive. The very humblest are too proud of heart. . . . Say not that we have vanquished — but that we survive.^ There is no evidence that Wordsworth formally abandoned The Recluse; on the contrary, as late as 1824 he still hesitated ^ Prekide 1.127. ^ Letters 2.39. ' Op. cit. in the Nineteenth Century, p. 443. * Laod. 132, 149-50. 5 Ode: Thanks. 83-7, 91. Cf. also Malham, and the Journals of Dorothy Wordsworth, ed. by Knight, 1897, 2.178-9. OF WILLIAM WORDSWORTH 9 betore 'the task so weighty.'^ Moreover, there is no reason to think that the Ecclesiastical Sonnets constitute Part 3 of the philosophical poem about 'Man, Nature, and Society.' Their theme is nature, man, and God, the 'introduction, progress, and operation of the Church in England.' Here the poet would trace man's relation to God in its actual lineaments; once more he had returned to 'mother-earth, her humblest mirth and tears,' and in so doing he was, may it be repeated, like himself, 'homogeneous.' Ill The Ecclesiastical Sonnets take for granted a polity, both of State and of Church, based upon Wordsworth's slowly- formed conviction that justice was not an obligation of one man or of one epoch, but the wise, brave, temperate expression of a society rooted in the past and hopeful for the future. To such a society the 'faith that elevates the just'^ would be added like 'a breeze which springs up ... to assist the strenuous oarsman.'^ From the diatribes of 1793, when he regarded Burke's fidelity to compact as 'a refinement in cruelty' which would 'yoke the living to the dead,'* to his eulogy of Burke in The Prelude, Wordsworth had fixed his inward eye as relentlessly upon ' Institutes and Laws, hallowed by time,' and ' social ties endeared by Custom' ^ as ever upon a primrose by a river's brim. What he saw was as imagi- natively seen as his jocund company of daffodils: 'The Constitution of England, which seems about to be destroyed, offers to my mind the sublimest contemplation which the history of society and government have ever pre- sented to it; and for this cause especially, that its principles have the character of preconceived ideas, archetypes of the ^ Letters 2.237. 2 Primrose 5 1 . ' Convention of Cintra, Prose Works 1.211. * Letter to the Bishop of Llandaff, Prose Works 1.25. ^ Prelude 7.526-8. 10 THE ECCLESIASTICAL SONNETS pure intellect, while they are, in fact, the results of a humble- minded experience.'^ By the same discipline he learnt 'the art of bringing words rigorously to the test of thoughts; and these again to a com- parison with things, their archetypes, contemplated first in themselves, and secondly in relation to each other.' ^ He acknowledged the duty not alone of weighing 'the moral worth and intellectual power of the age in which we live,' but of determining 'what we are, compared with our ancestors.'^ For, he believed, 'there is a spiritual community binding together the living and the dead: the good, the brave, and the wise of all ages. We would not be rejected from this community: and therefore do we hope.'^ And therefore did Wordsworth celebrate those 'golden opportunities when the dictates of just'ce may be unrelentingly enforced, and the beauty of the inner mind substantiated in the outward act.' ^ Justice was his theme, and his voice was raised for mankind.® This conception of justice, this idea of a spiritual State binding together the living and the dead, was for Wordsworth substantiated in the outward acts of ethical, poetical, and religious beauty as well. 'Usages of pristine mould' and 'ancient manners' seemed precious revelations of the 'far-oflf past.'" He coveted 'some Theban fragment,' or 'tender- hearted scroll of pure Simonides.' ^ And above all, perhaps, he valued the record left in stone and ritual of his country's ecclesiastical history. To churchly images, as the years went by, he had referred the most intimate associations of his life and work; he was, his nephew remarked, 'predisposed to ^ Memoirs, ed. by Reed, 2.259. 2 Epitaphs 2, Prose Works 2.164. ^ Prose Works 1.85. * Prose Works 1.272. ^ Prose Works 1.2 15. ^ Prose Works 1.2 13. ' Dedication to The River Duddon, The minstrels 59, 55, 72. * Departing summer 52-4. OF WILLIAM WORDSWORTH 11 sympathize with a form of religion which appears to afford some exercise for the imaginative faculty.' ^ Mr. Gordon Wordsworth finds slender evidence for the poet's religious observance during boyhood;^ but the cross, the distant spire, and the chapel-bell all take their place in the early poems. ^ Even Peter Bell knew the spire of Sarum,* profane rover though he was. Not less frequently but much more appreciatively did Wordsworth and his sister in their travels look upon monastic ruin and cathedral spire. On their way to Calais in 1802 Dorothy saw St. Paul's as a significant part of the view her brother delineated in the sonnet Composed upon Westminster Bridge. In 1803 the pinnacles of Inverary recalled to her the spires of Yorkshire.^ Then, too, Wordsworth's plans for a winter garden at Coleorton included 'a pool of water that would reflect beautifully the rocks with their hanging plants, the evergreens upon the top, and, shooting deeper than all, the naked spire of the church.' ® The spire of Brompton Parish Church, 'under which,' Wordsworth reminded Wrangham, 'you and I were made happy men, by the gift from Providence of excellent wives,' ' perhaps shot deeper and pointed higher than any other in his experience; but the ecclesiastical symbol was not alien to his bleak and sorrowful days. When most anxious to repair his friendship with Coleridge, he wrote from Grasmere to Sir George Beaumont, April 8, 1808: 'You will deem it strange, but really some of the imagery of London has, since my return hither, been more present to my mind than that of this noble vale. I left Coleridge at seven o'clock on Sunday morning, and walked towards the city in a very thoughtful and melancholy state of mind. I ' Memoirs, ed. by Reed, 2. 151. 2 The Boyhood of Wordsworth, in Cornhill Magazine, N. S. 48 (1920). 419. ^ Desc. Sk. Quarto 70; Guilt 21; Bord. 1651. *P. B. 212. ^ Journals 2.25. ^ Letters 1.279. ^ Letters 1.429. 12 THE ECCLESIASTICAL SONNETS had passed through Temple Bar and by St. Dunstan's, noticing nothing, and entirely occupied with my own thoughts, when, looking up, I saw before me the avenue of Fleet Street, silent, empty, and pure white, with a sprinkling of new-fallen snow, not a cart or carriage to obstruct the view, no noise, only a few soundless and dusky foot-passengers here and there. You remember the elegant line of the curve of Ludgate Hill in which this avenue would terminate; and beyond, towering above it, was the huge and majestic form of St. Paul's, solem- nized by a thin veil of falling snow. I cannot say how much I was affected at this unthought-of sight in such a place, and what a blessing I felt there is in habits of exalted imagination. My sorrow was controlled, and my uneasiness of mind — ^not quieted and relieved altogether — seemed at once to receive the gift of an anchor of security.' ^ The reader in search of a stern association of image and idea will pass the chance comments of Dorothy on churching, church-going, and christening,^ but will not fail to note a figure in the Convention of Cintra: ' If the gentle passions of pity, love, and gratitude be porches of the temple; if the sentiments of admiration and rivalry be pillars upon which the structure is sustained; if, lastly, hatred, and anger, and vengeance, be steps which, by a mystery of nature, lead to the House of Sanctity; then was it manifest to what power the edifice was consecrated ; and that the voice within was of Holiness and Truth.' ^ And Wordsworth most effectively applies this figure in the Preface to The Excursion, 1814: 'The two works [The Prelude and The Recluse] have the same kind of relation to each other ... as the antechapel has to the body of a Gothic church. Continuing this allusion, he [the author] may be permitted to add that his minor pieces, which have been long before the public, when they shall be properly arranged, will be found by the attentive reader to have such connection with the main work as may ^Letters 1.349. 2 Harper, Williatn Wordsworth 2.51; and Letters 1.298, 2.5. ^ Prose Works 1.205. OF WILLIAM WORDSWORTH 13 give them claim to be likened to the little cells, oratories, and sepulchral recesses ordinarily included in those edifices.' Henceforth the poet easily and habitually referred to ecclesiastical architecture. Of the images gleaned from the tour on the Continent in 1820 many are of such origin; thus: 'the silent avenues of stateliest architecture' in the city that was 'one vast temple'; 'pinnacle and spire' and 'Convent- tower'; 'grey rocks . . . shaped like old monastic turrets'; the 'unfinished shafts' of the cathedral at Cologne; 'lurking cloistral arch'; the 'ancient Tower'; 'the firm unmoving cross'; 'the chapel far withdrawn'; the 'holy Structure'; 'shrine of the meek Virgin Mother'; 'holy enclosure' and 'sacred Pile'; 'sainted grove' and 'hallowed grot.' All these composed for one with eye and mind alike sensitive to their beauty The venerable pageantry of Time. Returning to the 'awful perspective' of King's College Chapel and the church to be erected by Sir George Beaumont, Wordsworth was, it may well seem to the student of his life and art, inevitably destined to write an ecclesiastical poem. Yet he dreamt not of a perishable home Who thus could build. ^ Outward acts, the reverent statesmanship in ritual and cathe- dral of the 'perfected spirits of the just,'^ never obscured for him 'the eternal city,' the beauty of the inner mind, whose constitution, like the Constitution of other cities, must still be the result of a humble-minded experience. Then would come faith, to elevate the just. So in 1827 he put his own best interpretation upon the Ecclesiastical Sonnets: For what contend the wise? — for nothing less Than that the Soul, freed from the bonds of Sense, And to her God restored by evidence Of things not seen, drawn forth from their recess, ^Eccl. Son. 3.45.1-2. ^Eccl. Son. 3.47.14. 14 THE ECCLESIASTICAL SONNETS Root there, and not in forms, her holiness; — For Faith, which to the Patriarchs did dispense Sure guidance, ere a ceremonial fence Was needful round men thirsting to transgress; — For Faith, more perfect still, with which the Lord Of all, himself a Spirit, in the youth Of Christian aspiration, deigned to fill The temples of their hearts who, with his word Informed, were resolute to do his will. And worship him in spirit and in truth. ^ IV Was Wordsworth the first to present 'in verse' 'certain points in the ecclesiastical history' of England, to use his own modest phrase? Henry Crabb Robinson says that Thelwell in 1799 believed himself about to be a famous epic poet, and 'thought the establishment of Christianity and the British Constitution very appropriate subjects for his poem.' ^ Wordsworth may have heard of Thelwell's project, directly or indirectly, but it is wiser to refer the theme of Ecclesiastical Sonnets to his own habit of choice. He was not one of those whom he reprobated in the Postscript, 1835: 'They who are the readiest to meddle with public affairs, whether in Church or State, fly to generalities, that they may be eased from the trouble of thinking about particulars; and thus is deputed to mechanical instrumentality the work which vital knowledge only can do well.'^ Moreover, he had already (in 18 14) celebrated the Church and State of England: Hail to the crown by Freedom shaped — to gird An English Sovereign's brow! and to the throne Whereon he sits! Whose deep foundations lie In veneration and the people's love; Whose steps are equity, whose seat is law. — Hail to the State of England! And conjoin W^ith this a salutation as devout, ^ Eccl. Son. 2.30, added to the series in 1827. ^ Diary, ed. by Sadler, 1869, 1.37. 3 P. W., Oxford ed., p. 963. OF WILLIAM WORDSWORTH 15 Made to the spiritual fabric of her Church; Founded in truth; by blood of Martyrdom Cemented; by the hands of Wisdom reared In beauty of holiness, with ordered pomp, Decent and unreproved. . . . And O, ye swelling hills and spacious plains! Besprent from shore to shore with steeple-towers, And spires whose 'silent finger points to heaven'; Nor wanting, at wide intervals, the bulk Of ancient minster lifted above the cloud Of the dense air, which town or city breeds To intercept the sun's glad beams^ — ^may ne'er That true succession fail of English hearts. Who, with ancestral feeling, can perceive What in those holy structures ye possess Of ornamental interest, and the charm Of pious sentiment diffused afar. And human charity, and social love.* In 1798 Wordsworth reached a conviction never afterward abandoned by him, that the materials of poetry 'are to be found in every subject which can interest the human mind.'^ Later he confirmed and explained this statement: 'Poetry is the first and last of all knowledge — it is as im- mortal as the heart of man. ... If the time should ever come when what is now called science, . . . familiarized to men, shall be ready to put on, as it were, a form of flesh and blood, the poet will lend his divine spirit to aid the transfigur- ation, and will welcome the being thus produced, as a dear and genuine inmate of the household of man.' ^ Thus Dante had embodied and transfigured astronomy and theology; thus Shakespeare had turned to 'glorious purpose those materials which the prepossessions of the age compelled him to make use of.'* In Wordsworth's conception, too, Clio, the Muse of History, must 'vindicate the majesty of truth.' ^ ^ Excursion 6.1-12, 17-29. 2 Advertisement to Lyrical Ballads, Prose Works 1.31. ^ Preface to Lyrical Ballads, 1800, P. W., Oxford ed., p. 939. * Essay Supplementary to the Preface, P. W., Oxford ed., p. 946. ^Plea: Hist. 8. 16 THE ECCLESIASTICAL SONNETS If truth be essential to poetry, infinity and unity are the aspects of truth necessary to subHme poetry, 'The infinitude of truth ' is a recurrent phrase in the third essay on Epitaphs} In the letter to Pasley, 1811, Wordsworth urges 'indefinite progress ... in knowledge, in science, in civilization, in the increase of the numbers of the people, and in the augmentation of their virtue and happiness.'^ And even more explicitly in his Description of the Scenery of the English Lakes, he asserts that 'sublimity will never be wanting where the sense of innumerable multitude is lost in and alternates with that of intense unity.' ^ Poetry so conceived was in Wordsworth's opinion sublime poetry; and sublime poetry was religious poetry, as he re- minded Landor in 1824: 'All religions owe their origin, or acceptation, to the wish of the human heart to supply in another state of existence the deficiencies of this, and to carry still nearer to perfection whatever we admire in our present condition; so that there must be many modes of expression, arising out of this coin- cidence, or rather identity of feeling, common to all my- thologies. . . . This leads to a remark in your last, " that you are disgusted with all books that treat of religion." I am afraid it is a bad sign in me that I have little relish for any other. Even in poetry it is the imaginative only, viz., that which is conversant with, or turns upon infinity, that power- fully affects me. Perhaps I ought to explain: I mean to say that, unless in those passages where things are lost in each other, and limits vanish, and aspirations are raised, I read with something too much like indifference. But all great poets are in this view powerful religionists, and therefore among many literary pleasures lost, I have not yet to lament over that of verse as departed. ' * ^ Prose Works 2.J76, 181. '^ Prose Works 1.316. ^ Prose Works 2.80; and cf. Henry Crabb Robinson, Diary, September 10, 1816: ' [Wordsworth] represented . . . much as, unknown to him, the German philosophers have done, that by the imagination the mere fact is exhibited as connected with that infinity without which there is no poetry.' '^Letters 2.214-5. OF WILLIAM WORDSWORTH 17 'The grand store-houses of enthusiastic and meditative imagination ' were for Wordsworth ' the prophetic and lyrical parts of the Holy Scriptures,' the works of Milton and Spenser; ^ even the sublimer passages of Homer or ^schylus.^ He agreed with Henry Alford, however, on 'the distinction be- tween religion in poetry and versified religion.' Writing to the latter in 1840, he defined his position: 'For my own part, I have been averse to frequent mention of the mysteries of Christian faith ; not from a want of a due sense of their momentous nature, but the contrary. I felt it far too deeply to venture on handling the subject as familiarly as many scruple not to do. . . . Besides general reasons for diffidence in treating subjects of Holy Writ, I have some es- pecial ones. I might err in points of faith, and I should not deem my mistakes less to be deprecated because they were expressed in metre. Even Milton, in my humble judgment, has erred, and grievously; and what poet could hope to atone for his apprehensions [? misapprehensions] in the way in which that mighty mind has done?'^ The Rev. R. P. Graves has left his memorandum of a talk wherein Wordsworth indicates 'the gradual steps by which [religion as an element in poetry] . . . must advance to a power comprehensive and universally admitted.' These steps, like the steps in Wordsworth's own career, are 'defined in their order by the constitution of the human mind; and [they] . . . must proceed with vastly more slowness in the case of the progress made by collective minds than ... in an individual soul.' '* No clearer reason could be given for Wordsworth's renunciation of the great themes of Milton and of Dante. Not of man or 'one greater man' ^ was he to sing; he dared not celebrate 'il Valor infinito'^ as did that brother who found himself in a forest — ^ Preface to the edition of 1815, P. W., Oxford ed., p. 957. ^ Letters 2.250-1. ' Memoirs, ed. by Reed, 2.368-9. * Memoirs, ed. by Reed, 2.370. 5 Paradise Lost i . i , 4. « Dante, Paradiso 33.81. 3 18 THE ECCLESIASTICAL SONNETS Nel mezzo del cammin di nostra vita;^ instead he would write a memorial of the progress of religion as an element of poetry, a progress made by collective mind? and traceable in ecclesiastical polity and history, in liturgy and cathedrals. Therefore his spiritual and practical concern was unity, threatened alike by the anthropomorphism of pagan and idolatrous thought,^ and by latitudinarianism, which 'will ever successfully lay claim to a divided worship.' ^ Political and ecclesiastical dissent were not only perilous for the statesman and priest, but perilous for the artist, to whom infinity and unity were both necessary if the work of art was to be sublime. V (a) The history and description of the structure of the Ecclesi- astical Sonnets are elsewhere given in detail. Here something must be said of its literary form in general. Wordsworth did not himself relate the series to any traditional group; and the reader is left to surmise the author's purpose. Of the classes of narrative enumerated in the Preface of 1815 the series must constitute either an epopoeia or a historic poem. On the other hand, the sonnet there is called an idyllium.^ An undated letter to Southey contains Wordsworth's best definition of the epic poem: 'Epic poetry, of the highest class, requires in the first place an action eminently influential, an action with a grand or sublime train of consequences; it next requires the interven- tion and guidance of beings superior to man, what the critics, I believe, call machinery; and, lastly, I think with Dennis that no subject but a religious one can answer the demand of the soul in the highest class of this species of poetry.' * ^ Dante, Inferno i . i . 2 Preface to the edition of 1815, P. W., Oxford ed., p. 957. ' Postscript, 1835, P. W., Oxford ed., p. 965. *P. W., Oxford ed., p. 954. 6 Memoirs, ed. by Reed, 2.62. OF WILLIAM WORDSWORTH 19 The first and third of these requirements are met by Words- worth's ecclesiastical series; and the second, too, if we inter- pret the 'intervention and guidance' of a SupericJr Being in the simplest and most exalted sense. Moreover, one may say of the series of Ecclesiastical Sonnets what Wordsworth said of Balbi's epitaph by Chiabrera: it is a perfect whole; there is nothing arbitrary or mechanical; it is an organized body, of which the members are bound together by a common life, and are all justly proportioned.^ Such perfection is not accidental. Throughout the decade previous to 1 82 1 Wordsworth frequently described the ways and means of it, as for instance in the letter to Pasley: 'A state ought to be governed, . . . the labors of the statesman ought to advance, upon calculations and from impulses similar to those which give motion to the hand of a great artist when he is preparing a picture, or of a mighty poet when he is determining the proportions and march of a poem; — much is to be done by rule; the great outline is previously to be conceived in distinctness, but the consummation of the work must be trusted to resources that are not tangible, though known to exist.' ^ And one may further say that the principles underlying the 'proportions' and 'march' of Wordsworth's epic, its 'great outline,' have, as he remarked of the Constitution of England, 'the character of preconceived ideas, archetypes of the pure intellect, while they are, in fact, the results of a humble- minded experience.' ^ There were cogent artistic reasons for this — ^not alone 'October's workmanship to rival May';* for from the outset of his career Wordsworth had put his faith in the 'best models of composition,' ^ including external nature. By exercise in analysis and translation and paraphrase he had sternly 1 Prose Works 2.183. '^ Prose Works 1.318. ^ Memoirs, ed. by Reed, 2.259. * Trosachs 11. 'Advertisement to Lyrical Ballads, 1798, Prose Works 1.32. 20 THE ECCLESIASTICAL SONNETS disciplined himself. In his own art and in the arts of painting and sculpture he was keenly aware of the cost of good work; and hence he could detect the spurious and the artificial, as with Macpherson's Ossian, or in the poetry of Scott. He could give reasons, too, for his judgments; his riper mind not only saw that an artist was deceived, but saw how he was deceived.^ His ire at poems 'merely skin-deep as to thought and feeling, the juncture or suture of the composition not being a jot more cunning or more fitted for endurance than the first fastening together of fig-leaves in Paradise,' ^ and his enthusiasm over the exhibitions in the Jardin des Plantes ^ are symptoms of an increasing attention to organic form. Fortunately Wordsworth's taste was catholic: his models were the best from Greece, Rome, the Middle Ages, the Renaissance, the Elizabethan and Jacobean periods, and the Eighteenth Century. His rapture over the Elgin marbles,^ his frequent debate with Wrangham and Lonsdale and Landor on the minutiae of Latin phrases, his repeated study of the JEneid, are evidence of his classical scholarship. Throughout his life he took a purely aesthetic delight in abbey and cathe- dral ; and the final passages of the Ecclesiastical Sonnets display no little of the reverence of Dante in the Paradiso. Dante's 'fictions,' however, Wordsworth considered 'offensively gro- tesque and fantastic,' ^ and thus a superficial disparity pre- vented the English poet from that closer study of the Italian for which his temper and intelligence would seem to have fitted him. To the bold and lofty conceptions of Michelangelo, and to Leonardo's 'intense and laborious study of scientific and mathematical details,'^ he rendered due homage; Chaucer's 1 Reply to the Letter of Mathetes, Prose Works 1.102. ^ Letters 2.80-1. ^ Memoirs, ed. by Reed, 2.106. ^Letters 2.63; and cf. the I>/ar3' of Henry Crabb Robinson, November 20, 1820. ^ Letters 2.216. « Cf. his translations of the sonnets of Michael Angelo, P. W., Oxford ed., pp. 256-7; cf. also Robinson's Z)/an' 1.360. OF WILLIAM WORDSWORTH 21 'lucid shafts of reason,'^ and Shakespeare's judgment in the selection and ordering of his materials,^ alike won his regard; he acknowledged Spenser's grasp of the 'highest moral truths' ; ^ Milton and Walton had long been the intimate companions of his thought; with Burke and Cowper, unlike as they were, he had much in common. (b) But no mention of models of composition would be complete without reference to the sonneteers from whom Wordsworth learned how to shape the fourteen-line stanza which he adopted for his narrative poem. Never before to the same extent had sonnets been used to carry a theme which needed march as well as proportions. Cycles of sonnets there were; groups with their parts related in mood, in subject; groups cele- brating deeds which themselves formed a sequence; mild allegories of the rise and fall of passion or the growth and maturity and decay of life: but a well-articulated scheme of events originally conceived as organic parts of a whole had not before Wordsworth's experiment been attempted by an English poet in the sonnet-form.^ Blank verse or the Spenserian stanza would have been a dignified medium for an ecclesiastical poem. Wordsworth's reasons for disregarding them may be inferred from his letters to Southey, Lord Lonsdale, and Catherine Goodwin: he would avoid diffuseness, and he would make use of 'every possible help and attraction of sound.' ^ In his opinion Milton's sonnets had 'an energetic and varied flow of sound crowding into narrow room more of the combined effect of rhyme and blank verse than can be done by any other kind of verse.' ® Such, then, was to be the effect of the Ecclesiastical Sonnets. 1 Eccl. Son. 2.3 1. 13. 2 Essay Supplementary to the Preface, P. W., Oxford ed., p. 947. * Preface to the edition of 1815, P. W., Oxford ed., p. 957. * Cf . chap. 4 of the Introduction in Dr. John S. Smart's recent edition of The Sonnets of Milton, 1921. * Memoirs, ed. by Reed, 2.70. Cf. also ibid. 2.60, 62. « Memoirs, ed. by Reed, 1.286, note. 22 THE ECCLESIASTICAL SONNETS Hutchinson has gathered the memorable facts concerning Wordsworth and the sonnet into an Appendix to his edition (vol. i) of the Poems in Two Volumes. His remarks may here be supplemented by a short statement of the formal problem that Wordsworth faced in a series of 132 sonnets whereof the transitions must be distinct, but not abrupt. The sestet, obviously, is the crucial concern. Wordsworth was familiar with the sonnets of Michel- angelo, of Shakespeare, and of Milton.^ He was familiar, too, with the technical habit of Petrarch, Tasso, Camoens, Dante, and the Elizabethans. Of later sonneteers, Donne, Russell, Sir Egerton Brydges, Miss Williams, the Coleridges, father and son, and Southey had been the objects of his incisive comment. The way was open, then, for him to make a judicial selection from a wide range of rhyme-schemes. He might use Shakespeare's 'heavy' ^ final couplet, the distichs of Petrarch and Dante, and the tercets of Michel- angelo, in a variety of forms to suit the movement of his narrative, or the extent and relationships of his thought. He was no doubt prepared for this free adaptation by his manage- ment of rhyme in The Whi*e Doe. At once strict and un- obtrusive, the harmony of this poem is its greatest formal beauty. Wisely enough, Wordsworth perceived the superiority of the sonnet over any stanza reminiscent of ballad or canzone. The sonnet is an artistic invention, and as such is the proper vehicle for ecclesiastical history. Originally a love poem, it would be fitted to carry a strain of sublimated love, patriotic or religious, as Milton had discovered, and as Wordsworth through Milton had rediscovered, for, by the latter, 'style of harmony'^ had been elevated from the serenade to the 'soul- animating' strain.'* ^Letters 1.173; Essay Supplementary, 1815, P. W., Oxford ed., p. 947. 2 Memoirs, ed. by Reed, 2.258. ^ Letters 2.180. * Misc. Son. 2. 1. 14. OF WILLIAM WORDSWORTH 23 In a letter to Dyce, Wordsworth sets forth his ideas about the construction of the individual sonnet: ' It should seem that the sonnet, like every other legitimate composition, ought to have a beginning, a middle, and an end; in other words, to consist of three parts, like the three parts of a syllogism, if such an illustration may be used. But the frame of metre adopted by the Italians does not accord with this view; and, as adhered to by them, it seems to be, if not arbitrary, best fitted to a division of the sense into two parts, of eight and six lines each. Milton, however, has not submitted to this; in the better half of his sonnets the sense does not close with the rhyme at the eighth line, but overflows into the second portion of the metre. Now, it has struck me that this is not done merely to gratify the ear by variety and freedom of sound, but also to aid in giving that pervading sense of intense unity in which the excellence of the sonnet has always seemed to me mainly to consist. Instead of looking at this composition as a piece of architecture, making a whole out of three parts, I have been much in the habit of preferring the image of an orbicular body — a sphere, or a dewdrop. All this will appear to you a little fanciful; and I am well aware that a sonnet will often be found excellent, where the beginning, the middle, and the end are distinctly marked, and also where it is distinctly separated into two parts, to which, as I before observed, the strict Italian model, as they write it, is favorable.' ^ Valuable as was the conception of an orbicular body if Wordsworth were to use the sonnet as a stanza, it is fortunate that he did not relinquish the traits of divisibility. For both the march and proportions of his poem, the resultant medium was a happy one, rigorous and flexible alike. By way of summary, one may say that the Ecclesiastical Sonnets are related to models having dignity and beauty, and are loyally but not slavishly derived from them; furthermore, they are wrought with conscious skill by a poet at once docile and self-assured. 1 Memoirs, ed. by Reed, 2.281-2. Cf. also Smart, op. cit., pp. 14-38. 24 THE ECCLESIASTICAL SONNETS VI His humility, his exalted aim, his theme, which was actual rather than fanciful, and his respect for the best traditions, made Wordsworth dependent upon his library. The ecclesi- astical series is a substantial poem; it is not merely a poem on a substantial theme, but a poem whose very substance is the substance of Bede, Drayton, Daniel, Fuller, Foxe, Walton, Camden, Stow, Herbert, Donne, Whitaker, Turner, Heylin, Burnet, Stillingfleet, Dyer, Milton, the Bible, and the English Liturgy. In selecting the best for his purpose, Wordsworth was unwilling to pervert or to blur what had been well done before him. And hence he transferred from his sources to his own work exact thoughts and exact images, and exact phrases as well. His versification of Bede is often more true to the original than is the English translation by A. M. Sellar. Such fidelity would do credit to the man of science; in the builder of a literary Church which will represent a real Church it is no less admirable. Wordsworth would give us Bede and Walton as in themselves they really are. Like Hooker, whose passion for truth he knew through Walton's Life, he had 'searched many books and spent many thoughtful hours.' ^ Like Milton, to whose History of Britain he was indebted for Arfegal and Elidure, he could appreciate the tireless investi- gation underlying all genuine literary work. The labor necessary for his substructure he did not avoid. Virgil had gone to ceremonial books of the priestly college, to Cato's Origines, to Varro's antiquarian treatises; perhaps to Annales and Fasti; to Neevius, Ennius, Homer and the Cyclic poems, the Greek tragedies, the Argonautica} In the same spirit Wordsworth opened the liturgy, Stillingfleet's Origines, Davies' antiquarian treatises, Stow's Chronicle, and the works of Camden and Foxe, of Drayton, and of Bede and Milton. ^ Walton, The Lives of Donne, Wotton, Hooker, Herbert, and Sanderson, 2 vols., Boston, 1832, 2.78. 2 Sellar, Virgil, p. 310. OF WILLIAM WORDSWORTH " 25 It is impossible in every case to tell how conscious or how- recent was Wordsworth's debt, for his memory always served him well. Bede and Turner were directly consulted; and it is probable that the histories of Fuller and Daniel lay close to his hand. From the old books that did not come amiss^ when he was preparing an album for Lady Mary Lowther in 1819, he doubtless refreshed his knowledge of passages chosen, as Harper says, 'for solidit>, elevation, and sincerity.' ^ That other books, old or new, had been recently acquired we learn from two letters to Henry Crabb Robinson, who seems to have mediated between Wordsworth and 'the bookseller near Charing Cross.' These books, which had not arrived by Jan- uary 23, 1821, were in Wordsworth's possession on March 13.^ The poet was badly misled by his authority only in one instance, when he followed Foxe's erroneous account of the humiliation of Barbarossa by Alexander HI. On the other hand, his favorable estimate of Laud has been corroborated by later historical study,'* and was pronounced, as he told Miss Fenwick, long before the Oxford Tract Movement. Throughout the Ecclesiastical Sonnets the temper of Walton rules; Fuller's condensed power has been helpful to Words- worth in the management of vast topics like the Crusades and the wars of York and Lancaster; Daniel's style, lucid and unadorned, reappears to advantage in sestets which must be precise or final. Dyer's sensibility and Burnet's vivacity, Whitaker's zeal for c rcumstantial detail, all seem to live again in the sonnets they have helped to make. Nor did Wordsworth lack skill to supplement or balance one source with another, or to discard what was specious or bigoted in his authorities. Save in dealing with the Norman Conquest, he treats people and events with sympathy and judgment; More and Cranmer, Milton and Laud, all receive unbiased praise, while Sacheverell and the dissenters are 1 Undated letter to Wrangham, Letters 2.128. ^ William Wordsworth 2.310. ^ Letters 2. 141, 143. ^ Gardiner, The Great Civil War, 1889, 2.50-1. 26 ' THE ECCLESIASTICAL SONNETS impartially rebuked. Of monasticism and reform alike the poet is a generous interpreter. His tolerance was recognized by the eminent Roman Catho- lic writer Montalembert; ^ and the spirit of pure faith and humility which lay beneath his tolerance recommended him to Ken elm Henry Digby, a young English writer whose zeal had carried him farther into ritual and ecclesiastical tradition than Wordsworth was willing to go. Digby not infrequently quoted Wordsworth in the Mores Catholici;^ and between the two there later arose the friendliness of authors having a similar enthusiasm.^ Wordsworth's omissions are noteworthy. Csedmon, who sang out of his heart, is passed by for Bede the translator. William, Lanfranc, and Anselm are not mentioned; but Richard, the Norman become Englishman, and Henry V, point the folly of conquest. The civil wars of England are lightly touched on ; enmity of class against class, sect against sect, plays no important part in the Ecclesiastical Sonnets; great men are not pitted against great men — rather does a succession of great men illustrate the epic march of an im- personal struggle. In this way Wordsworth avoids a dramatic violence that would distort his medium, while retaining the vigor of good narrative. And he overcomes the temptation to crowd his action with persons and events. Many well-known characters are masked or lightly sketched. Aidan, Theodore, Hadrian, Wilfrid, Bernard, Thomas Brad- wardine, Wolsey, Henry VHI, can be descried in passages where no names are mentioned. As a scholar Wordsworth was astute: he found the main sources, and he did not lose his sense of proportion. Other poets of his time had been great readers and eager for research, Coleridge and Scott, for instance. Neither has so successfully reconciled his scholarship with his poetry; neither has been ^ Monks of the West, 1861, Introduction, 1.96, note. 2 London, 1844, 1. 1. 7, 17; 1.5.45; 1.8.87. ^Letters 2.441; cf. also an article in the Athenceiim ;i5jg.ji4, May 30, 1896. OF WILLIAM WORDSWORTH 27 SO modest a student, for when Wordsworth wrote to Wrangham in 1819 that his reading powers 'were never very great '^ he did not at all imply that they had been unwisely or vainly exercised. He well knew the 'good elder writers,' ^ and to Allsop in 1 82 1 he seemed 'almost as good a reader as Cole- ridge,' ^ and even more authoritative. Nor was Wordsworth exclusive in his enthusiasms. What he studied and found good he related to what he had studied and found good. The pure faith of Walton and the celestial secrets of Milton were for him as admirable in Jacobean and Caroline times as the piety of Bede and the imagination of Gregory in the early Middle Ages. Alfred and Elizabeth he found comparable; Saxon monks and eminent reformers, of one lineage. The unity of his poem is in large part due to his unwillingness to exalt one period over another. With scholars a pioneer, therefore; as an artist re-estab- lished in his art by study of the works of poets and cathedral builders; as a historian animated by the spirit of Bede and Alfred; as a poet linked with Virgil, with Dante, with Milton, and with Spenser by the nature of his theme, Wordsworth wrote the Ecclesiastical Sonnets. DATE OF COMPOSITION Wordsworth left France early in November, 1820; he then spent a fortnight in London, and another at the Lodge, Trinity College, Cambridge.'* If one of the sonnets on King's College Chapel was written at Cambridge, as seems possible,^ and if MS. F (p. 107) is to be accepted as evidence, Eccl. Son. 3.44 was the first of the series to be composed. Wordsworth wrote to Crabb Robinson in March, 1821: ' Letters 2.125. - Letters 1.468-9. ^ Knight, The Life of William Wordsworth, 1889, 3.52. *P. W., Oxford ed., p. xxix. ^ Cf. Knight, Life of William Wordsworth, 3.53, 54; and Hutchinson, P. W., Oxford ed., p. 451. 28 THE ECCLESIASTICAL SONNETS ' I should like to send you a sonnet composed at Cambridge, but it is reserved for cogent reasons — to be imparted in due time.' ^ It is 3.44 that best satisfies this reference; 3.43 is dependent rather upon its printed source in Dyer than upon visual impression. From Cambridge Wordsworth went on to Coleorton Hall, where one of the group 3.39, 3.40, 3.41 — or perhaps the whole group — was conceived, as the Advertisement relates (p. 117). Judging by its presence in MS. F (p. 108), 3.41 would be the earliest of these. On Dec. 24, 1820, Wordsworth was at home in Rydal. He sent to Sir George Beaumont on Jan, 6, 1 821, an account of Millom Church, where Myers was buried. Of the return - journey he wrote: 'My road brought me suddenly and unexpectedly upon that ancient monument called by the country people "Long Meg and her Daughters." Everybody has heard of it, and so had I from very early childhood, but had never seen it before. Next to Stonehenge, it is beyond dispute the most noble relic of the kind that this or probably any other country contains.' ^ Since Long Meg is included in MS. F (pp. 104-5), where it is closely related to Eccl. Son. 1.2, 1.5, and to the group headed by 3-35, it may be assumed that those parts of Wordsworth's design are later than Jan. 6, 1821. By March 2y, 1821, the series was well under way. Doro- thy wrote to Mrs. Clarkson: 'William is at present composing a series of sonnets on a subject which I am sure you would never divine, — the Church of England — ^but you will perceive that, in the hands of a poet, it is one that will furnish ample store of poetic materials. In some of the sonnets he^has, I think,' been most successful.' ' ^ Letters 2.146. 2 Letters 2.138-9. ^ Letters 2.147. OF WILLIAM WORDSWORTH 29 And in May to the same correspondent she sent word: 'My brother is still hard at work with his sonnets.'^ By Nov. 24, 1 82 1, however, the sonnets were 'at rest,' as Dorothy wrote to Crabb Robinson. ^ Wordsworth had begun work upon the Memorials of a Tour on the Continent, 1820. The exact date of the sonnets added in 1827 remains un- known. Except for 3.12 (pp. 44, 200), they may have been among those 'very good' ones which Dorothy says were written shortly before Dec. 18, 1826.^ The sonnet published in 1832 is by Knight referred to Dec. 7, 1827 (p. 30) ; but the three sonnets published in 1835 remain undated, unless we as- sume 2.4 to be based on St. Bees, written during or after the tour of 1833 (p. 47). To Moxon, who was preparing the edi- tion of 1836-7, Wordsworth wrote (1836) that 'the ecclesiastical sonnet, beginning "Coldly we spake. The Saxons over- powered,'" was 'new.'^ With the exception of Ecd. Son. 2.1, 2.2, 2.9, and 2.10, the additions of 1842 and 1845 ^^e elsewhere (pp. 30-3, 50~3. 54-7) discussed in reference to MSS. and the history of the text. Knight says of Ecd. Son. 2.9, and 2,10, however: 'In a letter to Professor Henry Reed, Philadelphia, Sep- tember 4, 1842, Wordsworth writes: "To the second part of the series (the Ecdesiastical Sonnets) I have also added two, in order to do more justice to the Papal Church for the services which she did actually render to Christianity and humanity in the Middle Ages.'"^ Dowden repeats Knight's note (omitting the words 'and humanity' and the parenthesis). He also applies it to Ecd. Son. 2.9 and 2.10. Smith and Hutchinson likewise assert that 2.9 and 2.10 were composed in 1842. But no evidence ^ Letters 2.150. 2 Letters 2.160. ^ Letters 2.299. * Letters 3.120. 5 P. W., Edinburgh ed., 7.41; Eversley ed., 7.42. 30 THE ECCLESIASTICAL SONNETS is given by Knight or Dowden or Smith or Hutchinson that these two rather than 2.1 and 2.2 are the sonnets to which Wordsworth refers. Indeed, the words of the letter, 'did actually render,' point to 2.2 and 2.9 as more explicitly doing 'justice to the Papal Church.' Editors have not yet hazarded a date of composition for 2.1 and 2.2; but have, without adequate evidence, believed their conclusion on 2.9 and 2.10 to be final. MANUSCRIPTS I. Enumeration A. MS. of Eccl. Son. 2.2 in Wordsworth's own handwriting. Quoted by Knight (P. W., Eversley ed., 1896, 7.37). B. MS. of Eccl. Son. 3.21, dated December 7, 1827, sent by Wordsworth to Coleorton Hall. Also MS. of Eccl. Son. 3.25. Both quoted by Knight (P. W., Eversley ed., 7.90-1, 93). C. Variant readings for Eccl. Son. 2.1, 2.10, 3.12, 3.19, 3.26, 3.29, 3.32, given among the MS. additions to Lord Coleridge's copy of the 1836-7 edition of Wordsworth's Poetical Works. Quoted by Knight (P. W., Eversley ed., 7-35-6, 43, 83, 89, 94, 96, 98). D. MS. of Eccl. Son. 3.13, 3.14, 3.15, sent with a letter from Wordsworth to Henry Reed, March i, 1842. The present editor has consulted the original in the collection of Mrs. St. John. E. MS. of Eccl. Son. 3.16, 3.26, 3.27, 3.29, 3-30, 3-28, 3,31, and, in part, 3.32 and 3.19, sent with a letter from Wordsworth to Henry Reed, March 27, 1843. The present editor has consulted the original in the col- lection of Mrs. St. John. F. MS. of Eccl. Son. in part (with certain Miscellaneous Sonnets, certain sonnets from Memorials of a Tour on the Continent, 1820, and one of the Itinerary Sonnets, 1833). This MS. is in the collection of Mrs. St. John. It has been consulted by the present editor, who OF WILLIAM WORDSWORTH 31 believes it to be a copy by Mrs. Wordsworth of an early draft of Eccl. Son. In this edition it is printed, and evidence is given for its authenticity. 2, Description and Discussion A, B, C Knight is the authority for the readings of A, B, and C (P. W., Eversley ed., 7.37, 90-1, 93, 35-6, 43, 83, 89, 94, 96, 98; i.xlvi, ijtlvii). D With a letter of March i, 1842, Wordsworth sent to Henry Reed a copy of Eccl. Son. 3.13, 3.14, and 3.15. The original letter in Mrs. St. John's collection is as follows: *I have sent you three sonnets upon certain Aspects of Christianity in America, having as you will see a reference to the subject upon which you wished me to write. I wish they had been more worthy of the subject; I hope, however, you will not disapprove of the connection, which I have thought myself warranted in tracing, between the Puritan fugitives and Episcopacy.' The three sonnets accompanying the letter are written upon a double sheet. Wordsworth's signature is affixed to each sonnet, the sonnet itself being in another hand. The sheet is undated, and, except for minor differences in punctuation and the use of capital letters, contains no new readings. The second of the three sonnets has the title Return to the Church in England. E With a letter of March 27, 1843, Wordsworth sent to Henry Reed a copy of Eccl. Son. 3.16, 3.26, 3.27, 3.29, 3.30, 3.28, 3.31, and, in part, 3.32 and 3.19. The original letter, in Mrs. St. John's collection, contains the following statement: ' I send you according to your wish, the additions to the Ecclesiastical Sonnets.' 32 THE ECCLESIASTICAL SONNETS Reed's reply, written April 27, 1843, is also quoted from the original: 'Your letter of the 27th of March reached me some days ago. . . . Let me most cordially thank you for the precious enclosures in your letter. The Church sonnets have an es- pecial interest inasmuch as they give a completeness to the Ecclesiastical series which was very greatly to be desired. There now seems to be nothing wanting in fulfilment of the design of this imaginative commentary (if that be not too prosaic a title) upon the history and services of the Church.' The MS. which accompanies these letters of March and April in the Wordsworth-Reed correspondence was pointed out to the present editor by Mrs. St. John in 191 9. It bears no date, but it is creased into folds exactly corresponding to the cover of the letter it is supposed to accompany, and satisfies the references to such a document made by both Reed and Wordsworth. Moreover, the cover itself, which is stamped 'Ambleside Mr. 30, 1843,' 'Ambleside Ap 2, 1843,' and 'Returned for postage,' has the following note written on one flap of it: ' I will be much obliged if you will have the enclosed sonnets copied and sent to Bp. Do,ane, who has not given me his address. W. W.' The document is a double sheet written on all four pages.. The sonnets included are * Bishops and Priests,' The Marriage Ceremony, Thanksgiving after Childbirth, The Commination Service, Forms of Prayer at Sea, Visitation of the Sick, and Funeral Service. Then follow alterations of Rural Ceremony and of The Liturgy. Clearly, E is the important evidence for the date of Eccl. Son. 3.16, 3.29, and 3.30, respectively ' Bishops and Priests,' The Commination Service, and Forms of Prayer at Sea. These must have been composed before March 2^, 1843. That they were composed after September 4, 1842, is indicated by the fact that Wordsworth did not mention them in their necessary Facsimile of a page of the letter from Wordsworth to Henry Reed, September 4, 1842. In the collection of Mrs. St. John. OF WILLIAM WORDSWORTH 33 connection when on that date he wrote to Henry Reed as follows : 'A few days ago after a very long interval I returned to poetical composition; and my first employment was to write a couple of sonnets recommended by you to take place in the Ecclesiastical series. They are upon the Marriage Ceremony, and the Funeral Service. I have also, at the same time, added two others, one upon Visiting the Sick, and the other upon The Thanksgiving of Women after Childbirth, both subjects taken from the services of our Liturgy.' This letter, a page of which is here reproduced in facsimile from the original in Mrs. St. John's collection, is final evidence also of the date of Eccl. Son. 3.26, 3.27, 3.28, and 3.31 — respectively. The Marriage Ceremony, Thanksgiving after Child- birth, Visitation of the Sick, and Funeral Service. They were composed 'a few days' before September 4, 1842*1 F By far the most helpful of these six MSS. of the Ecclesiastical Sonnets, although we are at some pains to establish its authen- ticity and value, is a paper-covered note-book which came to Mrs. St. John from the sale of the library of the Reverend W. L. Nichols. Mrs. St. John has written the following data on the cover of the note-book: ' Earliest draft of Ecclesiastical Sonnets. From Rev. W. L. Nichols' sale (1890)-! 893 sale (autumn) of Woodlands, Bridgewater, who wrote The Quantocks and their Associations, read in Bath, 1871, published 1891. W. L. Nichols' Hbrary was rich in MS. of W. W.'s poems — in early MS. especially. See The Athenceum, Sept. 6, 1890. J. D. Campbell. F. 95.' The MS. is undated. There are 57 pages of it, including the title-page, on one side of which is written ECCLESIAS- TICAL SONNETS, and on the other^a table of contents. Beginning with the third, the pages are numbered, 1-55, and ^ For a discussion of this point see my article in Notes and Queries for April 3, 1920. 4 34 THE ECCLESIASTICAL SONNETS both sides of the sheet are inscribed. At the bottom of page I are the words 'In Miss Wordsworth's hand writing'; of page 5, 'Partly in [here it is impossible to tell whether the word is 'Mrs.' or 'Mr.'] Wordsworth's hand writing'; of page 6, 'In ['Mrs.' or 'Mr.'] Wordsworth's hand writing'; at the side of page 12, 'In ['Mrs.' or 'Mr.'] Wordsworth ['s] hand writing'; at the bottom of page 54, 'In ['Mrs.' or 'Mr.'] Wordsworth['s] hand writing.' There are in the note-book versions of 33 of the Ecclesiastical Sonnets, versions of 6 sonnets now belonging to other series, and several fragments. Although the sonnets do not without exception follow the order in which they were published, they have a general continuity of their own. It is, however, worthy of remark that, barring three irrelevant errors, at the head of each sonnet stands the Roman numeral proper to it in the editions of 1845 and following. After careful study I conclude that the handwriting of F is the same throughout title, table of contents, headings, sonnets, and footnotes. The numbering, the references to the scribes, and the title. Ecclesiastical Sonnets instead of Ecclesiastical Sketches, indicate that the MS. cannot be the earliest draft of the series, but must rather be, if authentic, a late copy of such a draft. Since there seems to be no external evidence for its authen- ticity other than its presence in the libraries of Mrs. St. John and the Reverend W. L. Nichols, the admissibility of MS, F mainly rests on internal evidence. And if internal evidence establishes the right of MS. F to represent a draft of the Ecclesiastical Sonitets earlier than 1822, it is well to ascertain the identity of the scribe, in order that the good faith and accuracy of the copy may be attested. The contents of the note-book are in this edition care- fully printed. Irregular punctuation and misspellings have been retained. Penciled data occur here and there in the note-book. They have been disregarded in the printing and in the discussion. OF WILLIAM WORDSWORTH 35 Internal Evidence for the Authenticity of MS. F The authenticity and priority of MS. F rest upon the proof of the following assumptions: (i) The MS. contains material not used in the text of 1822, but adjacent in the sources to the material that is used in the text of 1822. (2) The MS. is in form nearer to the original conception of the holy river than is the text of 1822. (3) The scope of the series in the MS. accords as nearly with Wordsworth's original intention as does that in the text of 1822, but the MS. is less complete than the text. (4) From the MS. are absent all the sonnets based on one of Wordsworth's most important sources. (5) The relation of sonnet to sonnet in the MS. is such that it must antedate the separate publication of Mem. Tour Cant. 1820 and Eccl. Sketches. (6) Where two or more versions of a sonnet are given, or where changes are made in the text of a sonnet, the improve- ment is in most cases undeniable; and it is the corrected version that has in most cases prevailed. (I) The MS. contains material not used in. the text of 1822, but adjacent in the sources to the material that is used in the text of 1822. First, in the MS. sonnet on the Crusades (1.34, pp. 99, loi), where lines 9-10 read: As a sharp pike set on a buckler's boss Makes an efficient portion of the mighty shield. ■ The figure of the pike in the buckler's boss is used by Fuller in the Holy War (p. 14) in the same paragraph with the material of Eccl. Son. 1.34. 1-8 (See Notes, p. 242). This figure is not retained in the text of 1822, Secondly, in one of the MS. sonnets on the Waldenses (2,14, p. 100), where line 8 reads: Cerberian mouths pursued with hideous bark. The figure is much nearer to that of Fuller {Holy War, p. 150), 36 THE ECCLESIASTICAL SONNETS 'This ignivomous cur (sire of the litter of mendicant friars called Dominicanes) did bark at and deeply bite the poor Albigenses,' than is the reading of 1822, 'Fell Obloquy.' For the passage from Fuller, on which Eccl. Son. 2.14.8 is based, see Notes, p. 256. Thirdly, in another MS. version of the sonnet on the Wal- denses (2.14, p. 100), where the sestet is derived from Fuller's Holy War (pp. 141-2). In 1822 the sestet was transferred to the Notes of that edition. For the passages from Fuller on which depend both earlier and final versions of Eccl. Son. 2. 14. 9-14, see Notes, p. 256. Fourthly, in the MS. sonnet on Scene in Venice (1.38, p. 93), which bears the heading 'A scene about the same period in the church of St. Mark, Venice.' This detail of St. Mark, prominent in Foxe's Acts and Monuments 1.185 (See Notes, p. 245), is not retained in the text of 1822. Such proof is final for the sonnets concerned, and indicative for the note-book as a whole. (2) The MS. is in form nearer to the original conception of the holy river than is the text of 1822. First, there are included as an integral part of the series versions of four sonnets illustrating events by means of the phenomena of river and sky: Mem. Tour Cont. 1820 13 (two versions); Eccl. Son. 3.12 (not published with this series until 1827; in 1822 appearing as one of the Mem. Tour Cont. 1820) ; Mem. Tour Cont. 1820 34 (three versions); and Misc. Son. 2.9 (pp. 83, 102, 90, 90, 91, 96, 94). Secondly, two references in the MS. to rivers have been discarded in the text of 1822: in 1.2 or 1.5 (p. 82). (3) The scope of the series accords as nearly with Wordsworth's original intention as does that of the text of 1822; but the MS. is less complete than the text. Wordsworth said in the Advertisement to the edition of 1822: OF WILLIAM WORDSWORTH 37 'During the month of December, 1820, I accompanied a much-loved and honoured Friend in a walk through different parts of his estate, with a view to fix upon the site of a new Church which he intended to erect. . . . Not long afterwards, some of the Sonnets which will be found towards the close of this series were produced as a private memorial of that morn- ing's occupation.' Two such sonnets are in MS. F: Misc. Son. 3.7, Ecd. Son. 3.41 ; and Eccl. Son. 3.44, unless it had been written at Cam- bridge. However, Eccl. Son. 3.39 and 3.40 are not included in MS. F. Wordsworth continued in the Advertisement: 'The Catholic Question, which was agitated in Parliament about that time, kept my thoughts in the same course; and it struck me that certain points in the Ecclesiastical History of our Country might advantageously be presented to view in verse.' These certain points in MS. F are the archiepiscopal influence on Henry V, the troubles of Charles I, the insult to the bones of Wyclif, eminent reformers, the abuses suffered by Henry H and John, the interdict in the reign of John, the humiliation of Frederick Barbarossa, the danger from Charles H, the exiles during the Marian persecution, the character of William of Nassau, the Crusades, the Gunpowder Plot, the persecution of the Waldenses, Elizabeth, Cranmer, and the mutability of outward forms. Here it may be well to quote a passage from the Preface of Christopher Wordsworth's Ecclesiastical Biography, 1810. He is discussing his scheme and its limitations (i.xi-xii): ' Besides those obvious ones of restricting the history to that of our own country, and to the lives of our fellow countrymen, there appeared to me many reasons why the work should begin with the preparations towards a Reformation by the labors of Wicklift'e and his followers, and not a few why it might well stop at the Revolution. Within those limits are comprehended, if we except the first establishment of Christi- 38 THE ECCLESIASTICAL SONNETS anity amongst us, the rise, progress, and issue of the principal agitations and revolutions of the public mind of this country in regard to matters of Religion: — namely, the Reformation from Popery, and the glories and horrors attending that hard- fought struggle; the subsequent exorbitances and outrages of the Anti-popish spirit, as exemplified by the Puritans; the victory of that spirit, in ill-suited alliance with the principles of civil liberty, over loyalty and the Established Church, in the times of Charles the First; the wretched systems and practices of the Sectaries, during the Commonwealth, and the contests for establishment between the Presbyterians and Independents at the same period; the hasty return of the nation, weary and sick of the long reign of confusion, to the ancient constitution of things, at the Restoration; the opera- tion of those confusions, and of the ill-disciplined triumph of the adverse party upon the state of morals and religion, during the early part of the reign of the second Charles ; the endeavors of Charles and his brother to restore Popery, and introduce despotism; the noble exertions of the clergy of the Church of England, at that interval, in behalf of natural and revealed Religion, and Protestantism, and civil liberty; the Revolution of 1688, together with the ascertainment of the distinct nature and rights of an established Church, and a religious toleration; and the principles of the Non-jurors.' In their final ordering the Ecclesiastical Sonnets exceed the scheme of Christopher Wordsworth in five notable particulars. They include: a. An extensive group relating to 'the first establishment of Christianity' in Britain, based mainly on Turner and Bede. b. Sonnets on the growth of the papal power. c. The Aspects of Christianity in America, added many years later at the suggestion of Henry Reed and Bishop Doane. d. A group on the liturgy. e. An extensive group on the mutability of external forms and on ecclesiastical architecture. All of these elements except c. are to some degree present in MS. F, but b. and e. are most important, as is to be expected from Wordsworth's Advertisement; a. would be an exten- sion desirable for the better understanding of b. Never- OF WILLIAM WORDSWORTH 39 theless, for the scope of the narrative proper in MS. F, WilHam Wordsworth follows Christopher Wordsworth. If we except Diocletian, the assumed 'earliest draft' begins 'with the preparations towards a Reformation by the labors of Wickliffe' and stops at 'the Revolution of 1688.' This vital connection of MS. F with Christopher Words- worth's design and with Wordswortji's own intention consti- tutes one of the strongest arguments for its authenticity. (4) From the MS. are absent all the sonnets based on one of Wordsworth's most important sources, viz., The History of the Anglo-Saxons, by Sharon Turner. Furthermore, Bede, whose Ecclesiastical History Wordsworth used very freely in Part i, is represented in MS. F only by the sestet on the martyrdom of Alban; the Wordsworthian account of the famous speech, 'Man's life,' etc. {Eccl. Son. 1.16) is taken from Fuller, not from Bede. Finally, none of the sonnets indispensably based on the histories of Burnet appear in MS. F. Therefore it is more than probable that so definite a cleavage as to sources indicates priority for the MS. version. (5) The relation of sonnet to sonnet in MS. F is such that this must antedate the separate publication of Mem. Tour Cont. 1820 and Eccl. Sketches. In MS. F the connection is logical between Eccl. Son. 1.6 {Diocletian) and Mem. Tour Cont. 1820 13: compare 'malice,' and 'fear'; ' lightning,' and 'whirlwind of anger'; 'unavailing shield,' and 'rocky fortress'; 'threats could shake,' and 'threatening to destroy'; 'flowery platform,' and 'flowers beside the torrent growing. ' So Eccl. Son. 3.12 (' Down a swift Stream') and Mem. Tour Cont. 1820 34: compare 'calm leisure,' and 'shallows' (first version). Again, £cc/. Son. 1.38 {Papal Abuses) and Mem. Tour Cont. 1820 34: compare ' sky's fantastic 40 THE ECCLESIASTICAL SONNETS element,' and 'mimics of fancy' (second version). Again, Ecd. Son. 3.18 {Pastoral Character) and its intended contrast Eccl. Son. 1.39 {Scene in Venice), a contrast illustrated by Misc. Son. 2.9. Again, Eccl. Son. 1.4 {Druidical Excom.) and Poems of i8jj 43: compare 'cumbrous load,' and 'sisterhood forlorn.' Finally, Eccl. Son. 3.35 {Old Abbeys) and Poems of 1^33 43" compare 'pride deserving chastisement severe,' and 'the inviolable god that tames the proud,' and notice the connection of both with Eccl. Son. 1.4. Therefore it is doubtful that when these fonnets were written Wordsworth had yet arranged the Mem. Tour Cont. 1820. (6) Where two or more versions of a sonnet are given, or where changes are made in the text of a sonnet, the improvement is in most cases undeniable; and it is the corrected version that has in most cases survived. Refer to the corrections in the following sonnets of MS. F: i.i, 1.2, 1.16, 2.17, 3.18, 2.37, 3.19, 2.38, 3.34 on pp. 81, 81-2, 84, 88, 93, 95, 98, 103, 108. Notice also that the following sonnets of MS, F are different from any printed version: 1.5, 2.15, 1.34, 2.36, 1.4, 3.35 on pp. 82, 85, 99, 102, 105, 106. Such evidence, it seems to me, proves these six assumptions in regard to MS. F: that it bears an authentic relation to Wordsworth's sources, his design, and hi? purposes; and that it is early in regard to his use of sources, his ordering of his material, and his artistic revi-ion. Therefore, as far as internal evydence may be considered valid, MS. F is admitted as an authentic representation of the sonnets included in it. One could not, however, safely assert that a sonnet wanting in MS. F was not of early com- position, or did not belong to the series as first conceived. The Scribe of MS. F Next, it is well to ascertain the identity of the scribe, In order that the good faith and accuracy of the copy may be attested. ^' /i^*'iUf<' 'iptrJ^ f^i^f^' ^"^r^ C^^^^'^ Facsimile of Mary Wordsworth's script, July i8, 1842. In the collection of Mrs. St. John. OF WILLIAM WORDSWORTH 41 The available evidence points to Mary Word?worth, a facsimile of whose handwriting on July i8, 1842, is here re- produced. Although she formed her letters very much in the manner of the poet, her script of the later period is more fluent and steady than his. This appears from a comparison of the two documents (facing pp. 32 and 40) to which Reed referred on November 14, 1842 (MS.): 'Since last I wrote to you, I have had the gratification of receiving your two letters (of July and a few days ago that of Sept. 4). From the last being in your own handwriting I was glad to infer that the inflammation of your eyes mentioned in the former letter had passed away, and that you are in the enjoyment of your usual excellent health.' After careful study of these letters and other documentary evidence, I conclude that Mary Wordsworth is the scribe of MS. F. Importance of MS. F MS. F is important for the following reasons: First, it contains a fund of information for the student of Wordsworth's art. If use of sources be the subject of investi- gation, the three versions of Waldenses in the MS. are valuable data. If the refining of phrase and the excision of useless material be studied, the lessons taught on every page of the MS. are no less helpful. Secondly, it contains some 35 unpublished lines of Words- worth's composition. Thirdly, when compared with the final version of the Ecclesiastical Sonnets, MS. F permits a study of the develop- ment of structure, and hence justifies an estimate of Words- worth's power to build. The formal beauty of the series is not an accident; it is an achievement the stages of which one may now follow in detail. Fourthly, MS. F indicates more clearly, because more fundamentally, than does the final version, that Wordsworth's main purpose was to warn against bigotry, rage, and pride, 42 THE ECCLESIASTICAL SONNETS and against 'the pomps and vanities of earth.' Tolerance, humihty, pure faith, constitute the ideal of MS. F no less than of the Ecclesiastical Sonnets. Fifthly, MS. F, almost entirely lacking in reference to the Church of the Middle Ages, is the strongest evidence for one of Wordsworth's greatest imaginative feats. Not until after the first draft of his Church history was accomplished did he see that its scope demanded the sympathetic and scholarly study of a period hitherto known to him chiefly through its ecclesiastical monuments. Taking his cue possibly from Dyer's History of Cambridge 1.135, 155, with its references to Sharon Turner's History of the Anglo-Saxons, he procured the work of Turner, the best English book of its sort in existence at the time. With it and with Bede's Ecclesiastical History, the main original source, he proceeded to so careful a delinea- tion of his subject that the result of his effort. Part i of the Ecclesiastical Sonnets, is unique in English literature as a poetical account of the establishment and growth of Christi- anity in England. EDITIONS 1822-1857 I. Enumeration a. Ecclesiastical Sketches by William Wordsworth. London: Printed for Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, Paternoster- Row. 1822. Printed by A. and R. Spottis- woode, New-Street-Square. b. Eccl. Son. 2.43 and 3.12 are printed in the volume: Me- morials of a Tour on the Continent, 1820. By William Wordsworth. London: Printed for Longman, Hurst, Reese, Orme, and Brown, Paternoster- Row. 1822. c. [In volume 3 of] The Poetical Works of William Wordsworth. In Five Volumes. London: Printed for Longman, Reese, Orme, Brown, and Green, Paternoster- Row. 1827. d. [In volume 3 of] The Poetical Works of William Wordsworth. A New Edition. In Four Volumes. London : Printed for Longman, Reese, Orme, Brown, Green, and Longman, Paternoster- Row. 1832. ^ ,/^^ /^7 .^^^ /^^^^ /^ ^^^ ^ 4^--^ ('^ ^^^^ ..6^^ /:<:a^a^^ /^ X^^^^*:^ ^ /^^-y^ Facsimile of MS. F, p. 51, In the collection of Mrs. St. John. OF WILLIAM WORDSWORTH 43 e. Keel. Son. 2.4, 2.12, and 2.13 are printed in the volume: Yarrow Revisited, And Other Poems. By William Words- worth. London: Printed for Longman, Reese, Orme, Brown, Green, & Longman, Paternoster- Row; and Ed- ward Moxon, Dover Street. 1835. /. [In volume 4 of] The Poetical Works of William Wordsworth. A New Edition. In Six Volumes. London: Edward Moxon, Dover Street. [1837.] g. [In the volume entitled] The Sonnets of William Words- worth. Collected in One Volume, with A Few Additional Ones, now First Published. London: Edward Moxon, Dover Street. [1838.] h. 'The stereotyped edition of the poems in six volumes, published in 1836-7, was re-issued, with a revised and slightly altered text, in 1840, and this edition of 1840 again was also reprinted in 1841, 1842, 1843 . . . ' (P. W., Oxford ed., p. xxxii.) [In volume 4 of] The Poetical Works of William Words- worth. A New Edition. In Six Volumes. London: Edward Moxon, Dover Street. [1840.] [1841.] [1843.] i. Eccl. Son. 3.13, 3.14, and 3.15 are printed in the volume: Poems, Chiefly of Early and Late Years; Including The Borderers, a Tragedy. By William Wordsworth. Lon- don: Edward Moxon, Dover Street. [1842.] j. [In the volume entitled] The Poems of William Wordsworth, D.C.L., Poet Laureate, etc., etc. A New Edition. Lon- don: Edward Moxon, Dover Street. [1845.] k. [In volume 4 of] The Poetical Works of William Wordsworth, D.C.L., Poet Laureate, etc. In Seven Volumes. A New and Revised Edition. London. Edward Moxon, Dover Street. [1846.] /. [In volume 4 of] The Poetical Works of William Wordsworth, D.C.L., Poet Laureate, etc., etc. In Six Volumes. A New Edition. London: Edward Moxon, Dover Street. [1850.] m. 'In 1857 a six-volume edition of the poems appeared, in 44 THE ECCLESIASTICAL SONNETS which the notes dictated in 1843 by the poet to Miss Fen wick were first pubHshed, being prefixed to the indi- vidual "pieces to which they severally refer.' {P. W., Oxford ed., p. xxxii.) 2. History of the Text I a, b In 1822 Wordsworth published under the title Ecclesiastical Sketches 102 sonnets, disposed in three parts, of 38, 36, and 28 sonnets respectively. He published during the same year the Memorials of a Tour on the Continent, 1820. Moreover, The Jtmgfrau and the Fall of the Rhine near Schaffhausen appeared in both series, in the latter with the following note: 'This sonnet belongs to another publication, but from its fitness for this place is inserted here also.' From the Memorials of a Tour on the Continent, 1820, Words- worth in 1827 transferred the Author's Voyage down the Rhine {Thirty Years Ago) to the Ecclesiastical Sketches as 'Down a swift Stream, thus far, a bold design,' now 3.12. It was thoroughly revised and helped to fill what Henry Reed four- teen years later called 'almost a vacant niche' after the Obligations of Civil to Religious Liberty (MS. of a letter to Wordsworth, April 28, 1841). Obviously 3.12 was introduced for its value in the figure of the 'holy river.' But 10 other sonnets were added to the edition of 1827, where the plot would best support a renewed caution against the perils of idolatry, cruelty, and fanati- cism (2.30, 2.33, 2,34, 3.7, 3.1 1, 3.36: respectively. The Point at Issue, Revival of Popery, Latimer and Ridley, Perse- cution of the Scottish Covenanters, Sacheverel, Emigrant French Clergy) ; or where the liturgical theme might be expanded with a possible gain in dignity and repose (3.20, 3.23, 3.24, OF WILLIAM WORDSWORTH 45 3.25: respectively, Baptism, Confirmation, Confirmation Con' tinned, Sacrament). A comparison of these with other poems first published in 1827 shows that the poet's access of zeal for spiritual freedom was shaped into a clear definition of the means whereby he thought it was to be secured: Faith and Grace. Latimer and Ridley were coupled in the ' might of Faith ' ; ' Faith preserved her ancient purity' in Alpine vales when 'the majesty of England interposed'; English shores gave to the 'Faith' of the emigrant French clergy 'a fearless resting-place.' And, above all, the wise contend for 'Faith' in the Point at Issue, surely one of the most characteristic of all Wordsworth's sonnets, even when considered apart from its place as the keystone of the structure of the Ecclesiastical Sonnets. 'Grace descendeth from above' at baptism, and the 'Fountain of Grace' is lauded and magnified before the sacrament.^ George Herbert's The Temple: The Church Porch must have been in Wordsworth's mind at this time. From it (stanza i) he adapted the motto prefixed to the series in 1827.2 To Herbert, as to Walton, Wordsworth returned with a deepening sense of kinship. Meekness, piety, and exalted purpose were already to be found in the Ecclesiastical Sketches of 1822; faith and grace were emphasized in the additions of 1827. And the details of this first revision are so many specific indications that Wordsworth had been at work in a spirit of stern economy: 'glad step' (i.i.i) became 'faithful pace'; 'wild Companion' (1.1.3) became 'spirit ruled by his'; 'the glorious City' (1.13.4) became 'the immortal City'; 'Sweet 1 Cf. Misc. Son. 2.5, 2.37, 3.44; and the poem prefatory to P. W., If thou indeed. 2 A verse may find him, who a Sermon flies, . And turn delight into a Sacrifice. — Herbert. A verse may catch a wandering Soul, that flies Profounder Tracts, and by a blest surprise Convert delight into a Sacrifice. — Wordsworth. 46 THE ECCLESIASTICAL SONNETS Hallelujahs' (1.13.14) became 'Glad Hallelujahs'; 'prurient speculations' (2.37.9) became 'speculative notions'; and, perhaps most clearly indicative of all, 'polity and discipline' (2.40.10) became 'doctrine and communion.' The diction was remodeled to please the sensitive ear; phrases carefully involved were no less carefully turned into their substantive elements, with resulting fluency and power; the first two lines of 3.32 were revised to accord with the new members of the liturgical group; and, finally, the order of the sonnets near the beginning of Part 3 stood as follows: Latitudinarianisniy Clerical Integrity, Persecution of the Scottish Covenanters, Ac- quittal of the Bishops, William, the Third, Obligations of Civil to Religious Liberty, 'Down a swift Stream,' Walton's Book of Lives, Sacheverel, Places of Worship. In the arrangement of 1827 the three parts contained 38, 39, 36 sonnets respectively. Notable, too, is the position of Ecclesiastical Sketches in the collection. Although later to be shifted, the series was first included among the substantial poems: the Memorials of the tours of 1803, 1 814, and 1820, the Poems on the Naming of Places, Inscriptions, and the series of National Independence and Liberty. d Five years later, in 1832, Wordsworth transferred the series into the company of The White Doe of Rylstone and the Poems of Sentiment and Reflection. The project of increasing the liturgical group, which, as the variant readings show, long continued a moot point with him, gained in favor. The one sonnet added this year was Sponsors, now 3.21. But he maintained a well-nigh perfect numerical balance, part to part: 38, 39, 37. His preference for ideas over images and his use of expressions which more and more transcend each other would lead him in 1845 to an abstract vocabulary and a neutral style; as yet, though simple and formal, his lines were vigorous: 'Melts into silent shades the Youth' (2.33.1) became 'The saintly Youth has ceased to rule.' We find the search OF WILLIAM WORDSWORTH 47 for the distinct word unabated: 'peace and equity' (1.24.7) became 'justice and peace. ' Wordsworth had long been ex- pounding the cost of peace, and the distinction between equity and justice; here the point was well taken. Indeed, the propriety of the changes in the text so far is easy to see. Almost without exception they make for a better under- standing of the poet's aim, and, thanks to the soundness of his original conception and to his spacious design, have not impaired the one or encumbered the other. The volume Yarrow Revisited appeared in 1835 with this note (p. 281): 'The three following Sonnets are an intended addition to the Ecclesiastical Sketches, the first to stand second ; and the two that succeed, seventh and eighth, in the second part of the series. — See the author's Poems. — They are placed here as having some connection with the foregoing poem.' The three sonnets, now 2.4, 2.12, and 2.13, were 'Deplorable his lot who tills the ground,' The Vaudois, and 'Praised be the Rivers, from their mountain springs'; and the foregoing poem was Stanzas Suggested in a Steamboat off St. Bees' Heads, on the Coast of Cumberland. Lines 136-44 of the latter are in substance the same as Eccl. Son. 2.4. But the sonnet has by far a stricter economy and a closer application than the nine lines from which, for this very reason, I judge that it was remodeled. If the derivation be from stanzas to sonnet, to the remnants of mediaeval culture which Wordsworth saw on his tour of 1833 may be given partial credit for his subsequent desire to build up the beginning of Part 2 into a juster estimate of mediaeval institutions, as institutions; their history and persons and circumstances he had fully set forth in 1822. Is it not akin to the temper of previous changes of the text, this desire to perpetuate the institution and the idea rather than accidents of the former and perversions of the latter? 48 THE ECCLESIASTICAL SONNETS But now once more the local Heart revives, The inextinguishable Spirit strives.^ The remaining two sonnets of this triad were not so im- portant in themselves; but the three together formed an epitome of the series, the plea for wise organization contrasted with the summons to spiritual integrity, both crowned by a natural image which made the whole vivid. In conception Vaudois must be much earlier than 1835, for its source is partly Fuller's Holy War (p. 140), a paragraph where the phrases of Waldenses (1822) are closely imbedded with it. Possibly Wordsworth remodeled an incomplete and discarded draft of Waldenses to compensate for the new emphasis on monasticism (cf. MS. F, p. 100). 'Praised be the Rivers' supplied a needed tributary for the 'holy river.' Its contents are little more than can be found in Poems Dedicated to National Independence and Liberty 1.12, 1.16, and 2.10, with perhaps a reference to the Venetian breach with Rome during the ambassadorship of Henry Wotton.^ / Wordsworth wrote to Moxon of the edition of 1836-7: 'The value of this edition — as hereafter will be universally admitted — lies in the pains which have been taken in the revisal of so many of the old poems, in the remodeling and often rewriting of whole paragraphs, which you know has cost me great labor, and I do not repent of it. In the poems lately written I have had comparatively little trouble.' ^ With the addition of 'Coldly we spake,' 1.32, and the three sonnets of 1835, Ecclesiastical Sketches now made their appear- ance as Ecclesiastical Sonnets. The division into three parts of 39, 42, and 37 sonnets respectively was still a proportionate one, and the textual changes, while not so much of a kind, 1 St. Bees 149-50. 2 Walton, Lives 1.148. ^ Letters 3.120. OF WILLIAM WORDSWORTH 49 give no hint that the poet would endanger the unity of the series, or that he failed to preserve a sane estimate of each individual sonnet. He capitalized fewer nouns in this edition, and revised words which were obsolescent or over-precise: 'Frame (1.20.1) be- came 'Body'; 'nicer heed' (2.3.2) became 'stricter heed'; 'dreadless' (3.36.14) became 'fearless.' He consistently aban- doned the use of noun as adjective: 'forest arches cool' (1.22.7) became 'sylvan arches cool'; 'enthusiast powers' (1.35. 13) became 'Enthusiasts'; 'Convent Gate' (2.22.7) be- came 'Convent's gate*; 'phantom lakes' (2.27.13) became 'spectral lakes.' He took from certain phrases their partisan fervor; and hence some passages had the curious effect of under-statement. The thorough ' remodeling ' given to parts of 1. 16, 1.27, 2.8, 2.13, resulted in the sacrifice of a few specious and rhetorical passages, but his intensity of a decade ago was lacking. And on the whole the changes were cautious rather than economical. Except for 2.14, the few textual changes of this series in the volume of 1838 were slight, and seem generally to have been disregarded during the preparation of later editions. Wordsworth wrote to Reed July 5, 1844: 'What you advise in respect to a separate pubhcation of my Church poetry, I have often turned in my own mind; but I have really done so little in that way, compared with the magnitude of the subject, that I have not courage to venture on such a publication. Besides, it would not, I fear, pay its expenses. The Sonnets were so published upon the recom- mendation of a deceased nephew of mine, one of the first scholars of Europe, and as good as he was learned.' ^ It is owing to John, son of Christopher Wordsworth, then, that The Sonnets of William Wordsworth collected in one volume appeared in 1838 with the following Advertisement: ^ Memoirs 2.415-6. 5 50 THE ECCLESIASTICAL SONNETS 'Some of my friends having expressed a wish to see all the sonnets that are scattered through several volumes of my Poems brought under the eye at once; this is done in the present publication, with a hope that a collection made to please a few may not be unacceptable to many others. Twelve new ones are added which were composed while the sheets were going through the press. My admiration of some of the sonnets of Milton first tempted me to write in that form. The fact is not mentioned from a notion that it will be deemed of any importance by the reader, but merely as a public acknowledgment of one of the innumerable obligations which, as a poet and a man, I am under to our great fellow-countryman.' So many of Wordsworth's books were introductions, mis- cellanies, or fragments, or, like the Lyrical Ballads and The White Doe of Rylstone, were the outgrowth of some one period, that the volume of 1838 has a unique interest. The poems in it are of one kind, they are of a kind in which Wordsworth excelled, and they are representative of half a lifetime. With this in mind, and some regard for the opinion of 'one of the first scholars of Europe,' we may well note the arrangement of the volume: Miscella?ieous Sonnets, Political Sonnets, Itinerary Sonnets, The River Duddon, and Ecclesiastical Sonnets. The Ecclesiastical Sonnets were placed at the apex of a series. II The name of Henry Reed serves as a preface to the next chapter in the history of the text. Without him this series might have rested at the summit of the body of Wordsworth's sonnets, the purity of its outline undisturbed, its purpose still single. Reed was courtly — almost fulsome — in address, as we come to know him through his letters. Yet he was strong and very fine; it is easy to see how firmly and completely he fitted into the thoughts and moods of Wordsworth's old age. He failed to realize, however, that the Ecclesiastical Sonnets constituted OF WILLIAM WORDSWORTH 51 a narrative poem written on the history of the English Church. His zeal to expand its frail connection with the religious life of America and its exposition of the liturgy does credit to him as a churchman; nor was it unsound if we approve his plan of strengthening the spiritual bonds between England and America; still it smacked a little of cult, and led to a tam- pering with Wordsworth's greatest structure. He wrote to Wordsworth : 'There is a subject which from time to time has occurred to my mind — and which I have felt a strong desire to introduce to your consideration, though restrained, let me assure you, by no httle diffidence about it. . . . Without further preface, and more than you perhaps will think the subject calls for, let me say that it is the suggestion of an historical occasion closely connected with your Ecclesiastical Sonnets and one which I hope may strike you, when it is presented to your reflections, as worthy a place in the series — ^the consecration of the American Bishops, and the consequent transmission of the spiritual functions of the Church in England to the daughter Church on this Western Continent. It has often struck me that there was something of a moral sublimity in the event, considering the precise period when it took place in 1787, so soon after all the animosity of the revolution which separated the colonies from Great Britain, and yet so admirable a spirit prevailing on both sides, with the ecclesi- astical power that was giving — and that which was receiving. One of the candidates for consecration (Bp. W.) had been chaplain to the revolutionary Congress, but nothing could be truer, better reconciled with his sound American policy, than his deep and reverential affection for old England. He kept it alive to the end of a life of nearly 90 years. Pray, my dear sir, have the goodness to give this subject ... a place in your thoughts, and pardon the liberty I have taken in pre- senting it to you. The ecclesiastical sympathy of the countries is an excellent peace maker and peace keeper and I am sure no one would be more ready than you to contribute to the feeling. I did not well know in what way to put you in possession of the circumstances attending the consecration of the American Bishops. I hardly thought it worth while to send you a copy of the Biography of Bishop White, but in its stead have sent a reviewal I wrote of it a year or two since. 52 THE ECCLESIASTICAL SONNETS which notices some of the incidents. I have sent it to my correspondent in London.' ^ Wordsworth entertained the plan kindly, and, as appears from Reed's second letter, sent word that 'Bishop Doane had chanced to make the same suggestion.' ^ Moreover, Reed was not content to let the matter rest. He urged his project in even greater detail: 'Surely no measure in the history of the Church in England has been calculated to spread her principles over a larger section of Christendom. The Church in this country has gone on in perfect harmony with our popular systems of government, and will I believe prove one of the indirect means of checking any tendency of these systems to irregularity, for it came along with a spirit of discipline. Besides every day is showing the sympathy it creates between the two nations, when in the lower region of more worldly concerns, diplomacy, and commerce, and money, there may be, most unhappily, arising frequent occasions of dissatisfaction and estrangement. These are some of the reasons why I am so anxious for you not to dismiss the subject from your thoughts. In most perfect sincerity I assure you that fourteen lines upon it from your pen may exert an influence more wide and lasting than you can well realize or than I can calculate. If there is one thing more gratifying than another to every one to whom your poetry is dear, it is to observe the constant indications of its influence upon minds of highly reflective power, and also on those of dififerent constitution.' ^ The sonnets arrived in due time. Reed acknowledged his high 'gratification' and expressed Mrs. Reed's thanks 'for the felicitous manner in which you have introduced the name and character of her revered grandfather. Bishop White. The manner in which you have connected the Puritans with the subject was indeed unexpected, but I have nothing in my churchmanship to prevent a cordial sympathy with the tribute you have paid to them.' ^ 1 MS. letter of April 28, 1841. 2 MS. letter of November 29, 1841. ' MS. letter of November 29, 1841. * MS. letter of March 30, 1842. OF WILLIAM WORDSWORTH 53 The three sonnets composing this group, Aspects of Christi- anity in America, 3.13, 3.14, and 3.15, were first published in the volume of 1842, Poems, Chiefly of Early and Late Years. h Meanwhile the stereotyped edition of 1836-7 had been slightly revised, and was reissued in 1840; from the plates of 1840 reprints were made in 1841, 1842, and 1843. The Ecclesiastical Sonnets are scarcely concerned in this remodeling. J The one- volume edition of 1845, however, has three im- portant structural changes: (i) The expansion of the apology for the mediaeval Church at the beginning of Part 2. (2) The rearrangement of the order at the beginning of Part 3, with the insertion of Aspects of Christianity in America. (3) The disproportionate increase in the group of sonnets on services of the liturgy. In all, 14 sonnets were added: 4 to Part 2, and 10 to Part 3. The final proportion, part to part, stood 39, 46, 47. (I) Of these changes, the expansion of the group at the beginning of Part 2 seems the most defensible. First, because the plot was strongest in Part 2, and could there most safely be relaxed. Secondly, the transition from Part i to Part 2 had previously been abrupt, and needed the help of a comprehensive survey such as 2.1 and 2.2 were now able to give. Thirdly, the change was in the interest of poise: toleration was emphasized in the theme, and a heightening by contrast gained for the treat- ment of the theme. Wordsworth's letter to Reed, September 4, 1842, has been discussed. Two sonnets were added to Part 2 'in order to do more justice to the Papal Church for the services which she 54 THE ECCLESIASTICAL SONNETS did actually render to Christianity and humanity in the middle ages.' ^ Here, then, is one fruition of the 'unextin- guishable Spirit ' of St. Bees. Reason for believing that these two sonnets were 2.2 and 2.9 has been given (pp. 29-30); if that evidence be valid, the other two, 2.1 and 2.10, whose non-existence on September 4, 1842, was implied, must have been conceived later. They are more general than 2.2 and 2.9, and they contain a figure applicable to the series as a whole. (2) In Part 3 Walton's Book of Lives was restored to its place after Latitudinarianism, Sacheverel was placed before 'Down a swift Stream' — an improvement, since the latter seemed a natural cadence for the history of the English Church, and what now became its final line, 'How widely spread the inter- ests of our theme,' led on to a quieter strain of Part 3. At this point, then, Wordsworth inserted the three sonnets on Aspects of Christianity in America. It cannot be denied that the juncture was deftly made, nor that the subject had been handled far more ably than Reed could foresee or fully appre- ciate. For, considerations of structure aside, Wordsworth's experience in tolerant and judicious appraisal of ecclesiastical events rightly prompted him, if he would be just to the religious history of America, to retail the Pilgrim adventure before he celebrated the episcopal return. In a letter of April 28, 1842, Reed made an acknowledgment of Wordsworth's greater wisdom: 'Let me here return to some subjects I could only allude to in a very hurried postscript to my last. And — foremost of these — a more deliberately expressed thankfulness is due for the sonnets on the Church in America. They indeed far transcend the simple suggestion I had ventured to make. I scarcely deemed myself justified in proposing more than the introduction into the Ecclesiastical Series of the transmission of Episcopacy to America as an event in the history of the Church in England ; and therefore, so far as I allowed myself ^ See the facsimile facing p. 32. OF WILLIAM WORDSWORTH 55 to anticipate your mode of treating the subject I thought it not improbable that your imagination would incorporate the theme suggested into the series of poems by presenting the scene in Lambeth palace — the consecration of the American Bishops, so soon after the revolutionary war — in the graphic and meditative form in which in many of the sonnets you have there recorded events in British Church history. But, finely as I can conceive the story might have been told by you taking this view of it, assuredly the subject has a grander scope by the connection you give to it with the Pilgrim settlers, I cannot help saying to you, what I could certainly say more unreservedly were I commenting on these poems to any one else, that I have been much impressed with the display of imagination, in one of its important modes of action, in the unity that is given in these poems to the events (running through more than a century and a half) from the migration of the Puritans to the Western world, down to the return of the American divines seeking consecration from the Church of England. The train of reflection, impressive to any re- flecting reader, is apposite especially to my countrymen, too many of whom have been apt to trust to systems of worship neither raised nor limited save by self will.' Could the memorials of this 'train of reflection,' however, have remained a group apart, would their service not have been as valuable? And would not the unity of the series have been better preserved? Even so, granted that the structure could support the added burden, was the consecration of American bishops at Lambeth not too recent an event to take its place with propriety in a narrative whose success depended largely on a perspective of years? This last question may also be asked of Emigrant French Clergy, although here as with 'Coldly we spake,' it is the animus of Wordsworth against France which has unfortunately outweighed discretion. (3) Reed, who had wished to make of the Ecclesiastical Sonnets an instrurnent for the spread of Episcopacy in America, was still not content with the series. On April 28, 1842, after a few words of gratification at his share in suggesting the previous addition, he wrote to Wordsworth: 56 THE ECCLESIASTICAL SONNETS ' I trust you will not think your kindness in this matter is made a pretext for me to abuse it, if I suffered myself to be tempted to make another suggestion respecting the Ecclesi- astical Sonnets, the completeness of which, considering the sacred association of the whole series, is especiaHy to be desired. This consideration will, I hope, weigh with you as some excuse for my venturing to inquire whether among the sonnets in the latter part of the series on the rites and cere- monies ot the Church — Baptism, Catechizing, and those (very favorite ones) on Confirmation, there should not be introduced two more, on the solemnization of Matrimony, and the other on the Burial Service. Are not these (the former in its introductory address and the latter throughout) among the most excellent of the liturgical ceremonies, and do they not — more perhaps than any other — appeal to that common human- heartedness, which is the very element in which your poetry moves and has its being? That inimitable burial service — at once so mournful and so consolatory — and so often solem- nized to us all as to seem the paramount occasional service of the Church. I am confident that your imagination could not fail to touch both with tenderness and wisdom the feelings which either are or ought to be associated with that rite. I well remember the impression made on me by two lines in one of your other poems, merely alluding however in a different connection and for a different purpose to one of the incidents of the burial service — the lines in the stanzas On the Power of Sound, The little sprinkling of cold earth [that fell] Echoed from the coffin lid. For not a little while the lines fairly haunted me. But I am dwelling too long — much too long on this subject, and probably you had some good reason for the omission, in which case all this is impertinence.' Any exhaustive 'appeal to common human-heartedness' would in 1822 have been apt to arouse Wordsworth's sus- picions, for Eccl. Son. 1.8, 1.23, 1.26, 2.3, 2.5, 2.20, 2.36, 2.37, were so many attempts either to transcend common human- heartedness or to define its perils. The warning in 1.20 should not have been forgotten : ' The way is smooth for Power that travels with the human heart. . . . Ye holy Men, so earnest OF WILLIAM WORDSWORTH 57 in your care, of your own mighty instruments beware! ' More probably Wordsworth's own increasing faith in social rather than individual channels of religious feeling inclined him to this further versification ' of offices dispensing heavenly grace ' (2.6.14). Suffice it to say that 7 sonnets based on the liturgy were composed (see pp. 31-3), and in 1845 inserted as 3.16, 3.26, 3,27, 3.28, 3.29, 3.30, and 3.31; respectively: 'Bishops and Priests,' The Marriage Ceremony, Thanksgiving after Child- birth, Visitation of the Sick, The Commination Service, Forms of Prayer at Sea, and Funeral Service. The beginning of 3.32 was altered to accord with the sonnets which preceded it; 3.25.9, to accord with the sonnets which followed. By 1845 the text had been slightly altered from the reading of the stereotyped edition of 1837 ; the changes follow the trend of Wordsworth's thought: 'memorial Sacrament' (3.25.3) be- came 'mysterious Sacrament.' The substitution of 'Furl we the sails, and pass with tardy oars,' for 'Nor can Imagination quit the shores' (2.8.1), was a decided gain, and could be urged as proof that Wordsworth still wrote for the ear and eye. In its movement, it is one of the best lines in the series. Among the minor improvements are these: 'At length come those Waldensian bands' (2.14.6) became 'Then followed the Waldensian bands'; 'Blest be the Church' (3.20.1) became 'Dear be the Church'; 'sadness that' (3.2.2) became 'sadness which.' The last three hues of Elizabeth (2.38. 12-14) were entirely changed. The 'glorious light' has yielded to a 'foul con- straint,' presumably Elizabeth's intolerant treatment of Mary Stuart. This is quite in keeping with Wordsworth's judg- ment of events at every turn. His consistency appeared also in his reluctance to write 'Church reformed' for 'new-born Church' (2.40.4); he felt that 'if taken in its literal sense, as a transformation, it is very objectionable.' ^ He yielded the point, however, to readers who were dissatisfied with the line as it stood. ^ Memoirs 2.1 15. 58 THE ECCLESIASTICAL SONNETS k, I, m In the reprint of 1846, taken from the stereotypes of 1836-7 revised to date, the notation of Parts 2 and 3 was slightly- disturbed by the intrusion of the sonnets added to the series in 1842 and 1845. This formal difificulty was remedied in the edition of 1850. But the change of 'his' to 'its' (1.1.2) in the edition of 1850 cannot go undebated. The repetition of 'his' in two successive lines has, it is true, been avoided, but the use of both masculine and neuter pronouns with the image of Dud- don confuses the idea; so much so that Mr. Carter for the edition of 1857 restored the reading of 1 822-1 845. Ill When the variant readings are thus studied in their relation one to the other, and when the sequence of changes in the text and about the text becomes clear, the way is open for a few valuable deductions. First. Wordsworth was above all the apostle of tolerance and moderation. Secondly. Religion to him was a communal responsibility. Institutions were therefore its proper channels. Thirdly. Polity and discipline, or — to use the word under which he included both — doctrine, must be supplemented by communion. Fourthly. Although spiritual integrity should not be sacri- ficed, any appeal to sensibility was properly subordinate to logical truth and structural beauty. Fifthly. A poem which celebrated the ideal beauty of religion, as it could be traced in the history of an institution, might well rest its artistic success upon the fine proportion of its design, and upon ^he simplicity, even the severity, of its workmanship. Interior of King's College Chapel, Cambridge. OF WILLIAM WORDSWORTH 59 Inside of King's College Chapel, Cambridge Tax not the royal Saint with vain expense, With ill-matched aims the Architect who planned — Albeit labouring for a scanty band Of white-robed Scholars only — this immense And glorious Work of fine intelligence ! Give all thou canst; high Heaven rejects the lore Of nicely-calculated less or more; So deemed the man who fashioned for the sense These lofty pillars, spread that branching roof Self-poised, and scooped into ten thousand cells, Where light and shade repose, where music dwells Lingering — and wandering on as loth to die; Like thoughts whose very sweetness yieldeth proof That they were born for immortality. 60 THE ECCLESIASTICAL SONNETS STRUCTURE Analysis of Narrative and Structure Part I From the Introduction of Christianity into Britain to the Consummation of the Papal Dominion. a Britain before Augustine: Celtic Britain (1-5) ; Roman Britain (6-9) ; Britons vs. Saxons (10-12). b From Augustine to Alfred : Introduction of Christianity (13-17); establish- ment of Christianity by good works (18-20), contemplation (21-23), enterprise (24-26). c From Alfred to the consummation of the papal dominion : Perils at home from Dane and monk (27-30), and Norman (31-32); perils abroad from infidel (33-35) and pope (36-39)- Part 2 To the Close of the Troubles in the Reign of Charles I. a Apology : Charity for the Roman see (1-2) ; the services of the monastic orders (3-5) ; religion and chivalry (6-8); progress and decline (9-10). b Attempted reform; separation from Rome: Rebirth of the true Church because of the preser- vation of the pure faith (11-14) and the spread of sanctified doctrine (15-17); abuses of (18-21) and regrets for (22-25) monasticism and Roman Catho- licism; the reformers warned (26-28) and exhorted (29-32). c Unity or schism: Peril from Marian idolatry and tyranny (33-35), and from Protestant intolerance and schism (36- 38); faction (39-42) and civil war (43-46). Part 3 From the Restoration to the Present Times. a Preservation of the true Church : Paternal and patriotic love (1-2); Circean revels OF WILLIAM WORDSWORTH 61 or celestial light (3-5) ; tyranny or conscience (6- 8) ; casual law and fierce extremes, or ancient virtue and the golden mean (9-12) ; concord and charity moving in circles with the return of the American divines to Lambeth (13-15). b Ecclesiastical ceremony: Solemn offices (16-18); the liturgy (19-31); re- grets (32-33). c Ecclesiastical architecture: Types of the spiritual Church in truth and charity (34-37); in humble altar and low pile (38-41); in cathedral and college chapel (42-45) ; the eternal city (46-47)- Number of Sonnets 1 In 1822 In 1827 In 1832 In 1835 In 1837 In 1842 In 1845 In 1850 la 12 12 12 12 12 12 12 12 lb 14 14 14 14 14 14 14 14 ic 12 12 12 12 13 13 13 13 38 38 38 38 39 39 39 39 2a 5 5 5 [6] 6 6 10 10 2b 19 20 20 [22] 22 22 22 22 2C 12 14 14 14 14 14 T4 14 36 39 39 [42J 42 42 46 46 3a 9 12 12 12 12 [15] 15 15 3b 6 10 II II II II 18 18 3c 13 14 14 14 14 14 14 14 28 36 37 37 37 [40] 47 47 Total 102 113 114 [117] 118 [121] 132 132 An analysis of the Ecclesiastical Sonnets shows that the division of the series as a whole, and of each main part of the series, is tripartite, and that the middle group of each main part includes the greatest number of sonnets. Hence we might expect that Part 2 of the series would also be the domi- nant part; but this is not so after 1842. On the other hand, 1 In the volumes of 1835 and 1842 only the additions to the series were published. The totals which were thereby changed are bracketed. 62 THE ECCLESIASTICAL SONNETS before 1845 the middle group of Part 3 was not the domi- nant group. The series diminishes from part to part in 1822; but be- ginning with 1827 there is a gain in central emphasis for the series and for the parts. If a slight overdevelopment of Part 3 be disregarded, the final scheme is symmetrical as well as tripartite. Parts i and 2 have kept their proportions throughout. Wordsworth first thought of his narrative as a holy river. He was then in a quandary over the less fluent aspects of his theme, the apologies for instance, and the liturgical and architectural groups. Although image and symbol might with fair success cover the disparity, his scheme was not fully unified until 1827, when he added 'Down a swift Stream' (3.12) and The Point at Issue (2.30). The result, while reminiscent of Dante, who faced the same problem, is far from Dantesque. Had Wordsworth, instead of tracing his holy river to an eternal city, foreordained one as part of the other • — in the manner of Ezekiel and St. John as well as of Dante, his union of the temporal and eternal might have been more complete. And his attempt to combine visio and epic into an apocalypse of fact might better have stood the architectural test if his experience with liturgies and cathedrals had been as long as it was appreciative. He has, however, undeniably made himself a part of the tradition of Ezekiel, Revelation, and the Divina Commedia. His design and his imagery are both fluent and architectonic. The living Waters, less and less by guilt Stained and polluted, brighten as they roll. Till they have reached the eternal City — built For the perfected Spirits of the just.^ I. Narrative Further study of the analysis given above brings forth the following observations or inferences in regard to the narrative: ^ Eccl. Son. 3.47.11-14. OF WILLIAM WORDSWORTH 63 First. The action concerns the survival of the pure Church ; the points at issue are faith, freedom, and unity. Secondly. The pure Church is subject to three perils: infidelity, tyranny, and schism. And hence there is a triple theme. Thirdly. The action is simple, double, triple in sequence. The pure Church struggles with the infidel or pagan idolater — Briton, Saxon, Dane, or Turk; with the papal tyrant or royal tyrant, but no less with infidel and idolater; and with the dissenter, but no less with the infidel and the idolater, and with the tyrant. Fourthly. The agents are Paulinus, Alfred, Canute, Richard I in Part i; Wyclif, Edward VI, Cranmer, EHzabeth, Laud, in Part 2; Charles II, William HI, and Sacheverell, in Part 3. This bears out the analysis just given. Paulinus was a pioneer against idolatry, Alfred defended 'Christian Eng- land from the pagan sway, in the person of Canute, Sternest clime And rudest age are subject to the thrill Of heaven-descended Piety and Song, and Richard I represented England against the infidels^ Wyclif was the opponent of papal and monastic tyranny, Cranmer was the victim of an idolatrous reign, Elizabeth would have been a queen as merciful as prudent had she not executed Mary Stuart, and it was Laud's sad fate 'to be crushed betwixt popery and schism.'^ Finally, Charles II, the 'Circean' reveler, and Sacheverell, the partisan, are ranged for contrast on either side of William III, who came 'to liberate, not defy,' whose 'steadfast eye' the 'vacillating Bondman of the Pope' could not meet. Fifthly. If infidelity, tyranny, and schism are the recurring perils of the pure Church, faith, justice and peace, mercy and humility, and unity, are its eternal triumphs. Evidence of this might be found in almost every sonnet of the series. 1 Dedication by Henry Heylin to Cyprianus Anglicanus. 64 THE ECCLESIASTICAL SONNETS Sixthly. The strands of the triple action can be traced back to the simple action, where pagan Persecution, Tempta- tions to servitude, and Dissensions are found implicated with 'bold faith' (1.24.7), 'low-bowed necks' (1.19.11), and 'sacred converse' (1.26. 14). Likewise these strands of the triple action can be traced through the double action, where 'Venus' and 'Bacchus' (2.20), 'Pride' (2. 18. 14), and 'civil slaughter' (2.16.9) on the one hand, and more fortunately on the other, 'Mercy' (2.4.8), meekness and innocence (2.31 and 2.32), and 'Unity' (2.9.2, 5) have both a retrospective and a prophetic function. Seventhly. Not only in the narrative, but also in the liturgical and architectural groups, filaments of idea lead back to the early stages of the series, where already exist 'meek doctrines' (1.3.8), and 'rites that console the Spirit' (1.20.6), and 'Christian monuments' (1.12.8), 'quiet Fortresses' (1.24. 3), 'sacred Structures' (1.24.8). And in the second part, too, occur 'offices dispensing heavenly grace' (2.6.14), ^^id 'holy spires' (2.3.12) to point the way to the 'eternal City.' Eighthly. In the conquest of infidelity, tyranny, and schism, and in the achievement of faith, freedom, and unity, the wise man seeks Firmly between the two extremes to steer.^ 2. Structure It needs but a glance at the engraving of the interior of King's College Chapel, or the recollection of certain funda- mental passages in the Description of the Scenery of the English Lakes, to indicate the structural models of this 'immense and glorious work of fine intelligence.' We may adopt the image of 'lofty pillars, . . . branching roof self-poised,' or we may think of the mountains of Westmoreland : 'Their forms are endlessly diversified, sweeping easily or boldly in simple majesty, abrupt and precipitous, or soft and 1 Eccl. Son. 2.40. 1 1. OF WILLIAM WORDSWORTH 65 elegant. In magnitude and grandeur they are individually inferior to the most celebrated of those in some other parts of this island; but in the combinations which they make, towering above each other, or lifting themselves in ridges like the waves of a tumultuous sea, and in the beauty and variety of their surfaces and colors, they are surpassed by none. ' ^ Either image is appropriate, for Wordsworth has used both in the Ecclesiastical Sonnets. Nor is there any doubt that as an artist he was conscious of his models. Structures 'where music dwells lingering — and wandering on as loth to die,' and that ' superficies of the Earth '^ whose 'primitive confor- mation'- determined the course of the rivers he had loved in boyhood, were not forgotten as guides when he was to trace the holy river to the eternal city. Of his 'heights of Time,' too, it may be said: 'After a certain point of elevation . . . the sense of sub- limity depends more upon form and relation of objects to each other than upon their actual magnitude.' ^ In his artistic procedure he follows a natural pattern : 'Level areas open upon the traveler in succession, divided from each other sometimes by a mutual approximation of the hills, leaving only passage for a river, sometimes by corre- sponding windings, without such approximation; and some- times by a bold advance of one mountain towards that which is opposite it.' * Therefore the Ecclesiastical Sonnets have 'sublimity,' which is the result of 'first great dealings,' and 'beauty,' 'a multiplicity of symmetrical parts uniting in a consistent whole.' '" For convenience in reading, the main features of the struc- ture will be given part by part. ^ Prose Works 2.26-7. ^ Prose Works 2.33, 30. ' Prose Works 2.92. * Prose Works 2.30. 6 Prose Works 2.33-4. 6 66 THE ECCLESIASTICAL SONNETS Part I a First we have a triad of frustrate attempts: the poet seeks, but seeking, is lost; Rome comes, but goes to return not; the Britons rise, but they, too, are lost. There is an opposition of values (ttoiot???) as well as of events (irpa^ts): transports and meek doctrines; that which feeds and cheers and that which enervates and divides; courage and despair. Of the triple theme, danger from paganism is dominant. Part I b The cadence here is a hopeful one; the action is definitely advanced. Except for the slight retardation due to apology and reproof, we find a triumphant sweep from Gregory, Augustine, and Paulinus to Alfred; 'glad hallelujahs' result in 'prosperous enterprise, justice, and peace.' The opposition of values in Part i a becomes in Part i b a perfect balance. 'Good works mingle with the visions.' And Alfred's 'sacred converse' widens the scope of the design. Part I c Following the widened scope of Part i b both events and values now are extended throughout universal Christendom. The themes of peril from infidels and schism recur with emphasis; the theme of peril from Roman tyranny is again pre-eminent. Although mere events advance successfully from the line of Alfred and Canute to Richard, this specious gain is counterbalanced by an insidious perversion of spiritual power. 'Heaven-descended Piety and Song' become an im- agination which hears ' God willeth it ! ' in approval of the deeds of men; this imagination leads enthusiasts into distress,' and subjects an emperor to a pope. Thus the 'visions' of Part I b grow into a personification of ' the might of spiritual sway' and 'a ghostly domination unconfined'; whereas the 'good works' of Part ib end in thraldom, disregard for old OF WILLIAM WORDSWORTH 67 laws, the derangement of ancient customs, and the upheaval of all Christendom. Wordsworth's vivid phrase for the con- centration in Part i c of the values which were opposed in Part I a and balanced in Part i b is as follows: Through earth and heaven to bind and to unbind.^ Part 2 a With the scope thus extended, the themes thus emphasized, and the values thus concentrated, the poet makes ready for his greatest structural synthesis. Power and Unity, even though they be Papal Power and Papal Unity, are reasserted as the ecclesiastical ideal. Acknowledgment is made of the good works and the heavenly offices of the Roman see. The 'one aim diffused through all the regions of the West' seems to indicate a single confluence in Wordsworth's holy river. And the touch of assurance which could be traced in Part i b is present in these lines of Part 2 a: All promises vouchsafed by Heaven will shine In light confirmed while years their course shall run. Confirmed alike in progress and decline.^ Part 2 h Following upon so calm and just a restatement of the elements of the structural design, the opposition of the agents of pure faith and the agents of degenerate works becomes apparent. In this opposition the central counterpoise is that between selfishness and unselfishness, or 'high with low — celestial with terrene.' It has, as buttresses or tributaries, on the one side an early counterpoise between pure faith and pompous rite, exemplified in the Vaudois, the Waldenses, and Wyclif, and on the other a later counterpoise between ' trump- ery' and things not seen, exemplified in the Reformation of the Church during the reign of Henry VIII. These three buttresses, of which the outer ones are narrative, and the 1 Eccl. Son. 1.39.8. ^ Eccl. Son. 2.10.12-14. 68 THE ECCLESIASTICAL SONNETS central one descriptive, are bound together by two others which include them only in part: the counterpoise between abuse and justice, and that between the 'airy bonds' ot Papacy and the 'mastery' of the Crown, The cadence of Part 2 b, however, is a hopeful one for universal Christendom. As analysts we remark the skill with which Wordsworth has avoided trite distinctions of political and ecclesiastical history, and has stressed the fundamental opposition of selfish- ness and unselfishness in this his central structure — a structure which is thus not less ethical than human nature. Nor should we fail to notice that Part 2 b contains The Point at Issue. Part 2 c But the hope for universal Christendom which always results when the elements of the structure come to an even balance or a just proportion is overturned by the recurrence of those themes which have maintained their insidious course. These are the perils of servitude to Rome, of 'Gods of wood and stone' (here the Spanish Gods), of schism. In Part 2 c Elizabeth and James save and are saved from Marian idolatry and Jesuit practices, it is true; but from the fair designs of 'holy and heavenly spirits' who would keep the balance and proportion, the action is wrenched into a 'terrible excess of headstrong will.' This, of course, the structure may only suggest; it represents Laud as the victim. The analysis shows a quadruple and double grouping for Part 2 c, reminiscent of the strong opposition in Part i a. That which emerges 'pure, and seemingly more bright,' the Elizabethan moon, rides finally in 'gentle skies' which vainly reprove the 'conspicuous torment' of the flood. Hopes become a wilderness, blessings are cursed, glory is turned to shame. Part 3 a From the turmoil which the action indicates and the struc- ture firmly restrains, for the third time comes a hopeful cadence. As for events, James II, 'the Bondman of the Pope,' opposes, OF WILLIAM WORDSWORTH 69 and is replaced by, William III. As for themes, the peril of idolatry disappears with this same 'conqueror beloved'; the peril of Roman tyranny disappears with him as it has faded with the acquittal of the Bishops; the peril of schism is for- gotten when the American divines return for their consecration at Lambeth. As for values, the Circean revels of Charles II are contrasted with and outweighed by the 'celestial light' of Milton; the brutality toward the Scottish Covenanters is atoned for by the acquittal of the Bishops; the 'eternal roll of praise' contains dissenter and churchman alike. Obhga- tions of civil to religious liberty bind this series of contrasts with the assertion of unity^ — 'What came from heaven to heaven by nature clings.' Moreover, upon this series of contrasts rises a group, triple and tripartite, which reaffirms the triumph of soul over sense. The world is outweighed. Appropriately Wordsworth asks, 'Had mortal action e'er a nobler scope? ' ^ The action is complete, the swift stream runs but a lingering course, the everlasting pile is ready for its spires. One of these spires points to the dependence of star upon star in the services of the Church, that 'zodiac' of the ritual year; the other rests upon actual churchly foundations of the imperishable 'home.' Part 3 b The liturgical group has an introductory triad which leads the mind from Sacheverell and White to Bishops and Priests as a class; thence to the places of worship in their kindred nature; thence to the pastoral character. Here is a masterly transition. The liturgical services are arranged according to the ascent and decline of human life. In conclusion stand two sonnets (3.32, 33), Giving to Memory help when she would weave A crown for Hope ! ^ * Eccl. Son. 3.9.9. ^ Erd. Son. 3.33.5-6. 70 THE ECCLESIASTICAL SONNETS P.art J c Here the poet has erected the actual counterpart of his eternal city; and to it finally, with a gloria for all tabernacles, natural, human, and divine, comes to rest That Stream upon whose bosom we have passed Floating at ease while nations have effaced Nations, and Death has gathered to his fold Long lines of mighty Kings. ^ These ' types of the spiritual Church ' are most felicitously addressed in terms of the three theological virtues. The first fotir sonnets of the group, with passing reference to monastic domes, lead on to 'Charity' and 'judgments temperate'; in the second quartette the ' wished-for Temples rise, ' the 'Abode of genuine Faith'; and next come the 'Monuments of love Divine' which typify 'by reach of daring art Infinity's em- brace.' As a climax, and as a final instance of the three-fold structure of the series, this group is notable. But the 'guardian crest' of the temple, the 'silent Cross, among the stars shall spread. ' Thus does Wordsworth by another graceful transition return to the imagery of the natural world. Ocean and Alpine mount are invoked : Earth prompts — Heaven urges; let us seek the light. Studious of that pure intercourse begun When first our infant brows their lustre won; So, like the Mountain, may we grow more bright From unimpeded commerce with the Sun, At the approach of all-involving night. ^ Analysis of the Imagery It follows from what has just been said that the structural design and the decorative imagery in the latter part of the series very nearly concur. Not only is this true here, but at all the crises and cadences. The decoration, however, has 1 'Ecd, Son. 3.47.6-9. 2 Ecd. Son. 3.46.9-14. * OF WILLIAM WORDSWORTH 71 throughout been wisely subordinated to the structure, and must rather be sought as Dorothy Wordsworth, her brother, and Sir Walter Scott sought for the tracery on the stones of Melrose Abbey.^ According to Aristotle, ri 6\pLs i/'ux^TcoTt/co^'.^ The spectacle wins the soul, even though it demand least skill. What o'/'^s was to tragedy for Aristotle, decoration may be considered for the epic. And the natural spectacle of the Ecclesiastical Sonnets is something more than natural; if not strictly allegorical, it possesses a definite but intense associative power. It differs from the spectacle of Dante as the gardens of Westmoreland differ from those of Italy; but although it is seemingly more casual than Dante's rushes, Lethe and Eunoe, mount of pur- gatory, and ten heavens, it has a rigor and exactitude akin to those of the greater allegory; witness the following analysis: Earth, mountains, etc. Part I (i) Height? of lime; (2) savage island in the west; (3) mystic ring; (4) road of the outcast; (5) Snowdon's wilds, Brigantian coves, Sarum, Western Isles, lona; (6) Alban's flowery platform; (7) bespangled plain, reconstructed fanes; (8) temples flashing; (9) enervate land; (10) Cambria, Plin- limmon; (11) hill to hill, mountains, dust, field, foss, barrow, rampart; (12) indignant hills; (13) sad market; (14) uncon- scious shore; (15) royal hall; (16) warm abode; (17) dese- crated fane; (19) shrines; (20) smooth way; (21) perennial bower; (22) dry nook in the living rock; (23) flowery mead, wild coast; (24) quiet fortresses; (25) barbarous shores, general mart; (26) Jerusalem, Christian India; (27) green plot of open ground; (30) Ely, suffering earth; (31) hut and palace; (32) wasted fields, sacred earth; (33) Nazareth, Bethlehem, Clermont, hill to hill. Nature's hollow arch; ^ Journals 2.134. 2 Poetics, ch. 6. 72 THE ECCLESIASTICAL SONNETS (34) Aquitaine, Spain, Italia, Bosphorus, Greece, precious tomb; (35) Cyprus, Palestine; (36) realms quake, ditches are graves; (37) gross materials of this world; (38) an emperor's neck leveled with earth; (39) ancient thrones are stuff. Part 2 (2) Spiritual tower, sheltering bower; (3) sylvan waste, fertile lea; (4) earthbound stone; (5) forbidding den; (6) embattled hall; (7) river's margin; (8) bright regions, earth's requiem; (9) one aim through all the West; (10) blest soil of gospel truth ; (i i) the banks of Rhone, Nature's craggy throne ; (12) subalpine vales, chasms; (13) mountain caverns; (14) from dens to sea-girt isle; (15) wilderness, cultured field, meadow-ground, garden; (16) fields that rival Cressy and Poictiers; (17) bones disinhumed and burned to ashes; (18) the way to Heaven; (19) cloistered avarice; (20) arched roofs abused; (21) mute belfries, unroofed choirs; (22) hushed green vales; (23) new and questionable road; (24) mourning ham- lets, penitential desert; (25) Heaven's blue coast; (26) arch of Christendom; (27) cave, den, Arabian waste, stalking pillars of fiery sand; (28) ethereal plain; (29) ploughman; (31) clear land of vision ; (32) clefts of woe; (33) gods of wood and stone; (34) chain and stake; (36) polemic dust; (37) broken staves; (38) a grateful isle; (39) heaviest soil, trusty staff, spicy shores of Araby the blest; (40) right courses; (41) tottering throne; (42) subterraneous treason; (43) ruin shed from the mountain; (44) wilderness; (45) prison, the en- sanguined chariot ; (46) mercy cast off to the mountains. Part 3 (2) The prostrate restored; (4) the sole temple of the inward mind; (6) wild coast ; (7) Alpine vale, Scottish moun- tain and moor and street; (8) city streets; (10) scaffold; (11) pulpit; (12) living landscapes, dark steeps; (13) sheltering nook; (14) wilds, distant shore; (17) fountains in sandy OF WILLIAM WORDSWORTH 73 desert; (19) mountains hoary; (23) hill and dale; (31) grave, where is thy victory? (32) the still church-yard; (33) gay church; (34) rime melted on hill and plain, sublime towers dropped; (35) monastic domes fallen; (36) sacred roofs are shattered, fugitives seek the British strand; (37) the deliverer sails landward; (38) Egyptian plain; (39) grateful earth; (40) low pile. Cross; (41) forest glade, dust to dust; (42) sovereign hill, everlasting piles; (43) lofty pillars; (45) no perishable home; (46) roseate hues on Alpine mount, nether regions, rugged frame; (47) the eternal city. Clouds, storms, waters Part I (i) Source of a Holy river; (2) sacred well, fountain, nascent stream, precious current; (3) Menai's foam, diluvian truths; (4) God the one sole fount; (5) the growing rill; (6) lightning; (7) cessation of storm; (8) polar ice; (9) Pictish cloud; (10) stormy field; (11) tears flow like fountains; (12) melancholy stream; (13) Tiber's stream; (14) tempestuous sea of igno- rance; (16) wintry tempest; (17) fresh streams; (22) bustling brook, translucent pool; (23) beating billows; (24) timely rains; (25) classic lore glides on; (27) black tempests, dewy gloom; (29) clouds of Danish invasion; (30) the smooth flood, the barge; (31) Thames to Tyne; (33) profaneness flows from the source of Christian piety ; (34) the current of Turkish arms ; (35) midland brine; (37) ocean roars a vain appeal; (39) papal thunder. Part 2 (2) Papal thunder; (7) turbid stream; (8) furled sails, tardy oars; (11) Rhone; (12) brooding mists, eternal snows; (13) rivers, marshes, Po; (14) over limitary floods; (15) wondering seas; (16) storm abated; (17) brook, Avon, Severn, sea, ocean; (22) Iris' cloudy shrine, watery glories on the stormy brine; (23) polar ice and open sea; (25) foam on central ocean; (27) Tiber, Ganges, Nile, spectral lakes; (28) Limbo lake; 74 THE ECCLESIASTICAL SONNETS (32) tears of man; (2,3) prayer In blind channels; (36) showers of blood, veteran thunders, fulminations new; (38) alien storms, home-bred ferments, black clouds; (39) buoyant bark, wave to wave; (40) steering between extremes; (41) every wave threatens the new-born Church ; (42) thunder-shower of blood ; (43) crown of snow, fretting waters, mad flood; (44) the flood; (46) Siloa's brook, the chambers of the deep. Part 3 (i) Sunny mist; (3) gulf of bigotry; (6) tempests; (8) the busy Thames; (9) calm undercurrent from sea to sea, plough- ing storm; (11) quiet flow of truths; (12) the swift stream slackens; (15) stream of patient energy; (16) gulf profound; (17) fair ships on the deep; (19) sea; (20) timely shower; (30) storm-shattered vessel; (33) Christmas snows; (34) frosty rime; (36) moral tempest; (37) sunny bay; (38) Nile, flood of sacred truth; (39) dewy eve; (40) Alpine vapors; (41) ebb and flow; (42) Isis and Cam; (45) bubbles, foam; (46) ocean; (47) the living waters brighten as they roll. Flora and fauna Part I (i) Pastoral flowers, laurels, amaranth, palms; (3) sea-mew and cormorant; (4) thick woods; (6) flowery platform; (7) birds; (8) crown of thorns ; (9) roots of heresy ; (10) Cambrian wood and moss; (15) eagle's beak; (16) sparrow; (17) ob- livious weeds; (19) winter trees, divine fruit; (21) ivy and elm; (22) sylvan arches, yellow leaves, beechen bowl, maple dish, hooting owl, crested fowl; (23) grove or flowery mead; (24) congregated bees; (25) seeds of life; (27) sincere root, branches bold, oak, fostered hyacinths; (28) Benedictine coop; (32) wasted fields; (35) (ourage leonine. OF WILLIAM WORDSWORTH 75 Part 2 (i) Heaven-born flowers, worldly weeds; (2) brute rapine; (3) aery harvests; (4) steer or hound, rooted trees; (7) flowers of chivalry, wreaths that shall not fail, lamb and lion, eagle and dove; (9) pinions of higher sweep; (10) the tree bearing celestial fruit, blighted branches, withered shoots; (11) reeds; (12) herbs and chestnuts; (13) reedy fens; (14) the lark; (15) leopard, lily; (18) pompous horses; (20) the sprightly juice; (21) gadding bramble, purple fruit, wren, lizard, newt, owl of evening, woodland fox ; (24) dragons; (25) fancied roses; (27) forest; (28) green and yellow leaves, goodly fruitage, mother- spray; (29) shepherd; (37) escaping birds, poisonous weeds; (44) ancient pine-trees; (45) bird in snare; (46) wood and waste. Part 3 (i) Darksome tree; (2) springtime renewed; (3) Circean revels; (5) glow-worms; (7) wood; (13) woods; (15) seed of Christian unity, wide-spreading family; (16) wolves and sheep; (17) palm-groves; (20) Nature's bed of weeds, Christian flowers; (21) adopted plant, everlasting bloom; (22) vernal posy, distant bee; (24) summer-leaf; (25) gloomiest shade; (29) timely fruit; (31) withered grass; (32) garland gay; (33) linnet, thrush, fresh holly; (34) crown of weeds; (39) virgin sod, mystic Dove, hawthorns, oaks, daisies; (40) pine-tree, green moss; (41) native turf, rugged colts, wild deer; (43) branching roof; (45) wreath of wisdom; (47) coiled snake. Sky, winds, sun, moon, stars, etc. Part I (4) Stars; (5) darkness; (6) ethereal storehouses; (7) blue ether; (9) fiery brand, high Heaven; (10) sunny light; (11) pagan night; (14) morning fair; (16) blazing fire; (18) dark- ness, midnight stars, noonday blaze; (19) the common air; (22) soft heaven; (24) needful sunshine; (26) starry ether, 76 THE ECCLESIASTICAL SONNETS day's cheer, night's awe; (28) supernatural world; (29) full- orbed moon, ethereal sky; (31) stars and tapers shine, lamps and fires are quenched; (32) Heaven; (35) giddy heights; (36) papal shadow; (37) sky's fantastic element; (39) view- less wind. Part 2 (2) Error's darkest hour; (5) astronomer, starry throng; (7) heartfelt fragrance on the gale; (10) light of Heaven's promises; (ii) tapers, incense, soft breeze; (12) God's good winter; (13) glorious lights of martyrdom; (14) solitary spark, sacred fire; (15) no sullen fire, the fanning breeze; (17) Voice walking on the wind; (20) blazing fire; (21) quenched tapers; (22) celestial blushes, summer suns, sober light; (23) pro- pitious winds; (24) radiant shapes, sweet gales; (25) eastern skies at daybreak; (26) fire; (27) ghostly tenants of the wind; (28) hurricane, airy bonds; (31) genuine morning-star, papal darkness; (34) torch of inextinguishable light; (35) ghastly ruins of the fire; (36) fields of light; (38) glorious light of Elizabeth's silver car; (39) gales from field and bower; (42) dismal night; (44) gentle skies; (45) celestial air; (46) the firmament. Part 3 (2) Earliest beam of light ; (4) secrets from above the starry sphere, pure spirit of celestial light; (5) lonely tapers, lucid ring, satellites, stars on high, fairest sky; (8) a voice shatters the air; (9) sun; (10) star of liberty; (12) horizon line; (13) galaxy that knows no end; (15) apostolic light; (17) star dependent upon star; (19) zodiac; (23) sunset; (24) star- crowned Muse; (25) path of light; (32) sky red with evening lights; (33) fiery blights; (34) silent air; (37) soft and happy gale; (38) Sabbath bells on the breeze; (40) sun and fresh air; (41) morn and even; (42) the world above; (43) light and shade; (44) coming night; (45) sky-like dome, silent Cross among the stars; (46) purpureal flame, sun; (47) noontide. OF WILLIAM WORDSWORTH 77 This analysis justifies a few inferences: First. The Ecclesiastical Sonnets are richly endowed with natural imagery. Secondly. This imagery is not used for its own sake, but to emphasize the structure of the poem, and to recall associations proper to the theme. Thirdly. The arrangement of the imagery in each case accords with the advance of the plot. Fourthly. The imagery constitutes a four-fold decoration, the conventionalized phenomena of the earth, the waters, flora and fauna, the heavens. Fifthly. Although it is possible to trace these separately, they are interwoven with great skill and in a very just pro- portion. Sixthly. The associations of the individual elements of the decoration seem to be distinct: Earth: The mere frame or basis of material Hfe; to which all things resort; out of which all things come. The waters: The mobile, incalculable influence of divine grace upon human life; as such, the characteristic phe- nomena of spiritual history. Flora and fauna: The results of the influence of divine grace in human life; definite but transient. The heavens: The pattern of the divine toward which human life is prompted from below and urged from above; not calculable, but permanent. Were books alone to be considered, Wordsworth's familiar knowledge of the Bible and his intimacy with Virgil, Horace, Lucretius, and Catullus^ would account for the skill with which he handles natural imagery as a subordinate element in the design. He was scarcely insensible of the artistic range of 'pater aether' and 'Venus genetrix' as the classic poets had conceived them.^ And the whole course of his thought recalls the Hebrew conception of nature in the Psalms. His indebt- edness to Latin, Biblical, and English hterary tradition, how- ever, will be elsewhere retailed. ^ Letters 2.ij^. ^ Cf. Cook, Chaucerian Papers I. 1-2 1, in Trans. Conn. Acad, of Arts and Sciences, Nov., 19 19. 78 THE ECCLESIASTICAL SONNETS But the mountains and streams of Westmoreland are not less concerned in his decorative imagery than in his structural design. For what the latter owed to the Description of the Scenery of the English Lakes, the former owes to The River Duddon. Nor would it be wise to discount the gain in crafts- manship made in the writing of either of these antecedent works. Turning to Wordsworth's note on The River Duddon, then, we find a further definition of his purpose, and an acknowledg- ment of his debt to Coleridge and to Burns which enables us to connect both of his great contemporaries with the Ecclesi- astical Sonnets. Wordsworth says: ' In this manner I had proceeded insensibly, without per- ceiving that I was trespassing upon ground preoccupied, at least as far as intention went, by Mr. Coleridge; who, more than twenty years ago, used to speak of writing a rural poem, to be entitled "The Brook," of which he has given a sketch in a recent publication.^ . . . May I not venture, then, to hope that, instead of being a hindrance by any anticipation of any part of the subject, these sonnets may remind Mr. Coleridge of his own more comprehensive design, and induce him to fulfil it? — There is a sympathy in streams, — "one calleth to another"; and I would gladly believe that "The Brook" will ere long murmur in concert with "The Duddon." . . . The power of waters over the minds of poets has been acknowledged from the earliest ages; through the "Flumina amem sylvasque inglorius" of Virgil, down to the sublime apostrophe to the great rivers of the earth by Armstrong, and the simple ejaculation of Burns (chosen, if I recollect right, by Mr. Coleridge as a motto for his embryo "Brook") : The Muse nae Poet ever fand her, Till by himsel' he learned to wander, Adown some trotting burn's meander, And na' think lang.' - If there be a 'sympathy in streams — "one calleth to an- other,"' and if the trotting burn and The Brook called to The River Duddon, may not The River Duddon have called to 'the holy river'? ^ Cf. Biographia Literaria, ed. by Shawcross, 1.129. 2 P. W., Oxford ed., p. 908. MANUSCRIPT F [Bracketed numbers indicate the successive pages of the manuscript. Words deleted in the original are printed in pointed brackets. The first sheet, unnumbered, bears the general title 'Ecclesiastical Sonnets.'] 80 THE ECCLESIASTICAL SONNETS Contents Eccl. Sonnets Introduction i Conjectures 2.3 Druidical Excom. 48 Uncertainty 4 Persecution 5 Recovery 40 Persuasion 7.8 Crusades 35-39 An Interdict 21 Papal Abuses 20 Scene in Venice 23.32 Papal Dominion 22 Waldenses <33->37-38-55 Arch. Chicheley 10 Wickliff 14 Reflections 9 Cranmer 50 Troubles of Reformation 42 Reformers in Exile 27 Elizabeth 43-44 Eminent Reformers 15-16 The Same 45 Gunpowder Plot 36 Illustration Troubles of Ch: the first Charles the 2nd Down a swift stream Pastoral Character The Liturgy Mutability Old Abbeys 49 <50> New Ch: yard 53 Kings Coll: Chapel 51 Transferred to other Series 13 26 17 24 33 54 The Fall of Aar 6.41 Decay of Piety 1 1 Sky Prospect 18.19 30 Not Love nor War 25 Long Meg & Daughters 46.47 Parsonage in Oxfordsh: 52 Fragments [On] pages 28.29 31.34 OF WILLIAM WORDSWORTH 81 [I] I PART I I who descended with glad step to chace Cerulean Duddon from his cloud fed spring dared And of my wild companions (strove) to sing In verse that moved with strictly measured pace essayed the nobler stream to trace I who (confiding till all sober trace) Liberty and smote the plausive string Of faith was lost to millions, smote the string the checked torrent fiercely Till (Freedom like a torrent) combating In victory found her natural resting place Now seek on Times sequestered height the source Of a great river on whose banks are found Sweet Both pastoral flowers & laurels that have crowned Full oft the unworthy brow of lawless force And for delight of him who tracks its course (Bright wreaths of Amaranth and palms (are found)) abound Immortal amaranth and palms abound. In Miss Wordsworth's hand writing. [2] II PART I If there be Prophets on whose spirit rest Past things revealed like future let them tell How the prime gushings of that sacred well Rose to refresh the Islands barren breast through Did holy Paul a wandered [?r] in the west As some have taught awhile in Britain dwell And call the fountain forth by miracle And with dread signs the nascent stream invest Or He whose chains dropped off whose prison doors Flew open by an angels voice unbarred? lower Or some of humbler name to these wild shores Storm-driven; who having seen that cup of woe Pass from their master, sojourned here to guard The precious current they had taught to flow. See p. 3. 82 THE ECCLESIASTICAL SONNETS C3] II PART I Where lies the ground on Albion that was blest With the first gushings of that sacred well flood What song of Bard, O Mighty stream, can tell Thy origin attest through Did holy Paul a wanderer in the west As some have taught awhile in Britain dwell And called thy fountain forth by miracle And with dread signs thy nascent stream invest Darkness surrounds us, seeking we are lost Mid shade unpierceable of Druid groves Shades that enwrap the majesty unknown Of Temples — still preserved in mountain coves Entire, and seeming perfect as the moon begins Before her wane [?] on heavens blue coast See page 2. [4] V. PART I Yes if the patriot sons of England turn a proud With votive step to grassy Runnymede If Scotia's children tremble while they tread Panting for chains to break, for foes to spurn The flowery brink of slender Bannockburn Shall sympathy be wanting while I plead For hidden evidence of place and deed And oer the silent waste of ages mourn. Darkness surrounds us, seeking we are lost Mid shade unpierceable of Druid groves Shades that enwrapped the Majesty unknown Of pristine temples yet mid mountain coves Preserved, or traceable in masses strewn Like wrecks far flung upon a lonely coast. OF WILLIAM WORDSWORTH 83 C5] VI PART I Lament, for Dioclesian's fiery sword Works busy as the lightening but instinct With malice ne'er to deadliest weapon linked Which Gods etherial storehouses afford: Against the followers of the incarnate Lord It rages; some are smitten in the field Some are pierced beneath the unavailing shield Of sacred home; with pomp are others gored And dreadful respite. Thus was Alban tried England's first martyr — whom (Whose magnanimity) no threats could shake Self offered victim for his friend he died And for the faith, nor shall his name forsake That hill whose flowery platform seems to rise By nature decked for holiest sacrifice. Partly in [?] Mrs. Wordsworth's hand writing. [6] Itinerary Sonnets, Continent 1820 XIII When we behold this Alpine torrent throwing His giant body from the steep rocks brink Back in astonishment and fear we shrink But high and low a calmer look bestowing Flowers we descry beside the torrent growing Flowers that peep forth from many a cleft & chink And from the whirlwind of her anger drink Hues ever fresh in rocky fortress blowing They suck from breath that threatening to destroy Is more benignant than the dewy eve Beauty and life and motions as of joy: Nor doubt that He to whom yon pine trees nod Their heads in sign of worship, Nature's God These humbler adorations will receive. In [?] Mrs. Wordsworth's hand writing. 84 THE ECCLESIASTICAL SONNETS XVI PART I [7] The life of man may be compared, O King Even to a sparrow one that while you sit Housed with your Friends hath entered & doth flit Beneath your warm roof's happy covering Then forth in all mens sight on hasty wing It flies and passes on from cold to cold But whence it came we know nor behold Whither it goes. Even such a transient thing Our human soul; not utterly unknown While in the body lodged its warm abode; But from what world it came, what woe or weal On its departure waits, no tongue hath shewn; This mystery if the Preacher can reveal His be a welcome joyfully bestowed. See p. 8. [8] XVI. PART I Mans life is like a sparrow. Mighty King That entereth and departeth as you sit Housed with your Friends. In truth 'tis seen to flit Well sheltered and in comfort tarrying For a brief while, then forth on hasty wing She flies and passes on from cold to cold But whence she [?came] we know nor behold Whither she goes — Even such that transient thing The human Soul, not utterly unknown While in the body lodged its warm abode But from what world it came, what woe or weal Its future course attends, no tongue hath shewn; stranger This mystery if the < stranger > teacher can reveal. His be a welcome cordially bestowed. See page 7. OF WILLIAM WORDSWORTH 85 [9] XXVIII PART II Grant that by this unsparing hurricane Green leaves with yellow mixed were rent away And goodly fruitage with the mother spray Twere madness, wished we therefore to detain sighs With farewell grief of mollified disdain The "trumpery" that ascends in bare display Bulls pardons relics cowls black white & grey Upwhirled and flying oer the ethereal plain Fast bound for Limbo Lake. Rejoice, be glad That the devices which have ministerred To the green Islands shame atlength have flown But that high power fate suddenly transferred (To enforce that might make a wise King) sad Might make the ruler .... Both for her peoples sake and for her own such But that high power full rightfully transferred What wonder if the crown assumes a voice Of reckless mastery hitherto unknown [ion XV PART II Illustrious King (Is there a flower) in garden or in field What flower so beauteous as (That boasts the beauty of) the crimson rose Fair in herself — and when beside her blows The towering lilly lacks the power to yield mix Fairer she seems — to (blend) them on thy shield Wrest the proud lilly from usurping foes Haste to their shores nor let them feel repose If there be sword to grasp or axe to wield Till Heaven has crowned the right. The wily Sire Thus spake, and Lo! a fleet to Gaul addressed Ploughs its bold course, across the wondering seas- For sooth to say ambition in the breast Of youthful Heroes is no sullen fire But one that leaps to meet the fanning breeze. 86 THE ECCLESIASTICAL SONNETS [II] Transferred to Misc. Sonnets No I XXII Decay of Piety A gleam of joy upon my furrowed cheek I think of those who punctual to the call Of their loved church on fast or festival Through the long year the House of God (High converse in the House of Prayer) [?] seek. By Christmas snows (Such my youth saw) by blasts of Ember week By Easter rains (By Christmas snows) unscared from hut or hall They came to lowly bench or sculptured stall fervour But with one spirit of devotion meek. I seek the places where they once were known And ask surrounded even by kneeling crowds Is antient piety for ever flown? Alas! Even then they seemed like fleecy clouds That struggling through the western sky have won Their pensive light from a departed sun. And doth in more conspicuous torrent writhe Deafening the region in her ireful mood. XLIII PT II Virgin Mountain (The Jung Frau) wearing like a (maiden) queen A brilliant crown of everlasting snow Sheds ruin from her sides; and men below Wonder that aught of aspect so serene desolation Can link with . Smooth, and green. OF WILLIAM WORDSWORTH 87 And seeming at a little distance, slow The waters of the Rhine, but on they go, Fretting & whitening keener and more keen, Till madness seizes on the whole wide flood And down the precipice its nostril breathes Blasts of tempestuous smoke, wherewith it tries To hide itself, and doth but aggrandize (?) To earth to heaven, above and underneath Roaring like ocean or a mighty wood Turned to a fearful thing whose nostrils breathe Blasts of tempestuous smoke wherewith it tries To hide himself but only magnifies. To earth to heaven above and underneath Roaring like ocean or some mighty wood. Roaring like storms at war with some huge (vast) wood Roaring with voice no [?] extinguished And doth in more[conspicuous torment writhe In [?] Mr. Wordsworth hand writing. [13] XLIV. PART II Such contrast in whatever track we move To the mind's eye Religion doth present Now like the mountain with still peace content And in a moment thundering from above Against the ancient cedars of grove hurnblest And the Lands < humblest > comforts — Now her mood temper of a headland Recals the (transformation of the) flood Whose sudden rage the (Whose rage the gentle) heavens in vain reprove ' Fury in Earth can not check. (Of fury) such access 88 THE ECCLESIASTICAL SONNETS Noblest of guides and guardians seized on thee Or some pretender to thy shape and name Shall As England witness(ed) struggling to be free Yet scourged with pride of desperate wretchedness Her blessings cursed her glory turned to shame As Royal Charles the first who bore the name Witnessed while England struggling to be free Was scourged, [14] XVII PART II through many a When Wickliflf having lain (from year to) year Within the graves dark cell was disinhumed were And his dry bones to ashes was consumed that travelled These flung into a brook (whose course was) near that ancient Thus spake a voice (from heaven) which streams can hear Parting the clouds or walking on the wind ((Albeit passage seldom it can find Voice seldom heard by busy Into the busy hearts of) human kind As thou these ashes little brook wilt bear Into the Avon, Avon to the tide Of Severn, Severn to the narrow seas Into main Ocean they this deed accurst An emblem yields to friends and enemies How the bold Teachers doctrine sanctified throughout By truth shall spread the [Pworld] disperst Thus spake that antient voice that streams can hear That antient voice which walks upon the wind Though seldom heard by busy — OF WILLIAM WORDSWORTH 89 [15] XXXIX PT. II Methinks that I could trip o'er heaviest soil <[?]vastest> Light as a buoj^ant bark from wave to wave trusty Were mine the precious staff that Jewel gave To youthful Hooker in familiar style His gift exalting, and with playful smile And who a farewell blessing meek and grave And thus accomplished who could fear to brave Tempests or weight of way, or length of toil. More sweet those odours caught by him who sails Near spicy shores of Araby the blest Detained — a thousand times more touching sweet freight feeling That breath of holy rapture which we meet In thoughtful moments wafted by the gales Of history from the tombs where good men rest. See page 16. [16] XXXIX PT. II Methinks that I could trip oer heaviest soil Light as a buoyant bark from wave to wave Were mine the trusty staff that Jewel gave To youthful Hooker in familiar style The gift exalting and with playful smile A farewell blessing crowned the travellers head (Then did a farewell blessing crown his head And in this sort accomplished who could dread And thus accomplished could the traveller dread) Tempest or length of way or weight of toil More sweet than odours caught by him who sails Along the (Near spicy) shores of Araby the blest A thousand times more exquisitely sweet (Detained a thousand times more touching sweet) The freight of holy feeling which we meet In thoughtful moments wafted by the gales Of history from the tombs where good men rest See page 15. Accomplished thus and bearing on his head A farewell blessing could the traveller dread 90 THE ECCLESIASTICAL SONNETS XII PART III In Index = " Down a swift Stream" [17] The confidence of youth our only art And hope gay Pilot of the bold design We saw the living landscape of the Rhine Reach after reach salute us and depart Slow sink the spires and up again they start And who shall count the towers as they recline Oer the dark steeps, or on the horizon line With shattered crests standing the eye athwart Stand with their shattered crest the eye athwart In|awful silence. Yet more deep the pleasure And yet more deep more perfect was the pleasure (rapid) When hurried forward till the slackening stream [?] Spread like an ample mere Was spread into a lake we then could measure A [?] more (A tranquil course) along the watery gleam Though dull I now regret, that such calm leisure Such solemn peace (await our?) future theme. [18] Itinerary Sonnet Continent 1820 XXXIV Yet all is harmless — as the Elysian shades Where spirits dwell in undisturbed repose — Silently disappears or quickly fades As if produced in mockery of the shows hourly That for oblivion take their < hasty > birth From the disorders of the wanton earth. Upon a River I have long been pent ween And captive holden betwixt shore and shore In shallows oft detained, by joys oershaded Mount fancy mount! These wonders to explore But quickly some dissolved and others faded And with my portion I was well content See page 19 30. OF WILLIAM WORDSWORTH 91 [19] Continent 1820 XXXIV splendid Lo! in the burning west the craggy nape Of a proud Ararat and thereupon The ark her melancholy voyage done Yon rampant cloud mimics a lions shape There combats a huge (See there a monstrous) crocodile — agape A golden spear to swallow! and that brown And massy grove, so near yon blazing town Stirs — and recedes — destruction to escape! Mimics of fancy long my heart has beat The servile map of history to explore By these wild feats such labour is upbraided Mine eyes were turned away; but when once more They looked so much had disappeared or faded That with my portion I was well content Sighing I turned away but when once more I looked so much See pages 18-30. [20] XXXVIII [XXXVII] PART I And verily, as we our course pursue The gross materials of this world present A marvelous study of wild (A pageantry of marvellous) accident Uncouth proximities of old and new And bold transfigurations more untrue As might be deemed to disciplined intent Than aught the skys fantastic element When most fantastic offers to the view scourged [?Lo] royal shoulders bare at Becket's shrine To penal stripes; Lo John puts oft' his crown, To be — with sceptre mantle ring — laid down At a proud Legates feet. The spears that line Baronial halls the opprobrious treason feel And angry ocean roars a vain appeal. John self dispoiled of his insignia; crown Sceptre and mantle, sword and ring laid down^ 92 THE ECCLESIASTICAL SONNETS XXXVI PART I [21] (An interdict preceding the disgrace as if designed to typify the Power) By those dread words that that The word hath issued < forth > from hope of grace Cuts off a universal Realm. The Power That boasts command of Heavens eternal door Hath closed the gates of every holy Closed every church and consecrated place Strait from the sun and tainted airs embrace sacred All holy things are covered; chearful morn Grows sad as night — No seemly garb is worh is a face allowed to meet a face Nor mirth allowed nor face that meets a face With natural smiles of greeting. Bells are dumb Ditches are graves — funereal rites denied And in the churchyard he must take his bride Who dares be wedded. Fancies thickly come Into the pensive heart ill fortified And comfortless despairs the soul benumb. The universal realm from hope of grace Is by a word cut off- — the dreadful power [22] XXXIX PART I Unless to Peters chair the voiceless wind Must come and ask permission when to blow, What further empire would it have? For now A ghostly domination unconfined As that by dreaming bards to Love assigned Sits there in sober truth — to raise the low Perplex the wise strong The strong to curb, the proud to overthrow Through earth and Heaven to bind & to unbind ! Resist — the thunder quails thee, — crouch, — rebuff Shall be thy recompense! from land to land The antient thrones of Christendom are stuff For occupation of a magic wand, And 'tis the Pope that wields it, whether rough Or smooth his front, our world is in his hand OF WILLIAM WORDSWORTH 93 [23] XXXVIII PART I A Scene About the same period In the church of St. Mark Venice Black Demons hovering oer his mitred head To Caesar's successor the Pontiff spake, Ere I absolve thee stoop that on thy neck Levelled with earth this foot of mine may tread Then he who to the altar had been led He whose strong arm the orient could not check He who had held the Soldan at his beck Stooped of all glory disinherited And e'en the common dignity of man Amazement seized () the crowd while (Humiliating sight where) many turn Their eyes away in sorrow others burn In sorrow or amazement while some burn With scorn invoking a vindictive ban outraged From holy Nature, but the sense of most is In abject sympathy with power was lost See page 32. XVIII PART III [24] A cleanly fire a hospitable board And a refined rusticity belong (These fancy shews as adjuncts that belong) To the neat mansion where his flock among The happy pastor dwells their watchful Lord Though meek and patient as a sheathed sword thought Though Pride's least lurking A appear a wrong To human kind; though peace be on his tongue Gentleness in his heart And gentleness there dwell, can earth afford Such genuine state, pre-eminence so free As when equipped with Christ's authority He from the pulpit lifts his awful hand Conjures implores and labours all he can For re-subjecting to divine command The stubborn spirit of rebelliou? man. 94 THE ECCLESIASTICAL SONNETS Miscellaneous Sonnets part II IX [25] And must we having left behind the swell Of war and conflict and the wrecks of change And duty struggling with afflictions strange Henceforth to silence doom the chorded shell Unworthy thought where peace and concord dwell There also i§ the Muse not loth to range chimney She loves the blue smoke from the elmy grange Skyward ascending from the twilight dell Mute aspirations soothe her lone endeavour And sage content and quiet melancholy Her eyes delight to brood upon a river Diaphanous because it [?] travels slowly Soft is the music that would please forever The flower of sweetest smell is shy and lowly. [26] III Part III See royal Charles with frantic joy carest From exile lands his Kingdom to regain Him virtue's nurse , adversity, in vain Received and fostered in her iron breast For all she taught of hardiest and of best Or would have taught by discipline of pain And long privation now dissolved amain Or is remembered only to give zest To wantonness — away Circean revels the people Already stands our country on the brink Of bigot rage that all distinction levels Of truth and falsehood, swallowing her good name And with that draught the life blood, misery, shame By poets loathed, from which historians shrink. Who comes with rapture greeted and carest With boundless love his kingdom to regain. OF WILLIAM WORDSWORTH 95 [27] XXXVII PART II Scattered like birds escaped the murtherers net alien (Some fly for safety to a < foreign >) strand Some seek with timely flight a foreign Most happy re-assembled in the land (Of safety, might they could the[y] ere forget) Of Luther could they Englands woes forget Their country woes. But scarcely have they met Alas the fugitives have scarcely met Partners in faith and brothers in distress Free to pour forth their common thankfulness In worship, when their union is beset With prurient speculations rashly sown (thickly) Whence a thickly sprouting growth of jarring creeds; (Whence an unhallowed) Their truths are broken staves, their passions steeds That master them; they split — in vain — how blest Is he who may by help of grace, enthrone The peace of God within his single breast [28] Who comes with rapture greeted and carest With boundless love his kingdom to regain? Him virtues nurse, adversity, in vain Received and nurtured in her iron breast Whateer she taught of hardiest and of best See p. 26. I deplore With filial grief the sad vicissitude If she has fallen and pitying heaven restore The prostrate, and my springtime is renewed And sorrow bartered for exceeding joy See Sonnet II part III. In quest of Limbo Lake. And yet not choice unreflecting But habit rules the < unrelenting > herd And airy bonds are hardest to disown Hence with the spiritual sovereignty transferred Unto itself the crown assumes a voice Of reckless mastery hitherto unknown See p. 9. 96 THE ECCLESIASTICAL SONNETS [29] The spirit of Nassau By constant impulse of religious awe Swayed and thereby enabled to contend With the wide worlds commotions from its end Swerves not — diverted by a casual law See Son: IX part III. Stay the loved song and bid the harp farewell [30] Continent 1820 XXXIV See in the burning west the craggy nape Of a proud Ararat and thereupon The ark her melancholy voyage done mimics That rampant cloud (assumes) a lions shape See there a monstrous (That other is a) crocodile agape A Yon golden spear to swallow, and those brown massy groves yon And (sullen clouds) so near that blazing town Stirs and recedes (Are groves that now) destruction to escape Mimics of Fancy! long my heart has beat The servile map of history to explore By these wild feats I feel myself upbraided when So mine eyes turned away, but once more They looked, so much had disappeared or faded. See pages 18.19. OF WILLIAM WORDSWORTH 97 [31] rampant cloud assumes a lion's shape That cloud assumes a rampant lion's shape See there a monstrous crocodile agape A golden spear to swallow, and that brown massy And grove so near yon blazing town Stirs and recedes destruction to escape See pages < 30 > 18. 19. 30. [32] XXXVIII PART I Black Demons hovering o'er his mitred head (When to the church the emperor was led To Cesars successor At Venice looking in) the Pontiff spake Ere I absolve thee stoop that on thy neck Levelled with earth this foot of mine may tread Then he who to the altar had been led (The mighty word was scarcely uttered whose strong When) He arms the orient could not check He who had held the Soldan at his beck Stooped of his glory disinherited And even the common dignity of man Humiliating sight when many turned or In Scorn in amazement; and some burned For counter interdict and vengeful ban From outraged nature, but the sense of most In abject sympathy with power was lost See page 23. 98 THE ECCLESIASTICAL SONNETS C33] XIX PART II [III] Or if the intensities of hope and fear ((O seek we a way of hope and fear , Attract us still and passionate exercise High thoughts and passionate solemnities Of lofty thoughts that Of faith and love such) way before us lies Distinct with in (Marked out by) signs through which (with) fixed career As through a Zodiac moves the ritual year Of England's church — stupendous mysteries; Which whoso travels in her bosom eyes As he approaches them with solemn cheer Enough for us to cast a transient glance < The circle through > giving up Through the dread circle (and to leave) its story For those whom Heaven has fitted to advance chaunt With harp in hand and sing the King of glory From his meek advent till his countenance dissipate the Shall (make a wreck of) sun and mountains hoary The circle through relinquishing its story For [34] And thus a structure potent to enchain The eye of wonder rose in this fair Isle Not built with calculations nice and vain But in mysterious nature's boldest style Not orderly as some basaltic pile That steadfastly repels the fretful main. See Sonnet XXIV part I. OF WILLIAM WORDSWORTH 99 [35] XXXIV PART I The order of the Druids Much are they blamed who with mightiest lever Known to the moral world, Imagination LIplifted Christendom from her natural station They sweep along such host till now was never To rescue from Arrayed in march to tear from the Deceiver The precious tomb their haven of salvation They sweep along enormous inundation But sooth this war though mixed by selfish passion Whose no human With base allo[?y3 (what thence no) skill can sever Even as a sharp pike in a bucklers boss Makes an efficient portion of the shield Which Providence doth wield For the great purpose mainly to defend Kingdoms and states whose hope is in the cross See page 39. [36] XLII PART II Gunpowder Plot Fear hath a hundred eyes that all agree To plague her beating heart, and there is one (Nor idlest that) which holds communion With things that were not yet were meant to be The purposes of baffied destiny which views That eye beholds as if fulfilled & done Crimes that might stop the motions of the sun I shuddering That eye in vision is compelled to see England's assembled Senate unredeemed From subterraneous treasons darkling power Of that catastrophe accomplished — sight Worse than the product of that dismal night When with the bounty of a thunder shower The blood of Huguenots through Paris streamed. 100 THE ECCLESIASTICAL SONNETS [37] . XIV PART II undaunted soaring You who upsoaring like the early lark Announcing at day break to his drowsy mate You rather ran the dawn to antedate By striking out a solitary spark When all the world with midnight gloom was dark You whom the sword of unrelenting hate In vain had laboured to exterminate Cerberian mouths pursued with hideous bark But meagre [Pmaugre] such fell spite the sacred fire From Alpine heights and dens & savage woods Passed handed on with never ceasing care Through camps and courts and limitary floods Nor lacks this sea-girt Isle a welcome share Of the pure gift not suffered to expire See pages <33.> 38. 55. [38] XIV PART II They who gave earliest notice as the lark Springs from the ground the morn to gratulate Or rather rose the day to antedate By striking out a solitary spark When all the world with midnight gloom was dark (Yet) these (prompt) harbingers of good, whom bitter hate In vain hath laboured to exterminate Fell obloquy would brand with hideous mark *Dwellers with wolves she named them, for the pine And green oak are their covert; as the gloom Of night oft foils their enemies design, She calls them Riders on the flying broom Sorcerers whose frames and aspects have become One and the same through practices malign Seepages <33.> 37- 55 * See the note on this sonnet for these six lines. OF WILLIAM WORDSWORTH 101 C39] XXXIV PART I Much are they blamed I scorn them not who with a sovereign lever Acting upon the heart — Imagination Uplifted Christendom from her natural station They sweep along (such host till now was never tear Arrayed in march) to rend from the Deceiver The precious tomb their haven of salvation. A meaner application But sooth this war was mixed by selfish passion With base allo[?y] which no skill may sever As a sharp pike set on a bucklers boss Makes an efficient portion of the mighty shield blend Powers of annoyance, Providence doth wield For this great purpose namely to defend Kingdoms and states whose hope is in the cross. See page 35. [40] VII PART I As when a storm is past the Birds regain Their cheerfulness and busily retrim Their nests or chant a gratulating hymn bespangled To the blue ether and the glistening plain So the survivors of that storm again Amid their reconstructed churches, kept The holy sacraments which long had slept And solemn ceremonials did ordain To celebrate their great deliverance Most feelingly instructed as some fear That persecution and the wrath extreme mild Of blindness under Heavens countenance Even in their own despite, doth feed and cheer For all things are less dreadful than they seem. 102 THE ECCLESIASTICAL SONNETS Itinerary Sonnet Continent 1820 XIII [41] Then when we see River When we behold an Alpine torrent throwing His giants body from a steep rocks brink Back in astonishment and fear we shrink But high and low a calmer look bestowing beside the torrent <» We see flowers (on flowers in clusters) growing Flowers that peep forth from many a cleft & chink And from the whirlwind of her anger drink Hues ever fresh while to their fellows blowing In safer regions nature cannot give Freshness and life and motions as of joy fearful brink Sucked from the perils self, nor doubt that God To whom these pines in signs of worship nod Their heads while storms are busy to destroy signs of worship These humbler (adorations) will receive To whom above the lofty pine trees nod Their heads while storms are busy to destroy [42] XXXVI PART II We looking calmly from a specular height Know that a righteous Providence The adverse combatants the struggle Alas for those who mingling in the fight Saw ranged upon the better side despite Rapacity and cruelty and lust Mid clouds enveloped of polemic dust Which showers of blood seemed rather to incite to allay Than tranquillize — Anathemas are hurled From host to host, old thunders from the west Are boldly met by fulminations new the flag of is unfurled Who without war way pursue Standards are abjured are caught at & unfurled Friends strike at friends — the flying shall pursue And victory sickening ignorant where to rest. OF WILLIAM WORDSWORTH 103 [43] XXXVIII PART II Hail Virgin Queen more welcome than the star Of dawn to the traveller faint with toil Hail sovereign Lady whom a thankful Isle Shall bless respiring from that dismal war Stilled by thy voice. But quickly from afar The adversary makes a fierce recoil Tempests with which the mischief of the soil Dreadful alliance claims. Her royal car Meanwhile by prudence swayed glides safely on In silver purity from menaced taint Cynthia of the stormy night Emerging like the radiant queen of night For where she moves the stormy clouds are gone Disperse or Or tarrying under a divine constraint Reflect some portion of her glorious light. See page 44. C44] XXXVIII PART II Hail, Virgin Queen! oer many an envious bar Triumphant snatched from many a treacherous wile! All hail sage Lady whom a thankful Isle Hath blessed respiring from that dismal war Stilled by thy voice. But quickly from afar Defiance breathes with more malignant aim, And alien storms with home-bred ferments claim Portentous fellowship. Her silver car smoothly Meanwhile by prudence ruled glides safely on Unhurt by violence, from menaced taint Emerging, [? like] the radiant power of night For [? where] she moves the gloomy clouds anon Disperse, or under a divine constraint Reflect some portion of her glorious light. See page 43. 104 THE ECCLESIASTICAL SONNETS XL PART II [45] Holy and heavenly spirits that they were Spotless in life and eloquent as wise With what entire affection did they prize (That church and reverence her with filial care jThe newborn church labouring with filial care ( Labouring incessantly with filial care To baffie all that might her strength impair That church, the unperverted Gospel's seat; In their afflictions a divine retreat; Source of their liveliest hope and tenderest prayer. The truth exploring with an equal mind In polity and discipline they sought Firmly between the two extremes to steer lot But theirs the wise mans ordinary To trace right courses for the stubborn blind And prophesy to ears that will not hear. C46] Transferred to Itinerary < Sonnets > 1833 XLIII awe A weight of not easily to be borne Fell suddenly upon my spirit cast From the dread bosom of the unknown past When I beheld this sisterhood forlorn And Her sole standing amid yellow corn In fearless height preeminent and placed As if to overlook the circle vast. morn Speak giant mother, tell it to the While she dispels the cumbrous shade of night a Let the moon hear, emerging from cloud resolved The truths disclosed the mystery unbound When how and wherefore rose this wondrous Round Forth shadowing some have deemed to mortal sight The inviolable God that tames the proud See page 47. OF WILLIAM WORDSWORTH 105 [47] awe A weight of not easily to be borne (Hath sometimes fallen on my bosom cast Or to be shaken of is) And loth to be removed is sometimes cast Upon my bosom from the unknown past When I beheld that sisterhood forlorn With Her sole standing amid yellow corn In fearless height preeminent and placed As if to overlook the circle vast Speak giant mother to the dawning morn! Let the moon hear emerging from a cloud The truth disclosed to guide our steps aright Or be at least the mystery unbound When, how, and wherefore rose thy wondrous Round Forth-shadowing (some have deemed) to mortal sight The inviolable God that tames the proud See page 46. [48] IV PART I Yes! whether earth received that cumbrous load For midnight pomp of sacrificial fire For social exercises of harp and lyre Or Rites prelusive to a crown bestowed This claims at least our reverence that to God Antient of days to thee eternal Sire Did Priest and Lawgiver and Bard aspire As to the one sole fount whence wisdom flowed Wisdom and Justice — Tremblingly escaped As if with prescience of the coming storm That intimation when the stars were shaped Or perished utterly the primal truth Till man had fallen to mingle with the worm And heaven was filled with unavailing ruth 106 THE ECCLESIASTICAL SONNETS XXXV PART III I thought of- Luxury and greedy sway And pride deserving chastisement severe, But stillness, ruin, beauty, all things here Dispose to judgments temperate as we lay On our past selves in lifes declining day For as by discipline of time made wise We learn to tolerate the infirmities And faults of others, gently as he may Towards our own the mild Instructor deals Teaching us to forget them or forgive. Why then be curious here for hidden ill Perversely breaking charitable seals? The spot was holy once, is holy still Its spirit freely let me drink and live. [49] [50] XXXV PART II Here flame ward stretching his upbraided hand O God of mercy may no earthly seat Of judgment such presumptuous doom repeat Here for the final test did Cranmer stand Firm as the stake to which with iron band His frame was tied, firm from the naked feet To the bare head, the victory complete His shrouded body to the souls command Answering with more than Indian fortitude Through all her nerves with finer sense endued While him flames enshroud A and black smoke embowered Till self reproach and parting aspiration W^ere with the heart that held them all devoured The spirit set free and crowned with blissful acclamation. OF WILLIAM WORDSWORTH 107 C51] XLIII [XLIV] PART III Kings Coll. Chapel. What awful perspective while from our sight Their portraitures the lateral windows hide Glimmers the corresponding stone work dyed With the soft chequerings of a sleepy light Martyr or king or sainted eremite are Whoe'er ye be that thus yourselves unseen Imbue your prison bars with solemn sheen on until ye fade Shine (till your lustre fades) with coming night But from the arms of silence list! oh list! The music bursteth into second life And every stone throughout the Pile is kissed By the delicious notes in mazy strife (The storm hath ceased the harmony is gone And now the sad sad heart is left alone) (Where now the thrilling harmony, tis gone And the lost notes of lively rapture flown) (Of lively rapture or with softer flight Fondly relayed in mazes infinite) That thrills the heart and casts before the eye Of the devout a veil of ecstasy! [52] Miscellaneous Part IIII [III] VII W^here holy ground begins- — unhallowed ends Is marked by no distinguishable line The turf unites — the Pathways intertwine And wheresoe'er the stealing footstep tends Garden and that domain where Kindred Friends confound And neighbours rest together, here Their several features, mingled like the sound Of many waters, or as evening blends With shady night — soft airs from shrub and flower Waft fragrant greetings to each silent grave And ever as those lofty poplars wave Their parting summits open out a sky Bright as the glimpses of eternity To saints accorded in their mortal hour. 108 THE ECCLESIASTICAL SONNETS XL! PART III C53] The encircling ground in natural turf arrayed Is now by solemn consecration given To social interests and to favouring Heaven Hence forth where ragged Colts their gambols played And wild deer bounded through the forest glade Unchecked as erst by merry Outlaw driven Shall pious hymns resound at morn and even full soon the lonely sextons spade And soon (the sexton shall apply his spade) Shall wound Wounding the tender sod. Encincture small! But infinite its grasp of joy and woe Hopes fears in never resting ebb and flow The spousal trembling — and the "dust to dust" The prayers — the contrite struggle and the trust That to the Almighty Father looks through all. C54] XXXIV PART III to high From (high to) low doth dissolution climb And sinks from high to low along a scale awful Of things (by laws) whose concord shall not fail; A musical but melancholy chime Which they can hear who meddle not with crime Nor avarice nor over anxious care. Truth fades not, but the forms of thought (The pomps and vanities of earth) that bear The longest date shall melt like frosty rime That in the morning whitened hill and plain And is no more, drop like the tower sublime Of yesterday, which royally did wear Its crown of weeds, but could not even sustain Some casual shout that broke the silent air Or the unimaginable touch of time Truth wastes not In [?] Mrs. Wordsworth handwriting. OF WILLIAM WORDSWORTH 109 C55] XIV PART II Who but is pleased to note the birds of spring 'Twere monstrous to dislike the birds of spring And the green grass recovering on the lawn Monstrous it were to loathe the birds of spring Or the new moon or sparkling eye of dawn And flowers forth peeping on the dewy lawn Who scowls upon the sparkling eye of dawn Or crescent moon as on a hated thing Or give the sun a churlish welcoming loathe Yet Truth we hate through man the signs that bring Our visual expectation worthier far brightest Though of more virtue than the morning star That walks the sky — her presence gives a sting To millions — But heaven guards the sacred fire Which renovated thus, from savage wood [?s] Through courts through camps, oer limitary floods Nor lacked this sea-girt Isle a timely share Of the new flame not suffered to expire. See pages 37. 38. ECCLESIASTICAL SONNETS 112 THE ECCLESIASTICAL SONNETS TABLE OF CONTENTS Part i From the Introduction of Christianity into Britain to THE Consummation of the Papal Dominion Composed 1 Introduction 1821 2 Conjectures 1821 3 Trepidation of the Druids 182 1 4 Druidical Excommunication 1821 5 Uncertainty •. . . 1821 6 Persecution 1821 7 Recovery 1821 8 Temptations from Roman Refine- ments 1 82 1 9 Dissensions 1821 10 Struggle of the Britons against the Barbarians 1821 1 1 Saxon Conquest 1 82 1 12 Monastery of Old Bangor 1821 13 Casual Incitement 1821 14 Glad Tidings 1821 15 Paulinus 1821 16 Persuasion 182 1 17 Conversion 1821 18 Apology 1821 19 Primitive Saxon Clergy 1821 20 Other Influences 1821 21 Seclusion 1821 22 Continued 1821 23 Reproof 1821 24 Saxon Monasteries, and Lights and Shades of the Religion 1821 25 Missions and Travels 1821 26 Alfred 1821 27 His Descendants 1821 Published Page 1822 . . . 120 1822 . . . 120 1822 . . . 121 1822 . . . 121 1822 . . . 122 1822 . . . 122 1822 . . • 123 1822 .. • 123 1822 .. . 124 1822 . . . 124 1822 . . . 125 1822 . . • 125 1822 .. . 126 1822 .. . 126 1822 .. . 127 1822 .. . 127 1822 .. . 128 1822 .. . 128 1822 . . . 129 1822 .. . 129 1822 . . • 130 1822 .. • 130 1822 .. • 131 1822 .. • 131 1822 . . • 132 1822 .. . ■ 132 1822 .. • 133 OF WILLIAM WORDSWORTH 113 Composed 28 Influence Abused 1821 . 29 Danish Conquests 1821 . 30 Canute 1821 . 31 The Norman Conquest 1821 . 32 Coldly we spake. The Saxons, overpowered ?i836 . 33 The Council of Clermont 1821 . 34 Crusades 1821 . 35 Richard I 1821 . 36 An Interdict 1821 . 37 Papal Abuses 1821 . 38 Scene in Venice 1821 . 39 Papal Dominion 1821 . Published Page ... 1822 .. • 133 ... 1822 .. • 134 . .. 1822 .. • 134 ... 1822 .. • 135 ... 1837 .. • 135 ... 1822 .. . 136 . . . 1822 . . . 136 ... 1822 .. • 137 ... 1822 .. • 137 . .. 1822 .. . 138 ... 1822 .. • 138 . .. 1822 .. • 139 10 II 12 13 Part 2 To THE Close of the Troubles in the Reign of Charles I Composed Published How soon — alas! did Man, created pure ? .... 1845 From false assumption rose, and * fondly hailed ?i842 .... 1845 Cistertian Monastery 1821 .... 1822 Deplorable his lot who tills the ground ? .... 1835 Monks and Schoolmen 1821 .... 1822 Other Benefits 1821 .... 1822 Continued 1821 .... 1822 Crusaders 1821 .... 1822 As faith thus sanctified the war- rior's crest ?i842 .... 1845 Where long and deeply hath been fixed the root ? .... 1845 Transubstantiation 1821 .... 1822 The Vaudois ? .... 1835 Praised be the Rivers, from their mountain springs ? .... 1835 9 Page 139 140 140 141 141 142 142 143 143 144 144 145 145 114 THE ECCLESIASTICAL SONNETS 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 Composed Waldenses 1821 . Archbishop Chicheley to Henry V. 1821 . Wars of York and Lancaster 1821 . Wicliffe 1821 . Corruptions of the Higher Clergy. 1821 . Abuse of Monastic Power 1821 . Monastic Voluptuousness 182 1 . Dissolution of the Monasteries. ... 1821 . The Same Subject 1821 . Continued 1821 . Saints 1 82 1 . The Virgin 1 821 . Apology 1 82 1 . Imaginative Regrets 1821 . Reflections 1821 . Translation of the Bible 1821 . The Point at Issue ? Edward VI 1821 . Edward Signing the Warrant for the Execution of Joan of Kent. 182 1 . Revival of Popery ? Latimer and Ridley ? Cranmer 1821 . General View of the Troubles of the Reformation 182 1 . English Reformers in Exile 1821 . Elizabeth 1 82 1 . Eminent Reformers 1821 . The Same 1821 . Distractions 182 1 . Gunpowder Plot 1 821 . Illustration: The Jung-Frau and the Fall of the Rhine near Schaffhausen 1 821 . Troubles of Charles the First 1821 . Laud 1 82 1 . Afflictions of England 1821 . Published Page . .. 1822 . . . 146 . .. 1822 . . . 146 . .. 1822 . •• 147 . .. 1822 . .. 147 . .. 1822 . .. 148 . .. 1822 . .. 148 . .. 1822 . .. 149 . .. 1822 . ■• 149 . . . 1822 . .. 150 . .. 1822 . •• 150 . .. 1822 . •• 151 . .. 1822 . •• 151 . .. 1822 . ■ ■ 152 . .. 1822 . .. 152 . . . 1822 . •• 153 . . . 1822 . •• 153 . . . 1827 . ■• 154 . . . 1822 . •• 154 . . . 1822 . •• 155 . .. 1827 . •• 155 . .. 1827 . ■■ 156 . .. 1822 . .. 156 . . . 1822 . •• 157 . .. 1822 . •• 157 . . 1822 . •■ 158 . . . 1822 . .. 158 . .. 1822 . •• 159 . . 1822 . •• 159 . . 1822 . . . 160 . . 1822 . . . 160 . . . 1822 . .. 161 . .. 1822 . .. I61 . . 1822 . .. 162 OF WILLIAM WORDSWORTH 115 Part 3 From the Restoration to the Present Times 1827 1822 1822 1822 1827 18221 Composed Published I saw the figure of a lovely Maid . 1821 .... 1822 . Patriotic Sympathies 1821 .... 1822 . Charles the Second 1821 .... 1822 . Latittidinarianism 1821 .... 1822 . Walton's Book of Lives 1821 .... 1822 . Clerical Integrity 1821 .... 1822 . Persecution of the Scottish Cove- nanters ? Acquittal of the Bishops 1821 William the Third 1821 Obligations of Civil to Religious Liberty 1821 Sacheverel ? Down a swift Stream, thus far, a bold design 1821 Aspects of Christianity in America L The Pilgrim Fathers 1842 II. Continued 1842 III. Concluded: American Epis- copacy 1842 Bishops and Priests, blessed are ye, if deep 1842-3^ .... 1845 Places of Worship 1821 .... 1822 Pastoral Character 1821 .... 1822 The Liturgy 182 1 .... 1822 Baptism ? .... 1827 Sponsors ? ^ .... 1832 Catechising 1821 .... 1822 Confirmation ? .... 1827 Confirmation Continued ? .... 1827 Sacrament ? .... 1827 1 Mem. Tour Cont. 1820; first published with Eccl. Sketches in 1827. 2 Between September 4, 1842, and March 27, 1843. 2 Knight (P. W., Eversley ed., 7.91): 'This sonnet was sent by Words- worth in holograph MS. to Orton Hall . . . dated Dec. 7, 1827.' 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 li Page 162 163 163 164 164 165 165 166 166 167 167 168 168 169 169 170 170 171 171 172 172 173 174 174 116 THE ECCLESIASTICAL SONNETS Composed 26 The Marriage Ceremony 1842^ 27 Thanksgiving after Childbirth. .. . 1842^ 28 Visitation of the Sick 1842^ 29 The Commination Service 1842-3^ 30 Forms of Prayer at Sea 1842-3^ 31 Funeral Service 1842^ 32 Rural Ceremony 182 1 33 Regrets 1821 34 Mutability 1821 35 Old Abbeys 1821 36 Emigrant French Clergy ? 37 Congratulation 1821 38 New Churches 1821 39 Church to be Erected 1821 40 Continued 1821 41 New Church-yard 182 1 42 Cathedrals, &c 1821 43 Inside of King's College Chapel, Cambridge 1821 44 The Same 1 820-1 45 Continued 1821 46 Ejaculation 1821 47 Conclusion 1821 ^ A few days before September 4. 2 Between September 4, 1842, and March 27, 1843 d Published Page .... 1845 •• •• 175 .... 1845 •• •• 175 .... 1845 •• .. 176 .... 1845 •• .. 176 .... 1845 ■■ . . 177 .... 1845 •■ . . 177 1822 .. .. 178 1822 . . . 178 1822 .. • 179 1822 .. • 179 1827 . . . 180 1822 . . . 180 1822 . . . . 181 1822 .. . 181 .... 1822 . . . 182 1822 .. . 182 1822 .. . 183 1822 . . . 183 1822 . . . 184 1822 . .. . 184 1822 .. . . 185 1822 . .. . 185 OF WILLIAM WORDSWORTH 117 [ADVERTISEMENT OF 1822] During the month of December, 1820, I accompanied a much- loved^ and honoured Friend in a walk through different parts of his Estate, with a view to fix upon the Site of a New Church which he intended to erect. It was one of the most beautiful mornings of a mild season — our feelings were in harmony with the cherishing influences of the scene; and such being our purpose, we were naturally led to look back upon past events with wonder and gratitude, and on the future with hope. Not long afterwards, some of the Sonnets which will be found towards the close of this Series were produced as a private memorial of that morning's occupation. The Catholic Question, which was agitated in Parliament about that time, kept my thoughts in the same course; and it struck me that certain points in the Ecclesiastical History of our Country might advantageously be presented to view in Verse.^ Accordingly, I took up the subject, and what I now offer to the Reader was the result. When this work was far advanced, I was agreeablj^ surprised to find that my Friend, Mr. Southey, was engaged^ with similar views in writing a concise History of the Church in England. If our Productions, thus unintentionally coinciding, shall be found to illustrate each other, it will prove a high gratification to me, which I am sure my Friend will participate. W. Wordsworth. Rydal Mount, January 24, 1822. ^ In the text of 1850, ' much-beloved.' 2 Cf. Fenwick note, 1843: 'My purpose in writing this series was, as much as possible, to confine my view to the introduction, progress, and operation of the Church in England, both previous and subsequent to the Reformation.' 3 In the text of 1850, ' had been engaged.' 118 THE ECCLESIASTICAL SONNETS [NOTE OF 1827] For the convenience of passing from one point of the subject to another without shocks of abruptness, this work has taken the shape of a series of Sonnets; but the Reader, it is hoped, ^ will find that the pictures are often so closely connected as to have the effect of a poem^ in a form of stanza to which there is no objection but one that bears upon the Poet only — its difficulty. ^ In the text of 1850, 'it is to be hoped.' 2 In the text of 1850, 'as to have jointly the effect of passages of a poem.' TEXT OF 1850 A verse may catch a wandering Soul, that flies Profounder Tracts, and by a blest surprise Convert delight into a Sacrifice. [Adapted from George Herbert's The Temple: The Church Porch, stanza i.] 120 THE ECCLESIASTICAL SONNETS Part i From the Introduction of Christianity into Britain to THE Consummation of the Papal Dominion I.I introduction I, WHO accompanied with faithful pace Cerulean Duddon from its cloud-fed spring, And loved with spirit ruled by his to sing Of mountain-quiet and boon nature's grace; I, who essayed the nobler Stream to trace 5 Of Liberty, and smote the plausive string Till the checked torrent, proudly triumphing, Won for herself a lasting resting-place; Now seek upon the heights of Time the source Of a Holy River, on whose banks are found 10 Sweet pastoral flowers, and laurels that have crowned Full oft the unworthy brow of lawless force; And, for delight of him who tracks its course, Immortal amaranth and palms abound. 1.2 CONJECTURES If there be prophets on whose spirits rest Past things, revealed like future, they can tell What Powers, presiding o'er the sacred well Of Christian Faith, this savage Island blessed With its first bounty. Wandering through the west, 5 Did holy Paul a while in Britain dwell, And call the Fountain forth by miracle. And with dread signs the nascent Stream invest? Or He, whose bonds dropped off, whose prison doors Flew open, by an Angel's voice unbarred? lO Or some of humbler name, to these wild shores Storm-driven; who, having seen the cup of woe Pass from their Master, sojourned here to guard The precious Current they had taught to flow? OF WILLIAM WORDSWORTH 121 1-3 TREPIDATION OF THE DRUIDS Screams round the Arch-druid's brow the sea-mew — white As Menai's foam; and toward the mystic ring Where Augurs stand, the Future questioning, Slowly the cormorant aims her heavy flight, Portending ruin to each baleful rite, 5 That, in the lapse of ages, hath crept o'er Diluvian truths, and patriarchal lore. Haughty the Bard: can these meek doctrines blight His transports? wither his heroic strains? But all shall be fulfilled; — the Julian spear 10 A way first opened; and, with Roman chains, The tidings come of Jesus crucified; They come — they spread — the weak, the sufi"ering, hear; Receive the faith, and in the hope abide. 14 druidical excommunication Mercy and Love have met thee on thy road, Thou wretched Outcast, from the gift of fire And food cut ofi" by sacerdotal ire. From every sympathy that Man bestowed! Yet shall it claim our reverence, that to God, 5 Ancient of days! that to the eternal Sire, These jealous Ministers of law aspire. As to the one sole fount whence wisdom flowed. Justice, and order. Tremblingly escaped. As if with prescience of the coming storm, lO That intimation when the stars were shaped; And still, 'mid yon thick woods, the primal truth Glimmers through many a superstitious form That fills the Soul with unavailing ruth. 122 THE ECCLESIASTICAL SONNETS 1-5 UNCERTAINTY Darkness surrounds us; seeking, we are lost On Snowdon's wilds, amid Brigantian coves. Or where the solitary shepherd roves Along the plain of Sarum, by the ghost Of Time and shadows of Tradition, crost; . 5 And where the boatman of the Western Isles Slackens his course — to mark those holy piles Which yet survive on bleak lona's coast. Nor these, nor monuments of eldest name. Nor Taliesin's unforgotten lays, 10 Nor characters of Greek or Roman fame, To an unquestionable Source have led; Enough — if eyes, that sought the fountain-head In vain, upon the growing Rill may gaze. 1.6 PERSECUTION Lament! for Diocletian's fiery sword Works busy as the lightning; but instinct With malice ne'er to deadliest weapon linked, Which God's ethereal storehouses afford: Against the Followers of the incarnate Lord 5 It rages; — some are smitten in the field — Some pierced to the heart through the ineffectual shield Of sacred home; — with pomp are others gored And dreadful respite. Thus was Alban tried, England's first "Martyr, whom no threats could shake; 10 Self-offered victim, for his friend he died. And for the faith; nor shall his name forsake That Hill, whose flowery platform seems to rise By Nature decked for holiest sacrifice. OF WILLIAM WORDSWORTH 123 RECOVERY As, when a storm hath ceased, the birds regain Their cheerfulness, and busily retrim Their nests, or chant a gratulating hymn To the blue ether and bespangled plain; Even so, in many a re-constructed fane, 5 Have the survivors of this Storm renewed Their holy rites with vocal gratitude: And solemn ceremonials they ordain To celebrate their great deliverance; Most feelingly instructed 'mid their fear — lO That persecution, blind with rage extreme. May not the less, through Heaven's mild countenance. Even in her own despite, both feed and cheer; For all things are less dreadful than they seem. 1.8 TEMPTATIONS FROM ROMAN REFINEMENTS Watch, and be firm! for, soul-subduing vice. Heart-killing luxury, on your steps await. Fair houses, baths, and banquets delicate, And temples flashing, bright as polar ice, Their radiance through the woods — may yet suffice 5 To sap your hardy virtue, and abate Your love of Him upon whose forehead sate The crown of thorns; whose life-blood flowed, the price Of your redemption. Shun the insidious arts That Rome provides, less dreading from her frown 10 Than from her wily praise, her peaceful gown. Language, and letters; — these, though fondly viewed As humanising graces, are but parts And instruments of deadliest servitude! 124 THE ECCLESIASTICAL SONNETS 1.9 DISSENSIONS That heresies should strike (if truth be scanned Presumptuously) their roots both wide and deep, Is natural as dreams to feverish sleep. Lo! Discord at the altar dares to stand Uplifting toward high Heaven her fiery brand, 5 A cherished Priestess of the new-baptized ! But chastisement shall follow peace despised. The Pictish cloud darkens the enervate land By Rome abandoned; vain are suppliant cries. And prayers that would undo her forced farewell; 10 For she returns not. — Awed by her own knell. She casts the Britons upon strange Allies, Soon to become more dreaded enemies Than heartless misery called them to repel. STRUGGLE OF THE BRITONS AGAINST THE BARBARIANS Rise! — they have risen: of brave Aneurin ask How they have scourged old foes, perfidious friends: The Spirit of Caractacus descends Upon the Patriots, animates their task; — Amazement runs before the towering casque 5 Of Arthur, bearing through the stormy field The virgin sculptured on his Christian shield: — Stretched in the sunny light of victory bask The Host that followed Urien as he strode O'er heaps of slain; — from Cambrian wood and moss 10 Druids descend, auxiliars of the Cross; Bards, nursed on blue Plinlimmon's still abode. Rush on the fight, to harps preferring swords. And everlasting deeds to burning words! OF WILLIAM WORDSWORTH 125 I. II SAXON CONQUEST Nor wants the cause the panic-striking aid Of hallelujahs tost from hill to hill— For instant victory. But Heaven's high will Permits a second and a darker shade Of Pagan night. Afflicted and dismayed, 5 The Relics of the sword flee to the mountains: O wretched Land! whose tears have flowed like fountains; Whose arts and honours in the dust are laid By men yet scarcely conscious of a care For other monuments than those of Earth; 10 Who, as the fields and woods have given them birth, Will build their savage fortunes only there; Content, if foss, and barrow, and the girth Of long-drawn rampart, witness what they were. 1. 12 MONASTERY OF OLD BANGOR 9 The oppression of the tumult — wrath and scorn — The tribulation — and the gleaming blades — Such is the impetuous spirit that pervades The song of Taliesin; — Ours shall mourn The smarmed Host who by their prayers would turn 5 The sword from Bangor's walls, and guard the store Of Aboriginal and Roman lore, And Christian monuments, that now must burn To senseless ashes. Mark! how all things swerve From their known course, or vanish like a dream; 10 Another language spreads from coast to coast; Only perchance some melancholy Stream And some indignant Hills old names preserve. When laws, and creeds, and people all are lost! 126 THE ECCLESIASTICAL SONNETS 1. 13 CASUAL INCITEMENT A BRIGHT-HAIRED company of youthful slaves, Beautiful strangers, stand within the pale Of a sad market, ranged for public sale, Where Tiber's stream the immortal City laves: Angli by name; and not an Angel waves 5 His wing who could seem lovelier to man's eye Than they appear to holy Gregory; Who, having learnt that name, salvation craves For Them, and for their Land. The earnest Sire, His questions urging, feels, in slender ties 10 Of chiming sound, commanding sympathies; De-irians — he would save them from God's Ire; Subjects of Saxon i^LLA — they shall sing Glad HALLE-lujahs to the eternal King! 1. 14 • GLAD TIDINGS For ever hallowed be this morning fair, Blest be the unconscious shore on which ye tread, And blest the silver Cross, which ye, instead Of martial banner, in procession bear; The Cross preceding Him who floats in air, 5 The pictured Saviour! — By Augustin led. They come — and onward travel without dread, Chanting in barbarous ears a tuneful prayer — Sung for themselves, and those whom they would free! Rich conquest waits them: — the tempestuous sea lO Of Ignorance, that ran so rough and high And heeded not the voice of clashing swords, These good men humble by a few bare words, And calm with fear of God's divinity. OF WILLIAM WORDSWORTH 127 PAULINUS But, to remote Northumbria's royal Hall, Where thoughtful Edwin, tutored in the school Of sorrow, still maintains a heathen rule. Who comes with functions apostolical? Mark him, of shoulders curved, and stature tall, 5 Black hair, and vivid eye, and meagre cheek, His prominent feature like an eagle's beak; A Man whose aspect doth at once appal And strike with reverence. The Monarch leans Toward the pure truths this Delegate propounds, 10 Repeatedly his own deep mind he sounds With careful hesitation, — then convenes A synod of his Councillors: — give ear. And what a pensive Sage doth utter, hear! 1. 16 yPERSUASION 'Man's life is like a Sparrow, mighty King! That — while at banquet with your Chiefs you sit Housed near a blazing fire — is seen to flit Safe from the wintry tempest. Fluttering, Here did it enter; there, on hasty wing, 5 Flies out, and passes on from cold to cold; But whence it came we know not, nor behold Whither it goes. Even such, that transient Thing, The human Soul; not utterly unknown While in the Body lodged, her warm abode; lO But from what world She came, what woe or weal On her departure waits, no tongue hath shown; This mystery if the Stranger can reveal, His be a welcome cordially bestowed! ' 128 THE ECCLESIASTICAL SONNETS 1. 17 CONVERSION Prompt transformation works the novel Lore; The Council closed, the Priest in full career Rides forth, an armed man, and hurls a spear To desecrate the Fane which heretofore He served in folly. Woden falls, and Thor 5 Is overturned; the mace, in battle heaved (So might they dream) till victory was achieved, Drops, and the God himself is seen no more. Temple and Altar sink, to hide their shame Amid oblivious weeds. '0 come to me, 10 Ye heavy laden! ' such the inviting voice Heard near fresh streams; and thousands, who rejoice In the new Rite — the pledge of sanctity, Shall, by regenerate life, the promise claim. 1. 18 apology Nor scorn the aid which Fancy oft doth lend The Soul's eternal interests to promote: Death, darkness, danger, are our natural lot; And evil Spirits may our walk attend For aught the wisest know or comprehend; 5 Then be good Spirits free to breathe a note Of elevation; let their odours float Around these Converts; and their glories blend, The midnight stars outshining, or the blaze Of the noon-day. Nor doubt that golden cords 10 Of good works, mingling with the visions, raise The Soul to purer worlds: and who the line Shall draw, the limits of the power define, That even imperfect faith to man aff'ords? OF WILLIAM WORDSWORTH 129 1. 19 PRIMITIVE SAXON CLERGY How beautiful your presence, how benign, Servants of God ! who not a thought will share With the vain world; who, outwardly as bare As winter trees, yield no fallacious sign That the firm soul is clothed with fruit divine! 5 Such Priest, when service worthy of his care Has called him forth to breathe the common air, Might seem a saintly Image from its shrine Descended: — happy are the eyes that meet The Apparition; evil thoughts are stayed 10 At his approach, and low-bowed necks entreat A benediction from his voice or hand; Whence grace, through which the heart can understand, And vows, that bind the will, in silence made. 1.20 OTHER INFLUENCES Ah, when the Body, round which in love we clung. Is chilled by death, does mutual service fail? Is tender pity then of no avail? Are intercessions of the fervent tongue A waste of hope? — From this sad source have sprung 5 Rites that console the Spirit, under grief Which ill can brook more rational relief: Hence, prayers are shaped amiss, and dirges sung For Souls whose doom is fixed! The way is smooth For Power that travels with the human heart: 10 Confession ministers the pang to soothe In him who at the ghost of guilt doth start. Ye holy Men, so earnest in your care. Of your own mighty instruments beware! 10 130 THE ECCLESIASTICAL SONNETS 1. 21 SECLUSION Lance, shield, and sword relinquished — at his side A bead-roll, in his hand a clasped book. Or stafif more harmless than a shepherd's crook, The war-worn Chieftain quits the world — to hide His thin autumnal locks where Monks abide 5 In cloistered privacy. But not to dwell In soft repose he comes. Within his cell, Round the decaying trunk of human pride. At morn, and eve, and midnight's silent hour. Do penitential cogitations cling; lo Like ivy, round some ancient elm, they twine In grisly folds and strictures serpentine; Yet, while they strangle, a fair growth they bring. For recompense — their own perennial bower. 1.22 CONTINUED Methinks that to some vacant hermitage My feet would rather turn — to some dry nook Scooped out of living rock, and near a brook Hurled down a mountain-cove from stage to stage, Yet tempering, for my sight, its bustling rage 5 In the soft heaven of a translucent pool; Thence creeping under sylvan arches cool. Fit haunt of shapes whose glorious equipage Would elevate my dreams. A beechen bowl, A maple dish, my furniture should be; 10 Crisp, yellow leaves my bed; the hooting owl My night-watch: nor should e'er the crested fowl From thorp or vill his matins sound for me. Tired of the world and all its industry. OF WILLIAM WORDSWORTH 131 1.23 REPROOF But what if One, through grove or flowery mead, Indulging thus at will the creeping feet Of a voluptuous indolence, should meet Thy hovering Shade, O venerable Bede! The saint, the scholar, from a circle freed 5 Of toil stupendous, in a hallowed seat Of learning, where thou heard'st the billows beat On a wild coast, rough monitors to feed Perpetual industry. Sublime Recluse! The recreant soul, that dares to shun the debt 10 Imposed on human kind, must first forget Thy diligence, thy unrelaxing use Of a long life; and, in the hour of death, The last dear servjce of thy passing breath ! 1.24 SAXON MONASTERIES, AND LIGHTS AND SHADES OF THE RELIGION By such examples moved to unbought pains. The people work like congregated bees; Eager to build the quiet Fortresses Where Piety, as they believe, obtains From Heaven a general blessing; timely rains 5 Or needful sunshine; prosperous enterprise. Justice and peace:: — bold faith! yet also rise The sacred Structures for less doubtful gains. The Sensual think with reverence of the palms Which the chaste Votaries seek, beyond the grave; 10. If penance be redeemable, thence alms Flow to the poor, and freedom to the slave; And if full oft the Sanctuary save Lives black with guilt, ferocity it calms. 132 THE ECCLESIASTICAL SONNETS MISSIONS AND TRAVELS Not sedentary all : there are who roam To scatter seeds of life on barbarous shores; Or quit with zealous step their knee-worn floors To seek the general mart of Christendom; Whence they, like richly-laden merchants, come 5 To their beloved cells: — or shall we say That, like the Red-cross Knight, they urge their way, To lead in memorable triumph home Truth, their immortal Una? Babylon, Learned and wise, hath perished utterly, 10 Nor leaves her Speech one word to aid the sigh That would lament her; — Memphis, Tyre, are gone With all their Arts, — but classic lore glides on By these Religious saved for all posterity. 1.26 ALFRED Behold a pupil of the monkish gown. The pious Alfred, King to Justice dear! Lord of the harp and liberating spear; Mirror of Princes! Indigent Renown Might range the starry ether for a crown 5 Equal to his deserts, who, like the year. Pours forth his bounty, like the day doth cheer. And awes like night with mercy-tempered frown. Ease from this noble miser of his time No moment steals; pain narrows not his cares. 10 Though small his kingdom as a spark or gem, Of Alfred boasts remote Jerusalem, And Christian India, through her wide-spread clime, In sacred converse gifts with Alfred shares. OF WILLIAM WORDSWORTH 133 1.27 ' HIS DESCENDANTS When thy great soul was freed from mortal chains, Darling of England ! many a bitter shower Fell on thy tomb; but emulative power Flowed in thy line through undegenerate veins. The Race of i\lfred covet glorious pains 5 When dangers threaten, dangers ever new! Black tempests bursting, blacker still in view! But manly sovereignty its hold retains; The root sincere, the branches bold to strive With the fierce tempest, while, within the round 10 Of their protection, gentle virtues thrive; As oft, 'mid some green plot of open ground. Wide as the oak extends its dewy gloom, The fostered hyacinths spread their purple bloom. 1.28 influence abused Urged by Ambition, who with subtlest skill Changes her means, the Enthusiast as a dupe Shall soar, and as a hypocrite can stoop, And turn the instruments of good to ill, Moulding the credulous people to his will. 5 Such Dunstan: — from its Benedictine coop Issues the master Mind, at whose fell swoop The chaste affections tremble to fulfil Their purposes. Behold, pre-signified. The Might of spiritual sway! his thoughts, his dreams, 10 Do in the supernatural world abide: So vaunt a throng of Followers, filled with pride In what they see of virtues pushed to extremes, And sorceries of talent misapplied. 134 THE ECCLESIASTICAL SONNETS 1.29 DANISH CONQUESTS Woe to the Crown that dcTth the Cowl obey! Dissension, checking arms that would restrain The incessant Rovers of the northern main, Helps to restore and spread a Pagan sway: But Gospel-truth is potent to allay 5 Fierceness and rage; and soon the cruel Dane Feels, through the influence of her gentle reign, His native superstitions melt away. Thus, often, when thick gloom the east o'ershrouds, The full-orbed Moon, slow-climbing, doth appear 10 Silently to consume the heavy clouds; How no one can resolve; but every eye Around her sees, while air is hushed, a clear And widening circuit of ethereal sky. 1.30 CANUTE A PLEASANT music floats along the Mere, From Monks in Ely chanting service high, While-as Canute the King is rowing by: 'My Oarsmen,' quoth the mighty King, 'draw near, That we the sweet song of the Monks may hear!' 5 He listens (all past conquests and all schemes Of future vanishing like empty dreams) Heart-touched, and haply not without a tear. The Royal Minstrel, ere the choir is still. While his free Barge skims the smooth flood along, 10 Gives to that rapture an accordant Rhyme. O suffering Earth! be thankful; sternest clime And rudest age are subject to the thrill Of heaven-descended Piety and Song. OF WILLIAM WORDSWORTH 135 1.31 THE NORMAN CONQUEST The woman-hearted Confessor prepares The evanescence of the Saxon line. Hark! 'tis the tolling Curfew! — the stars shine; But of the lights that cherish household cares And festive gladness, burns not one that dares 5 To twinkle after that dull stroke of thine, Emblem and instrument, from Thames to Tyne, Of force that daunts, and cunning that ensnares! Yet as the terrors of the lordly bell, That quench, from hut to palace, lamps and fires, 10 Touch not the tapers of the sacred quires; Even so a thraldom, studious to expel Old laws, and ancient customs to derange, To Creed or Ritual brings no fatal change. 1.32 Coldly we spake. The Saxons, overpowered By wrong triumphant through its own excess. From fields laid waste, from house and home devoured By flames, look up to heaven and crave redress From God's eternal justice. Pitiless 5 Though men be, there are angels that can feel For wounds that death alone has power to heal, For penitent guilt, and innocent distress. And has a Champion risen in arms to try His Country's virtue, fought, and breathes no more; 10 Him in their hearts the people canonize; And far above the mine's most precious ore The least small pittance of bare mould they prize Scooped from the sacred earth where his dear relics lie. 136 THE ECCLESIASTICAL SONNETS 1-33 THE COUNCIL OF CLERMONT 'And shall,' the Pontiff asks, 'profaneness flow From Nazareth — source of Christian piety, From Bethlehem, from the Mounts of Agony And glorified Ascension? Warriors, go. With prayers and blessings we your path will sow; 5 Like Moses hold our hands erect, till ye Have chased far off by righteous victory These sons of Amalek, or laid them low!' — 'God willeth it,' the whole assembly cry; Shout which the enraptured multitude astounds! 10 The Council-roof and Clermont's towers reply; — 'God willeth it,' from hill to hill rebounds. And, in awe-stricken Countries far and nigh, Through 'Nature's hollow arch' that voice resounds. 1-34 CRUSADES The turbaned Race are poured in thickening swarms Along the west; though driven from Aquitaine, The Crescent glitters on the towers of Spain; And soft Italia feels renewed alarms; The scimitar, that yields not to the charms 5 Of ease, the narrow Bosphorus will disdain; Nor long (that crossed) would Grecian hills detain Their tents, and check the current of their arms. Then blame not those who, by the mightiest lever Known to the moral world, Imagination, 10 Upheave, so seems it, from her natural station All Christendom: — they sweep along (was never So huge a host!) — to tear from the Unbeliever The precious Tomb, their haven of salvation. OF WILLIAM WORDSWORTH 137 1-35 RICHARD I Redoubted King, of courage leonine, I mark thee, Richard! urgent to equip Thy warlike person with the staff and scrip; I watch thee sailing o'er the midland brine; In conquered Cyprus see thy Bride decline 5 Her blushing cheek, love-vows upon her lip. And see love-emblems streaming from thy ship, As thence she holds her way to Palestine. My Song, a fearless homager, would attend Thy thundering battle-axe as it cleaves the press 10 Of war, but duty summons her away To tell — how, finding in the rash distress Of those Enthusiasts a subservient friend, To giddier heights hath clomb the Papal sway. AN INTERDICT Realms quake by turns: proud Arbitress of grace, The Church, by mandate shadowing forth the power She arrogates o'er heaven's eternal door,. Closes the gates of every sacred place. Straight from the sun and tainted air's embrace 5 All sacred things are covered: cheerful morn Grows sad as night — no seemly garb is worn, Nor is a face allowed to meet a face With natural smiles of greeting. Bells are dumb; Ditches are graves — funereal rites denied; 10 And in the church-yard he must take his bride Who dares be wedded! Fancies thickly come Into the pensive heart ill fortified. And comfortless despairs the soul benumb. 138 THE ECCLESIASTICAL SONNETS 1-37 PAPAL ABUSES As with the Stream our voyage we pursue, The gross materials of this world present A marvellous study of wild accident; Uncouth proximities of old and new; And bold transfigurations, more untrue 5 (As might be deemed) to disciplined intent Than aught the sky's fantastic element. When most fantastic, offers to the view. Saw we not Henry scourged at Becket's Shrine? Lo! John self-stripped of his insignia: — crown, lo Sceptre and mantle, sword and ring, laid down At a proud Legate's feet! The spears that line Baronial halls, the opprobrious insult feel; And angry Ocean roars a vain appeal. 1.38 SCENE IN VENICE Black Demons hovering o'er his mitred head, To Caesar's Successor the Pontiff spake; 'Ere I absolve thee, stoop! that on thy neck Levelled with earth this foot of mine may tread.' Then he, who to the altar had been led, 5 He, whose strong arm the Orient could not check. He, who had held the Soldan at his beck, Stooped, of all glory disinherited, And even the common dignity of man! — Amazement strikes the crowd: while many turn lO Their eyes away in sorrow, others burn With scorn, invoking a vindictive ban From outraged Nature; but the sense of most In abject sympathy with power is lost. OF WILLIAM WORDSWORTH 139 1-39 PAPAL DOMINION Unless to Peter's Chair the viewless wind Must corne and ask permission when to blow, What further empire would it have? for now A ghostly Domination, unconfined As that by dreaming Bards to Love assigned, 5 Sits there in sober truth — to raise the low, Perplex the wise, the strong to overthrow; Through earth and heaven to bind and to unbind! — Resist — the thunder quails thee! — crouch — rebuff Shall be thy recompense! from land to land lo The ancient thrones of Christendom are stuff For occupation of a magic wand. And 'tis the Pope that wields it: — whether rough Or smooth his front, our world is in his hand! Part 2 To THE Close of the Troubles in the Reign of Charles I 2.1 How soon — alas! did Man, created pure — By Angels guarded, deviate from the line Prescribed to duty: — woeful forfeiture He made by wilful breach of law divine. With like perverseness did the Church abjure 5 Obedience to her Lord, and haste to twine, 'Mid Heaven-born flowers that shall for aye endure. Weeds on whose front the world had fixed her sign. O Man, — if with thy trials thus it fares. If good can smooth the way to evil choice, lO From all rash censure be the mind kept free; He only judges right who weighs, compares, And, in the sternest sentence which his voice Pronounces, ne'er abandons Charity. 140 THE ECCLESIASTICAL SONNETS 2.2 From false assumption rose, and fondly hailed By superstition, spread the Papal power; Yet do not deem the Autocracy prevailed Thus only, even in error's darkest hour. She daunts, forth-thundering from her spiritual tower 5 Brute rapine, or with gentle lure she tames. Justice and Peace through Her uphold their claims; And Chastity finds many a sheltering bower. Realm there is none that if controlled or swayed By her commands partakes not, in degree, 10 Of good, o'er manners arts and arms, diffused : Yes, to thy domination, Roman See, Though miserably, oft monstrously, abused By blind ambition, be this tribute paid. 2.3 CISTERTIAN MONASTERY ' Here Man more purely lives, less oft doth fall, More promptly rises, walks with stricter heed, More safely rests, dies happier, is freed Earlier from cleansing fires, and gains withal A brighter crown.' — On yon Cistertian wall 5 That confident assurance may be read; And, to like shelter, from the world have fled Increasing multitudes. The potent call Doubtless shall cheat full oft the heart's desires; Yet, while the rugged Age on pliant knee 10 Vows to rapt Fancy humble fealty, A gentler life spreads round the holy spires; Where'er they rise, the sylvan waste retires, And aery harvests crown the fertile lea. OF WILLIAM WORDSWORTH 141 2.4 Deplorable his lot who tills the ground, His whole life long tills it, with heartless toil Of villain-service, passing with the soil To each new Master, like a steer or hound, Or like a rooted tree, or stone earth-bound; 5 But mark how gladly, through their own domains, The Monks relax or break these iron chains; While Mercy, uttering, through their voice, a sound Echoed in Heaven, cries out, 'Ye Chiefs, abate These legalized oppressions! Man — whose name 10 And nature God disdained not; Man — whose soul Christ died for — cannot forfeit his high claim To live and move exempt from all control Which fellow-feeling doth not mitigate! ' MONKS AND SCHOOLMEN Record we too, with just and faithful pen. That many hooded Cenobites there are. Who in their private cells have yet a care Of public quiet; unambitious Men, Counsellors for the world, of piercing ken; 5 Whose fervent exhortations from afar Move Princes to their duty, peace or war; And oft-times in the most forbidding den Of solitude, with love of science strong, How patiently the yoke of thought they bear! 10 How subtly glide its finest threads along! Spirits that crowd the intellectual sphere With mazy boundaries, as the astronomer With orb and cycle girds the starry throng. 142 THE ECCLESIASTICAL SONNETS 2.6 OTHER BENEFITS And, not in vain embodied to the sight, Religion finds even in the stern retreat Of feudal sway her own appropriate seat; From the collegiate pomps on Windsor's height Down to the humbler altar, which the Knight And his Retainers of the embattled hall Seek in domestic oratory small, For prayer in stillness, or the chanted rite; Then chiefly dear, when foes are planted round. Who teach the intrepid guardians of the place — Hourly exposed to death, with famine worn. And suffering under many a perilous wound — How sad would be their durance, if forlorn Of offices dispensing heavenly grace! 2.7 CONTINUED And what melodious sounds at times prevail! And, ever and anon, how bright a gleam Pours on the surface of the turbid Stream! What heartfelt fragrance mingles with the gale That swells the bosom of our passing sail! 5 For where, but on this River's margin, blow Those flowers of chivalry, to bind the brow Of hardihood with wreaths that shall not fail? — Fair Court of Edward! wonder of the world! I see a matchless blazonry unfurled 10 Of wisdom, magnanimity, and love; And meekness tempering honourable pride; The lamb is couching by the lion's side. And near the flame-eyed eagle sits the dove. OF WILLIAM WORDSWORTH 143 2.8 CRUSADERS Furl we the sails, and pass with tardy oars Through these bright regions, casting many a glance Upon the dream-like issues — the romance Of many-coloured life that Fortune pours Round the Crusaders, till on distant shores Their labours end; or they return to lie, The vow performed, in cross-legged efifigy, Devoutly stretched upon their chancel floors. Am I deceived? Or is their requiem chanted By voices never mute when Heaven unties Her inmost, softest, tenderest harmonies; Requiem which Earth takes up with voice undaunted, When she would tell how Brave, and Good, and Wise, For their high guerdon not in vain have panted ! 2.9 As faith thus sanctified the warrior's crest While from the Papal Unity there came, What feebler means had failed to give, one aim Diffused through all the regions of the West; So does her Unity its power attest By works of Art, that shed, on the outward frame Of worship, glory and grace, which who shall blame That ever looked to heaven for final rest? Hail countless Temples! that so well befit Your ministry; that, as ye rise and take Form spirit and character from holy writ. Give to devotion, wheresoe'er awake. Pinions of high and higher sweep, and make The unconverted soul with awe submit. 144 THE ECCLESIASTICAL SONNETS 2.10 Where long and deeply hath been fixed the root In the blest soil of gospel truth, the Tree, (Blighted or scathed though many branches be, Put forth to wither, many a hopeful shoot) Can never cease to bear celestial fruit. 5 Witness the Church that oft-times, with effect . Dear to the saints, strives earnestly to eject Her bane, her vital energies recruit. Lamenting, do not hopelessly repine When such good work is doomed to be undone, lo The conquests lost that were so hardly won: — All promises vouchsafed by Heaven will shine In light confirmed while years their course shall run. Confirmed alike in progress and decline. TRANSUBSTANTIATION Enough! for see, with dim association The tapers burn; the odorous incense feeds A greedy flame; the pompous mass proceeds; The Priest bestows the appointed consecration; And, while the Host is raised, its elevation 5 An awe and supernatural horror breeds; And all the people bow their heads, like reeds To a soft breeze, in lowly adoration. This Valdo brooks not. On the banks of Rhone He taught, till persecution chased him thence, 10 To adore the Invisible, and Him alone. Nor are his Followers loth to seek defence, 'Mid woods and wilds, on Nature's craggy throne. From rites that trample upon soul and sense. OF WILLIAM WORDSWORTH 145 THE VAUDOIS But whence came they who for the Saviour Lord Have long borne witness as the Scriptures teach? — Ages ere V^aldo raised his voice to preach In Gallic ears the unadulterate Word, Their fugitive Progenitors explored 5 Subalpine vales, in quest of safe retreats Where that pure Church survives, though summer heats Open a passage to the Romish sword. Far as it dares to follow. Herbs self-sown, And fruitage gathered from the chestnut wood, 10 Nourish the sufferers then; and mists, that brood O'er chasms with new-fallen obstacles bestrown. Protect them; and the eternal snow that daunts Aliens, is God's good winter for their haunts. 2.13 Praised be the Rivers, from their mountain springs Shouting to Freedom, 'Plant thy banners here!' To harassed Piety, ' Dismiss thy fear, And in our caverns smooth thy ruffled wings! ' Nor be unthanked their final lingerings — 5 Silent, but not to high-souled Passion's ear — 'Mid reedy fens wide-spread and marshes drear, Their own creation. Such glad welcomings As Po was heard to give where Venice rose Hailed from aloft those Heirs of truth divine 10 Who near his fountains sought obscure repose, Yet came prepared as glorious lights to shine. Should that be needed for their sacred Charge; Blest Prisoners They, whose spirits were at large! 11 146 THE ECCLESIASTICAL SONNETS 2.14 WALDENSES Those had given earliest notice, as the lark Springs from the ground the morn to gratulate; Or rather rose the day to antedate, By striking out a solitary spark. When all the world with midnight gloom was dark. — 5 Then followed the Waldensian bands, whom Hate In vain endeavours to exterminate. Whom Obloquy pursues with hideous bark: But they desist not; — and the sacred fire. Rekindled thus, from dens and savage woods 10 Moves, handed on with never-ceasing care. Through courts, through camps, o'er limitary floods; Nor lacks this sea-girt Isle a timely share Of the new Flame, not suffered to expire. 2.15 ARCHBISHOP CHICHELEY TO HENRY V 'What beast in wilderness or cultured field The lively beauty of the leopard shows? What flower in meadow-ground or garden grows That to the towering lily doth not yield? Let both meet only on thy royal shield! 5 Go forth, great King! claim what thy birth bestows; Conquer the Gallic lily which thy foes Dare to usurp; — thou hast a sword to wield, And Heaven will crown the right.' — The mitred Sire Thus spake — and lo! a Fleet, for Gaul addrest, 10 Ploughs her bold course across the wondering seas; For, sooth to say, ambition, in the breast Of youthful heroes, is no sullen fire, But one that leaps to meet the fanning breeze. OF WILLIAM WORDSWORTH 147 2.16 WARS OF YORK AND LANCASTER Thus is the storm abated by the craft Of a shrewd Counsellor, eager to protect The Church, whose power hath recently been checked, Whose monstrous riches threatened. So the shaft Of victory mounts high, and blood is quaflfed 5 In fields that rival Cressy and Poictiers — Pride to be washed away by bitter tears! For deep as hell itself, the avenging draught Of civil slaughter. Yet, while temporal power Is by these shocks exhausted, spiritual truth lO Maintains the else endangered gift of life; Proceeds from infancy to lusty youth; And, under cover of this woeful strife. Gathers unblighted strength from hour to hour. 2.17 WICLIFFE Once more the Church is seized with sudden fear, And at her call is Wicliffe disinhumed: Yea, his dry bones to ashes are consumed And flung into the brook that travels near; Forthwith, that ancient Voice which Streams can hear 5 Thus speaks (that Voice which walks upon the wind. Though seldom heard by busy human kind) — 'As thou these ashes, little Brook! wilt bear Into the Avon, Avon to the tide Of Severn, Severn to the narrow seas, 10 Into main Ocean they, this deed accurst An emblem yields to friends and enemies How the bold Teacher's Doctrine, sanctified By truth, shall spread, throughout the world dispersed.' 148 THE ECCLESIASTICAL SONNETS CORRUPTIONS OF THE HIGHER CLERGY 'Woe to you, Prelates! rioting in ease And cumbrous wealth — the shame of your estate; You, on whose progress dazzling trains await Of pompous horses; whom vain titles please; Who will be served by others on their knees, 5 Yet will yourselves to God no service pay; Pastors who neither take nor point the way To Heaven; for, either lost in vanities Ye have no skill to teach, or if ye know And speak the word ' Alas! of fearful things 10 'Tis the most fearful when the people's eye Abuse hath cleared from vain imaginings; And taught the general voice to prophesy Of Justice armed, and Pride to be laid low. 2.19 ABUSE OF MONASTIC POWER And what is Penance with her knotted thong; Mortification with the shirt of hair. Wan cheek, and knees indurated with prayer, Vigils, and fastings rigorous as long; If cloistered Avarice scruple not to wrong 5 The pious, humble, useful Secular, And rob the people of his daily care, Scorning that world whose blindness makes her strong? Inversion strange! that, unto One who lives For self, and struggles with himself alone, 10 The amplest share of heavenly favour gives; That to a Monk allots, both in the esteem Of God and man, place higher than to him Who on the good of others builds his own! OF WILLIAM WORDSWORTH 149 MONASTIC VOLUPTUOUSNESS Yet more, — round many a Convent's blazing fire Unhallowed threads of revelry are spun; There Venus sits disguised like a Nun, — While Bacchus, clothed in semblance of a Friar, Pours out his choicest beverage high and higher 5 Sparkling, until it cannot choose but run Over the bowl, whose silver lip hath won An instant kiss of masterful desire — To stay the precious waste. Through every brain The domination of the sprightly juice lO Spreads high conceits to madding Fancy dear, Till the arched roof, with resolute abuse Of its grave echoes, swells a choral strain. Whose votive burthen is — 'Our Kingdom's here!' 2.21 dissolution of the monasteries Threats come which no submission may assuage, No sacrifice avert, no power dispute; The tapers shall be quenched, the belfries mute. And, 'mid their choirs unroofed by selfish rage, The warbling wren shall find a leafy cage; 5 The gadding bramble hang her purple fruit; And the green lizard and the gilded newt Lead unmolested lives, and die of age. The owl of evening and the woodland fox For their abode the' shrines of Waltham choose: 10* Proud Glastonbury can no more refuse To stoop her head before these desperate shocks — She whose high pomp displaced, as story tells, Arimathean Joseph's wattled cells. 150 THE ECCLESIASTICAL SONNETS THE SAME SUBJECT The lovely Nun (submissive, but more meek Through saintly habit than from effort due To unrelenting mandates that pursue With equal wrath the steps of strong and weak) Goes forth — unveiling timidly a cheek 5 Suffused with blushes of celestial hue, While through the Convent's gate to open view * Softly she glides, another home to seek. Not Iris, issuing from her cloudy shrine, An Apparition more divinely bright! 10 Not more attractive to the dazzled sight Those watery glories, on the stormy brine Poured forth, while summer suns at distance shine. And the green vales lie hushed in sober light! 2.23 CONTINUED Yet many a Novice of the cloistral shade. And many chained by vows, with eager glee The warrant hail, exulting to be free; Like ships before whose keels, full long embayed In polar ice, propitious winds have made 5 Unlooked-for outlet to an open sea, Their liquid world, for bold discovery, In all her quarters temptingly displayed! Hope guides the young; but when the old must pass The threshold, whither shall they turn to find 10 The hospitality — the alms (alas! Alms may be needed) which that House bestowed? Can they, in faith and worship, train the mind To keep this new and questionable road? OF WILLIAM WORDSWORTH 151 2.24 SAINTS Ye, too, must fly before a chasing hand, Angels and Saints, in every hamlet mourned! Ah! if the old idolatry be spurned. Let not your radiant Shapes desert the Land: Her adoration was not your demand, 5 The fond heart proffered it — the servile heart; And therefore are ye summoned to depart, Michael, and thou, St. George, whose flaming brand The Dragon quelled; and valiant Margaret Whose rival sword a like Opponent slew: 10 And rapt Cecilia, seraph-haunted Queen Of harmony; and weeping Magdalene, Who in the penitential desert met Gales sweet as those that over Eden blew! 2.25 THE VIRGIN Mother! whose virgin bosom was uncrost With the least shade of thought to sin allied; Woman! above all women glorified, Our tainted nature's solitary boast; Purer than foam on central ocean tost; 5 Brighter than eastern skies at daybreak strewn With fancied roses, than the unblemished moon Before her wane begins on heaven's blue coast; Thy Image falls to earth. Yet some, I ween. Not unforgiven the suppliant knee might bend, 10 As to a visible Power, in which did blend All that was mixed and reconciled in Thee Of mother's love with maiden purity, Of high with low, celestial with terrene! 152 THE ECCLESIASTICAL SONNETS 2.26 APOLOGY Not utterly unworthy to endure Was the supremacy of crafty Rome; Age after age to the arch of Christendom Aerial keystone haughtily secure; Supremacy from Heaven transmitted pure, 5 As many hold; and, therefore, to the tomb Pass, some through fire — and by the scaffold some — Like saintly Fisher, and unbending More. 'Lightly for both the bosom's lord did sit Upon his throne'; unsoftened, undismayed lO By aught that mingled with the tragic scene Of pity or fear; and More's gay genius played With the inoffensive sword of native wit. Than the bare axe more luminous and keen. 2.27 IMAGINATIVE REGRETS Deep is the lamentation! Not alone From Sages justly honoured by mankind; But from the ghostly tenants of the wind, Demons and Spirits, many a dolorous groan Issues for that dominion overthrown: Proud Tiber grieves, and far-off Ganges, blind As his own worshippers: and Nile, reclined Upon his monstrous urn, the farewell moan Renews. Through every forest, cave, and den. Where frauds were hatched of old, hath sorrow past — Hangs o'er the Arabian Prophet's native Waste, Where once his airy helpers schemed and planned 'Mid spectral lakes bemocking thirsty men. And stalking pillars built of fiery sand. OF WILLIAM WORDSWORTH 153 2.28 REFLECTIONS Grant, that by this unsparing hurricane Green leaves with yellow mixed are torn away, And goodly fruitage with the mother-spray; 'Twere madness — wished we, therefore, to detain. With hands stretched forth in mollified disdain, 5 The 'trumpery' that ascends in bare display — Bulls, pardons, relics, cowls black, white, and grey — Upwhirled, and flying o'er the ethereal plain Fast bound for Limbo Lake. And yet not choice But habit rules the unreflecting herd, 10 And airy bonds are hardest to disown; Hence, with the spiritual sovereignty transferred Unto itself, the Crown assumes a voice Of reckless mastery, hitherto unknown. 2.29 TRANSLATION OF THE BIBLE But, to outweigh all harm, the sacred Book, In dusty sequestration wrapt too long. Assumes the accents of our native tongue; And he who guides the plough, or wields the crook. With understanding spirit now may look 5 Upon her records, listen to her song, And sift her laws — much wondering that the wrong. Which Faith has sufi"ered, Heaven could calmly brook. Transcendent Boon! noblest that earthly King Ever bestowed to equalize and bless 10 Under the weight of mortal wretchedness! But passions spread like plagues, and thousands wild With bigotry shall tread the Offering Beneath their feet, detested and defiled. 154 THE ECCLESIASTICAL SONNETS 2.30 THE POINT AT ISSUE For what contend the wise? — for nothing less Than that the Soul, freed from the bonds of Sense, And to her God restored by evidence Of things not seen, drawn forth from their recess, Root there, and not in forms, her holiness; — 5 For Faith, which to the Patriarchs did dispense Sure guidance, ere a ceremonial fence Was needful round men thirsting to transgress; — For Faith, more perfect still, with which the Lord Of all, himself a Spirit, in the youth 10 Of Christian aspiration, deigned to fill The temples of their hearts who, with his word Informed, were resolute to do his will, And worship him in spirit and in truth. EDWARD VI 'Sweet is the holiness of Youth' — so felt Time-honoured Chaucer speaking through that Lay By which the Prioress beguiled the way. And many a Pilgrim's rugged heart did melt. Hadst thou, loved Bard! whose spirit often dwelt 5 In the clear land of vision, but foreseen King, child, and seraph, blended in the mien Of pious Edward kneeling as he knelt In meek and simple infancy, what joy For universal Christendom had thrilled 10 Thy heart! what hopes inspired thy genius, skilled (O great Precursor, genuine morning Star) The lucid shafts of reason to employ. Piercing the Papal darkness from afar! OF WILLIAM WORDSWORTH 155 2.32 EDWARD SIGNING THE WARRANT FOR THE EXECUTION OF JOAN OF KENT The tears of man in various measure gush From various sources; gently overflow From blissful transport some — from clefts of woe Some with ungovernable impulse rush; And some, coeval with the earliest blush Of infant passion, scarcely dare to show Their pearly lustre — coming but to go; And some break forth when others' sorrows crush The sympathising heart. Nor these, nor yet The noblest drops to admiration known. To gratitude, to injuries forgiven — Claim Heaven's regard like waters that have wet The innocent eyes of youthful Monarchs driven To pen the mandates, nature doth disown. 2:33 REVIVAL OF POPERY The saintly Youth has ceased to rule, discrowned By unrelenting Death. O People keen For change, to whom the new looks always green! Rejoicing did they cast upon the ground Their Gods of wood and stone; and, at the sound Of counter-proclamation, now are seen, (Proud triumph is it for a sullen Queen!) Lifting them up, the worship to confound Of the Most High. Again do they invoke The Creature, to the Creature glory give; Again with frankincense the altars smoke Like those the Heathen served; and mass is sung; And prayer, man's rational prerogative. Runs through blind channels of an unknown tongue. 156 THE ECCLESIASTICAL SONNETS 2-34 LATIMER AND RIDLEY How fast the Marian death-list is unrolled! See Latimer and Ridley in the might Of Faith stand coupled for a common flight! One (like those prophets whom God sent of old) Transfigured, from this kindling hath foretold 5 A torch of inextinguishable light; The Other gains a confidence as bold; And thus they foil their enemy's despite. The penal instruments, the shows of crime, Are glorified while this once-mitred pair 10 Of saintly Friends the 'murtherer's chain partake, Corded, and burning at the social stake': Earth never witnessed object more sublime In constancy, in fellowship more fair! 2 -AS CRANMER Outstretching flame-ward his upbraided hand (O God of mercy, may no earthly Seat Of judgment such presumptuous doom repeat!) Amid the shuddering throng doth Cranmer stand; Firm as the stake to which with iron band 5 His frame is tied; firm from the naked feet To the bare head. The victory is complete; The shrouded Body to the Soul's command Answers with more than Indian fortitude, Through all her nerves with finer sense endued, 10 Till breath departs in blissful aspiration: Then, 'mid the ghastly ruins of the fire, Behold the unalterable heart entire, Emblem of faith untouched, miraculous attestation! OF WILLIAM WORDSWORTH 157 2.36 GENERAL VIEW OF THE TROUBLES OF THE REFORMATION Aid, glorious Martyrs, from your fields of light, Our mortal ken! Inspire a perfect trust (While we look round) that Heaven's decrees are just: Which few can hold committed to a fight That shows, ev'n on its better side, the might 5 Of proud Self-will, Rapacity, and Lust, 'Mid clouds enveloped of polemic dust. Which showers of blood seem rather to incite Than to allay. Anathemas are hurled From both sides; veteran thunders (the brute test 10 Of truth) are met by fulminations new — Tartarean flags are caught at, and unfurled — Friends strike at friends — the flying shall pursue — And Victory sickens, ignorant where to rest! 2-37 ENGLISH REFORMERS IN EXILE Scattering, like birds escaped the fowler's net, Some seek with timely flight a foreign strand; Most happy, re-assembled in a land By dauntless Luther freed, could they forget Their Country's woes. But scarcely have they met, 5 Partners in faith, and brothers in distress. Free to pour forth their common thankfulness. Ere hope declines: — their union is beset With speculative notions rashly sown. Whence thickly-sprouting growth of poisonous weeds; 10 Their forms are broken staves; their passions, steeds That master them. How enviably blest Is he who can, by help of grace, enthrone The peace of God within his single breast! 158 THE ECCLESIASTICAL SONNETS 2.38 ELIZABETH Hail, Virgin Queen! o'er many an envious bar Triumphant, snatched from many a treacherous wile! All hail, sage Lady, whom a grateful Isle Hath blest, respiring from that dismal war Stilled by thy voice! But quickly from afar 5 Defiance breathes with more malignant aim; And alien storms with home-bred ferments claim Portentous fellowship. Her silver car. By sleepless prudence ruled, glides slowly on; Unhurt by violence, from menaced taint 10 Emerging pure, and seemingly more bright: Ah ! wherefore yields it to a foul constraint Black as the clouds its beams dispersed, while shone, By men and angels blest, the glorious light? 2-39 EMINENT REFORMERS Methinks that I could trip o'er heaviest soil. Light as a buoyant bark from wave to wave, Were mine the trusty staff that Jewel gave To youthful Hooker, in familiar style The gift exalting, and with playful smile: 5 For thus equipped, and bearing on his head The Donor's farewell blessing, can he dread Tempest, or length of way, or weight of toil? — More sweet than odours caught by him who sails Near spicy shores of Araby the blest, 10 A thousand times more exquisitely sweet, The freight of holy feeling which we meet, In thoughtful moments, wafted by the gales From fields where good men walk, or bowers wherein they rest. OF WILLIAM WORDSWORTH 159 2.40 THE SAME Holy and heavenly Spirits as they are, Spotless in life, and eloquent as wise, With what entire aflfection do they prize Their Church reformed! labouring with earnest care To baffle all that may her strength impair; 5 That Church, the unperverted Gospel's seat; In their afflictions a divine retreat; Source of their liveliest hope, and tenderest prayer! — The truth exploring with an equal mind, In doctrine and communion they have sought 10 Firmly between the two extremes to steer; But theirs the wise man's ordinary lot. To trace right courses for the stubborn blind, And prophesy to ears that will not hear. 2.41 DISTRACTIONS Men, who have ceased to reverence, soon defy Their forefathers; lo! sects are formed, and split With morbid restlessness; — the ecstatic fit Spreads wide; though special mysteries multiply. The Saints must govern, is their common cry; 5 And so they labour, deeming Holy Writ Disgraced by aught that seems content to sit Beneath the roof of settled Modesty. The Romanist exults; fresh hope he draws From the confusion, craftily incites - 10 The overweening, personates the mad — To heap disgust upon the worthier Cause: Totters the Throne; the new-born Church is sad. For every wave against her peace unites. 160 THE ECCLESIASTICAL SONNETS 2.42 GUNPOWDER PLOT Fear hath a hundred eyes that all agree To plague her beating heart; and there is one (Nor idlest that!) which holds communion With things that were not, yet were meant to be. Aghast within its gloomy cavity 5 That eye (which sees as if fulfilled and done Crimes that might stop the motion of the sun) Beholds the horrible catastrophe Of an assembled Senate unredeemed From subterraneous Treason's darkling power: 10 Merciless act of sorrow infinite! Worse than the product of that dismal night, When gushing, copious as a thunder-shower, The blood of Huguenots through Paris streamed. 243 illustration: the jung-frau and the fall of the RHINE near SCHAFFHAUSEN The Virgin-Mountain, wearing like a Queen A brilliant crown of everlasting snow. Sheds ruin from her sides; and men below Wonder that aught of aspect so serene Can link with desolation. Smooth and green, 5 And seeming, at a little distance, slow. The waters of the Rhine; but on they go Fretting and whitening, keener and more keen; Till madness seizes on the whole wide Flood, Turned to a fearful Thing whose nostrils breathe 10 Blasts of tempestuous smoke — wherewith he tries To hide himself, but only magnifies; And doth in more conspicuous torment writhe, Deafening the region in his ireful mood. OF WILLIAM WORDSWORTH 161 2-44 TROUBLES OF CHARLES THE FIRST Even such the contrast that, where'er we move, To the mind's eye Religion doth present; Now with her own deep quietness content; Then, like the mountain, thundering from above Against the ancient pine-trees of the grove 5 And the Land's humblest comforts. Now her mood Recalls the transformation of the flood. Whose rage the gentle skies in vain reprove. Earth cannot check. O terrible excess Of headstrong will! Can this be Piety? 10 No — some fierce Maniac hath usurped her name; And scourges England struggling to be free: Her peace destroyed! her hopes a wilderness! Her blessings cursed — her glory turned to shame! 2.45 LAUD Prejudged by foes determined not to spare. An old weak Man for vengeance thrown aside, Laud, 'in the painful art of dying' tried, (Like a poor bird entangled in a snare Whose heart still flutters, though his wings forbear To stir in useless struggle) hath relied On hope that conscious innocence supplied. And in his prison breathes celestial air. Why tarries then thy chariot? Wherefore stay, O Death! the ensanguined yet triumphant wheels, Which thou prepar'st, full often, to convey (What time a State with madding faction reels) The Saint or Patriot to the world that heals All wounds, all perturbations doth allay? 12 162 THE ECCLESIASTICAL SONNETS 2.46 AFFLICTIONS OF ENGLAND Harp! couldst thou venture, on thy boldest string, The faintest note to echo which the blast Caught from the hand of Moses as it passed O'er Sinai's top, or from the Shepherd-king, Early awake, by Siloa's brook, to sing 5 Of dread Jehovah; then, should wood and waste Hear also of that name, and mercy cast Off to the mountains, like a covering Of which the Lord was weary. Weep, oh ! weep, Weep with the good, beholding King and Priest 10 Despised by that stern God to whom they raise Their suppliant hands; but holy is the feast He keepeth; like the firmament his ways: His statutes like the chambers of the deep. Part 3 From the Restoration to the Present Times 3-1 I SAW the figure of a lovely Maid Seated alone beneath a darksome tree, Whose fondly-overhanging canopy Set off her brightness with a pleasing shade. No Spirit was she; that my heart betrayed, 5 For she was one I loved exceedingly; But while I gazed in tender reverie (Or was it sleep that with my Fancy played?) The bright corporeal presence — form and face — Remaining still distinct grew thin and rare, 10 Like sunny mist; — at length the golden hair, Shape, limbs, and heavenly features, keeping pace Each with the other in a lingering race Of dissolution, melted into air. OF WILLIAM WORDSWORTH 163 3-2 PATRIOTIC SYMPATHIES Last night, without a voice, that Vision spake Fear to my Soul, and sadness which might seem Wholly dissevered from our present theme; Yet, my beloved Country! I partake Of kindred agitations for thy sake; 5 Thou, too, dost visit oft my midnight dream; Thy glory meets me with the earliest beam Of light, which tells that Morning is awake. If aught impair thy beauty or destroy, Or but forbode destruction, I deplore 10 With filial love the sad vicissitude; If thou hast fallen, and righteous Heaven restore The prostrate, then my spring-time is renewed, And sorrow bartered for exceeding joy. 3-3 CHARLES THE SECOND Who comes — with rapture greeted, and caressed With frantic love — his kingdom to regain? Him Virtue's Nurse, Adversity, in vain Received, and fostered in her iron breast: For all she taught of hardiest and of best, 5 Or would have taught, by discipline of pain And long privation, now dissolves amain. Or is remembered only to give zest To wantonness. — Away, Circean revels! But for what gain? if England soon must sink lO. Into a gulf which all distinction levels — That bigotry may swallow the good name. And, with that draught, the life-blood: misery, shame, By Poets loathed; from which Historians shrink! 164 THE ECCLESIASTICAL SONNETS 34 LATITUDINARIANISM Yet Truth is keenly sought for, and the wind Charged with rich words poured out in thought's defence; Whether the Church inspire that eloquence, Or a Platonic Piety confined To the sole temple of the inward mind; 5 And One there is who builds immortal lays, Though doomed to tread in solitary ways. Darkness before and danger's voice behind; Yet not alone, nor helpless to repel Sad thoughts; for from above the starry sphere lo Come secrets, whispered nightly to his ear; And the pure spirit of celestial light Shines through his soul — 'that he may see and tell Of things invisible to mortal sight.' 3-5 Walton's book of lives There are no colours in the fairest sky So fair as these. The feather, whence the pen Was shaped that traced the lives of these good men, Dropped from an Angel's wing. With moistened eye We read of faith and purest charity 5 In Statesman, Priest, and humble Citizen: O could we copy their mild virtues, then What joy to live, what blessedness to die! Methinks their very names shine still and bright; Apart — like glow-worms on a summer night; lo Or lonely tapers when from far they fling A guiding ray; or seen — like stars on high, Satellites burning in a lucid ring Around meek Walton's heavenly memory. OF WILLIAM WORDSWORTH 165 3-6 CLERICAL INTEGRITY Nor shall the eternal roll of praise reject Those Unconforming; whom one rigorous day Drives from their Cures, a voluntary prey To poverty, and grief, and disrespect, And some to want — as if by tempests wrecked 5 On a wild coast; how destitute! did They Feel not that Conscience never can betray. That peace of mind is Virtue's sure effect. Their altars they forego, their homes they quit. Fields which they love, and paths they daily trod, lo And cast the future upon Providence; As men the dictate of whose inward sense Outweighs the world; whom self-deceiving wit Lures not from what they deem the cause of God. PERSECUTION OF THE SCOTTISH COVENANTERS When Alpine Vales threw forth a suppliant cry, The majesty of England interposed And the sword stopped; the bleeding wounds were closed; And Faith preserved her ancient purity. How little boots that precedent of good, 5 Scorned or forgotten. Thou canst testify, For England's shame, O Sister Realm! from wood, Mountain, and moor, and crowded street, where lie The headless martyrs of the Covenant, Slain by Compatriot-protestants that draw 10 From councils senseless as intolerant Their warrant. Bodies fall by wild sword-law; But who would force the Soul, tilts with a straw Against a Champion cased in adamant. 166 THE ECCLESIASTICAL SONNETS 3.8 ACQUITTAL OF THE BISHOPS A VOICE, from long-expecting thousands sent, Shatters the air, and troubles tower and spire; For Justice hath absolved the innocent, And Tyranny is balked of her desire: Up, down, the busy Thames — rapid as fire 5 Coursing a train of gunpowder — it went. And transport finds in every street a vent, Till the whole City rings like one vast quire. The Fathers urge the People to be still. With outstretched hands and earnest speech — in vain! 10 Yea, many, haply wont to entertain Small reverence for the mitre's offices. And to Religion's self no friendly will, A Prelate's blessing ask on bended knees. 3-9 WILLIAM THE THIRD Calm as an under-current, strong to draw Millions of waves into itself, and run, From sea to sea, impervious to the sun And ploughing storm, the spirit of Nassau Swerves not, (how blest if by religious awe 5 Swayed, and thereby enabled to contend With the wide world's commotions) from its end Swerves not — diverted by a casual law. Had mortal action e'er a nobler scope? The Hero comes to liberate, not defy; 10 And, while he marches on with steadfast hope, Conqueror beloved! expected anxiously! The vacillating Bondman of the Pope Shrinks from the verdict of his steadfast eye. OF WILLIAM WORDSWORTH 167 3.10 OBLIGATIONS OF CIVIL TO RELIGIOUS LIBERTY Ungrateful Country, if thou e'er forget The sons who for thy civil rights have bled ! How, like a Roman, Sidney bowed his head. And Russell's milder blood the scaffold wet; But these had fallen for profitless regret 5 Had not thy holy Church her champions bred, And claims from other worlds inspirited The star of Liberty to rise. Nor yet (Grave this within thy heart!) if spiritual things Be lost, through apathy, or scorn, or fear, lO Shalt thou thy humbler franchises support. However hardly won or justly dear: What came from heaven to heaven by nature cling^. And, if dissevered thence, its course is short. 3-II sacheverel A SUDDEN conflict rises from the swell Of a proud slavery met by tenets strained In Liberty's behalf. Fears, true or feigned. Spread through all ranks; and lo! the Sentinel Who loudest rang his pulpit 'larum bell, 5 Stands at the Bar, absolved by female eyes Mingling their glances with grave flatteries Lavished on Him — that England may rebel Against her ancient virtue. High and Low, Watchwords of Party, on all tongues are rife; 10 As if a Church, though sprung from heaven, must owe To opposites and fierce extremes her life, — Not to the golden mean, and quiet flow Of truths that soften hatred, temper strife. 168 THE ECCLESIASTICAL SONNETS 3.12 Down a swift Stream, thus far, a bold design Have we pursued, with livelier stir of heart Than his who sees, borne forward by the Rhine, The living landscapes greet him, and depart; Sees spires fast sinking — up again to start! 5 And strives the towers to number, that recline O'er the dark steeps, or on the horizon line Striding with shattered crests his eye athwart. So have we hurried on with troubled pleasure: Henceforth, as on the bosom of a stream 10 That slackens, and spreads wide a watery gleam, We, nothing loth a lingering course to measure. May gather up our thoughts, and mark at leisure How widely spread the interests of our theme. 3-13 ASPECTS OF CHRISTIANITY IN AMERICA I THE PILGRIM FATHERS Well worthy to be magnified are they Who, with sad hearts, of friends and country took A last farewell, their loved abodes forsook, And hallowed ground in which their fathers lay; Then to the new-found World explored their way, 5 That so a Church, unforced, uncalled to brook Ritual restraints, within some sheltering nook Her Lord might worship and his word obey In freedom. Men they were who could not bend; Blest Pilgrims, surely, as they took for guide 10 A will by sovereign Conscience sanctified; Blest while their Spirits from the woods ascend Along a Galaxy that knows no end, But in His glory who for Sinners died. OF WILLIAM WORDSWORTH 169 3-14 II CONTINUED From Rite and Ordinance abused they fled To Wilds where both were utterly unknown; But not to them had Providence foreshown What benefits are missed, what evils bred, In worship neither raised nor limited 5 Save by Self-will. Lo! from that distant shore, For Rite and Ordinance, Piety is led Back to the Land those Pilgrims left of yore, Led by her own free choice. So Truth and Love By Conscience governed do their steps retrace. — 10 Fathers! your Virtues, such the power of grace. Their spirit, in your Children, thus approve. Transcendent over time, unbound by place. Concord and Charity in circles move. 3-15 III concluded: American episcopacy Patriots informed with Apostolic light W^ere they, who, when their Country had been freed, Bowing with reverence to the ancient creed, Fixed on the frame of England's Church their sight, And strove in filial love to reunite 5 What force had severed. Thence they fetched the seed Of Christian unity, and won a meed Of praise from Heaven. To Thee, O saintly White, Patriarch of a wide-spreading family, Remotest lands and unborn times shall turn, ID Whether they would restore or build- — to Thee, As one who rightly taught how zeal should burn, As one who drew from out Faith's holiest urn The purest stream of patient Energy. 170 THE ECCLESIASTICAL SONNETS 3.16 Bishops and Priests, blessed are ye, if deep (As yours above all offices is high) Deep in your hearts the sense of duty lie; Charged as ye are by Christ to feed and keep From wolves your portion of His chosen sheep: 5 Labouring as ever in your Master's sight, Making your hardest task your best delight. What perfect glory ye in Heaven shall reap! — But, in the solemn Office which ye sought And undertook premonished, if unsound 10 Your practice prove, faithless though but in thought, Bishops and Priests, think what a gulf profound Awaits you then, if they were rightly taught Who framed the Ordinance by your lives disowned! 3-17 PLACES OF WORSHIP As Star that shines dependent upon star Is to the sky while we look up in love; As to the deep fair ships which though they move Seem fixed, to eyes that watch them from afar; As to the sandy desert fountains are, 5 With palm-groves shaded at wide intervals, Whose fruit around the sun-burnt Native falls Of roving tired or desultory war — Such to this British Isle her Christian Fanes, Each linked to each for kindred services; 10 Her Spires, her Steeple-towers with glittering vanes Far-kenned, her Chapels lurking among trees. Where a few villagers on bended knees Find solace which a busy world disdains. OF WILLIAM WORDSWORTH 171 3.18 PASTORAL CHARACTER A GENIAL hearth, a hospitable board, And a refined rusticity, belong To the neat mansion, where, his flock among. The learned Pastor dwells, their watchful Lord. Though meek and patient as a sheathed sword; 5 Though pride's least lurking thought appear a wrong To human kind; though peace be on his tongue. Gentleness in his heart — can earth afford Such genuine state, pre-eminence so free, As when, arrayed in Christ's authority, lO He from the pulpit lifts his awful hand; Conjures, implores, and labours all he can For re-subjecting to divine command The stubborn spirit of rebellious man? 3-19 THE LITURGY Yes, if the intensities of hope and fear Attract us still, and passionate exercise Of lofty thoughts, the way before us lies Distinct with signs, through which in set career, As through a zodiac, moves the ritual year 5 Of England's Church; stupendous mysteries! Which whoso travels in her bosom eyes, As he approaches them, with solemn cheer. Upon that circle traced from sacred story We only dare to cast a transient glance, 10 Trusting in hope that Others may advance With mind intent upon the King of Glory, From his mild advent till his countenance Shall dissipate the seas and mountains hoary. 172 THE ECCLESIASTICAL SONNETS 3.20 BAPTISM Dear be the Church, that, watching o'er the needs Of Infancy, provides a timely shower Whose virtue changes to a Christian Flower A Growth from sinful Nature's bed of weeds! — Fitliest beneath the sacred roof proceeds 5 The ministration; while parental Love Looks on, and Grace descendeth from above As the high service pledges now, now pleads. There, should vain thoughts outspread their wings and fly To meet the coming hours of festal mirth, 10 The tombs — which hear and answer that brief cry, The Infant's notice of his second birth — Recall the wandering Soul to sympathy With what man hopes from Heaven, yet fears from Earth. 3.21 SPONSORS Father! to God himself we cannot give A holier name! then lightly do not bear Both names conjoined, but of thy spiritual care Be duly mindful: still more sensitive Do Thou, in truth a second Mother, strive 5 Against disheartening custom, that by Thee Watched, and with love and pious industry Tended at need, the adopted Plant may thrive For everlasting bloom. Benign and pure This Ordinance, whether loss it would supply, 10 Prevent omission, help deficiency. Or seek to make assurance doubly sure. ' Shame if the consecrated Vow be found An idle form, the Word an empty sound! OF WILLIAM WORDSWORTH 173 3.22 CATECHISING From Little down to Least, in due degree, Around the Pastor, each in new-wrought vest, Each with a vernal posy at his breast. We stood, a trembling, earnest Company! With low soft murmur, like a distant bee, 5 Some spake, by thought-perplexing fears betrayed; And some a bold unerring answer made: How fluttered then thy anxious heart for me. Beloved Mother! Thou whose happy hand Had bound the flowers I wore, with faithful tie: 10 Sweet flowers! at whose inaudible command Her countenance, phantom-like, doth re-appear: O lost too early for the frequent tear. And ill requited by this heartfelt sigh ! 3-23 CONFIRMATION The Young-ones gathered in from hill and dale, With holiday delight on every brow: 'Tis past away; far other thoughts prevail; For they are taking the baptismal Vow Upon their conscious selves; their own lips speak 5 The solemn promise. Strongest sinews fail, And many a blooming, many a lovely, cheek Under the holy fear of God turns pale; While on each head his lawn-robed servant lays An apostolic hand, and with prayer seals 10 The Covenant. The Omnipotent will raise Their feeble Souls; and bear with his regrets. Who, looking round the fair assemblage, feels That ere the Sun goes down their childhood sets. 174 THE ECCLESIASTICAL SONNETS 3.24 CONFIRMATION CONTINUED I SAW a Mother's eye intensely bent Upon a Maiden trembling as she knelt; In and for whom the pious Mother felt Things that we judge of by a light too faint: Tell, if ye may, some star-crowned Muse, or Saint! 5 Tell what rushed in, from what she was relieved — Then, when her Child the hallowing touch received, And such vibration through the Mother went That tears burst forth amain. Did gleams appear? Opened a vision of that blissful place 10 Where dwells a Sister-child? And was power given Part of her lost One's glory back to trace Even to this Rite? For thus She knelt, and, ere The summer-leaf had faded, passed to Heaven. 3-25 SACRAMENT By chain yet stronger must the Soul be tied: One duty more, last stage of this ascent, Brings to thy food, mysterious Sacrament! The Offspring, haply at the Parent's side; But not till They, with all that do abide 5 In Heaven, have lifted up their hearts to laud And magnify the glorious name of God, Fountain of Grace, whose Son for sinners died. Ye, who have duly weighed the summons, pause No longer; ye, whom to the saving rite lO The Altar calls; come early under laws That can secure for you a path of light Through gloomiest shade; put on (nor dread its weight) Armour divine, and conquer in your cause! OF WILLIAM WORDSWORTH 175 3.26 THE MARRIAGE CEREMONY The Vested Priest before the Altar stands; Approach, come gladly, ye prepared, in sight Of God and chosen friends, your troth to plight With the symbolic ring, and willing hands Solemnly joined. Now sanctify the bands 5 O Father! — to the Espoused thy blessing give, That mutually assisted they may live Obedient, as here taught, to thy commands. So prays the Church, to consecrate a Vow 'The which would endless matrimony make'; 10 Union that shadows forth and doth partake A mystery potent human love to endow With heavenly, each more prized for the other's sake; Weep not, meek Bride! uplift thy timid brow. 3-27 THANKSGIVING AFTER CHILDBIRTH Woman! the Power who left His throne on high. And deigned to wear the robe of flesh we wear, The Power that through the straits of Infancy Did pass dependent on maternal care. His own humanity with Thee will share, 5 Pleased with the thanks that in His People's eye Thou offerest up for safe Delivery From Childbirth's perilous throes. And should the Heir Of thy fond hopes hereafter walk inclined To courses fit to make a mother rue 10 That ever he was born, a glance of mind Cast upon this observance may renew A better will; and, in the imagined view Of thee thus kneeling, safety he may find. 176 THE ECCLESIASTICAL SONNETS 3.28 VISITATION OF THE SICK The Sabbath bells renew the inviting peal; Glad music! yet there be that, worn with pain And sickness, listen where they long have lain. In sadness listen. With maternal zeal Inspired, the Church sends ministers to kneel Beside the afflicted; to sustain with prayer. And soothe the heart confession hath laid bare — That pardon, from God's throne, may set its seal On a true Penitent. When breath departs From one disburthened so, so comforted. His Spirit Angels greet; and ours be hope That, if the Sufferer rise from his sick-bed, Hence he will gain a firmer mind, to cope With a bad world, and foil the Tempter's arts. 3-29 THE COMMINATION SERVICE Shun not this rite, neglected, yea abhorred. By some of unreflecting mind, as calling Man to curse man, (thought monstrous and appalling). Go thou and hear the threatenings of the Lord; Listening within his Temple see his sword 5 Unsheathed in wrath to strike the offender's head. Thy own, if sorrow for thy sin be dead. Guilt unrepented, pardon unimplored. Two aspects bears Truth needful for salvation; Who knows not that? — yet would this delicate age 10 Look only on the Gospel's brighter page: Let light and dark duly our thoughts employ; So shall the fearful words of Commination Yield timely fruit of peace and love and joy. OF WILLIAM WORDSWORTH 177 3-30 FORMS QF PRAYER AT SEA To kneeling Worshippers no earthly floor Gives holier invitation than the deck Of a storm-shattered Vessel saved from Wreck (When all that Man could do availed no more) By Him who raised the Tempest and restrains: 5 Happy the crew who this have felt, and pour Forth for His mercy, as the Church ordains, Solemn thanksgiving. Nor will they implore In vain who, for a rightful cause, give breath To words the Church prescribes aiding the lip lO For the heart's sake, ere ship with hostile ship Encounters, armed for work of pain and death. Suppliants! the God to whom your cause ye trust Will listen, and ye know that He is just. 3-31 FUNERAL SERVICE From the Baptismal hour, through weal and woe. The Church extends her care to thought and deed; Nor quits the Body when the Soul is freed. The mortal weight cast off to be laid low. Blest Rite for him who hears in faith, 'I know 5 That my Redeemer liveth,' — hears each word That follows — striking on some kindred chord Deep in the thankful heart; — yet tears will flow. Man is as grass that springeth up at morn, Grows green, and is cut down and withereth lo Ere nightfall — truth that well may claim a sigh. Its natural echo; but hope comes reborn At Jesu's bidding. We rejoice, 'O Death Where is thy Sting? — O Grave where is thy Victory?' 13 178 THE ECCLESIASTICAL SONNETS 3-32 RURAL CEREMONY Closing the sacred Book which long has fed Our meditations, give we to a day Of annual joy one tributary lay; This day, when, forth by rustic music led, The village Children, while the sky is red 5 With evening lights, advance in long array Through the still church-yard, each with garland gay. That, carried sceptre-like, o'ertops the head Of the proud Bearer. To the wide church-door, Charged with these offerings which their fathers bore 10 For decoration in the Papal time. The innocent Procession softly moves: — The spirit of Laud is pleased in heaven's pure clime. And Hooker's voice the'spectacle approvesi! 3-33 REGRETS Would that our scrupulous Sires had dared to leave Less scanty measure of those graceful rites And usages, whose due return invites A stir of mind too natural to deceive; Giving to Memory help when she would weave 5 A crown for Hope ! — I dread the boasted lights That all too often are but fiery blights, Killing the bud o'er which in vain we grieve. Go, seek, when Christmas snows discomfort bring. The counter Spirit found in some gay church 10 Green with fresh holly, every pew a perch In which the linnet or the thrush might sing, Merry and loud and safe from prying search. Strains offered only to the genial Spring. OF WILLIAM WORDSWORTH 1.79 3-34 MUTABILITY From low to high doth dissolution climb, And sink from high to low, along a scale Of awful notes, whose concord shall not fail; A musical but melancholy chime. Which they can hear who meddle not with crime, 5 Nor avarice, nor over-anxious care. Truth fails not; but her outward forms that bear The longest date do melt like frosty rime, That in the morning whitened hill and plain And is no more; drop like the tower sublime 10 Of yesterday, which royally did wear His crown of weeds, but could not even sustain Some casual shout that broke the silent air, Or the unimaginable touch of Time. 3-35 OLD ABBEYS Monastic Domes! following my downward way, Untouched by due regret I marked your fall! Now, ruin, beauty, ancient stillness, all Dispose to judgments temperate as we lay On our past selves in life's declining day: 5 For as, by discipline of Time made wise. We learn to tolerate the infirmities And faults of others — gently as he may. So with our own the mild Instructor deals, Teaching us to forget them or forgive. 10 Perversely curious, then, for hidden ill Why should we break Time's charitable seals? Once ye were holy, ye are holy still; Your spirit freely let me drink, and live! 180 THE ECCLESIASTICAL SONNETS 3-36 EMIGRANT FRENCH CLERGY Even while I speak, the sacred roofs of France Are shattered into dust; and self-exiled From altars threatened, levelled, or defiled, Wander the Ministers of God, as chance Opens a way for life, or consonance 5 Of faith invites. More welcome to no land The fugitives than to the British strand, Where priest and layman with the vigilance Of true compassion greet them. Creed and test Vanish before the unreserved embrace 10 Of catholic humanity: — distrest They came, — and, while the moral tempest roars Throughout the Country they have left, our shores Give to their Faith a fearless resting-place. 3-37 CONGRATULATION Thus all things lead to Charity, secured By them who blessed the soft and happy gale That landward urged the great Deliverer's sail. Till in the sunny bay his fleet was moored! Propitious hour! had we, like them, endured 5 Sore stress of apprehension, with a mind Sickened by injuries, dreading worse designed. From month to month trembling and unassured. How had we then rejoiced! But we have felt. As a loved substance, their futurity: 10 Good, which they dared not hope for, we have seen; A State whose generous will through earth is dealt; A State — which, balancing herself between Licence and slavish order, dares be free. OF WILLIAM WORDSWORTH 181 3-38 NEW CHURCHES But liberty, and triumphs on the Main, And laurelled armies, not to be withstood — What serve they? if, on transitory good Intent, and sedulous of abject gain, The State (ah, surely not preserved in vain!) 5 Forbear to shape due channels which the Flood Of sacred truth may enter — till it brood O'er the wide realm, as o'er the Egyptian plain The all-sustaining Nile. No more — the time Is conscious of her want; through England's bounds, lo In rival haste, the wished-for Temples rise! I hear their sabbath bells' harmonious chime Float on the breeze — the heavenliest of all sounds That vale or hill prolongs or multiplies! 3-39 CHURCH TO BE ERECTED Be this the chosen site; the virgin sod. Moistened from age to age by dewy eve. Shall disappear, and grateful earth receive The corner-stone from hands that build to God. Yon reverend hawthorns, hardened to the rod 5 Of winter storms, yet budding cheerfully; Those forest oaks of Druid memory. Shall long survive, to shelter the Abode Of genuine Faith. Where, haply, 'mid this band Of daisies, shepherds sate of yore and wove lo* May-garlands, there let the holy altar stand For kneeling adoration; — while — above, Broods, visibly portrayed, the mystic Dove, That shall protect from blasphemy the Land. 182 THE ECCLESIASTICAL SONNETS 340 CONTINUED Mine ear has rung, my spirit sunk subdued, Sharing the strong emotion of the crowd, When each pale brow to dread hosannas bowed While clouds of incense mounting veiled the rood. That glimmered like a pine-tree dimly viewed 5 Through Alpine vapours. Such appalling rite Our Church prepares not, trusting to the might Of simple truth with grace divine imbued; Yet will we not conceal the precious Cross, Like men ashamed: the Sun with his first smile 10 Shall greet that symbol crowning the low Pile: And the fresh air of incense-breathing morn Shall wooingly embrace it; and green moss Creep round its arms through centuries unborn. 341 NEW CHURCH-YARD The encircling ground, in native turf arrayed, Is now by solemn consecration given To social interests, and to favouring Heaven; And where the rugged colts their gambols played. And wild deer bounded through the forest glade, 5 Unchecked as when by merry Outlaw driven. Shall hymns of praise resound at morn and even; And soon, full soon, the lonely Sexton's spade Shall wound the tender sod. Encincture small. But infinite its grasp of weal and woe! lO Hopes, fears, in never-ending ebb and flow; — The spousal trembling, and the 'dust to dust,' The prayers, the contrite struggle, and the trust That to the Almighty Father looks through all. OF WILLIAM WORDSWORTH 183 342 CATHEDRALS, ETC. Open your gates, ye everlasting Piles! Types of the spiritual Church which God hath reared; Not loth we quit the newly-hallowed sward And humble altar, 'mid your sumptuous aisles To kneel, or thrid your intricate defiles, 5 Or down the nave to pace in motion slow; Watching, with upward eye, the tall tower grow And mount, at every step, with living wiles Instinct — to rouse the heart and lead the will By a bright ladder to the world above. 10 Open your gates, ye Monuments of love Divine! thou Lincoln, on thy sovereign hill! Thou, stately York! and Ye, whose splendours cheer Isis and Cam, to patient Science dear! 343 INSIDE OF king's COLLEGE CHAPEL, CAMBRIDGE Tax not the royal Saint with vain expense, With ill-matched aims the Architect who planned — Albeit labouring for a scanty band Of white-robed Scholars only — this immense And glorious Work of fine intelligence! 5 Give all thou canst; high Heaven rejects the lore Of nicely-calculated less or more; So deemed the man who fashioned for the sense These lofty pillars, spread that branching roof Self-poised, and scooped into ten thousand cells, 10 Where light and shade repose, where music dwells Lingering — and wandering on as loth to die; Like thoughts whose very sweetness yieldeth proof That they were born for immortality. 184 THE ECCLESIASTICAL SONNETS 344 THE SAME What awful perspective! while from our sight With gradual stealth the lateral windows hide Their Portraitures, their stone-work glimmers, dyed In the soft chequerings of a sleepy light. Martyr, or King, or sainted Eremite, 5 Whoe'er ye be, that thus, yourselves unseen, Imbue your prison-bars with solemn sheen, Shine on, until ye fade with coming Night! — But, from the arms of silence — list! O list! The music bursteth into second life; 10 The notes luxuriate, every stone is kissed By sound, or ghost of sound, in mazy strife; Heart-thrilling strains, that cast, before the eye Of the devout, a veil of ecstasy! 345 CONTINUED They dreamt not of a perishable home Who thus could build. Be mine, in hours of fear Or grovelling thought, to seek a refuge here; Or through the aisles of Westminster to roam; Where bubbles burst, and folly's dancing foam Melts, if it cross the threshold; where the wreath Of awe-struck wisdom droops: or let my path Lead to that younger Pile, whose sky-like dome Hath typified by reach of daring art Infinity's embrace; whose guardian crest, The silent Cross, among the stars shall spread As now, when She hath also seen her breast Filled with mementos, satiate with its part Of grateful England's overflowing Dead. OF WILLIAM WORDSWORTH 185 346 EJACULATION Glory to God! and to the Power who came In filial duty, clothed with love divine, That made His human tabernacle shine Like Ocean burning with purpureal flame; Or like the Alpine Mount, that takes its name 5 From roseate hues, far Jcenned at morn and even, In hours of peace, or when the storm is driven Along the nether region's rugged frame! Earth prompts — Heaven urges; let us seek the light, Studious of that pure intercourse begun 10 When first our infant brows their lustre won; So, like the Mountain, may we grow more bright From unimpeded commerce with the Sun, At the approach of all-involving night. 347 CONCLUSION Why sleeps the future, as a snake enrolled, Coil within coil, at noon-tide? For the Word Yields, if with unpresumptuous faith explored, Power at whose touch the sluggard shall unfold His drowsy rings. Look forth ! — that Stream behold, 5 That Stream upon whose bosom we have passed Floating at ease while nations have effaced Nations, and Death has gathered to his fold Long lines of mighty Kings — look forth, my Soul! (Nor in this vision be thou slow to trust) 10 The living Waters, less and less by guilt Stained and polluted, brighten as they roll, Till they have reached the eternal City — built For the perfected Spirits of the just! VARIANT READINGS I have personally examined the readings in the following editions: 1822 (Memorials of a Tour on the Continent, 1820, and Ecclesiastical Sketches), 1827, 1832, 1835 {Yarrow Revisited), 1837, 1838, 1840, 1 84 1, 1842 {Poems, Chiefly of Early and Late Years), 1843, 1845, 1846, 1850. The reading first given is the original reading of the text. When a line has been subject to change, the whole line is quoted. At the left of each line is given its number in the sonnet. At the left of, and preceding, the first line quoted is given the date of the original reading of the text. At the right of each line is given the date of the new reading, which is not quoted but is understood to be the final reading of 1850, unless the date is starred. If the date is starred, one asterisk indicates a single intermediate reading; a double asterisk indicates a second intermediate reading. Below all the original readings of each sonnet are the intermediate ■readings of that sonnet; the final readings must be sought in the text of the present edition, pp. 120-85. Changes in spelling, capitalization, and punctuation are not noted. I.I 1822. 1 I, who descended with glad step to chase (until 1827) 2 Cerulean Duddon from his cloud-fed spring, (until 1850) 3 And of my wild Companion dared to sing, (until 1827) 4 In verse that moved with strictly-measured pace; (until 1827) 7 'Till the checked Torrent, fiercely combating, (until 1827) 8 In victory found her natural resting-place; (until 1827) 13 Where, for delight of him who tracks its course, (until 1837) For the early MS. reading, see the reproduction of F 1. 1, p. 81. In the edition of 1857 line 2 read as in the editions of 1822-1845. 1.2 The text has remained unchanged since 1822. For the early MS. readings, see the reproduction of F 1.2, pp. 81-2. 1-3 1822.2 As Menai's foam; and towards the mystic ring (until 1827) 6 That, in the lapse of seasons, hath crept o'er (until 1827) 186 THE ECCLESIASTICAL SONNETS 187 1-4 1822. Title Druidical Excommunication, &c. (until 1827) 12 And yon thick woods maintain the primal truth, (until 1827) 13 Debased by many a superstitious form, (until 1827) For the early MS. reading, see the reproduction of F 1.4, p. 105. 1-5 1822.5 Of silently departed ages crossed; (until 1827) 9 Nor these, nor monuments of eldest fame, (until 1841) For the early MS. reading, see the reproduction of F 1.5, p. 82. 1.6 1822.7 Some pierced beneath the unavailing shield (until *i827) *i827.7 Some pierced beneath the ineffectual shield (until 1838) For the early MS. reading, see the reproduction of F 1.6, p. 83. 1-7 The text has remained unchanged since 1822. For the early MS. reading, see the reproduction of F 1.7, p. loi. 1.8 The text has remained unchanged since 1822. 1.9 1822.5 Lifting towards high Heaven her fiery brand, (until 1827) 1. 10 1822.3 The spirit of Caractacus defends (until 1837) 4 The Patriots, animates their glorious task; — (until 1837) 1. 11 1822. 1 1 Intent, as fields and woods have given them birth, (until 1827) 12 To build their savage fortunes only there; (until 1827) 13 Witness the foss, the barrow, and the girth (until 1827) 14 Of many a long-drawn rampart, green and bare! (until 1827) 1. 12 1822.10 From their known course, or pass away like steam; (until 1827) 188 THE ECCLESIASTICAL SONNETS 1822.4 Where Tiber's stream the glorious City laves; (until 1827) 6 His wing who seemeth lovelier in Heaven's eye (until 1837) 14 Sweet Hallelujahs to the eternal King! (until 1827) 1. 14 The text has remained unchanged since 1822, except for *i838. *i838.8 Chanting in barbarous ears a holy prayer. (until 1840) 9 Rich conquest over minds which they would free (until 1840) 10 Awaits their coming: — the tempestuous sea (until 1840) 1822.10 Towards the Truths this Delegate propounds, — (until 1832) 1. 16 1822.2 "That, stealing in while by the fire you sit (until 1837) 3 "Housed with rejoicing Friends, is seen to flit (until 1837) 4 "Safe from the storm, in comfort tarrying. (until 1837) For the early MS. readings, see the reproduction of F 1.16, p. 84. 1. 17 The text has remained unchanged since 1822. 1822.6 Then let the good be free to breathe a note (until 1827) 9 Outshining nightly tapers, or the blaze (until 1837) 1. 19 The text has remained unchanged since 1822. 1.20 1 822. 1 Ah, when the Frame, round which in love we clung, (until 1837) 9 For those whose doom is fix'd! The way is smooth (until 1832) 1. 21 1822.13 Yet, while they strangle without mercy, bring (until 1837) Knight {P. W., Eversley ed., 7.20) says: 'This and the two fol- lowing sonnets were published in Time's Telescope, July 2, 1823.' OF WILLIAM WORDSWORTH 189 1.22 1822.7 Thence creeping under forest arches cool, (until 1837) 9 Perchance would throng my dreams. A beechen bowl, (until 1827) Published in Time's Telescope, July 2, 1823. See note on 1.2 1. 1-23 1822.4 The hovering Shade of venerable Bede; (until 1827) 7 Of Learning, where he heard the billows beat (until 1827) In 1850.1 there is a typographical error: meed for mead. Published in Time's Telescope, July 2, 1823. See note on 1.2 1. 1.24 1822.7 And peace, and equity. — Bold faith! yet rise (until 1832) 8 The sacred Towers for universal gains. (until 1827) For an early MS. reading similar in part, see the reproduction of F, p. 98. 1.25 1822. 1 1 Nor leaves her speech wherewith to clothe a sigh (until 1827) 13 With all their Arts — while classic Lore glides on (until 1827) 1.26 1822.13 And Christian India gifts with Alfred shares (until 1827) 14 By sacred converse link'd with India's clime, (until 1827) 1.27 1 822. 1 Can aught survive to linger in the veins (until 1837) 2 Of kindred bodies — an essential power (until 1837) 3 That may not vanish in one fatal hour, (until 1837) 4 And wholly cast away terrestrial chains? (until 1837) 5 The race of Alfred covets glorious pains (until 1832) 9 The root sincere — the branches bold to thrive (until 1827) 10 With the fierce storm; meanwhile, within the round (until 1827) 1.28 1822.12 So vaunt a throng of Followers, filled with pride (until *l838) 13 In shows of virtue pushed to its extremes, (until 1837) *i838.i2 So vaunt a throng of Followers, swoln with pride (until 1840) 190 THE ECCLESIASTICAL SONNETS 1.29 1822.2 Dissention checks the arms that would restrain (until 1837) 4 And widely spreads once more a Pagan sway; (until 1837) 1.30 1822.6 He listen'd (all past conquests and all schemes (until 1827) 9 The Royal Minstrel, ere the choir was still (until 1827) II Gives to that rapture a memorial Rhyme. (until 1827) 1822.3 Hark! 'tis the Curfew's knell! the stars may shine; (until 1827) 14 Brings to Religion no injurious change. (until 1837) 1.32 1837.6 Though men be, there are angels that can feel (until *i838) *i838.6 Though men be, there are angels who can feel (until 1840) 1-33 1822.10 Shout which the enraptured multitude astounded. (until 1827) 12 "God willeth it," from hill to hill rebounded; (until 1827) 13 Sacred resolve, in countries far and nigh, (until 1827) 14 Through "Nature's hollow arch," that night, resounded! (until *i827) *i827.i4 Through "Nature's hollow arch" the voice resounds. (until 1837) 1-34 The text has remained unchanged since 1822. For the early MS. readings, see the reproduction of F 1.34, pp. 99, loi. 1-35 1822.6 Her blushing cheek. Love's vow upon her lip, (until 1827) 13 Of those enthusiast powers a constant Friend, (until 1837) 14 Through giddier heights hath clomb the Papal sway. (until 1837) 1.36 1822.9 With natural smile of greeting. — Bells are dumb; (until *l838) *l838.9 With natural smiles of greeting. — Bells are dumb; (until **i84o) OF WILLIAM WORDSWORTH 191 **i840.9 With natural smile of greeting. — Bells are dumb; (until 1845) For the early MS. reading, see the reproduction of F r.36, p. 92. 1-37 The text has remained unchanged since 1822. For the early MS. reading, see the reproduction of F 1.37, p. 91. 1.38 The text has remained unchanged since 1822. For the early MS. readings, see the reproduction of F 1.38, pp. 93, 97. 1-39 The text has remained unchanged since 1822. For the early MS. reading, see the reproduction of F 1.39, p. 92. 2.1 The text has remained unchanged since 1845, when the sonnet was first published. Knight gives the following MS. readings (P. W., Eversley ed., 7.35-6): C.I Even when the state of man seems most secure 2 And tempted least to deviate from the line 3 Of simple duty, woeful forfeiture 1 How difificult for man to keep the line 2 Prescribed by duty! Happy once and pure 1 Though Angels watched lest man should from the line 2 Of duty sever, blest though he was, and pure 3 In thought and deed, a woeful forfeiture 4 He made by wilful breach of law divine, 5 The church of Christ how prompt was she to abjure 6 Allegiance to her Lord how prone to twine 5 The visible church how prone was she to abjure 6 Allegiance to Christ's Kingdom and entwine 7 With glorious flowers that shall for aye endure 8 Weeds on whose front the world had fixed her sign. 9 False man — if with thy trials thus it fared — 10 If good can smooth the way to evil choice, 11 From hasty answer be our minds kept free; 12 He only judges right who weighs, compares, •13 And, in the sternest sentence that his voice 14 May utter, ne'er abandons charity. 192 THE ECCLESIASTICAL SONNETS 2.2 The text has remained unchanged since 1845, when the sonne^ was first published. Knight gives the following MS. reading (P. PF.' Eversley ed., 7.37): A.I etc. On false assumption, though the Papal Power Rests, and spreads wide, beduped, by ignorance hailed, A darker empire must have else prevailed. For deeds of mischief strengthening every hour. Behold how thundering from her spiritual tower She daunts brute rapine, cruelty she tames. Justice and charity through her assert their claims, And chastity finds many a sheltering bower. Realm is there none that, if controlled or swayed By her commands, partakes not in degree Of good, on manners arts and arms diffused: To mock thy exaltation, Roman See, And to the Autocracy, howe'er abused Through blind ambition, be this tribute paid. 2-3 1822.2 "More promptly rises, walks with nicer heed, (until 1837) 9 Doubtless shall cheat full oft the heart's desire; (until 1827) 2.4 The text has remained unchanged since 1835, when the sonnet was first published, with 2.12 and 2.13, in the volume entitled Yarrow Revisited and Other Poems. 1822.6 Whose fervent exhortations from afar (until_ *i838( *i838.6 Whose earnest exhortations from afar (until 1840-^ 2.6 1822.5 Down to the humble Altar, which the Knight (until 1837) 12 And suffering under many a doubtful wound, (until 1827) 2.7 The text has remained unchanged since 1822. 2.8 1 822. 1 Nor can Imagination quit the shores (until 1845) 2 Of these bright scenes without a farewell glance (until 1845) 3 Given to those dream-like Issues — that Romance (until *i837) OF WILLIAM WORDSWORTH 193 4 Of many-colored life which Fortune pours (until 1837) 13 When she would tell how Good, and Brave, and Wise, (until 1837) *i837-3 Given to the dream-like issues — the romance (until 1845) 2.9 The text has remained unchanged since 1845, when the sonnet was first published. 2.10 The text has remained unchanged since 1845, when the sonnet was first published. Knight gives the following MS. readings {P. W., Eversley ed., 7.43): C.3 Blighted and scathed tho' many branches be, 4 Can never cease to bear and ripen fruit 5 Worthy of Heaven. This law is absolute. 6 Behold the Church that often with effect 7 Dear to the Saints doth labouring to eject 6 The Church not seldom surely with effect 7 Dear to the Saints doth labour to eject 8 Her bane, her vital energy recruit. 9 So Providence ordains and why repine 10 If this good work is doomed to be undone, 12 Trust that the promises vouchsafed will shine 14 ... thro' . . . 2. II 1822.9 This Valdo brook'd not. On the banks of Rhone (until 1837) 12 Nor were his Followers loth to seek defence, (until 1837) 2.12 The text has remained unchanged since 1835, when the sonnet was first published, with 2.4 and 2.13, in the volume entitled Yarrow Revisited and Other Poems. 2.13 See the note on 2.12 for the circumstances of publication. 1835.5 Nor be unthanked their tardiest lingerings (until 1837) 6 'Mid reedy fens wide-spread and marshes drear, (until 1837) 7 Their own creation, till their long career (until 1837) 8 End in the sea engulphed. Such welcomings (until 1837) 9 As came from mighty Po when Venice rose, (until 1837) 10 Greeted those simple Heirs of truth divine (until 1837) 12 Yet were prepared as glorious lights to shine, (until *i837) 14 194 THE ECCLESIASTICAL SONNETS 14 Blest Prisoners They, whose spirits are at large! (until 1838) *l837.i2 Yet came prepared as glorious lights to shine, (until **i838) **i838.i2 Yet well prepared as glorious lights to shine, (until 1840) 2.14 1 822. 1 These who gave earliest notice, as the Lark (until *i837) 3 Who rather rose the day to antedate, (until 1838) 6 These Harbingers of good, whom bitter hate (until *i838) 7 In vain endeavoured to exterminate, (until 1838) 8 Fell Obloquy pursues with hideous bark? (until 1840) 9 Meanwhile the unextinguishable fire, (until 1827) *i837.i These who gave early notice, as the lark (until **i838) **i838.i These had given earliest notice, as the lark (until 1845) *i838.6 At length came those Waldensian bands whom Hate (until **i84o) **i840.6 At length come those Waldensian bands whom Hate (until 1845) For the early MS. readings, see the reproduction of F 2.14, pp. 100, 109. 2.15 The text has remained unchanged since 1822. For the early MS. reading, see the reproduction of F 2.15, p. 85. 2.16 1822.7 But mark the dire effect in coming years! (until 1827) 8 Deep, deep as hell itself, the future draught (until 1827) 13 And, under cover of that woeful strife, (until 1827) 2.17 The text has remained unchanged since 1822. For the early MS. reading, see the reproduction of F 2.17, p. 88. 2.18 The text has remained unchanged since 1822. 2.19 1822.7 And robs the People of his daily care, (until 1827) 8 Scorning their wants because her arm is strong? (until 1827) 9 Inversion strange! that to a Monk, who lives (until 1827) 12 And hath allotted, in the world's esteem, (until *i827) 13 To such a station higher than to him (until 1827) *l827.i2 That to a Monk allots, in the esteem (until 1845) OF WILLIAM WORDSWORTH 195 1822.9 To stay the precious waste. In every brain (until 1832) ID Spreads the dominion of the sprightly juice, (until 1832) II Through the wide world to madding Fancy dear, (until 1832) 2.21 The text has remained unchanged since 1822. 2.22 1822.5 Goes forth — unveiling timidly her cheek (until 1837) 7 While through the Convent gate to open view (until 1837) 1822.10 has a typographical error: Apparitition for Apparition. It was corrected in 1827. 2.23 1822. 1 Yet some, Noviciates of the cloistral shade, (until 1838) 2 Or chained by vows, with undissembled glee (until 1838) 2.24 The text has remained unchanged since 1822. 2.25 1822.7 3-nd 8 have what are presumably typographical errors: Noon for moon, and wain for wane. These were corrected in 1827. Otherwise the text has remained unchanged since 1822. For an early MS. reading of lines 7-8, see the reproduction of F 1.2, p. 82. Knight, P. W., Eversley ed., 7.55: 'This sonnet was published in Time's Telescope, July 2, 1823, p. 136.' 2.26 The text has remained unchanged since 1822. 2.27 1822.13 'Mid phantom lakes bemocking thirsty men, (until 1837}' 1822.5 With farewell sighs of mollified disdain, (until 1827) For the early MS. readings, see the reproduction of F 2.28, pp. 85, 95- 2.29 The text has remained unchanged since 1822, 196 THE ECCLESIASTICAL SONNETS 2.30 1827.2 Than that pure Faith dissolve the bonds of Sense; (until 1832) 3 The Soul restored to God by evidence (until 1832) 6 That Faith, which to the Patriarchs did dispense (until 1832) 9 That Faith, more perfect still, with which the Lord (until 1832) 2.31 1822.2 Time-honoured Chaucer when he framed the lay (until *i837) *i837.2 Time-honoured Chaucer when he framed that Lay (until 1845) 2.32 The text has remained unchanged since 1822. 2-33 1827. 1 Melts into silent shades the Youth, discrowned (until 1832) 4 They cast, they cast with joy upon the ground (until 1832) 2-34 The text has remained unchanged since 1827, when the sonnet was first published. 2-35 1822. 1 Outstretching flameward his upbraiding hand (until 1827) 7 To the bare head, the victory complete; (until 1837) 9 Answering with more than Indian fortitude, (until 1837) 11 Now wrapt in flames — and now in smoke embowered — (until 1827) 12 'Till self-reproach and panting aspirations (until 1827) 13 Are, with the heart that held them, all devoured; (until 1827) 14 The Spirit set free, and crown'd with joyful acclamations! (until 1827) For the early MS. reading, see the reproduction of F 2.35, p. 106. 2.36 The text has remained unchanged since 1822. For the early MS. reading, see the reproduction of F 2.36, p. 102. 2-37 1822.9 With prurient speculations rashly sown, (until 1827) For the early MS. reading, see the reproduction of F 2.37, p. 95. OF WILLIAM WORDSWORTH 197 2.38 1822.9 Meanwhile, by prudence ruled, glides slowly on; (until 1827) 12 For, wheresoe'er she moves, the clouds anon (until 1845) 13 Disperse; or — under a Divine constraint — (until 1845) 14 Reflect some portion of her glorious light! (until 1845) For the early MS. readings, see the reproduction of F 2.38, p. 103. 2.39 1822.7 The Donor's farewell blessing, could he dread (until 1827) For the early MS. readings, see the reproduction of F 2.39, p. 89. 2.40 1822. 1 Holy and heavenly Spirits as they were, (until 1827) 3 With what entire aflfection did they prize (until 1827) 4 Their new-born Church! labouring with earnest care (until 1845) 5 To baffle all that might her strength impair; (until 1827) 10 In polity and discipline they sought (until 1827) For the early MS. reading, see the reproduction of F 2.40, p. 104. 2.41 1822.13 The Throne is plagued; the New-born Church is sad (until 1827) 2.42 The text has remained unchanged since 1822. For the early MS. reading, see the reproduction of F 2.42, p. 99. 2-43 The text has not been changed from its reading in the Ecclesiastical Sketches, 1822. This same year, however, it was also published in Memorials of a Tour on the Continent, 1820; and there line 1 1 read as follows: Blasts of tempestuous smoke, with which he tries For the early MS. reading, see the reproduction of F 2.43, pp. 86-7. 2.44 1822. 1 Such contrast, in whatever track we move, (until *i827) *i827.i Such is the contrast, which, where'er we move (until 1832) For the early MS. reading, see the reproduction of F 2.44, pp. 87-8. 198 THE ECCLESIASTICAL SONNETS 2.45 1822. 1 Pursued by Hate, debarred from friendly care; (until 1827) 3 Long "in the painful art of dying" tried, (until 1827) 6 To stir in useless struggle) Laud relied (until 1827) 7 Upon the strength which Innocence supplied (until 1827) 8 And in his prison breathed celestial air. (until 1827) 2.46 1822.10 As good men wept beholding King and Priest (until 1827) 3-1 1822.5 Substance she seem'd (and that my heart betrayed, (until 1837) 3-2 1822. 1 Last night, without a voice, this Vision spake (until 1845) 2 Fear to my Spirit — passion that might seem (until *i837) 3 To lie dissevered from our present theme; (until 1827) 4 Yet do I love my Country — and partake (until 1832) 5 Of kindred agitations for her sake; (until 1832) 6 She visits oftentimes my midnight dream; (until 1832) 7 Her glory meets me with the earliest beam (until 1832) 9 If aught impair her beauty or destroy, (until 1832) 12 If she hath fallen and righteous Heaven restore (until 1832) *l837.2 Fear to my Soul, and sadness that might seem (until 1845) In 1840.7 there seems to be a typographical error: oft has been inserted between me and with. For an early MS. reading, see the reproduction of F 3.2, lines 10-14, P- 95- 3-3 1822.10 Already stands our Country on the brink (until 1837) 11 Of bigot rage, that all distinction levels (until 1837) 12 Of truth and falsehood, swallowing the good name, (until 1837) For the early MS. readings, see the reproduction of F 3.3, pp. 94- 95- 3-4 The text has remained unchanged since 1822. 3-5 1822.10 Apart — like glow-worms in the woods of spring, (until 1827) II Or lonely tapers shooting far a light (until 1827) OF WILLIAM WORDSWORTH 199 12 That guides and cheers, — or seen, like stars on high, (until 1827) In 1827 this sonnet was taken from its place before Clerical Integrity and inserted after ' Down a swift Stream, thus far, a bold design.' It was not restored until 1845. 3.6 1822.5 And some to want — as if by tempest wreck'd (until 1837) 1832.13 has a typographical error: self-edceiving for self-deceiving. It was corrected in 1837. 37 The text has remained unchanged since 1827, when the sonnet was first published. 3-8 1822. 1 A voice, from long-expectant thousands sent, (until 1827) 10 With outstretched hands and earnest voice — in vain! (until 1827) 3-9 1822.5 (By constant impulse of religious awe (until 1845) 11 And while he marches on with righteous hope, (until 1845) In the editions of 1845 and 1850 line 5 was erroneously punctuated: (Swerves not, how blest if by religious awe For an early MS. reading, see the reproduction of F 3.9, lines 4-8, p. 96. 3.10 The text has remained unchanged since 1822, except for the cor- rection of a typographical error: lings in 1822.13 to clings in 1827.13. 3-II i^2'j.'j Mingling their Light with graver flatteries, (until 1832) In 1827 this sonnet was inserted before Places of Worship. There it remained until 1845, when it was removed to its present place. 3.12 This sonnet was first published in 1822, as one of the Memorials of a Tour on the Continent, 1820. There the text read as follows: Sonnet Author's Voyage Down the Rhine (Thirty Years Ago) The confidence of Youth our only Art, And Hope gay Pilot of the bold design. We saw the living Landscapes of the Rhine, Reach after reach, salute us and depart; 200 THE ECCLESIASTICAL SONNETS Slow sink the Spires, — and up again they start! But who shall count the Towers as they recline O'er the dark steeps, or on the horizon line Striding, with shattered crests, the eye athwart? More touching still, more perfect was the pleasure. When hurrying forward till the slack'ning stream Spread like a spacious Mere, we there could measure A smooth free course along the watery gleam, Think calmly on the past, and mark at leisure Features which else had vanished like a dream. After thorough revision, it was republished in 1827 with Ecclesi- astical Sketches, where Wordsworth inserted it to follow Obligations of Civil to Religious Liberty; in the rearrangement of 1845 it was finally placed between Sacheverel and Aspects of Christianity in America. The disappearance of the sonnet from Memorials of a Tour on the Continent, 1820, subsequent to 1822, gave rise to the belief that it had never been reprinted. Professor Lane Cooper was the first to indicate its relation to Eccl. Son. See Wordsworth: Variant Readings, in Notes and Queries 11 S. ii. 222 (September 17, 1910). 1827.8 Striding with shattered crests the eye athwart. (until /1838) 14 Features that else had vanished like a dream (until 1845) * 1 838.8 Striding with shattered crests his eye athwart. (until **i84o) **i840.8 Striding with shattered crests the eye athwart. (until 1845) Knight gives the following MS. reading {P. W., Eversley ed., 7-83) • C.13 . . . sound at leisure 14 The depths, and mark the compass of our theme. For the early MS. reading, see the reproduction of F 3.12, p. 90. 3-13. 14. 15 The text has remained unchanged since 1842, when the sonnets were first published in the volume entitled Poems, Chiefly of Early and Late Years. For an unprinted sub-title to 3.14, see p. 31. 3.16 The text has remained unchanged since 1845, when the sonnet was first published. MS. E gives an early reading of line I : Bishops and Priests, how blest are Ye if deep 3-17 The text has remained unchanged since 1822. OF WILLIAM WORDSWORTH 201 3-i8 The text has remained unchanged since 1822. For the early MS. reading, see the reproduction of F 3.18, p. 93. 3-19 1822.4 Distinct with signs, through which in fixed career, (until 1837) 9 Enough for us to cast a transient glance (until *E) 10 The circle through; relinquishing its story (until *E) 11 For those whom Heaven hath fitted to advance (until *E) 12 And, harp in hand, rehearse the King of Glory — (until *E) *E.9 Upon that circle, traced from ancient story, (until 1845) 10 There let us cast a more than transient glance; (until 1845) 11 With harp in hand endeavour to advance, (until 1845) 12 And mind intent upon the King of Glory — (until 1845) For the early MS. reading, see the reproduction of F 3.19, p. 98. Knight gives the following MS. readings {P. W., Eversley ed., 7.89) : C.9 Enough for us to cast no careless glance 10 Upon that circle, leaving Christian ^ory 1 1 To those . . . has . . . C.9 Here let us cast a more than Transient glance, ID And harp in hand endeavour to advance, 1 1 With mind intent . . . 3.20 1827. 1 Blest be the Church that, watching o'er the needs (until 1845) 4 The sinful product of a bed of Weeds! (until 1832) 3.21 The text has remained unchanged since 1832, when the sonnet was first published. Knight gives the following MS. reading, which he says was dated Dec. 7, 1827 (P. W., Eversley ed., 7.90-1): B.4 . . . yet more sensitive, 5 More faithful, thou, a second Mother, 7 Watched at all seasons, and with industry 9 ... Benign must be 12 ... "Assurance doubly sure." 14 ... the Name an empty sound. 3.22 The text has remained unchanged since 1822. 202 THE ECCLESIASTICAL SONNETS 3-23 The text has remained unchanged since 1827, when the sonnet was first published. 3-24 1827.8 And such vibration to the Mother went (until 1837) 3-25 1827.3 Brings to thy food, memorial Sacrament! (until 1845) 9 Here must my Song in timid reverence pause: (until 1845) 10 But shrink not ye whom to the saving rite (until 1845) Knight gives the following MS. reading (P. W., Eversley ed., 7.93): B.2 . . . to . . . 3.26 The text has remained unchanged since 1845, when the sonnet was first published: Knight gives the following MS. reading {P. W., Eversley ed., 7.94) : C.2 Together they kneel down who come in sight 3 Of God and chosen friends their troth to plight. 4 This have they done, by words, and prayers, and hands This sonnet appears also in MS. E, with the reading of the text of 1845. 3.27 The text has remained unchanged since 1845, when the sonnet was first published. The sonnet appears in MS. E, with the reading of the text. 3.28 The text has remained unchanged since 1845, when the sonnet was first published. The sonnet appears in MS. E, with the reading of the text. 3-29 The text has remained unchanged since 1845, when the sonnet was first published. Knight gives the following MS. reading (P. W., Eversley ed., 7.96) : C.2 ... as dealing 3 With human curses, banish the false feeling. 4 Go thou . . . terrors . . . This sonnet appears also in MS. E, with the reading of the text of 1845. 3-30 The text has remained unchanged since 1845, when the sonnet was first published. An early reading of lines 9-10 occurs in MS. E: In vain who reverentially give breath To words that Church prescribes aiding the lip OF WILLIAM WORDSWORTH 203 3-31 The text has remained unchanged since 1845, when the sonnet was first published. MS. E has the following reading for line 2: The Church attends her care to thought and deed; 3-32 1 822. 1 With smiles each happy face was overspread, (until *i827) 2 That trial ended. Give we to a day (until *i827) 3 Of festal joy one tributary lay; (until 1827) 4 That day when forth by rustic music led (until 1827) *l827.i Content with calmer scenes around us spread (until 1845) 2 And humbler objects, give we to a day (until 1845) Knight gives the following MS. reading (P. W., Eversley ed., 7.98): C.I ... precious Book . . . MS. E gives directions for altering the first two lines for the edition of 1845. 3-33 1822.5 Giving the Memory help when she would weave (until 1845) 3-34 1822.2 And sinks from high to low, along a scale (until 1840) 12 Its crown of weeds, but could not even sustain (until 1837) For the early MS. reading, see the reproduction of F 3.34, p. 108. 3-35 1822.8 And faults of others, gently as he may, (until *i837) 9 Towards our own the mild Instructor deals, (until 1837) *i 837.8 And faults of others — so, where'er he may (until 1845) For the early MS. reading, see the reproduction of F 3.35, p. 106. 3-36 1827.14 Give to their Faith a dreadless resting-place, (until 1837) 3-37 The text has remained unchanged since 1822. 3-38 1822.14 That hill or vale prolongs or multiplies! (until 1837) 3-39 1822. 1 1 May-garlands, let the holy Altar stand (until 1838) 204 THE ECCLESIASTICAL SONNETS 340 1822. 1 Mine ear has rung, my spirits sunk subdued, (until 1827) 341 1822.10 But infinite its grasp of joy and woe! (until *i832) *i832.io But infinite in grasp of weal and woe! (until 1837) For the early MS. reading, see the reproduction of F 3.41, p. 108. 342 1822.7 Watching, with upward eyes, the tall tower grow (until 1827) Knight, P. W., Eversley ed., 7.105: 'This sonnet was published in Time's Telescope, September 1823, p. 260.' 343 The text has remained unchanged since 1822. 344 1822.2 Their portraiture the lateral windows hide, (until 1827) 3 Glimmers their corresponding stone-work, dyed (until 1827) 4 With the soft checquerings of a sleepy light, (until 1827) For the early MS. reading, see the reproduction of F 3.44, p. 107. 345 The text has remained unchanged since 1822. 346 The text has remained unchanged since 1822. 347 1822.10 (Nor in that vision be thou slow to trust) (until 1827) NOTES [Wordsworth himself has directed students to Stillingfleet, Bede, Daniel, Fuller, Turner, Whitaker, Foxe, Walton, Strype, Hume, Burnet, and Dyer; his notes are quoted from the Poetical Works, Oxford edition. Where other obligations occur, they will be acknowledged in detail. The spelling and punctuation of prose passages have generally been modernized. Sec- ondary references are usually not given unless there is reason to believe that Wordsworth was familiar with them. The number in bold-faced type at the left of the note indicates the line or lines concerned.] I-I4 Enough has been said (pp. 62-78) to relate Wordsworth's design of a holy river to one of the main figures of Biblical and classical literature, and to Wordsworth's own previous experience, both personal and artistic. Cf. the following references for evi- dence that when he turned to the opening pages of his immediate sources he found a like figure dominating the material or introducing the theme: Bede, Eccl. Hist., tr. by Sellar, pp. 5-6; Geoffrey of Monmouth, Hist. Brit., ed. by Giles in Six Old English Chronicles, p. 90; Camden, Brit., introductory poem; Daniel, Works, ed. by Grosart, 4.86; Heylin, Cyp. Angl., p. 43; Fuller, Holy War, Epistle Dedicatory; Drayton, Polyolbion, Argument to the First Song; Milton, P. L. 1. 10-13; Dyer, i7i5f. Camb. i.vi-vii. Cf. also Lamb's note on Drayton, in Works, ed. by Macdonald, 9.120; and refer to Osgood, Spenser's English Rivers, in the Trans. Co7in. Acad. Arts and Sciences 23.65-108, January, 1920. Wordsworth begins his series in the first person, as do V^irgil, Dante, and Spenser; he is descriptive, as is Chaucer; he is remi- niscent, as are Homer and Virgil; allegorical, with Dante and Spenser; and although his theme and method and design difTer from those of Milton, the same lofty aim is at once apparent. To supplement what has hitherto been said of the structure of Eccl. Son., Drayton's dedication of Polyolbion may be used as a motto (lines 4, 10) : Who, by that virtue of the treble trine . . . And rule three realms with triple power, like Jove. The 'three realms' which Wordsworth celebrates in Eccl. Son. i.i are the natural, the human, and the divine. His series. The River Duddon, had been published in May, 1820; the Poems Dedicated to National Independence and Liberty, referred to in lines 5-8, were composed at intervals from 1802 to 1837, and first appeared as a group in 1815. Eccl. Son. were to constitute the third series. 205 206 THE ECCLESIASTICAL SONNETS And not only is the third series a poem of 'three realms,' and a 'treble trine,' but the first sonnet of it prefigures the tripartite grou'ping of the whole, and the sestet has a triple decoration, 'pastoral flowers,' 'laurel,' 'amaranth and palms,' a probable reference to the three functions of the church, its human service, its political responsibility, and its immortal aim. In 1816 Words- worth had written a similar passage (Ode 1814 37-52). 2 'Cerulean,' a word usually applied by Wordsworth to the ether and to the sky, is here applied to the Duddon. Cf. also Desc. Seen. Lakes, Prose Works 2.41 and 44, and Journals 2.200. 3,4 'Ruled by his' and 'boon Nature's grace' constitute a prelude to 'meek doctrines' (1.3.8) and 'the pure spirit of celestial light' (34-I2). 4 Cf. Virgil, Georg. 2.485-6. 6 ' Plausive string' recalls the ' plausive smile' of Phoebus in Malham 8, a sonnet mentioned in the Introduction (footnote p. 8) as a link between Excursion and Eccl. Son. 9-14 The allegorical significance of these lines, undeniable in 'laurel,' 'amaranth,' and 'palms,' is probable in 'pastoral flowers' as well. The fundamental conception of 'source' in Wordsworth's mind may be sought from the adjectives usual to this word in his poems (Cooper, Concordance to the Poems of W. W., p. 903). They are: far deeper, still deeper, inexhaustible, nobler, loftier, precious, pure, unquestionable, sad, invisible, pure and holy, abundant, sacred, higher, profound, humane and heavenly, humble, marvel- lous, pure, feeding, primal, dread, happiest. And hence it is clear that, however aware Wordsworth was of the 'fontis sacros' (Virgil, pc. 1.52), of the 'fontis integros' (Lucretius, De Rer. Nat. 1.927), of the 'fons Bandusiae' (Horace, Carni. 3.13.1), even of 'Helicon's harmonious springs' (Gray, Progress of Poesy 1.1.3), the source of the holy river had been throughout his poetry such a source as the fountain of Psalm 36.9: 'For with thee is the fountain of life: in thy light shall we see light.' II Virgil, Ec. 9.40-1, 8.13; Spenser, F. Q. 1.1.9. 1-2. 14 Milton, P. L. 3-353-9- Immortal Amarant, a Flour which once In Paradise, fast by the Tree of Life Began to bloom, but soon for mans offence To Heav'n remov'd where first it grew, there grows, And flours aloft shading the Fount of Life, And where the river of Bliss through midst of Heaven Rowls o're Elisian Flours her Amber stream. Cf. Misc. Son. 1.35; and Charlotte Smith's Elegiac Sonnets and Other Poems, pp. 20, 48: 'fair Friendship's amaranth,' and Let thy loved hand with palm and amaranth strew The mournful path approaching to the tomb, While Faith's consoling voice endears the friendly gloom. OF WILLIAM WORDSWORTH 207 i-S Two early versions of the first part of this sonnet in MS. F (pp. 81-2) indicate that one source may be Drayton's Polyolbion. Cf. the latter (Upon the Frontispiece): Through a Triumphant Arch, see Albion plac'd, In Happy site, in Neptune's arms embrac'd, In Power and Plenty, on her Cleevy Throne Circled with Nature's Garlands, being alone Styl'd th' Ocean's Island; and (i.i, 7, 31-4, 41-2): Of Albion's glorious Isle the wonders whilst I write, . . . What help shall I invoke to aid my Muse the while? . . . Ye sacred Bards, that to your harp's melodious strings Sung th' ancient Heroes' deeds (the monuments of Kings) And in your dreadful verse ingrav'd the prophecies. The aged world's descents, and genealogies; . . . I could have wish'd your spirits redoubled in my breast. To give my verse applause, to time's eternal rest. 1-2 Fuller's account of the Bards (Ch. Hist. 1.6-7) contains a suggestion for 'prophets . . . past things,' and for the title. Conjectures: 'The Bards were next to the Druids in regard, and played excellently to their songs on their harps; whereby they had great operation on the vulgar, surprising them into civility una- wares, — they greedily swallowing whatsoever was sweetened with music. These also, to preserve their ancestors from corruption, embalmed their memories in rhyming verses, which looked both backward — in their relations, and forward — in their predictions; so that their confidence, meeting with the credulity of others, advanced their wild conjectures to the reputation of prophecies.' 3-5 Miss Melville {Essay"^) has suggested that Wordsworth was indebted to the works of Edward Davies. Cf. the latter's Mythology and Rites of the British Druids, p. 142: 'The Druids represented the deluge under the figure of a lake; . . . the deluge itself was viewed not merely as an instrument of punishment . . . but also as a divine lustration, which washed away the bane of corruption, and purified the earth for the reception of the just ones, or of the deified patriarch [Noah] and his family. Consequently, it was deemed peculiarly sacred, and communicated its distin- guishing character to those lakes and bays by which it was locally represented.' 5-8 Wordsworth, note on Eccl. Son. 1.2: 'Stillingfleet adduces many arguments in support of this opinion, but they are uncon- vincing.' Cf. Stillingfleet, Orig. Brit., p. 37: 'Eusebius afifirms ^ An Introduction to the Ecclesiastical Sonnets of Wordsworth, with Notes on the First Fifteen. A Thesis presented to the Faculty of the Graduate School of Cornell University for the degree of Master of Arts (1914) by Georgina Melville. Typewritten manuscript in Cornell University Library. 208 THE ECCLESIASTICAL SONNETS . . . that some of the Apostles preached the Gospel in the British Islands. . . . Much to the same purpose Theodoret speaks, another learned and judicious church historian. For among the nations converted by the Apostles, he expressly names the Britons; and elsewhere saith that St. Paul brought salvation to the Islands that lie in the Ocean, after he had mentioned Spain, and therefore in all probability the British Islands are understood by him.' 9-10 Stillingfleet {ibid., pp. 37-48) disgusses at length the right of St. Paul or of St. Peter to be known as the founder of Christianity in Britain. After rejecting the evidence of Simeon Metaphrastes and Eysengrenius, who decide for St. Peter, he concludes {ibid., p. 48) 'that the Christian Church in Britain was rather founded by St. Paul than by St. Peter or any other Apostle.' Cf. Acts 12.7, as Miss Melville notes {Essay). 11-12 Wordsworth, note on Eccl. Son. 1.2: 'The latter part of this sonnet refers to a favorite notion of Roman Catholic writers, that Joseph of Arimathea and his companions brought Christianity into Britain, and built a rude church at Glastonbury; alluded to hereafter, in a passage upon the dissolution of monasteries.' Cf. Stillingfleet, op. cit., p. 3: ' Baronius . . . [says] that Joseph of Arimathea did bear them company, and came over into Britain to preach the Gospel.' 'Them' refers to Lazarus, Mary Magdalen, Martha, and Marcella, whom Baronius supposes to have come to Marseilles in a ship without oars {ibid.). 12-13 Melville, Essay: 'Cup of woe. An allusion to the tra- dition that Joseph had charge of the cup from which our Lord drank at the Last Supper, i.e., the Holy Grail.' 14 Stillingfleet {op. cit., p. 17) quotes the Monasticon in regard to -the charter of King Ine, but challenges this document, which 'makes the church at Glastonbury, dedicated to Christ and the Blessed Virgin, to be the Fountain of all Religion, and the first in the kingdom of Britain.' He concludes: 'I see no ground to believe that . . . Joseph of Arimathea . . . had ever been there' {ibid., p. 26). 1-3 I Wordsworth, note on Eccl. Son. 1.3: 'This water-fowl was, among the Druids, an emblem of those traditions connected with the deluge that made an important part of their mysteries. The cormorant was a bird of bad omen.' Cf. Desc. Seen. Lakes, Prose Works 2.36-7. Miss Melville {Essay) cites Davies {Mythology and Rites, p. 510) for a translation of Taliesin, 'I knew the eminently white sea-mew in Dinbych,' and the pertinent note, 'By the de- scription which is given of this sea-mew, it is evident he was no other than the hierophant, or chief Druid.' Cf. Drayton's 'un- numbered fowl' {Polyolbion 1.73-4): Some, rising like a storm from off the troubled sand, Some in their hovering flight to shadow all the land. OF WILLIAM WORDSWORTH 209 Charlotte Smith, too, refers to 'ospreys, cormorants, and sea-mews' {Elegiac Son., p. 51). 2 Wordsworth describes such ' mystic rings' in Desc. Seen. Lakes, Prose Works 2.49, note i, relating them to Stonehenge and Long Meg and her Daughters as a 'rural chapel' is related to a 'stately church' or 'noble cathedral.' Cf. the proximity of Long Meg and her Daughters to King s College Chapel in MS. F (pp. 104-7). 3 Davies, Mythology and Rites, p. 39: 'And how can these Bards be said never to have troubled themselves until futurity? The first of Meugant's poems opens in the high prophetic style — Dydd dyvydd — "The day will come," and speaks of the Druids as true prophets.' 4 Ibid., p. 512: 'A cormorant approaches me with long wings. She assaults the top of the stone with her hoarse clamor. — There is wrath in the fates! Let it burst through the stones!' Cf. Charlotte Smith, Elegiac Son., p. 17, lines 9-10: No bird, ill-omen'd, round thy graceful head Shall clamour harsh, or wave his heavy wing. Cf. Milton, P. L. 4.196. 5 Davies' note (op cit., p. 512) is the source: 'The cormorant, a bird of ill omen, denounces an approaching persecution.' 6-7 The words 'diluvian' and 'patriarchal' occur frequently in Davies' book {op. cit.. Preface, p. vii, and pp. 117, 121, 122, 145). Cf. his Celtic Researches on the Origin, Traditions, and Language of the Ancient Britons, 1804, p. 119: 'The religion of the patriarchs had, indeed, been deformed with various superstitions, by all nations. But this order, notwithstanding their man}^ and gross errors, appear to have retained many of its vital and essential principles.' Cf. also passages in Thomas Burnet's Sacred Theory of the Earth, e.g., 1.292-3. 8-9 'Meek' is the adjective applied to Herbert, father of Idonea, to Cordelia, daughter of Lear, to Mary Wordsworth, to the Armenian Lady, to the dove, to the daisy, to an infant, to the ass that bore a cross, to Isaak W'alton, to the loveliness of Yarrow visited, to womanhood, to the Due d'Enghien, to the Bard, to the virgin, to Michelangelo's face of Christ, to the Egyptian Maid, to Columba, to Una, to the milk-white lamb, to Emily, to the nun, to evening, to the moon, to innocency, to Rydal Chapel, to Grace Darling, to John Wordsworth, to Worth, to Coleridge, to Michel Beaupuy, to the glow-worm, to the W^anderer, to repentance, to lonely reading. 'Doctrine' is the name for the teaching of Wydif and of the 'eminent reformers' of Eccl. Son. 2.40, for the learning of that school of Christian people of whom the Prioress tells, for the 'legitimate union of the imagination, affections, understanding, and reason' with w^hich the Wanderer closes book 4 of The Excursion. 15 210 THE ECCLESIASTICAL SONNETS 'Transport' and 'transports' are the accompaniment of a sudden meeting, of the return of long-exiled Dion, of joy, of a faithless heart and of soberness of reason overpowered, of the sight of Norton's standard 'in all its dread emblazonry,' of the acquittal of the Bishops, of the sunset, of Grote's ballot-box, of youth, of tumbling rills, of creative sensibility, of communion with every form of creature, of the composition of the .preamble to The Prelude, of news of the death of Robespierre, of a new-fallen inheritance, of the despotism of the bodily eye, of golden expectations, freights from a new world of hope, of being (as a presence or a motion, an equal among the mightiest energies of Nature), of the discovery of precious ore, of the birth of a daughter, of a knock-down blow (see Cooper, Concordance to the Poems of W. W. In these two lines, which have been chosen to stand at the beginning of this interpretation of Eccl. Son. (pp. 1-27), there is a powerful opposition. That this is not accidental, and not a result of Wordsworth's age alone, the foregoing list would abundantly indicate. Wordsworth's associations, from Peter Bell and Juvenal on the one hand to Isaak Walton and the acquittal of the Bishops on the other, taught the same lesson throughout his life: the respective value of meek doctrine and transport. 10-14 'Julian spear' and ' Roman chains' may be adapted from the following passages in Da vies {Mythology and Rites, pp. 512-13) : 'I warn thee to depart! Thou be prosperous! Spearmen with vibrating spears will occupy the spot. . . . They will break the circle behind the flat stone of Maelwy. Let the multitude of our friends retire'; and {ibid., p. 515): 'The heavy blue chain [the deluge] didst thou, O just man [Noah], endure.' Cf. Milton, Hist. Brit., ed. by Mitford, in Works 5.46: 'But the gospel, not long after preached here, abolished such impurities, and of the Romans we have cause not to say much worse, than that they beat us into some civility; likely else to have continued longer in a barbarous and savage manner of life.' 1.4 Title, Druidical Excommunication. Although Miss Melville {Essay) remarks upon the laxity with which a word of Christian connotation is applied to a pagan rite, she seems not to have noticed the following passage of Davies, whose italics might easily have caught the poet's eye {Celtic Researches, p. 172): 'Amongst their disciples, these Druids could at all times ensure peace by holding up the rod of excommunication .' 1-4 For evidence that this sonnet was originally intended to follow Long Meg and her Daughters, see MS. F (pp. 104-5). The MS. version of line 3, and of line 7, ' Did Priest and Lawgiver and Bard aspire,' indicates that Wordsworth had first read some such account as Davies gives {Celtic Researches, p. 191): 'The Bards were Priest and Poet. The Harp was their inseparable attribute.' OF WILLIAM WORDSWORTH 211 Cf. Turner (Hist. Angl. Sax. 1.83-4), to whom Wordsworth may have gone for the revision of lines 1-4: 'The Druids appointed the remunerations, and the punishments. Whoever disobeyed their decree was interdicted from their sacrifices, which with them was the severest punishment. An interdicted person was deemed both impious and wicked; all fled from him, and avoided his presence and conversation, lest they should be contaminated by the inter- course. He was allowed no legal rights. He participated in no honors.' Cf. also Southey, Book of the Church 1.6: '[The Druids] made the people, at the beginning of winter, extinguish all their fires on one day, and kindle them again from the sacred fire of the Druids, which would make the house fortunate for the ensuing year;- and if any man came who had not paid his yearly dues, they refused to give him a spark, neither durst any of his neighbors relieve him; nor might he himself procure fire by any other means, so that he and his family were deprived of it till he had discharged the uttermost of his debt.' Davies, op cit., p. 172: 'The wretch . . . was deprived ... of all social comfort and benefit.' 5-9 Davies says of Taliesin's Preiddeu Annwn, The Spoils of the Deep (Mythology and Rites, p. 515): 'In this first stanza we find the Bard acknowledging the existence of one supreme God, and declaring his resolution to adore him, because he had shown respect to Gwair, the just man, and preserved the inclosure of Caer Sidi, in which he had shut him up, at the time when he extended his dominions over the shores of the world, or sent forth the universal deluge. The Supreme Being was, therefore, adored for his benef- icent providence, which had distinguished the just man, and pre- served him through a calamity which overwhelmed the world. This, I conceive, was a genuine principle of the patriarchal re- ligion.' Cf. Stillingfleet, Orig. Brit., p. 57, and Fuller, Ch. Hist. 1.5-6. 6 Cf. Daniel 7.9. 8-9 Davies (Mythology and Rites, p. 74), quotes Borlase and Strabo: 'The Druids were remarkable for justice, moral and religious doctrines, and skill in the laws of their country.' 10 'The coming storm' refers to the deluge. 12 Davies, ihid., p. 87: 'That they had no knowledge or recol- lection of the Great First Cause, I will not venture to assert; . . . but they saw him faintly, through the thick veil of super- stition.' Cf. Drayton, Polyolbion 1.36: 'darksome groves'; Southey, Book of the Church 1.3: 'glimmerings of patriarchal faith'; and Davies, Celtic Researches, pp. 12 1-2: 'genuine features of primeval history.' 13-14 The account of Druid cruelty given by Turner (op. cit. 1. 8 1-2) may have caused the revision of these two lines. Cf. MS. F (p. 105). W^ordsworth addressed the same object in Guilt and Sorrow, stanza 14; and in Prelude 13.312-49. 212 THE ECCLESIASTICAL SONNETS 1-5 1-8 Davies (Mythology and Rites, p. 302) mentions in the same paragraph Snowden, Stonehenge, Abury, and the temple of Clas- serniss in the Western Isles of Scotland. Cf. the sestet of Eccl. Son. 1.2 and 1.5 in MS. F (p. 82). With his own memory of the Plain of Sarum and the 'Pile of Stonehenge,' and with Drayton's Polyolbion at hand, may not Wordsworth have turned to the lines on Stonehenge in the latter(3. 57-64)? — Conspirator with Time, now grown so mean and poor, Comparing these his spirits with those that went before; Yet rather art content thy builders' praise to lose, Than passed greatness should thy present wants disclose. Ill did those mighty men to trust thee with their story, Thou hast forgot their names, who rear'd thee for their glory: For all their wondrous cost, thou that hast serv'd them so, What 'tis to trust to tombs, by these we eas'ly know. 1 Turner, Hist. Angl. Sax. 1. 178-9: 'The querulous and vague invectives of Gildas have been reduced to some chronology by Bede; and the broken narrations of Nennius have been dramatized by Geoffrey; but the labors of Bede have not lessened the original obscurity of Gildas; and all that the imagination of Geoffrey has effected has been to people the gloom with fantastic shapes, which in our search for authentic history only make us welcome the darkness that they vainly attempt to remove.' Cf. Milton, P. L. 345-6. 2 Dyer (The Fleece, Poems, p. 70) speaks of the Brigantes, 'inhabitants of Yorkshire,' and (ibid., p. 79) of 'the sounding caves of high Brigantium.' 5 Cf. the proximity of 'Tradition' and 'Time' in Polyolbion, 6.298, 300. 6-8 Wordsworth (Itm. Poems 1833 32, 33, 34, 35) later cele- brates the Western Isles and lona in greater detail. 9 As 'monuments of eldest name' Miss Melville suggests the Ruthwell and Bewcastle Crosses. ID Among the notes on Eccl. Son. i.io (p. 218) a 'lay' of Taliesin is quoted for its content. II Stillingfleet (Orig. Brit., pp. 37-48) searches the following writers of 'characters of Greek or Roman fame': Eusebius, Theod- oret, Jerome, Clemens Romanus, Suetonius, Pliny, Tacitus, Ter- tullian, Origen, Lactantius, and others. Wordsworth's famil- iarity with both Stillingfleet and Turner is proof that he was not uninformed on the bibliography of this period. If 'characters' refer to inscriptions, Miss Melville's suggestion will be recalled. Wordsworth would not have been critical as to the date of these and similar crosses or inscriptions. 12-14 Daniel, Works, ed. by Grosart, 4.85-6: 'Our curiosity OF WILLIAM WORDSWORTH 213 to search further back into times past than we might well dis- cern, and whereof we could neither have proof nor profit. How the beginnings of all people and states were as uncertain as the heads of great rivers.' 1.6 1-4 Eusebius, Eccl. Hist., tr. by Hanmer, pp. 145-6, especially: 'When that cursed hypocrisy and dissimulation had swum even to the brim of malice, the heavy hand of God's high judg- ment, after his wonted manner . . . began softly by a little and a little to visit us; . . . when as we were touched with no sense or feeling thereof, neither went about to pacify God, we heaped sin upon sin, thinking like careless epicures that God neither cared neither would visit our sins; . . . then, I say then, the Lord ac- cording to the saying of Jeremiah {Lament. 2, 5) "Made the daughter Sion obscure, and overthrew from above the glory of Israel, and remembered not his footstool in the day of his wrath. The Lord hath drowned all the beauty of Israel, and overthrown all his strongholds." ... It was the nineteenth year of Diocle- tian's reign . . . when the Emperor's proclamations were every- where published, in which it was commanded that the churches should be made even with the ground; the holy Scriptures by burning of them should be abolished; . . . such as were of families if they retained the Christian faith should be deprived of their freedom. And such were the contents of the first edict. But in the proclamations which immediately followed after, it was added that the pastors throughout all parishes should first be imprisoned, next with all means possible constrained to sacrifice.' 6 Does 'field' indicate the soldiery? This seems probable from Eusebius' account (ibid., p. 147): 'Of the persecution first raised by Veturius, the captain, against the Christian soldiers. . . . [He] first essayed only the Christians which were in camp.' 7-8 Ibid., p. 146: 'We saw with our eyes the oratories over- thrown down to the ground, yea and the very foundations them- selves digged up, the holy and sacred Scriptures burned to ashes in the open market place, the pastors of the churches, whereof some shamefully hid themselves here and there, some other contume- liously taken and derided of the enemies.' 8 Ibid., p. 160: 'When as the Ethnickes solemnized their public feasts, and celebrated their wonted spectacles, amongst other their merry news and gladsome wishes it was commonly noised abroad that the Christians lately condemned to wild beasts made all the sport and finished the solemnity. This report being far and nigh and everywhere bruited abroad, young striplings to the number of six, . . . joining hands and hearts together, . . . went with speed unto Urbanus, who a little before had let loose the ravening beasts to rend the Christians in pieces, and freely protested the Ctiristian faith.' Ibid., p. 148: 'Sudden bickering with ravening beasts, . . . the tusks of wild boars.' 214 THE ECCLESIASTICAL SONNETS 9 Ihid., p. 152: 'Daily . . . they found out new torments, contending one with another who could excel in spiteful inven- tions and additions of torment. This calamity was extreme and out of measure cruel. And when as thenceforth they despaired of increasing their mischief, and now were wearied with slaughter and got their fill of bloodshed, voluntarily they mitigate their rage, they practise courtesy, their pleasure (forsooth) is henceforth to punish with death no longer. It is not requisite (say they) that the cities should be stained with blood, ... that the most noble empire of the Caesars should be blemished and defamed with the title of cruelty, . . . yea rather the gracious goodness and clemency of the Emperor's highness is to be stretched forth and enlarged towards all men, that they be no more punished with death. They deemed their cruelty assuaged, and the Emperor's clemency to shine, in that they commanded our eyes to be plucked out, and the left leg to be unjointed. Such was their clemency and mitigated cruelty towards us.' 9-14 Bede's account of Alban's martyrdom may be read in the English translation by A. M. Sellar, pp. 14-17. In the original (ed. by Plummer, 1. 18-21) 'minas' and 'se . . . ultro pro hospite . . . offerre' are important; cf. 'Threats' and 'self-offered victim' (lines 10, 11) as instances of exact translation. Wordsworth's note is as follows: 'This hill at St. Alban's must have been an object of great interest to the imagination of the venerable Bede, who thus describes it, with a delicate feeling, delightful to meet with in that rude age, traces of which are frequent in his works: "Variis herbarum floribus depictus imo usquequaque vestitus, in quo nihil repente arduum, nihil praeceps, nihil abruptum, quem lateribus longe lateque deductum in modum aequoris natura complanat, dignum videlicet eum pro insita sibi specie venustatis jam olim reddens, qui beati martyris cruore dicaretur." ' 1.7 I Fuller, Ch. Hist. 1.30, of the persecution of Diocletian: ' Dark and tempestuous was the morning of this century, which afterward cleared up to be a fair day.' Cf. Journals 1.3, 1.34, 2.19; Ode 1814 109-10; cf. also Virgil, Georg. 1.393, 422: Nee minus ex imbri soles et aperta serena. . . . Avium concentus in agris. 1-14 My italics in the following passages indicate Wordsworth's indebtedness to Hanmer's translation of Eusebius {Eccl. Hist., pp. 174-5, 184, 156): 'These things [Sabinus' letters in behalf of the Christians] being thus brought to pass, immediately after the sunbeams of peace shined brightly as if it had been after a dark or misty night. Then might a man have seen throughout every city congregations gathered together, often Synods, and there wonted meeting celebrated. . . . The noble champions of godliness being OF WILLIAM WORDSWORTH 215 set at liberty from the affliction they suffered in ye mine pits returned unto their own home, passing throughout every city with valiant and cheerful courage, with unspeakable joy, and replenished with inexplicable liberty of mind. They went in ye voyage and return lauding God in songs and psalms throughout that mid high ways, throughout the market-places and frequented assemblies. There mightest thou have seen them who a little before after most grievous punishments were fettered, and banished their native soil, to receive and enjoy their proper houses, with a cheerful and merry countenance, in so much that they which afore time cried out against us, now rejoiced together with us at this wonderful sight, happening beyond all men's expectation. . . . The thank- fulness of the Christians for the peace granted unto them from above after the great storm of persecution. . . . Justly therefore we [Eusebius] place here in a perfect number [Book lo] the ab- solute and solemn sermon gratidory of the repairing of the churches, obeying no doubt herein the Holy Ghost commanding after this sort: "Sing unto the Lord a new song, because he hath done marvelous things. With his own right hand and with his holy arm hath he gotten himself the victory. The Lord hath showed his salvation: in the sight of the heathen hath he openly declared his righteousness." In so much that these words of ye Prophet require a new song, of duty then we must have a song in our mouth, because that after uglesome and dark spectacles, after thundering and terrible threats, we have been thought worthy now to see such things, and to celebrate such solemnities. . . . Such things had they prepared during the whole time of persecution, which in the tenth year (320) by the goodness of God wholly ceased, yet after the eighth year it began somewhat to slack and relent. For after that the divine and celestial grace of God beheld us with a placable and merciful countenance, then our princes, even they which hitherto warred against us, after a wonderful manner changed their opinion, sang a recantation, and quenched that great heat of persecution, with most benign and mild edicts and constitutions published everywhere in our behalf. The cause of this ivas not the humanity or compassion (as I may so term it) or benignity of the princes, being far other-ci'ise disposed (for they invented daily more and more grievous things against us . . .),but the apparent countenance of the divine providence, reconciled unto his people, withstood the power of mis- chief, and quelled the author of impiety, and the worker of the whole persecution.' Cf. Stillingfleet, Orig. Brit., p. 74: 'The Christians rebuilt their churches, destroyed to the ground, and therein celebrated their Holy Sacraments, and kept solemn festivals in memory of so great a deliverance.' If Wordsworth referred also to Bede, the words 'construunt' and 'renovant' may have been responsible for 're-constructed' and 'renewed' (lines 5-6). Cf. Bede, Eccl. Hist., ed. by Plummer, 1.22. 216 THE ECCLESIASTICAL SONNETS 1-14 Daniel, Works, ed. by Grosart, 4.89-91, quoting from Tacitus the measures of Agricola for the subjugation of Britain: 'Advice was taken, saith he, that the people dispersed, rude, and so apt to rebellion, should be inured to ease and quiet by their pleas- ures; and therefore they exhorted privately, and aided them publicly to the building of temples, bourses, palaces; commending whom they found forward, and correcting the unwilling, so that the emulation of honor was for necessity; then they caused the prin- cipal men's sons to be taught the liberal sciences, extolling their wits for learning above the Gauls, in so much as they who lately scorned the Roman tongue, now desired eloquence. Hereupon grew our habits in honor, the gown frequent, and by degrees a general collapsion into those softenings of vices, fair houses, baths, and delicate banquets; and that, by the ignorant, was termed hu- manity, when it was a part of servitude.' The phrase 'fair houses, baths, and delicate banquets' is proof that Wordsworth's source here was Daniel rather than Turner ('baths, porticoes, and sensual banquets'); but from Turner may have come 'luxury,' 'language,' and 'letters' (Hist. Angl. Sax. 1.97). 4-5 Cf. Coleridge, Biog. Lit., ed. by Shawcross, 1.12: 'I re- member to have compared Darwin's work to the Russian palace of ice, glittering, cold, and transitory.' 9 Virgil, ^neid 6.851-3: Tu regere imperio populos, Romane, memento (Hae tibi erunt artes), pacisque imponere morem, Parcere subiectis et debellare superbos. II Ibid. 1.282: ' Gentemque togatam.' 14 Daniel (op. cit. 4.91) refers to kings as 'instruments of servitude.' 1.9 1-3 Bede (Eccl. Hist., ed. by Plummer, 1.22) uses such words as 'vesaniae,' 'corrupto,' 'veneno,' 'pestilentiae,' 'hereseos'; and Fuller (Ch. Hist. 1.43) says of Arianism: 'But now, alas! the gangrene of that heresy began to spread itself into this island.' 2-5 Bede, op. cit., tr. by Sellar, p. 21: ' Pelagius, a Briton, spread far and near [longe lateque] the infection of his perfidious doctrine, denying the assistance of the Divine Grace [contra auxilium gratiae supernae], being seconded therein by his associate, Julianus of Campania, who was impelled by an uncontrolled desire to recover his bishopric, of which he had been deprived.' 4-7 Ibid., pp. 28, 29: 'Nor were the laity only guilty of. these things, but even our Lord's own flock, with its shepherds, casting ofif the easy yoke of Christ, gave themselves up to drunkenness, enmity, quarrels, strife, envy, and other such sins. . . . Where- upon, not long after, a more severe vengeance for their fearful crimes fell upon the sinful nation.' OF WILLIAM WORDSWORTH 217 8 Turner {Hist. Angl. Sax. 1. 178-207) traces in detail the course of the Roman evacuation and the invasion of the Picts and Scots; the account of Stillingfleet was also available {Orig. Brit., ch. 5); and in lines 8-14 Bede's words are closely followed {op. cit., ed. by Plummer, 1.26-8): 'non aliam ob causam quam si ipsi inertia solverentur,' 'segni populo,' 'flebili voce auxilium implorantes.' 'lacrimosis precibus,' 'sociis, quos derelinquere cogebantur,' 'vale- dicunt sociis tanquam ultra non reversuri,' 'trementi corde stupida,' 'miserrime,' and 'miseri.' 9-10 Turner, op. cit. 1.204, especially the following: ' Constan- tine could not repel the torrent, because the flower of his army was in Spain. Britain and Gaul experienced all its fury. The cities even of England were invaded. To whatever quarter they applied for help, the application was vain.' Cf. Wordsworth, Desc. Seen. Lakes, Prose Works 2.48-9, 11-14 Stillingfleet {op. cit., p. 321) says of the Saxons: 'At first they seemed very zealous and hearty against their common enemies, and did great service in beating the Picts and Scots; . . . and it is easy to imagine how insolent such a barbarous people would grow upon their success, when they knew the Britons durst not oppose them. ... It is certain, by what Gildas and Bede have left, that these heats soon brake out into open flames, to the ruin and desolation of the country.' Cf. Bede, op. cit., tr. by Sellar, pp. 30-1: 'In a short time, swarms of the aforesaid nations came over into the island, and the foreigners began to increase so much that they became a source of terror to the natives themselves who had invited them. Then, having on a sudden entered into league with the Picts, whom they had by this time repelled by force of arms, they began to turn their weapons against their allies.' This collection of passages with which Wordsworth must have been familiar in order to compose Eccl. Son. 1.9 illustrates the tangle of narrative out of which the sonnet grew. Lucid and swift as is the Wordsworthian account of the period, its historical pro- portions are right, and it has an allusive power both wide and rich. I. ID 1-2 Turner {Hist. Angl. Sax. 1.293-300) debates with Davies the latter's opinion {Mythology and Rites, pp. 306-84) that the Gododin of Aneurin refers to the massacre of the British by Hengist on Salisbury Plain. Cf. Stillingfleet, Orig. Brit., pp. 301, 324: 'After the translation of the British History by Geoffrey, the monkish historians generally follow that, as to the success of these battles, and as to the treachery used toward Vortigern by Hengist, upon Salisbury Plain, near Ambresbury; where it is said by Geof- frey that the Saxons killed 470 of the British nobility, under a pretence of a treaty of peace. Nennius saith but 300; and that Vortigern was then taken, and was forced to give Essex, Sussex, 218 THE ECCLESIASTICAL SONNETS and Middlesex for his redemption. . . . After this, as Gildas and Bede tell us, finding their case almost desperate, the Britons were resolved to sell their lives and liberties as dear as they could, and by making a fierce assault upon their enemies, they began to get the better of them.' Wordsworth knew Geoffrey; he also knew Fuller {Ch. Hist. 1.61), who refers to the Saxon perfidy against the British at a parley and banquet on Salisbury Plain. Drayton (Polyolbion 3.141-2) is in accord with Geoffrey and Fuller. As for the Gododin, Wordsworth here sides with Davies against Turner. 3-4 Cf. Milton, Hist. Brit., ed. by Mitford, in Works 5.52-3; and Daniel, Works, ed. by Grosart, 4.91-2. 5-7 Geoffrey of Monmouth, Hist. Brit., bk. g, ch. 4, ed. by Giles in Six Old English Chronicles, pp. 233-4: '[Arthur] addressed himself to his followers in these words: "Since these impious and detestable Saxons have disdained to keep faith with me, I . . . will endeavor to revenge the blood of my countrymen this day upon them. To arms! soldiers, to arms! and courageously fall upon the perfidious wretches, over whom we shall, with Christ assisting us, undoubtedly obtain the victory." . . . [Then, after the exhortation and benediction of the archbishop of Legions, he] put on a coat of mail suitable to the grandeur of so powerful a king, placed a golden helmet upon his head, on which was engraven the figure of a dragon; and on his shoulders his shield called Priwen; upon which the picture of the blessed Mary, mother of God, was painted, in order to put him frequently in mind of her.' Words- worth used Aaron Thompson's translation of Historia Britonum by Geoffrey of Monmouth, but has borrowed very little from it for Eccl. Son. Thompson tried to prove Geoffrey a more faithful historian than he is reputed (see Giles, Preface to Six Old English Chronicles, p. ix) ; Wordsworth has usually followed the sedater chroniclers. 8-10 Turner {op. cit. 1.286) quotes a poem of Taliesin on Ur4en: Neither the fields, nor the woods, gave safety to the foe, When the shout of the Britons came Like a wave raging against the shore — I saw the brave warriors in array; And after the morning, how mangled! I saw the tumult of the perishing hosts; The blood springing forward and moistening the ground. Gwenystrad was defended by a rampart : Wearied, on the earth, no longer verdant, I saw, at the pass of the ford, The blood-stained men dropping their arms; Pale with terror! — I admired the brave chief of Reged; I saw his reddened brow. When he rushed on his enemies at Llec gwen Calystan: Like the bird of rage was his sword on their bucklers; It was wielded with deadly fate. OF WILLIAM WORDSWORTH 219 II Ibid. ^.=,08: ' Many of the remaining poems of Taliesin . . . show that mixture of the ancient Druidical feeling with their Christian faith.' 12-14 Davies, Mythology and Rites, p. 63: 'These Bards were warriors.' Cf. Drayton, Polyolbion 6.102: Plynillimon's high praise no longer Muse defer: What once the Druids told, how great those Floods should be That here (most mighty Hill) derive themselves from thee. The Bards with fury rapt, the British youth among, Unto the charming Harp thy future honor song In brave and lofty strains. Cf. also Gray, The Bard. I. II 1-3 Wordsworth, note on Eccl. So)i. i.ii: 'Alluding to the victory gained under Germanus. See Bede.' Bede, EccL Hist., tr. by Sellar, pp. 38-9: 'When, after the celebration of Easter, the greater part of the army, fresh from the font, began to take up arms [against the Saxons and Picts] and prepare for war, Ger- manus offered to be their leader. He picked out the most active, explored the country round about, and observed, in the way by which the enemy was expected, a valley encompassed by hills of moderate height. In that place he drew up his untried troops, himself acting as their general. And now a formidable host of foes drew near, visible, as they approached, to his men lying in ambush. Then, on a sudden, Germanus, bearing the standard, exhorted his m^, and bade them all in a loud voice repeat his words. As the enemy advanced in all security, thinking to take them by surprise, the bishops three times cried, "Hallelujah." A universal shout of the same word followed, and the echoes from the surrounding hills gave back the cry on all sides; the enemy was panic-stricken, fearing not only the neighboring rocks, but even the very frame of heaven above them; and such was their terror, that their feet were not swift enough to save them. They fled in disorder, casting away their arms, and well satisfied if, even with unprotected bodies, they could escape the danger; many of them, flying headlong in their fear, were engulfed by the river which they had crossed.' 3-5 Ibid., p. 31. 6 Turner, Hist. Angl. Sax. 3.320, The Battle of Brunanburh: 'The dreary relics of the darts.' Cf. Stillingfleet (Orig. Brit., p. 325), who quotes Gildas, ch. 25; cf. also Daniel, Works, ed. by Grosart, 4.99-100. 7 Jeremiah 9.1: 'Oh that my head were waters, and mine eyes a fountain of tears, that I might weep day and night for the slain of the daughter of my people! ' Cf. also Wordsworth's Epitaphs 3, Prose Works 2.183. 220 THE ECCLESIASTICAL SONNETS 9-14 Wordsworth, note on i.ii: 'The last six lines of the sonnet are chiefly from the prose of Daniel; and here I will state (though to the readers whom this poem will chiefly interest it is un- necessary) that my obligations to other prose writers are frequent — obligations which, even if I had not a pleasure in courting, it would have been presumptuous to shun, in treating an historical subject. I must, however, particularize Fuller, to whom I am indebted in the sonnet upon Wiclifi^e and in other instances. And upon the acquittal of the Seven Bishops I have done little more than versify a lively description of that event in the MS. Memoirs of the first Lord Lonsdale.' Cf. Daniel, Works, ed. by Grosart, 4.101: '[Brit- ain] having been so long a Province of great honor and benefit to the Roman Empire, could not but partake of the magnificence of their goodly structures, thermes, aqueducts, high-ways, and all other their ornaments of delight, ease, and greatness; all which came to be so utterly razed and confounded by the Saxons, as there is not left standing so much as the ruins to point us where they were; for they, being a people of a rough breeding that would not be taken with these delicacies of life, seemed to care for no other monuments but of earth, and as born in the field would build their fortunes only there. Witness so many intrenchments, mounts, and borroughs raised for tombs and defences upon all the wide champions and eminent hills of this isle, remaining yet as characters of the deep scratches made on the whole face of our country, to show the hard labor our progenitors endured to get it for us.' 1-2 Turner, Hist. Angl. Sax. 1.322, note: ' Brocmail was one of the patrons of Taliesin, who commemorates this struggle: I saw the oppression of the tumult; the wrath and tribulation; The blades gleaming on the bright helmets; The battle against the Lord of Fame in the dales of Hafren; Against Brocvail of Powys, who loved my muse.' Davies, in the Appendix to Mythology and Rites, p. 502, prints a similar version of this song. 3 Cf. Homer, Iliad 6.112: nvija-aade 8e dovpibos oXktjs. 4-9 Turner, op. cit. 1.321: 'The Bernician conqueror, Ethel- frith, renewed his war with the Cymry. He reached Chester, through a course of victory. Apart from the forces of the Welsh, assembled under Brocmail, King of Powys, he perceived the monks of Bangor.' Wordsworth (note on 1.12) quotes Turner as follows: '"Ethelforth reached the convent of Bangor; he perceived the Monks, twelve hundred in number, offering prayers for the success of their countrymen. ' If they are praying against us,' he exclaimed, 'they are fighting against us'; and he ordered them to be first attacked: they were destroyed; and, appalled by their fate, the courage of Brocmail wavered, and he fled from the field in dismay. OF WILLIAM WORDSWORTH 221 Thus abandoned by their leader, his army soon gave way, and Ethelforth obtained a decisive conquest. Ancient Bangor itself soon fell into his hands, and was demolished; the noble monastery was leveled to the ground [earth]; its library, which is mentioned as a large one, the collection of ages, the repository of the most precious monuments of the ancient Britons, was consumed; half ruined walls, gates, and rubbish were all that remained of the magnificent edifice." See Turner's valuable history of the Anglo- Saxons. ' Taliesin was present at the battle which preceded this desolation. 'The account Bede gives of this remarkable event suggests a most striking warning against national and religious prejudices.' Cf. Bede, Eccl. Hist., tr. by Sellar, pp. 87-8: 'The warlike king of the English, Ethelfrid, of whom we have spoken, having raised a mighty army, made a very great slaughter of that heretical nation, at the city of Legions [Chester], which by the English is called Legacaestir, but by the Britons more rightly Carlegion. . . . Thus was fulfilled the prophecy of the holy Bishop Augustine, though he himself had been long before taken up into the heavenly king- dom, that the heretics should feel the vengeance of temporal death also, because they had despised the ofifer of eternal salvation.' 5 Ibid., ed. by Plummer, 1.84: 'Quamvis arma non ferant, contra nos pugnant, qui adversis nos imprecationibus persequuntur.' 9-14 Daniel {Works, ed. by Grosart, 4.100-1, 102, 103) says of the Saxon invaders: 'And with all these princes, and leaders, before they could establish their dominions, the Britons so desperately grappled, as plant they could not, but upon destruction and deso- lation of the whole country, whereof in the end they extinguished both the religion, laws, language, and all, with the people and name of Britain. . . . But this was an absolute subversion, and con- curred with the universal mutation which about that time happened in all these parts of the world; whereof there was no one country or province but changed bounds, inhabitants, customs, language, and in a manner, all their names. . . . Wherefore, we are now to begin with a new body of people, with a new State and government of this land, which retained nothing of the former, nor held other memory but that of the dissolution thereof; where scarce a city, dwelling, river, hill, or mountain, but changed names.' 12 Knight, P. W., Eversley ed., 7.13: 'E.g., in the Lake Dis- trict, the Greta, Derwent, etc' 13 Ihid.: 'E.g., in the Lake District, Stone Arthur, Blencathara, and Catbells.' 1-14 Bede, Eccl. Hist., tr. by Sellar, p. 82: 'Nor must we pass by in silence the story of the blessed Gregory, handed down to us by the tradition of our ancestors, which explains his earnest care for the salvation of our nation. It is said that one day, when 222 THE ECCLESIASTICAL SONNETS some merchants had lately arrived at Rome, many things were exposed for sale in the market-place, and much people resorted thither to buy: Gregory himself went with the rest, and saw among other wares some boys put up for sale, of fair complexion, with pleasing countenances, and very beautiful hair. When he beheld them, he asked, it is said, from what region or country they were brought? and was told, from the island of Britain, and that the inhabitants were like that in appearance. He again inquired whether those islanders were Christians, or still involved in the errors of paganism, and was informed that they were pagans. Then fetching a deep sigh from the bottom of his heart, "Alas! what a pity," said he, "that the author of darkness should own men of such fair countenances; and that with such grace of outward form, their minds should be void of inward grace." He therefore again asked, what was the name of that nation? and was answered, that they were called Angles. "Right," said he, "for they have an angelic face, and it is meet that such should be co-heirs with the Angels in heaven. What is the name of the province from which they are brought?" It was replied, that the natives of that province were called Deiri. "Truly are they De Ira,'' said he, "saved from wrath, and called to the mercy of Christ. How is the king of that province called?" They told him his name was Aelli; and he, playing upon the name, said, "Allelujah, the praise of God the Creator must be sung in those parts." ' Cf. Words- worth's remark on an epitaph which 'brings home a general truth to the individual by the medium of a pun' {Epitaphs 2, Prose Works 2. 1 51). 1. 14 3-10 Bede, Eccl. Hist., ed. by Plummer, 1.45-6: ' Veniehant crucem pro vexillo ferefites argenteam, et imaginem Domini Salvatoris in tabula depictam, laetaniasque canentes pro sua simul et eorum, propter quos et ad quos venerant, salute aeterna. Domino suppli- cabant.' 10-14 Ibid. 1.78, where Bede quotes Gregory (on Job): ' Ecce lingua Brittaniae, quae nil aliud noverat quam barbarum frendere, iam dudum in divinis laudibus Hebreum coepit alleluia resonare. Ecce quondam tiimidus, iam substratus sanctorum pedibus servit oceanus, eiusque barbaros motus, quos terreni principes edomare ferro nequiverant, hos pro divina formidine sacerdotum ora simplicibus verbis ligant, et qui catervas pugnantium infidelis nequaquam metueret, jam nunc fidelis hiimilium linguas timet.' Cf. Bede's remark on the coming of Germanus and Severus {ibid. 1.40): 'Occurrit inscia multitudo, confestim benedictio et sermonis divini doctrina profunditur.' Cf. also Daniel, Works, ed. by Grosart, 4.103, especially the following: '. . . when their stern asperity grew mollified by humility of the religion.' My italics indicate Wordsworth's indebtedness and his skill in translation. OF WILLIAM WORDSWORTH 223 1-3 Bede {Eccl. Hist., ed. by Plummer, 1. 108-10; tr. by Sellar, pp. 1 13-14), after describing Edwin's peril of death from Redwald, says: 'Edwin remained alone without, and sitting with a heavy heart [mestus] before the palace, began to be overwhelmed with many thoughts, not knowing what to do, or which way to turn. When he had remained a long time in silent anguish of mind [mentis angoribus], . . . troubled [mestus] and wakeful . . .' Here follows the account of the spirit appearing to comfort and direct the royal youth. 4-9 Wordsworth, note on Eccl. Son. 1.15: 'The person of Paulinus is thus described by Bede, from the memory of an eye- witness: "Longae staturae, paululum incurvus, nigro capillo, facie macilenta, naso adunco, pertenui, venerabilis simul et terribilis aspectu."' Op. cit., ed. by Plummer, 1.117. Cf. the description of the elder Norton {White Doe 744-5) : 'A face to fear and venerate.' 9-14 Turner, Hist. Angl. Sax. 1.344-5: 'The vicissitudes of Edwin's life had indued his mind with a contemplative temper, which made him more intellectual than any of the Anglo-Saxon kings that had preceded him, and which fitted him for the recep- tion of Christianity. His progress towards this revolution of mind was gradual, and the steps have been clearly narrated by his countrj^man Bede.' Cf. Bede, op. cit., tr. by Sellar, p. 115: 'King Edwin, therefore, delaying to receive the Word of God at the preaching of Paulinus, and being wont for some time, as has been said, to sit many hours alone, and seriously to ponder with himself what he was to. do, and what religion he was to follow, the man of God came to him one day, laid his right hand on his head, and asked whether he knew that sign.' 11-13 Ibid., pp. 103, 105: 'Nor did he refuse to accept that religion himself, if, being examined by wise men, it should be found more holy and more worthy of God. . . . He would not imme- diately and unadvisedly embrace the mysteries of the Christian faith, though he no longer worshipped idols, ever since he made the promise that he would serve Christ; but first took heed ear- nestly to be instructed at leisure by the venerable Paulinus, in the knowledge of the faith, and to confer with such as he knew to be the wisest of his chief men, inquiring what they thought was fittest to be done in that case. And being a man of great natural sagacity, he often sat alone by himself a long time in silence, deliberating in the depths of his heart how he should proceed, and to which religion he should adhere.' 13-14 Ibid., p. 116: 'Holding a council with the wise men, he asked of every one in particular what he thought of this doctrine hitherto unknown to them, and the new worship of God that was preached.' 224 THE ECCLESIASTICAL SONNETS 1.16 1-14 Wordsworth, note on Eccl. Son. 1.16: 'See the original of this speech in Bede.' Bede, Eccl. Hist., tr. by Sellar, pp. 116-7: ' "The present life of man upon earth, O King, seems to me, in comparison with that time which is unknown to us, like to the swift flight of a sparrow through the house wherein you sit at supper in winter, with your ealdormen and thegns, while the fire blazes in the midst, and the hall is warmed, but the wintry storms of rain or snow are raging abroad. The sparrow, flying in at one door and immediately out at another, whilst he is within, is safe from the wintry tempest; but after a short space of fair weather, he immediately vanishes out of your sight, passing from winter into winter again. So this life of man appears for a little while, but of what is to follow or what went before we know nothing at all. If, therefore, this new doctrine tells us something more certain, it seems justly to deserve to be followed." ' Wordsworth, however, saw this speech first in Fuller's Church History, as is proved by comparing MS. F (p. 84) with Fuller's translation (1.109): ' "Man's life," said he, "O King, is like unto a little sparrow, which, whilst your majesty is feasting by the fire in your parlor with your royal retinue, flies in at one window, and out at another. Indeed, we see it that short time it remaineth in the house, and then is it well sheltered from wind and weather; but presently it passeth from cold to cold; and whence it came, and whither it goes, we are altogether ignorant. Thus, we can give some account of our soul during its abode in the body, whilst housed and harbored therein; but where it was before, and how it fareth after, is to us altogether unknown. If therefore Paulinus's preaching will cer- tainly inform us herein, he deserveth, in my opinion, to be enter- tained.' But there are two versions in MS. F. It is reasonable to suppose that the change from ' Man's life is like a sparrow. Mighty King' to 'The life of man may be compared, O King' was made after Wordsworth had read in Bede {op. cit., ed. by Plum- mer, 1.112) the original ' ad coniparationem.' The second reading, however, was not retained.' 1. 17 1-14 Wordsworth, note on Eccl. So7t. 1.16: 'The conversion of Edwin, as related by him [Bede], is highly interesting — and the breaking up of this Council accompanied with an event so striking and characteristic, that I am tempted to give it at length in a translation. " 'Who,' exclaimed the King, when the Council was ended, 'shall first desecrate the altars and the temples?' 'I,' answered the Chief Priest; 'for who more fit than myself, through the wisdom which the true God hath given me, to destroy, for the good example of others, what in foolishness I worshipped? ' Imme- diately, casting away vain superstition, he besought the King to grant him what the laws did not allow to a priest, arms and a OF WILLIAM WORDSWORTH 225 courser (equiim emissarium); which mounting, and furnished with a sword and lance, he proceeded to destroy the Idols. The crowd, seeing this, thought him mad. He, however, halted not, but, approaching, he profaned the temple, casting against it the lance which he had held in his hand, and, exulting in acknowledg- ment of the worship of the true God, he ordered his companions to pull down the temple, with all its enclosures. The place is shown where those Idols formerly stood, not far from York, at the source of the river Derwent, and is at this day called Gormund Gaham, ubi pontifex ille, inspirante Deo vero, poUuit ac destruxit eas, quas ipse sacraverat aras." The last expression is a pleasing proof that the venerable monk of Wearmouth was familiar with the poetry of Virgil.' (Cf. jEneid 3.305, 4.200.) I Bede {Eccl. Hist., ed. by Plummer, 1.35), to describe the effect of the teaching of Germanus and Lupus, uses a phrase which Wordsworth has here applied: 'Itaque regionis universitas in eorum sententiam promta transierat.' Sellar's translation of 'promta transierat,' 'readily came over,' is verbally less suggestive of the original than Wordsworth's 'prompt transformation.' 'Novel lore' may well be a reminiscence of Ethelbert's speech to Augustine, as given by Bede (ibid. 1.46): ' Pulchra sunt quidem verba et promissa, quae adfertis; sed quia nova sunt et incerta . . .'; or of 'haec nova doctrina' in the speech of the sage to Edwin (ibid. I.I 12). 4 The original version (ed. by Plummer, 1.113) has 'fana idolorum.' 5-8 Fuller (Ch. Hist. 1.82) describes Thor with 'a kingly sceptre in his right hand.' Of Woden he says: 'He was the god of battle, by whose aid and furtherance they hoped to obtain victory.' 9-10 Bede, op. cit., ed. by Plummer, 1.35: 'Latebant abditi sinistrae persuasionis auctores, et more maligni spiritus, gemebant perire sibi populos evadentes.' lo-ii Bede {op. cit., tr. by Sellar, p. 126) quotes a letter from Pope Honorius to the Bishop Honorius who succeeded Justus at Canterbury: ' Come unto Me all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will refresh you' (Matthew 11.28). 12 W^ordsworth, note on Eccl. Son. 1.17: 'The early propa- gators of Christianity were accustomed to preach near rivers, for the convenience of baptism.' 12-14 Bede {op. cit., ed. by Plummer, 1.47) is here the source of words as well as of substance: 'At ubi ipse [rex] etiam inter alios delectatus ['rejoice'] vita mundissima sanctorum, et promissis ['promise'] eorum suavissimis, quae vera esse miraculorum quoque multorum ostensione firmaverat, credens baptizatus est, coepere plures cotidie ad audiendum ['heard'] verbum confiuere ac, relicto gentilitatis ritu ['rite'], unitati se sanctae ['sanctity'] Christi eccle- siae credendo sociare.' 16 226 THE ECCLESIASTICAL SONNETS 1.18 1-2, 12 Bede (Eccl. Hist., ed. by Plummer, 1.66) quotes a letter from Gregory to Augustine: ' Gaudeas videlicet, quia Anglorum animae per exteriora miracula ad interiorem gratiam pertrahuntur.' 3-10 Bede {op. cit., tr. by Sellar, p. 330) recounts the vision of Drythelm, addressing 'those who, being terrified with the dread of torments, or ravished with the hope of everlasting joys, would draw from his words the means to advance in piety.' He recalls (op. cit., ed. by Plummer, 1.305) Virgil's line, 'sola sub nocte per umbras [Pumbram]' (^neid6.268). Eccl. Son. 1. 18. 3-10 are so like the vision of Drythelm, that on the latter rather than on the numerous other visions recorded by the monk of Jarrow must the sonnet have been based. The vision foIl6ws (tr. by Sellar, pp. 327-8) : ' I beheld a crowd of evil spirits dragging five souls of men, wailing and shrieking, into the midst of the darkness, whilst they themselves exulted and laughed. . . . Being thus on all sides encompassed with enemies and shades of darkness, and casting my eyes hither and thither if haply anywhere help might be found whereby I might be saved, there appeared behind me, on the way by which I had come, as it were, the brightness of a star shining amidst the darkness; which waxing greater by degrees, came rapid- ly towards me; and when it drew near, all those evil spirits, that sought to carry me away with their tongs, dispersed and fled. Now he, whose approach put them to flight, was the same that led me before; who . . . began to lead me . . . towards the rising of the winter sun, and having soon brought me out of the darkness, led me forth into an atmosphere of clear light.' Cf. Milton, P. L. 2.1032-3. 7 Ibid., pp. 328-9: 'Lo! there was a wide and pleasant plain full of such fragrance of blooming flowers that the marvellous sweetness of the scents immediately dispelled the foul stench.' 8-10 Bede (ibid., pp. 233-4), in his account of another vision, uses such phrases as 'wherewith the sun at noonday might seem dark' and 'the rays of light . . . seemed to exceed the utmost brightness of daylight.' The Latin (ed. by Plummer, 1.220) reads 'sol meridianis' and 'radii lucis omnem diurni luminis viderentur superare fulgorem.' lo-ii Bede (ibid. 1.222) uses the words 'quasi funibus auro clarioribus in superna tollerettir,' 'it was raised on high as it were by cords brighter than gold.' He adds: 'Nee dubium remansit cogitanti de vislone, quin aliquis de ilia congregatione citius esset moriturus, cuius anima per bona, quae fecisset, opera, quasi per funes aureos levanda esset ad caelos.' Again (ibid. 1.308), we have a reference to that flowery place 'in quo recipiuntur animae eorum, qui in bonis quidem operibus de corpore exeunt'; Gregory had written to Ethelbert of Augustine (ibid. 1.68) as 'bonis auctore Deo operibus praeditus'; and Aidan's influence on the faithful is indicated (ibid. 1.136) by 'Operumque bonorum exsecutionem.' OF WILLIAM WORDSWORTH 227 The strong contrast in this sonnet between evil spirits and good spirits is to be expected from one whose eyes had fallen on Bede's reiterated phrases: 'bonos sive malos spiritus,' 'angeli . . . daemones.' Since the opposition between 'eternal interests' and 'natural lot' is so marked, comment upon the two ideas is not out of place. 'Eternal' occurs 8 times in Eccl. Son; 'natural,' 6 times. 'Eter- nity' does not occur; 'Nature' occurs 5 times. Compare the fol- owing data: 'Nature' 'Natural' 'Eternity' 'Eternal' Prelude 95 16 7 o Excursion 78 23 6 7 1. 19 1-14 Wordsworth, note on Eccl. Son. 1.19: 'Having spoken of the zeal, disinterestedness, and temperance of the clergy of those times, Bede thus proceeds: " Unde et in magna erat veneratione tempore illo religionis habitus, ita ut ubicunque clericus aliquis, aut monachus adveniret, gaudentur ab omnibus tanquam Dei famulus exciperetur. Etiam si in itinere pergens inveniretur, accurrebant, et flexa cervice, vel manu signari, vel ore illius se benedici, gaudebant. Verbis quoque horum exhortatoriis diligenter auditum praebebant." Lib. iii. cap. 26.' 2-3 Bede, Eccl. Son., tr. by Sellar, p. 144: 'He [Aidan, circ. 635 A. D.] neither sought nor loved anything of this world; . . . he [traveled] on foot ... to the end that, as he went, he might turn aside to any whomsoever he saw, whether rich or poor, and call upon them, if infidels, to receive the mystery of the faith, or, if they were believers, strengthen them in the faith, and stir them up by words and actions to giving of alms and the performance of good works.' That Aidan, although not a Saxon, is the particular priest of whom Wordsworth thinks is indicated by the following words in the Latin text (ed. by Plummer, 1.136) : incedens — 'meet' (line 9), aspexisset — 'Apparition' (line 10). They are used of Aidan. 4 Cf. Journals i.ii, 121. 5 Bede (op. cit., ed. by Plummer, 1.225) uses these words in regard to Sebbi [circ. 694 A. D.]: 'piis elimosynarum fructibus,' ■pious fruits of almsgiving. 8 Cf. Vaudracour and Julia 44. 11-12 Bede {op. cit., tr. by Sellar, p. 166): '[Oswin, King of Deira] ungirt his sword and gave it to a servant, and hastened to the Bishop [Aidan] and fell down at his feet, beseeching him to forgive him.' 13 Bede, op. cit., ed. by Plummer, 1.191: 'Tota cura cordis excolendi.' 228 THE ECCLESIASTICAL SONNETS 1-14 This sonnet may have been suggested by Turner's dis- cussion of systems of 'deprecation, adoration, expiation, reconcile- ment, and supplication' {Hist. Angl. Sax. 3.508-9): 'It is upon their feelings, rather than upon their reason, that mankind base their belief, not in religion alone, but in all things which they accredit or uphold.' Some twenty pages further on {ibid. 3.528) is the account of the erection of Ramsey monastery, referred to in the poet's note on 1.24. In this episode Edgar's ealdorman, whose 'sacred structure' Ramsey is, builds in memory of a brother who has died; and of the monks who will inhabit the 'quiet fortress' it is said (cf. lines 11-12): 'By their merits . . . the prisons are opened; the fettered released.' 2-5 Cf. Maternal Grief 73: 'The vanities of grief.' 6-7 Cf. Excursion 3.695-701; and Epitaphs, P. W., Oxford ed., p. 932. 8-12 See Littledale {Wordsworth'' s Literary Criticism, 1905, p. 255) for Wordsworth's remark to Bishop Wordsworth: 'The ministry of confeseion is provided to satisfy the natural desire for some relief from the load of grief. Here, as in so many other respects, the Church of Rome adapts herself with consummate skill to our nature, and is strong by our weaknesses. Almost all her errors and corruptions are abuses of what is good.' 13-14 Bede {Eccl. Hist., ed. by Plummer, 1.66) quotes Gregory's letter to Augustine, in which occurs this same warning: ' Perti- mescas vero, ne inter signa, quae fiunt, infirmus animus in sui praesumtione se elevet, et unde foras in honorem tollitur, inde per inanem gloriam intus cadat.' Wordsworth's opinion on the use and abuse of the instrument may be found in the following passages: Letters 1.200; Prose Works 1. 314, and 2.177; Excursion 9.188; and Letters 2.35. 1. 21 1 Cf. White Doe 516-20; and Bede, Eccl. Hist., ed. by Plummer, 3.321: ' Regni sceptra reliquit.' 2-3 Cf. Letter to the Bishop of Llandaff, Prose Works 1. 13-14: ' If your Lordship has travelled in the democratic cantons of Switzerland, you must have seen the herdsmen with the staff in one hand and the book in the other.' 4-6 Daniel, Works, ed. by Grosart, 4.104: 'Divers of them '[the Saxon Kings] renounced their temporal dignities for spiritual solitude, and became monks: as ^Ethelred and Kinred, kings of Mercna-land; Offa, king of the East Saxons; Kadwalla and Ine, Kings of the West Saxons; Eadbert, king of Northumbrians, &c.' Bede, Eccl. Hist., tr. by Sellar, p. 172: 'This king [Sigbert of East Anglia, circ. 631 A. D.] became so great a lover of the heavenly OF WILLIAM WORDSWORTH 229 kingdom, that at last, quitting the affairs of his kingdom, and committing them to his kinsman, Ecgric, who before had a share in that kingdom, he entered a monastery, which he had built for himself, and having received the tonsure, applied himself rather to do battle for a heavenly throne. . . . [Taken from his monastery unwillingly to do battle against Penda], he would carry nothing in his hand but a wand.' 7-14 \A'ordsworth, Memoirs, ed. by Reed, 2.486: 'In the Ecclesiastical Sonnets the lines concerning the Monk, "Within his cell . . . ," were suggested to me by a beautiful tree clad as thus described, which you may remember in Lady Fleming's park at Rydal, near the path to the upper waterfall.' Cf. Journals 1.3: 'Walked through the wood to Holford. The ivy twisting round the oaks like bristled serpents.' Cf. also Shakespeare, Mid. Night's Dream 4.1.49-50; Virgil, Ec. 5.32; and Milton's use of the figure in Reformation. 1.22 1-14 Bede {Eccl. Hist., tr. by Sellar, p. 177) refers to Fursa, who, after building monasteries at Lough Corrib and Cnobheres- burg, 'became desirous to rid himself of all business of this world, and even of the monastery itself, and forthwith left the care of it and of its souls to his brother, FuIIan, and the priests Gobban and Dicull, and being himself free from all worldly affairs, resolved to end his life as a hermit.' 2-9 Cf. Wordsworth, Desc. Seen. Lakes, Prose Works 2.90-1 ; and Dorothy Wordsworth, Journals 2.224, 232-3, 256. Glen Almain 23-9, Inscriptions Supposed to he Found in and near a Hermit's Cell, and The Brozvnie's Cell, were previously written, and show by comparison what Wordsworth's material became when shaped into a sonnet. Refer also to Excursion 2.349-69. 6 The collocation of 'heaven' and 'pool' should be noted in Resolution 54; also in the two lines which Coleridge felt to be so characteristic of Wordsworth, Prelude 5.387-8. Moreover, Duddon 22.2, 23.4, and 24 are not alien to the imagery and temper of this sonnet. 9-14 The ' beechen bowl ' makes its reappearance from Prelude 8.206, where it was part of the 'smooth life' of 'flock and shepherd in old time,' led in country such as the poet saw near the im- perial walls of Goslar; a 'sweet life' which had been set aside, as a conception, for what were not 'appearances,' 'shadows,' 'fancies,' and 'delusions' {Prelude 8.173-339). The 'maple dish' of the hermit with 'visionary views' had likewise been discredited in Excursion 5.687. From The Excursion (6.327), too, come the owl, and the fowl loved by the W'anderer (2.45); and the phrase 'thorp . . . viir (8.100). On the subject of Wordsworth's pas- torals, see Leslie N. Broughton, The Theocritean Element in the Works of William Wordsworth. Cf. in particular the bowl in the 230 THE ECCLESIASTICAL SONNETS first idyl of Theocritus, and the two beechen cups which Menalcas stakes (Virgil, Ec. 3.36). Cf. also Milton, Comw^ 390-1. Whatever the pastoral beauty of Eccl. Son. 1.22, Wordsworth uses its imagery chiefly as a foil to the ideas of 1.23. If we except The Point at Issue, 2.30, no part of Eccl. Son. is more typical than the transition between 1.22 and 1.23. The 'but' of 1. 23.1 echoes the 'yet' of Prelude 8.215. 1.23 1-3 Camden, Britain, tr. by Holland, 744 B: 'When he [Bede] was once dead, there was buried with him, as William of Malmsbury saith, all the knowledge, well near, of acts and monuments, until our time. For when there succeeded ever one more lazy than another, the heat of good studies was abated and cooled through the whole land.' 4-5 Fuller, Ch. Hist. 1.150: ' Venerable ... a title neither too high nor too low; just even to so good a man and great a scholar, whilst alive.' 5 Ibid. 1. 149, 151: '[Bede] was the profoundest scholar in his age, for Latin, Greek, philosophy, history, divinity, mathematics, music, and what not? Homilies of his making were read in his lifetime in the Christian churches, a dignity afforded to him alone. We are much beholding to his Ecclesiastical History, written by him and dedicated to Ceolwolfus, king of Northumber- land. ... A foreign ambassador, some two hundred years since, coming to Durham, addressed himself first to the high and sump- tuous shrine of St. Cuthbert. "If thou beest a saint, pray for me"; then, coming to the plain, low, and little tomb of Bede, " Because," said he, "thou art a saint, good Bede, pray for me."' 5-6 Ibid. 1. 1 50: 'Some report that Bede never went out of his cell, but lived and died therein.' 7-9, 12 Camden, Britain, tr. by Holland, 744 B : ' Here [at Jarrow] our Bede, the singular glory and ornament of England, who for his piety and learning got the surname of Venerabilis, bestowed all diligence, as himself saith, in meditation of the Scriptures, and amid the most boisterous billows and surging waves of barbarism wrote many learned volumes.' 9 Bede, Eccl. Hist., ed. by Plummer, 1.357: 'Semper aut discere, aut docere, aut scribere dulce habui.' 14 Wordsworth, note on Eccl. Son. 1.23: 'He expired dictating the last words of [1822 — 'in the act of concluding'] a translation of St. John's Gospel.' Fuller {Ch. Hist. 1.151) was the source of Wordsworth's note: 'One of the last things he [Bede] did was the translating of the Gospel of St. John into English. When death seized on him, one of his devout scholars, whom he used for his secretary or amanuensis, complained, "My beloved master, there remains yet one sentence unwritten." "Write it, then, quickly," OF WILLIAM WORDSWORTH 231 replied Bede, and, summoning all his spirits together, like the last blaze of a candle going out, he indited it, and expired.' Cf. Letters 2.257 and Misc. Son. 3.44. Eccl. So7i. 1.23 should be read with The Solitary of The Excursion in mind by contrast. 'Sublime Recluse!' (line 9) refers us to other and more tentative definitions of the recluse. Cf. also Exctcrsion, 5.20-48, The Recluse entire, and 2.5 of this series. 1.24 1-14 Wordsworth, note on Eccl. Son. 1.24: 'See in Turner's History, vol. iii, p. 528, the account of the erection of Ramsey Monastery. Penances were removable by the performance of acts of charity and benevolence.' Turner (Hist. Angl. Sax. 3.527-8) quotes from the Hist. Ram.: 'On the death of a favorite nobleman of Edgar's court, his brother, an ealdorman, expressed to Bishop Oswald his desire to pursue a better system of life than his worldly occupations permitted. Oswald assured him that his secular affairs would but give him so many opportunities of doing good, if he was careful to observe a conscientious spirit of equity, a merciful moderation, and a constant intention of right conduct. But he added that they only were free, serene, and released from all danger and anxiety, who renounced the world; and that their piety brought blessings on their country. "By their merits, the anger of the Supreme Judge is abated; a healthier atmosphere is granted; corn springs tip more abundantly ; famine and pestilence withdraw; the State is better governed; the prisons are opened; the fettered released; the shipAvrecked are relieved; and the sick recover." Oswald ended his speech by advising him, if he had any place in his territory fitted for a monastery, to build one upon it, promising to contribute to its maintenance.' The italics are mine. 1 Ibid. 3.528: 'The workmen labored as much from devotion as for profit.' 2 Virgil, JEneid 1.430 ff: 'Qualis apes . . .' Cf. Milton, P. L. 1.768 ff. 3-10 Fuller, Ch. Hist. 1.207: 'O, with what might and main did they mount their walls, both day and night! erroneously conceiving that their souls were advantaged to heaven, when taking the rise from the top of a steeple of their own erection!' 5 Bede (Eccl. Hist., tr. by Sellar, p. 246) describes Wilfrid's influence in Sussex: 'No rain had fallen in that district for three years before his arrival in the province. . . . But on the very day on which the nation received the Baptism of the faith, there fell a soft but plentiful rain; the earth revived, the fields grew green again, and the season was pleasant and fruitful.' 7 Ibid., p. 272, for Hilda's journey from Hartlepool to Whitby, where she built or set in order a monastery, teaching 'the strict observance of . . . justice, piety, chastity, and other virtues, and particularly of peace and charity.' 232 THE ECCLESIASTICAL SONNETS II-I2 Turner, op. cit. 3.541-2: 'The following is one of their regulations on this subject: " Many men may redeem their penances by alms; ... he that hath ability may . . . free his own slaves, and redeem the liberty of those of other masters, and especially the poor captives of war." ' 1.25 1-2 Bede {Eccl. Hist., tr. by Sellar, pp. 147-8) uses the figure 'sow the seed of the holy faith,' 'sanctae fidei semina esse spars- urum,' in regard to the conversion of the West Saxons by Birinus; among English apostles to 'barbarous shores' are: Wilbrord to Friesland {ibid., p. 320), Hewald to the Old Saxons {ibid., p. 321), and Boniface and Adalbert to Germany (Turner, Hist. Angl. Sax. 3-5I8-9)- 3-4 Bede refers to Wilfrid in this connection {op. cit., p. 347); and to Oftfor {ibid., p. 273). 5-6, 9 Ibid., pp. 356-7, Wilfrid's epitaph: 'Here rests the body of the great Bishop Wilfrid, who, for love of piety, built these courts, and consecrated them with the noble name of Peter, to whom Christ, the Judge of all the earth, gave the keys of Heaven. And devoutly he clothed them with gold and Tyrian purple; yea, and he placed here the trophy of the Cross, of shining ore, uplifted high; moreover he caused the four books of the Gospel to be written in gold in their order, and he gave a case meet for them of ruddy gold. And he also brought the holy season of Easter, returning in its course, to accord with the true teaching of the catholic rule which the Fathers fixed, and, banishing all doubt and error, gave his nation sure guidance in their worship. And in this place he gathered a great throng of monks, and with all diligence safeguarded the precepts which the Fathers' rule enjoined. And long time sore vexed by many a peril at home and abroad, when he had held the office of a bishop forty-five years, he passed away, and with joy departed to the heavenly kingdom. Grant, O Jesus, that the flock may follow in the path of the shepherd.' Acca, Wilfrid's successor, enriched Hagustald and St. Andrew with relics, books, adornments {ibid., p. 358). 7-9 Cf. the Dedication to The White Doe 1-8, 33-40. The story of Una was one of the two which Wordsworth held 'pre-eminently dear' {Pers. Talk 40, 42). 9-13 Wordsworth wrote to Francis Wrangham, Nov. 20, [1795], (Letters 1.89): 'I suppose you were too busy to go on with The Destruction of Babylon.' Cf. Wrangham's The Restoration of the Jews and The Destruction of Babylon, Poems, pp. 15-16 and 43: Past is the fame of Egypt; whose pale son Erst by the midnight lamp, with learned toil Skilful to wind the hieroglyphic maze, Por'd on the treasur'd page by double fate Denied to future times. With prone descent Great Babylon is fallen; amid the dust, OF WILLIAM WORDSWORTH 233 Vainly inquisitive, the traveller pries In fruitless search where Syrian BELUS rear'd His idol form: No human trace around Informs his doubtful step; no friendly tone Breaks the disastrous silence . . . Beneath the waves Old Tyre is whelm'd, and all her revelry: Those hosts, who barter'd ISRAEL'S sons for gold (The Traffickers of blood) no more renew Th' abhorred merchandize; no more with glance Of keen remark compute the sinew's force, Or weigh the muscles of their fellow-man. Now stoops that tower, from whose broad top the eye Of infant Science pierc'd the midnight sky; . , . Vain all her study! 13-14 Bede {op. cit., p. 214) indicates with emphasis the classical attainments of Hadrian and of Theodore. He continues {ibid., pp. 216-17): 'And forasmuch as both of them were, as has been said before, fully instructed both in sacred and in secular letters, they gathered a crowd of disciples, and rivers of wholesome knoiiiedge daily floived from them to water the hearts of their hearers; and, together with the books of Holy Scripture, they also taught them the metrical art, astronomy, and ecclesiastical arithmetic. A testimony whereof is, that there are still living at this day some of their scholars, who are as well versed in the Greek and Latin tongues as in their own, in which they were born.' Cf. Dante, Inferno 1.79-80. 1.26 1-14 Wordsworth had previously conceived the character of Alfred in an imaginary speech {A Fact, and an Imagination 24-43). Cf. Milton's account of Alfred {Hist. Brit.). 1 Turner {Hist. Angl. Sax. 1.503) says of Alfred's mother: 'She is said to have given him to Swithin, the preceptor of his father, to be taught.' Also {ibid. 1.509): 'In Alfred's journey through France, he was very hospitably, treated by Bertinus and Grimbald.' As instructors of Alfred the following are indicated {ibid. 2.141-2): Werfrith, Bishop of Worcester; Plegmund, a Mercian, Archbishop of Canterbury; Ethelstan and Werwulf, Mercian priests; Johannes Erigena, monk; Asser, of St. David's. Turner adds {ibid. 2.147): 'To John Erigena, to Grimbald, to Asser, and Plegmund, Alfred himself ascribes his acquisition of the Latin language' (Preface to Gregory's Cura Pastoralis). 2 Turner, op. cit. 2.278: 'One of the principal features of Alfred's useful life was his earnest piety.' Ibid. 2.302-3, 306: 'This indefatigable king made also a code of laws, with the con- currence of his witena-gemot or parliament, which has been called his Dom-boc. . . . That Alfred was assiduous to procure to his people the blessing of a correct and able administration of justice, we have the general testimony of Asser.' 234 THE ECCLESIASTICAL SONNETS 3 Ibid. 2.87: 'His early predilection for the Saxon poetry and music had qualified him to assume the character of an harper; and thus disguised, he went to the Danish tents.' See also {ibid. 2.157-9) Alfred's version of the story of Orpheus and Eurydice. To Alfred as a 'deliverer' and 'defender' Wordsworth had pre- viously referred in the Convention of Cintra, Prose Works 1.203. 4 Daniel, Works, ed. by Grosart, 4.107: 'Alfred, the mirror of Princes.' 9-10 Turner, op. cit. 2.275: 'Alfred was an exact economist of his time.' 10 Wordsworth, note on Eccl. Son. 1.26: 'Through the whole of his life, Alfred was subject to grievous maladies.' Cf. Turner, op. cit. 2.309-10. 12-14 Ibid. 2.297-9: 'His embassy to India, to the shrine of St. Thomas, is as expressive of his mind and public spirit as any other action of his life. No other potentate in Europe could in that day have conceived it, because no other had acquired that knowledge which would have interested them in a country so remote and unknown. The embassy displays not only the extent of Alfred's information, but that searching curiosity which charac- terized his understanding. . . . Malmsbury, who gives the fullest account of the incident, says that the king sent many presents over sea to Rome, and to St. Thomas, in India; that Sighelm, the bishop of Shireburn, was his ambassador, who penetrated with great success to India, to the admiration of the age; and that he brought with him, on his return, many foreign gems and aromatic liquors, the produce of the country. Cf. also the note, op. cit. 2.300: ' In 870, three monks, desirous to see the places so celebrated in the Christian writings, undertook a journey thither [to Jerusalem]. Their itinerary, written by Bernard, one of the travellers, is extant.' 1.27 1-4 Daniel, Works, ed. by Grosart, 4.109: 'And within this circumference of order, he [Alfred] held him in that irregularity of fortune with a weak disposition of body, and reigned 27 years, leaving his son Edward a worthy successor to maintain the line of nobleness thus begun by him.' For the revision of these lines in 1837, see p. 49. Cf. Daniel, o/>. «7. 4.1 11: 'Edred, his [Edmund's] brother preferred to the kingdom before them [Edmund's two sons]; who (making no variation from the line of virtue continued by his ancestors) was held perpetually in work by the Danes during the whole time of his reign, which was of ten years.' 5 Ibid. /^.iio: 'And surely his father [Alfred], he [Edward], and many that succeeded during this Danicq war, though they lost their ease, won much glory and renown.' Cf. 'Indigent Renown' in Eccl. Son. 1.26.4. OF WILLIAM WORDSWORTH 235 6-7 Turner {Hist. Angl. Sax. 2.314 flf.) recounts the dangers which threatened Edward: the attempt of Ethelwold to gain the throne, uprisings of the Danes, the invasion of Northmen from Armorica. Athelstan's danger was a confederation of Northmen, Anglo-Danes, Picts, Scots, Orkneymen, and Welsh. Turner's image (ibid. 2.331) is akin to that of Wordsworth: 'He [Athelstan] prepared to meet the storm with firmness and energy.' 8-14 The figure of the oak-tree to represent a sturdy lineage is frequent in Daniel's Collection. Cf. op. cit. 4.123, 125. Words- worth had often used or referred to this figure: Convention of Cintra, Prose Works 1.227; Westmoreland 2, Prose Works 2.312. There was an oak at Michael's door {Michael 165). The Oak of Guernica, The Prior's Oak {White Doe 34), and the Lord's Oak {Excursion 7.622) were all associated in VVordsworth's mind with conceptions of dignity and power. To oak and sycamore he had compared the Wanderer and the Pastor {Excursion 5.455-61). The same 'forest oaks of Druid memory' {Eccl. Son. 3.39.7) had spread over the early Christian monks: The Field of Oaks, Dear- mach [Durrow in Leinster], where Columba built a monastery (Bede, Eccl. Hist., tr. by Sellar, p. 142), and Augustine's Oak (Fuller, Ch. Hist. 1.89). The Dedication (45-54) of The White Doe has the image of forest-tree, and tempest breaking over wide realms; and the picture of Emily under the leafless oak {White Doe 1629- 38) is similar to the quiet ending of this sonnet. Cf. Virgil, Georg. 2.291-7. 10-14 Daniel, op. cit. 4.1 12: 'He [Edgar] seems the first and most absolute monarch of this land that hitherto we find: the general peace that held all his time honored his name with the title of Pacificus; and rendered his kingdom (never before acquainted with the glory of quietness) very flourishing. But as if the same had been given to show, and not to use (like a short calm betwixt storms), it lasted but little beyond his reign of sixteen years.' 14 Knight, P. W., Eversley ed., 7.26: 'As pre-eminently, in the wood by the road, half-way from Rydal to Ambleside.' Cf. Journals 1.221. Wordsworth in a letter to Alex. Dyce, May 10, 1830 {Letters 2.427), quoted from the Countess of Winchelsea's Aristomenes, a passage of which this is reminiscent: Love's soft bands, His gentle cords of hyacinths and roses. Wove in the dewy spring when storms are silent. Cf. also The Tree, by the Countess of Winchelsea, in Poems and Ex- tracts . . . Lady Mary Louiher, ed. by Littledale, London, 1905, pp. 20-1. 1.28 1-14 This sonnet is a signal instance of Wordsworth's power over his material. His source was Turner's Hist. Angl. Sax. 2.385- 418, 428-30. The essential ideas of these 35 pages are all present in the 14 lines of 1.28. 236 THE ECCLESIASTICAL SOxNNETS 1-2 Ibid. 2.391: 'Youthful ambition is the parent of much excellence,' and 'His means were the most honorable he could employ.' 2 Ihid. 2.416: 'The best part of Dunstan's character was his taste for knowledge and the civilizing arts. The questionable features are those of his politics, and real or pretended enthusiasm.' Of Dunstan's cell in the earth Turner asks {ihid. 2.396): 'Do not such singularities as these reveal either an inflamed imagination in the sincere, or a crafty ambition in the hypocritical? ' 5 Of Dunstan's dream that his mother was married to Christ, Turner remarks {ibid. 2.417): 'To the credulous, the assertion of Dunstan was sufficient evidence of this impious stor3^ The more investigating were silenced by attempts to allegorize it.' 6 Turner's discussion of Dunstan follows directly upon his account of the rise and progress of the Benedictine order {ihid. 2.380-5); Fuller says {Ch. Hist. 2.145): 'First come forth the Benedictines, or Black Monks, so called from St. Benedict, or Benet, an Italian, first father and founder of that Order. Augustine the monk first brought them over into England; and these black- birds first nested in Canterbury, whence they have flown into all parts of the kingdom.' 7-9 Of the opposition to a married clergy, Turner says {op. cit. 2.418): '[Edgar] degraded majesty so far as to become himself the persecuting tool of Dunstan. ... At a public synod, convened to propagate the Benedictine revolution, Edgar delivered a speech for the party he espoused. In consequence of which, the clergy experienced a general persecution, and the monks were everywhere diffused with honor.' lO-ii Turner {ibid. 2.416), giving as his authority MS. Cleop. B.13, p. 81, comments as follows: 'The Catholic hierarchy may accredit his supernatural gifts, but our sober reason cannot read but with surprise, that he claimed the power of conversing with the spiritual world. "I can relate one thing from himself," says his biographer, "that though he lived confined by a veil of flesh, yet whether awake or asleep, he was always abiding with the powers above.'" 12 Of his story that he pinched Satan's nose with red-hot tongs. Turner says {ibid. 2.397): 'The simple people are stated to have venerated the recluse for this amazing exploit. . . . All ages and ranks united to spread his fame.' 13 Cf. Westmoreland 2; Prose Works 2.327: 'The people have ever been the dupes of extremes'; and Turner, op. cit. 2.395: 'The ambitious recluse pursues the phantom in his lonely cell, by extraor- dinary penances, and a superior superstition, ... [of Dunstan] with an earnestness which every year became more separated from moral principle.' OF WILLIAM WORDSWORTH 237 14 Ibid. 2. 2,8g: 'To have excelled his contemporaries in mental pursuits, in the fine arts, though then imperfectly practised, and in mechanical labors, is evidence of an activity of intellect and an ardor for improvement which proclaim him to have been a superior personage, whose talents might have blessed the world.' 1.29 1-4 Wordsworth, note on Eccl. Son. 1.29: 'The violent measures carried on under the influence of Dunstan for strengthening the Benedictine Order were a leading cause of the second series of Danish invasions. — See Turner.' 1 The contest between Crown and Cowl goes back to the time of Edwin (Turner, Hist. Angl. Sax. 2.408): 'It is probable that the popularity of the Benedictine reformation, of which Dunstan had made himself both the champion and the martyr, was the great engine by which Edwin was oppressed.' Cf. Fuller, Ch. Hist, 1.200: 'Yea, king Edgar was so wholly Dunstanized, that he gave over his soul, body, and estate to be ordered by him and two more, then the triumvirate who ruled England, namely, Ethelwald, bishop of Winchester, and Oswald, bishop of Worcester.' 2 Of the events following upon Dunstan's death. Turner says {op. cit. 2.463-4): 'He had enjoyed his power during the first ten years of Ethelred's reign, but the civil dissensions which he appears to have begun and perpetuated unnerved the strength of the country. . . . Within three years afterwards, formidable invasions of the Danes began to occur. . . . Instead of assembling the nobles with an army sufificient to chastise the invaders, the council of Ethelred advised him to buy off the invaders!' 3 Cf. ibid. 2.23 for the word 'incessant.' 5-6 As also in the time of Alfred {ibid. 2.92-3). 6-8 Fuller {Ch. Hist. i. 212-14) emphasizes Danish cruelty, and Turner {op. cit. 2.29) describes 'the clamors of the fierce pagans,' notably Ingwar and Ubbo of the first invasions, both of whom 'were highly courageous and inordinately cruel' {ibid. 2.18). Of the second series of invasions the latter says {ibid. 2.454): 'And yet the happy change was beginning to emerge. The principle of improvement was in existence, and its vegetation, though slow, was incessant and efl^ectual.' He gives as reasons the growth of traffic, agriculture, grazing, the manual arts, and 'the lessons, though rude, of their new Christian clergy' {ibid. 2.456). 9 Cf. ibid. 2.18: 'The collected tempest.' Cf. Milton, P.L. 2.488-95. 10-14 'Silently,' Sidney's adverb describing the activity of the moon, was borrowed by Wordsworth in Misc. Son. 2.23. In The Excursion (9.384 ff.) 'the powers of civil polity' bestowed 'On Albion's noble Race in freedom born' are said to be responsible for 238 THE ECCLESIASTICAL SONNETS an effect similar to that of the Gospel-truth in 1.29.5, 'Change wide, and deep, and silently performed.' 'Silent as the moon' is Mil tonic {Samson Agonistes 87). Longfellow notes this when, in his notes on The Divine Comedy, he relates Inferno 1.60, 'where the sun is silent,' to other uses of this epithet, for instance, those of Cato {De Re Riistica 29 and 40) and Pliny {Nat. Hist. 16.39.74). 1.30 1-14 Cf. A Fact, and an Imagination 1-23, and the note on Eccl. Son. 1.26. The episode of the rhyme accordant to the chant of the monks in Ely is recounted by Dyer in his History of Cam- bridge. Turner was the chief resort of Wordsworth, however. Dyer refers to Turner in Hist. Camb. 1.135, 155, and it is more probable for this and other reasons (see p. 39) that Dyer has been the intermediary. 1-5 Dyer, op. cit. 1.154: Merry sung the monks in Ely, When King Canute sailed by; Row, knights, near the land, And hear what these monks sang. This is the fragment of a song, written as the king was on the river, and heard the monks of Ely chanting their devotions.' Cf. Turner, Hist. Angl. Sax. 3.317, from Hist. Elien.: Merry sang the monks in Ely, When Canute the king was sailing by; " Row, ye knights, near the land, "And let us hear these monks' song." 6-8 Turner {op. cit. 2.509-10) quotes from the Encomium Emmae, p. 173, regarding Canute's journey to St. Omer's, at Rome: ' Entering the monasteries, where he was received with great honor, he walked humbly, he fixed his eyes on the ground with wonderful reverence; and pouring out (if I may say so) rivers of tears, he implored the aid of the saints; ... in the proud master of so many conquered kingdoms, the emotions must have been those of his mind and heart.' Ibid. 2.501-2: 'The submission of England gave him leisure to turn the eye of ambition to the mountains of Norway.' II Wordsworth, note on Eccl. Son. 1.30: 'Which is still extant.' Cf. Turner, op. cit. 3.322-3: 'The song of Canute on Ely was the composition of the eleventh century. . . . [It] is . . . the oldest specimen of the dramatic or genuine ballad which we have in the Anglo-Saxon langu^-ge.' 12-14 Ibid. 2.497: 'He was formed by nature lo tower amidst his contemporaries; but his country and his education intermixed his greatness with a ferocity that compels us to shudder while we admire. In one respect he was fortunate; his mind and manners OF WILLIAM WORDSWORTH 239 refined as his age matured. The first part of his reign was cruel and despotic. His latter days shone with a glory more unclouded.' Cf. the preceding sonnet. 'Sternest,' 'rudest,' ' Piety, ' may be reminiscent of Turner's phrases: 'stern look' (ibid. 2.508), 'the ruder Danes' (ibid. 2.525), and 'the Pious' {-ibid. 2.496). For 'clime,' cf. Fuller (Ch. Hist. 1. 215): 'Coming to Rome, Canutus turned convert, changing his condition with the climate.' I Daniel, Works, ed. by Grosart, 4.126: 'He [Edward] was a prince most highly renowned for his piety, and fit for no other than the calm time he had. For having been so long brought up with the nuns at Jumieges in Normandy, he scarce knew to be a man, when he came into England.' 3-10 Daniel, Works, ed. by Grosart, 4.171, recounting the means used by William to establish his conquest: 'Thirdly, preventing their night-meetings with a heavy penalty, that every man at the day closing should cover his lire, and depart to his rest.' Bowles (The Grave of the Last Saxon; or, The Legend of the Curfew, London, 1822) treats the same theme with similar imagery. Cf. his lines (p. 15): As she pray'd, one pale small star, A still and lonely star, through the black night Look'd out, like Hope! — 12-14 Daniel, op. cit. 4.133: 'I come to write of a time wherein the State of England received an alteration of laws, customs, fashion, manner of living, language, writing, with new forms of fights, fortifications, buildings, and generally an innovation in most things but religion.' Refer to the 1822-1837 reading of line 14 (p. 190): 'Brought to religion no injurious change.' Cf. Daniel, Civil War i, stanza 9. 1.32 1-14 This sonnet and the preceding one show an unwillingness in Wordsworth to accept the estimate of historians upon the Norman Conquest. The bias is uncorrected by any subsequent or compensatory praise for the benefits of Norman rule in England. Noticeable, too, is the omission of any reference to the great Anglo-Norman ecclesiastics, Lanfranc and Anselm. 3-5 Daniel, Works, ed. by Grosart, 4.157: 'He utterly wasted and laid desolate all that goodly country between York and Dur- ham.' Chetwind (Anthologia Historica, p. 209) quotes Speed's History for an instance of William's cruelty: '[He] immediately entered France and fired all before him, and burnt the city of Nantes, in whose walls was enclosed an anchoret, who might but would not escape, holding it a breach of his religious vow to forsake his cell in that distress.' W'ordsworth owned and had annotated 240 THE ECCLESIASTICAL SONNETS Chetwind's Anthologia Historica. Cf. Bowles, The Grave of the Last Saxon, Introduction, p. x. 5-8 ' Innocent distress' refers to the victims of Norman cruelty. Can 'penitent guilt' refer to William himself? Cf. Chetwind {op. cit., p. 210), who again quotes from Speed: 'William the Conqueror dying, hearing the great bell ring Prime to our Lady, lifting up his hands, said: "I commend myself to that Blessed Lady Mary, Mother of God, that she by her holy prayers may reconcile me to her most dear Son, our Lord Jesus Christ," and with these words yielded up the ghost.' Stow {Chronicle, p. 122) gives William's words before death: 'Being laden with many and grievous sins (O Christ) I tremble, and being ready to be taken by and by unto the terrible examination of God, I am ignorant what I should do, for I have been brought up in the feats of arms, even from my childhood, I am greatly polluted with effusion of much blood, I can by no means number the evils which I have done.' 9-11 Turner, Hist. Angl. Sax. 3. 317-18: 'In his [Ingulfs] account of the chivalric hero, Hereward, who flourished in the time of Edward the Confessor and afterwards, he says, "His brave actions were sung in England." In another passage the monk informs us that Hereward died at last in peace, and was buried in their monastery, "after great battles, and a thousand dangers, frequently dared against the king, earls, barons, and magistrates, and bravely achieved, as is yet sung in the streets." ' That Turner did not know the chronicle of Ingulf to be a forgery is here un- important. He quotes Ingulf for the life of Hereward, and retails at length the circumstances under which the Saxon became an outlaw {ibid. 3.140) : ' It was in Flanders that Hereward heard that the Normans had conquered England; that his father was dead; that the Conqueror had given his inheritance to a Norman; and that his mother's widowhood was afflicted by many injuries and distresses [cf. 'innocent distress']. Transported with grief at the account, he hastened with his wife to England, and, collecting a body of her relations, he thundered on the oppressors of his mother, and drove them from her territory.' There follows an account of Hereward's consecration as a legitimate miles. 'Champion' may refer to Harold. 12-14 I have found no evidence to connect these lines with Hereward. They may have been a reminiscence of the tradition in regard to Oswald (Bede, Eccl. Hist., tr. by Sellar, p. 154): 'Whence it came to pass that many took up the very dust of the place where his body fell.' Harold was buried in Waltham Abbey. Cf. Bowles, op. cit. 1-33 1-14 This sonnet is a versification of Fuller, The Holy War, p. 12. The passage is quoted in full, since it affords a notable instance of Wordsworth's power to select from, to arrange, and to clarify. OF WILLIAM WORDSWORTH 241 his material. The italics are mine: 'But to return to Pope Urban, who was zealous in the cause to further it, and called a Council at Clermont in France, where met many Princes and Prelates to whom he made a long oration. Authors differ in the mould, but they agree in the metal, that it was to this effect: First, he bemoaned the miseries of the Christians in Asia, and the vastation of those holy places. Jerusalem, which was once the joy of the whole earth, was now become the grief of all good men: the Chapel of Christ's conception, at Nazareth, birth, at Bethlehem, burial, on mount Calvary, ascension, on mount Olivet, once the fountains of piety, were now become the sinks of all profane?iess. Next he encouraged the Princes in the Council to take arms against those infidels, and to break their bonds in sunder, and to cast their cords far from them, and (as it is written) to cast out the handmaid and her children. Otherwise, if they would not help to quench their neighbors' houses, they must expect the speedy burning of their own, and that these barbarous nations would quickly overrun all Europe. Now, to set an edge on their courage, he promised to all that went this voyage a full remission of their sins, and penance here, and the enjoying heaven hereafter. Lastly, thus concluded, "Gird your swords to your thighs, ye men of might. It is our parts to pray, yours to fight; ours with Moses to hold up unwearied hands to God, yours to stretch forth the sword against these children of Amalek. Amen." It is above belief with what cheerfulness this motion, meeting with an active and religious world, was generally entertained; so that the whole assembly cried out, God willeth it [Deus vult]: a speech which was afterwards used as a fortunate watch-word in their most dangerous designs. Then took many of them a cross of red cloth on their right shoulder, as a badge of their devotion; and to gain the favorable assistance of the Virgin Mary to make this war the more happy, her office was instituted, containing certain prayers, which at canonical hours were to be made unto her. If fame, which hath told many a lie of others, be not herein belied herself, the things conchided in this Council were the same night reported at impossible distance in the utmost parts of Christendom. What spiritual intelligencers there should be, or what echoes in the hollow arch of this world should so quickly resound news from the one side thereof to the other, belongeth not to us to dispute.' 6-8 Exodus 1 7.1 1. 14 Knight (P. W., Eversley ed., 7.30) and N. C. Smith {Poems 2.514) both refer this line to Fuller's Holy War. Wordsworth's note is as follows: 'The decision of this council was believed to be instantly known in remote parts of Europe.' The device of the echo had been used in White Doe 670-87, and is admirably fitted to the sestet of a sonnet. Cf. also Milton, Hymn on the Morning of Christ's Nativity 99-102, 174-5. 242 THE ECCLESIASTICAL SONNETS 1-34 1-14 Fuller, The Holy War, p. 14. The italics are mine: 'Now that the Mahometans (under whom the Turks and Saracens are comprehended, differing in nation, agreeing in religion and spite against Christians) were now justly to be feared, cannot be denied. So vast was the appetite of their sword, that it had already devoured Asia, and now reserved Grecia for the second course. The Bosporus was too narrow a ditch, and the Empire of Grecia too low an hedge to fence the Pagans out of West-Christendom: yea, the Saracens had lately wasted Italy, pillaged and burned many churches near Rome itself, conquered Spain, inroded Aquitaine, and possessed some islands in the mid-land-sea. The case therefore standing thus, this Holy war was both lawful and necessary: which like unto a sharp pike in the boss of a buckler, though it had a mixture of offending, yet it was chiefly of a defensive nature, to which all preventive wars are justly reduced.' 9-10 Letter to the Bishop of Llandaff, Prose Works 1.26: 'The incendiary of the Crusades, the hermit Peter.' Cf. also Kilchurn 41-3- 1-35 I Daniel, Works, ed. by Grosart, 5.26: 'This lion-like king.' Cf. Fuller, Ch. Hist. 1.323-4. 2-3 Fuller (The Holy War, p. 119), quoting Roger Hoveden: 'At Tours he took his pilgrim's scrip and staff from the Archbishop. His staff at the same time casually brake in pieces; which some (whose dexterity lay in sinister interpreting all accidents) construed a token of ill success'.' 4 Cf. 'mid-land-sea' (ibid., p. 14). 5-7 Daniel, op. cit. 5.7: 'And during his abode [in Sicily] . . . his Mother-queen Elioner . . . came unto him, bringing with her Berenguela, daughter to the King of Navarre, who was there fianced unto him. Which done, queen Elioner departs home by the way of Rome, and the young lady with the Queen-dowager of Sicily take their journey with the King; who sets forth with an hundred and thirty ships and fifty galleys, and was by tempest driven to the Isle of Cyprus; where, being denied landing, he assails the Isle on all sides, subdues it, places his garrisons therein, and commits the custody of the same to Richard de Canvile and Robert de Turnham, taking half the goods of the inhabitants from them; in lieu thereof he confirmed the use of their own laws. And here, our histories say, he married the Lady Berenguela, and caused her to be crowned queen. . . . From hence passes this famous King to the Holy Land.' Cf. Fuller, op. cit., p. 121: 'And because Cyprus by antiquity was celebrated as the seat of Venus, that so it might prove to him, in the joyous month of May he solemnly took to wife his beloved Lady Beringaria.' OF WILLIAM WORDSWORTH 243 10 Dyer {Hist. Camb. i. facing 63) gives an engraving of Richard I with a battle-axe. lo-ii Fuller, op. cit., p. 127, of the march to Jerusalem: 'Richard led the vantguard of English. . . . Saladine, serpent-like biting the heel, assaulted the rear, not far from Bethlehem; when the French and English wheeling about charged the Turks most furiously. . . . King Richard seeking to put his courage out of doubt, brought his judgment into question, being more prodigal of his person than beseemed a general. One wound he received, but by losing his blood he found his spirits, and laid about him like a mad-man.' 12 Ibid., p. 123, of Richard's massacre of Turkish captives: 'For which fact he suffered much in his repute, branded with rashness and cruelty, as the murderer of many Christians; for Saladine in revenge put as many of our captives to death.' 13 Fuller, ibid., p. 112, on the abuse of the office of titular bishop: 'His Holiness hath a facile and cheap way both to gratify and engage ambitious spirits, and such chameleons as love to feed on air.' Cf. also Daniel, op. cit. 5.106: 'Many now began to discover that the Pope, by this embarking the princes of Christen- dom in this remote and consuming war, to waste them, their nobility, and kingdom, was but only to extend his own power and domination.' 1.36 I For the excommunication of the King of England and, in the same year, the Emperor Otho, see Daniel {Works, ed. by Grosart, 5.44-5); see also his account {ibid. 5.66) of the excommunication of Louis. 2-4 Fuller {Ch. Hist. 1.336) gives the effects of the interdict, among them 'a terrible impression made in men's minds of the pope's power, which they had often heard of, and now saw and felt, whose long arm could reach from Rome all over England, and lock the doors of all churches there; an emblem that, in like manner, he had or might have bolted the gates of heaven against them.' 5-6 Cf. Inscriptions 4.18, of which Wordsworth wrote {Letters 1^-537) • 'I ought to mention that the line "And things of holy use unhallowed lie" is taken from the following of Daniel: "Straight all that holy was unhallowed lies" ' [see Musophihis, stanza 46]. 5-12 Fuller, op. cit. 1.335-6: 'See now on a sudden the sad face of the English church! — a face without a tongue, no singing of service, no saying of mass, no reading of prayers; as fpr preaching of sermons, the laziness and ignorance of those times had long before interdicted them. None need pity the living (hearing the impatient complaints of lovers, for whose marriage no license could be procured), when he looks on the dead, who were buried in ditches, like dogs, without any prayers said upon them.' 244 THE ECCLESIASTICAL SONNETS 12-14 Ihid. 1.336: 'Seeing these people believed that a grave in consecrated ground was a good step to heaven, and were taught that prayers after their death were essential to their salvation, it must needs put strange fears into the heads and hearts both of such which deceased and their friends which survived them.' 1-37 1-8 Directly before this sonnet in MS. F comes the sonnet now printed with Memorials Tour Cont. 1820 os XXXIV. The 'uncouth proximities' and 'bold transfigurations' may very well be those of MS. F (p. 91). Cf. Dorothy Wordsworth's description of 'the sky's fantastic element' seen by herself, Mary Wordsworth, and Wordsworth on their journey home from the marriage, 1802 {Journals 1. 1 50-1). Cf. Convention of Cintra, Prose Works 1.193. 9 Fuller, Ch. Hist. 1.317: 'Nor did only the purse, but the person, of King Henry do penance; who, walking some miles barefoot, suffered himself to be whipped on the naked back by the monks of Canterbury.' 10-12 Daniel, Works, ed. by Grosart, 5.49-50: '[King John] not only grants restitution and satisfaction of whatever had been taken from the Archbishop and the monks of Canterbury, the Bishops of London, Ely, Bath, and Lincoln (who were fled to the Archbishop) ; but also lays down his crown, scepter, mantle, sword, and ring, the ensigns of his royalty, at the feet of Pandolphus, delivering up therewithal the kingdom of England to the Pope,* and submits himself to the judgment and mercy of the Church.' 12-13 Ibid. 5.53-4: 'A Parliament is assembled in Pauls, wherein the Archbishop of Canterbury produces a charter of King Henry the First, whereby he granted the ancient liberties of the kingdom of England . . . according to the laws of King Edward. . . . And this charter being read before the barons, they much rejoiced, and swore in the presence of the Archbishop that for these liberties they would, if need required, spend their blood.' Daniel's list of events follows (ibid. 5.56-63) : ' King John bribes the Pope and renews his oath. The interdiction released. The famous battle of Bovines. King John takes upon him the cross to secure himself from the barons. The lords seize on the King's castles. The lords repair to London. King John forsaken of his people. The King sends to levy foreign forces.' 14 Ibid. 5.63: 'And, had not Hugh de Boues (to whom the countries of Suffolk and Norfolk were allotted for service to be done), setting forth from Calice with forty thousand more (men, women, and children), been by a sudden tempest drowned in the OF WILLIAM WORDSWORTH 245 sea, he had made an universal conquest of the kingdom far more miserable than the Norman; considering that with those he had, he wrought so much as we shall hear presently he did.' 1.38 1-14 Wordsworth, Fenwick note on Eccl. Son.: 'The sonnets were written long before ecclesiastical history and points of doctrine had excited the interest with which they have been recently en- quired into and discussed. The former particular is mentioned as an excuse for my having fallen into error in respect to an incident which had been selected as setting forth the height to which the power of the Popedom over temporal sovereignty had attained, and the arrogance with which it was displayed. I allude to the last sonnet but one in the first series, where Pope Alexander the Third at Venice is described as setting foot on the neck of the Emperor Barbarossa. Though this is related as a fact in history, I am told it is a mere legend of no authority. Substitute for it an undeniable truth not less fitted for my purpose, namely the penance inflicted by Gregory the Seventh upon the Emperor Henry the Fourth.' I Cf. Desc. Sk. 69-70. 2-9 Foxe (Acts and Momiments 1.185) gives a lively account of this scene, and a picture of ' Pope Alexander treading on the neck of Frederick the Emperor': 'In this most do agree, that the Pope being at Venice, and required to be sent of the Venetians to the Emperor, they would not send him. Whereupon Fredericus the Emperor sent thither his son Otho, with men and ships well appointed, charging him not to attempt anything before his coming. The young man, more hardy than circumspect, (joining with the Venetians) was overcome, and so taken, was brought into the city. Hereby the Pope took no small occasion to work his feats. 'The father, to help the captivity and misery of his son, was compelled to submit himself to the Pope, and to entreat for peace. So the Emperor, coming to Venice (at St. Mark's church, where the bishop was, there to take his absolution), was bid to kneel down at the Pope's feet. 'The proud Pope, setting his foot upon the Emperor's neck, said' the verse of the Psalm [91.13]: "Super aspidem et basiliscum' ambulabis, et conculcabis leonem et draconem"; that is, "Thoui shalt walk upon the adder and on the basilisk, and shalt tread downi the lion and the dragon." To whom the Emperor, answering^ again, said: " Non tibi sed Petro," that is, "Not to thee but to Peter." The Pope again: " Et mihi, et Petro," "Both to me and to Peter." The Emperor, fearing to give any occasion of further quarrelling, held his peace, and so was absolved, and peace made between them.' 246 THE ECCLESIASTICAL SONNETS 5-7 Has Wordsworth mistaken Frederick Barbarossa of whom Fuller says {Holy War, pp. *-ir-i.,^) ' Saladin shook for fear, hearing of his coming [1190]. . . . But Frederick the Emperor, being now entering into the Holy Land, was to the great grief of all Christians suddenly taken away, being drowned in the river of Saleph,' for Frederick II, whose exploits in the Holy Land Fuller retails at length {ibid., pp. 159-64)? The humiliation of the former was sup- posed to take place in 1164; the latter, Fuller says, was excommuni- cated by Gregory the Ninth in 1227, and lived to return from Pales- tine. 10-14 Foxe {Acts and Monuments 1.719, 720, 721, 722, 723, 724, 725) gives pictures of papal abuse; in them are evident on the faces of the 'crowd' 'amazement,' 'sorrow,' 'abject sympathy,' and 'scorn.' 1-39 I Shakespeare, Measure for Measure 3.1. 122: To be imprisoned in the viewless winds. Cf. Letters 2.42; and White Doe 1834. 'Viewless' occurs in such diverse poems as Charlotte Smith's sonnet, Night, 'To sullen surges and the viewless wind,' and Abel Shufiflebottom's [Southey's] second Elegy on Delia, 'viewless feet.' Dorothy Wordsworth had com- plained of Wordsworth's use of it in An Evening Walk and Desc. Sketches {Letters 1.50). 3-4 Daniel, Works, ed. by Grosart, 5.45: 'A predomination beyond the bounds allowed unto piety, which was only to deal with men's souls, and not their estates.' 5 The 'Bard' may well have been Virgil: 'quis enim modus adsit amori' {Ec. 2.68) and 'omnia vincit Amor' {Ec. 10.69). 6-7 Virgil, jEneid 6.853, of the imperial power of Rome: ' Parcere subiectis et debellare superbos.' Foxe {Acts and Mon. 1.184) gives Pope Adrian's letter to the Emperor Frederick Barbarossa: 'We are taught by the word of truth, that every one, the which exalteth himself, shall be brought low.' 8 Foxe, ibid. 1.164, quoting the bull of Hildebrand for the second excommunication of Henry: 'Therefore, O you blessed princes of the apostles, grant to this, and confirm with your author- ity that I have said, so that all men may understand, if you have power to bind and loose in heaven, you have also power in earth to give and take away empire, kingdoms, principalities, and what- soever here in earth belongeth to mortal men. For if you have power to judge in such matters as appertain to God, what then should we think you have of these inferior and profane things? And if it be in your power to judge the angels, ruling over proud princes, what then shall it beseem you to do upon their servants?' Cf. Processions 64-7, in Mem. Tour. Cont. 1820. OF WILLIAM WORDSWORTH 247 9 Fuller, Ch. Hist. 1.337, on the excommunication of John and Otho: 'For now his Holiness had his hand in, having about this time excommunicated Otho the German Emperor; and if the imperial cedar had so lately been blasted with his thunderbolts, no wonder if the English oak felt the same fire.' 10-14 Daniel, op. cit. 5.48: 'But now the Pope, for the last and greatest sentence that ever yet was given against any sovereign king of this kingdom, pronounces his absolute deposition from the royal government thereof, and writes to the King of France, that as he looked to have remission of his sins, he should take the charge upon him, and expel King John out of the kingdom of England, and possess the same for him and his heirs for ever.' 2.1 1-14 For the date of this sonnet, see pp. 29-30, 54. 1-4 One of the few references in Eccl. Son. to ecclesiastical doctrine. 3 Milton, P. L. 3.221: 'The deadly forfeiture.' 7 Milton, Hymn on the Morning of Christ's Nativity 30: 'While the Heav'n-born childe.' 'Heaven-born' is used by Wordsworth nine times; and once each, 'heaven-blest,' 'heaven-deserted,' 'heaven-eyed,' 'heaven-guided,' 'heaven-imparted,' 'heaven-lit'; 'heaven-directed' occurs twice in his poems, and 'heaven-de- scended' three times. 8 Cf. Excursion 4.908: 'The weeds of Romish phantasy.' 9-14 Cf. Epitaphs 2, Prose Works 2.147: '[The churchyard] is a far more faithful representation of homely life as existing among a community in which circumstances have not been untoward, than any report which might be made by a rigorous observer deficient in that spirit of forbearance and those kindly preposses- sions without which human life can in no condition be profitably looked at or described.' 2.2 1-14 For the date of this sonnet, see pp. 29-30, 54. How far this late attempt to do 'justice to the papal Church for the services which she did actually render to Christianity and humanity in the Middle Ages' (facsimile, p. 32) is due to definite experience, or to reading, it is hard to say. Did Wordsworth know Kenelm Henry Digby's Mores Catholici as he knew his Broadstone of Honour? He had read and annotated the Letters of Pope Clement XIV {Catalogue of the Library of Walter Thomas Wallace; Wordsworth's copy of this book is said to bear the inscription 'Bought at Ambleside, April, 1825'). Cf. 'spiritual tower,' 'gentle,' 'Justice and Peace,' 'sheltering,' 'abused,' with the following passage of Clement's Letters, edition of 1793, Dublin, 1.286: 'But the world will never 248 THE ECCLESIASTICAL SONNETS be without abuses; if they are not in one place, they are in another, because imperfections are the natural inheritance of humanity. "There is none but the holy City," said the great Augustine, "where all will be in order, in peace, and in charity; for there shall be the Kingdom of God." ' Cf. also Clement's Circular Letter on his advancement {ibid. 1.3); in it recur the words 'tenderness' and 'justice.' Southey's account of the papal system may be read in his Book of the Church (1.292 fif.). Cf. Milton, P. R. 1.219, 4.83. 1-5 Wordsworth, note on 2.3: ' " Bonum est nos hie esse, quia homo vivit purius, cadit rarius, surgit velocius, incedit cautius, quiescit securius, moritur felicius, purgatur citius, praemiatur copiosius." — Bernard. "This sentence," says Dr. Whitaker, "is usually inscribed in some conspicuous part of the Cistertian houses."' Cf. Whitaker's An History of the Original Parish of Whalley and the Honor of Clitheroe, second edition, 1806, p. 48, where Bernard's words are used to introduce book 2, chapter 2, Locus Benedictus de Whalley. Whitaker's note reads: 'A sentence usually inscribed on some conspicuous part of the Cistertian houses.' The passage from Bernard is also quoted by Weever {Funeral Monuments, London, 1757, pp. cxxxii-cxxxiii), and follows a similar statement: 'In his time [Bernard's], by himself and his means, one hundred and six abbeys of this order were built and re-established; upon the fore front or some other places within these abbeys, this sentence is most commonly depenciled, graven, or painted; taken out of St. Bernard.' I am indebted to Monsignor John T. Slattery for help in tracing the Bernardine passage to the Homilia de Bonis Margaritis. This is printed by Mabillon {Sancti Bernardi Opera Omnia, vol. ii, pars altera, tom. v, 1536C, in the 4th edition, Paris, 1839) as Homilia, In illud Matthaei, cap. XIII §45: Simile est regnum coelorum homini negotiatori quaerenti bonas margaritas. Mabillon says: 'Tribuiter communiter Bernardo, quanquam nee illius videatur. Deest apud Horstium.' The passage differs some- what from the version given by Weever, Whitaker, and Words- worth: 'Nonne haec religio sancta, pura et immaculata, in qua homo vivit purius, cadit rarius, surgit velocius, incedit cautius, irroratur frequentius, quiescit securius, moritur fiducius, purgatur citius, praemiatur copiosius?' Again through the courtesy of Monsignor Slattery, I am able to quote from an investigation made in the Convent of the Sacred Heart, Manhattanville, New York City, '(i) The passage as quoted for the Inscription is undoubtedly genuine. It is part of the Speculum Religiosum which does the work of admonition in monasteries where habitual silence is observed. Among the Cistercians these inscriptions are mostly taken from St. Bernard's sayings or Scripture. . . . They are found in the hall, over the gates, in refectory, sacristy, etc. The habit comes into the Benedictine Order as early as Alcuin. ... (2) The fact OF WILLIAM WORDSWORTH 249 that the Inscription slightly differs from the text of the sermon has, I believe, no critical significance as a variant. The prefatory " Bonum est nos hie esse" is itself not only a scriptural phrase but a Bernardine one also. It is the answer to the "Cur hie" which in the sermon takes the form " Nonne haec religio," addressing the question to the brethren. But as a tessera on the monastery wall it is a simple statement recalling the "Pax" of the old Founder, St. Benedict, as the promise of the religious life. Similarly must the omission of the phrase "irroratur frequentius" and the sub- stitution of "felicius" for "fiducius" be explained. The former as the "aspersio aquae benedictae" belongs to the Abbot and the celebrant of Mass. Its propriety in the sermon would be lost in an inscription. And though a preacher may convey his meaning and stir devotion by the use of a word like "fiducius," which is bad Latin though good etymology, the word "felicius" is the one St. Bernard or a Bernardine would use in writing. (3) . . . As Mabillon gives no reference as to whence he got this sermon, . . . we are constrained to believe that he found it among the sermons of Guericius, whom he mentions in his preface to the Additamenta as his source. There is an edition of Guerrici's Sermones, but obviously this is not among them. The editors of thfe Opera S. Bernardi published before Horstius do not appear to have known the sermon; at least I find no mention in those examined, the first of which is a Venice edition of 1549 by Franciscus Comestor, of the Paris Sorbonne, which bears the legend "opera quae in hunc usque diem extare noscuntur." ... [It may be] that Mabillon discovered the MS. in some monastery during his journeys, made as we know with the special object of collecting the authentic works of St. Bernard. . . . Only experts could have told from paleographical tokens that this sermon of the "Margarita pretiosa" was not to be attributed to St. Bernard; for such phrases as "quae mens cogitare, quis intellectus plene cognoscere, quae lingua humana te poterit sufficienter et digne extollere? o religio gloriosa et mirabilis," echo the " Dulcis memoria" to perfection.' 5 Wordsworth's poetry contains other memorials of the 'Cis- tertian wall.' Tintern Abbey, 'Bolton's old monastic tower,' and Furness Abbey, all belonged to this order. Cf. Journals 1.143 and 1. 150. In Prelude 2.55-65 and 95-107 Wordsworth bears witness that his memories of oarsmanship and horsemanship were bound up with images of monastic architecture: 'the shrine once to our Lady dedicate,' 'the abbey to St. Mary's honour built.' And in Excursion 3.392-420 he had made the Solitary a spokesman for monastic quiet, the 'undissolving fellowship,' the 'yearning,' 'the universal instinct of repose.' lo-ii Whitaker, History and Antiquities of the Deanery of Craven, London, 1805, p. 38: 'The influence of the earlier monks on the laity of all ranks and descriptions was prodigious; in fact they nearly monopolized the arts, the learning, and the religion of 250 THE ECCLESIASTICAL SONNETS their times. Cooled by modern philosophy, accustomed to modern elegance, and diverted by a thousand other objects of attention, we still continue to be delighted and astonished with their archi- tecture. . . . The pomp and pageantry of their M^orship steals insensibly upon the imagination, in defiance of enlightened reason, of Protestant principle, and of perceptions blunted by factitious enjoyments of every kind: how easy then must it have been to bribe the senses of rustics.' 12-14 Turner {Hist. Angl. Sax. 3.528), in his account of the building of the Benedictine monastery of Ramsey, supplied Words- worth with the images for these three lines: 'The ealdorman [said] that he had some hereditary land surrounded with marshes, and remote from human intercourse. It was near a forest [cf. 'sylvan'] of various sorts of trees, which had several open spots of good turf, and others of fine grass for pasture. . . . Artificers were collected. The neighborhood joined in the labor. Twelve monks came from another cloister to form the new fraternity. Their cells and a chapel were soon raised. In the next winter they provided the iron and timber and utensils that were wanted for a handsome church. In the spring, amid the fenny soil, a firm foundation was laid. The workmen labored as much from devotion as for profit. Some brought the stones; others made the cement; others applied to the wheel machinery that raised them on high. And in a reasonable time, the sacred edifice, with two towers, appeared on what had been before a desolate waste; and Abbo, celebrated for his literature, was invited from Fleury to take charge of the schools that were appended to it.' 2.4 1-14 This sonnet, originally published in the volume of 1835, was there placed after the Stanzas Suggested in a Steamboat off St. Bees' Heads, Wordsworth's most generous account of monasticism. The evident similarity of the sonnet and lines 136-44 of the Stanzas indicates that the conceptions were identical: Who with the ploughshare clove the barren moors. And to green meadows changed the swampy shores?} Thinned the rank woods; and for the cheerful grange Made room where wolf and boar were used to range? Who taught, and showed by deeds, that gentler chains Should bind the vassal to his lord's domains? The thoughtful Monks, intent their God to please, For Christ's dear sake, by human sympathies Poured from the bosom of thy Church, St. Bees! Cf. Turner, Hist. Angl. Sax. 3.108-9: 'If the mass of the Anglo- Saxon population had continued in this servile state, the progress of the nation in the improvements of society would have been very small. But a better destiny awaited them; the custom of manu- OF WILLIAAl WORDSWORTH 251 mission began, and the diffusion of Christianity, by mildly at- tempering the feelings of the individual, and by compelling him to cultivate acts of benevolence as a religious duty, increased the prevalence of the practice.' Of the slaves Turner says {ibid. 3.103) : 'They were bought and sold with land, and were conveyed in the grants of it promiscuously with the cattle and other property upon it.' 2.5 1-4 Fuller {Ch. Hist. 1.398-9) enumerates as English schoolmen Alexander Hales, Roger Bacon, Richard Middleton, John Duns Scotus, Gualter Burley, John Baconthorpe, William Ocham (?Occam), Robert Holcot, and Thomas Bradwardine; respectively: doctors irrefragabilis, mirabilis, fundatissimus, subtilis, approbatus, resolutus, singularis, (no title for Holcot), profundus. Whitaker (Hist. Craven, p. 38) refers to the many-sided life of the cloister, its 'talents for intrigue and government, for husbandry, internal economy, arithmetic, architecture, painting, music, calligraphy, instruction of youth, entertainment of strangers, epistolary corre- spondence, medicine, canon law, and theology.' 3-7 Fuller particularly mentions William of Occam, a supporter of Lewis of Bavaria against the pope; Occam exhorted his master in these words (op. cit. 1.402): ' Defende me gladio, et ego te defendam verbo.' Moreover, since Wordsworth would have been familiar with Thomas Bradwardine through Chaucer's Nun's Priest's Tale 420-2, he would be apt to make especial note of Fuller's description of Bradwardine (op. cit. 1.431): 'He was confessor to King Edward HI, whose miraculous victories in France some impute more to this man's devout prayers than either to the policy or prowess of the English nation.' The likelihood that it is Bradwardine's 'fervent exhortations' to which Wordsworth refers finds support in a description of the 'fair court of Edward' two sonnets farther on, 2.7. Cf. Montalembert's account of Bernard (Monks of the West, Edinburgh and London, 1861, 1.2); and, as Professor Cooper suggests, Bacon's reference to Aristotle and Alex- ander in Book I of the Advancement of Learning (ed. by Cook, p. 11). Cf. also White Doe 290-307, and 97-9. lO-ii Professor Cooper suggests that 'yoke of thought' may refer to Aquinas, 'the dumb Ox.' Likewise 'subtle' recalls Duns Scotus, 'doctor subtilis.' Cf. Bacon, op. cit., pp. 31-2. II Cf. the famous figure in Boethius' Consolation of Philosophy, 'Vestes erant tenuissimis fills subtili artificio . . . perfectae.' 12-14 The transition from 'the intellectual sphere' to 'the starry throng' was a familiar one in Wordsworth's sources. Dyer (Hist. Camb. 1.147) wrote of the schoolmen: 'They dwelt on principles, matter, form, and essences; distinctions often too nice to be seen, or too mysterious to be understood. They had, how- ever, a Latin translation of Euclid, and professed to teach astron- 252 THE ECCLESIASTICAL SONNETS omy.' Turner {Hist. Angl. Sax. 3.429), referring to the subjects of the scholastic education at York in the eighth century, quotes Gale, Hist. Brit. Scriptores XV, p. 728: 'The harmony of the sky, the labor of the sun and moon, the five zones, the seven wandering planets. The laws, risings, and settings of the stars, and the aerial motions of the sea; earthquakes; the natures of man, cattle, birds, and wild beasts; their various species and figures; the sacred Scriptures.' Wordsworth's other estimate of Schoolmen, Misc. Son. 2.32, is not so benign. Since ' Dogmatic Teachers,' 'wrangling Schoolmen,' 'subtle speculations haply vain,' and 'far-fetched themes' were phrases brought to publication in 1820, the two years succeeding saw a marked change in Wordsworth's attitude toward the exercises of mediaeval philosophy, a change possibly caused by sympathetic research. Cf. Prelude 6.294-305. 2.6 1-14 Dyer (Hist. Camb. 1.2-3) has a passage in which occur the main ideas of Ecd. Son. 2.5, 2.6, 2.7, 2.8, 2.1 1: 'True it is, these times were the periods so bustling, and military, and full of events: private feuds and public insurrections left little room for the calm studies of literature; wars and devastations, massacres, rebellions and revolutions, were the ordinary occurrences, diversified indeed, and, it may be, somewhat embellished by feats of chivalry, and tales of romance. It was the age of refined savagery. Philosophy was not to be found in the halls of princes, nor in the castles of their nobles; their ambition was in the field, and their profession was only arms. But they had moments of pause and reflection; then they founded religious houses and colleges. Thither, as to a focus, all their scattered rays of knowledge were drawn; and all we can know of their philosophy and literature we must be content to gather amidst dreams of monks, and impostures of the priesthood.' 2 Baker, Chronicle, p. 136, of Edward III: 'No man was more gentle, where there was submission; where opposition, no man more stern.' 4 Daniel {Works, ed. by Grosart, 5.288-9), recounts the 'works of piety' of Edward III, among them 'his augmenting the chapel at Windsor, and provisions there for churchmen, and 24 poor knights.' 2.7 1-14 Cf. the first note on 2.6. 1-5 'Sounds,' 'gleam,' and 'fragrance' indicate the appeal Wordsworth would make to the three senses. He possessed Stow's Chronicle, and might well have read the account there given (pp. 227-77) of the pomp, jousts, and feasts of Edward's reign. 6-8 Wordsworth's verses in imitation of Juvenal {Letters 1.94) refer to Edward as 'the flower of chivalry.' Cf. Spenser, Pro- thalamion, stanza 9. OF WILLIAM WORDSWORTH 253 9-12 Stow, op. cit., p. 227: 'This prince was endued with passing beauty and favor, of wit provident [cf. 'wisdom'], circum- spect, and gentle of nature [cf. 'magnanimity and love']; of excellent modesty and temperance' [cf. 'meekness tempering']. The words 'magnanimity' and 'meek' occur in another description of Edward {ibid., p. 269 [276]) : he was 'devout in God's service, for he had the Church and Ministers thereof in great reverence.' 13-14 The reference is to the amity between Church and State. 13 John 1.29; Isaiah 11.6. The lion is the national emblem. 14 The eagle as the symbol of the regal power recalls Virgil {.Mneid 6.779) and Dante {Paradiso 6.1-111). For 'dove' and 'eagle' cf. Virgil {Ec. 9.11-13). The 'dove' may be referred to Matthew 3. 16-17. 2.8 1-5 Dyer, after a discussion of scholastic learning, Hist. Canib. 1. 146: 'Dr. Cave in his Historia Literaria gives to each age a discriminating title. This he might have called the dreaming age. Dreams may be often delectable, and present shadows of realities; but he who would behold substance should approach it with open eyes; he who would perceive truth must investigate it, but with faculties wide awake.' 5-6 Fuller, Holy War, pp. 262-3 : ' Of the numberless Christians which lost their lives in this service. . . . But enough of this doleful subject. If young physicians with the first fee for their practice are to purchase a new churchyard. Pope Urban the second might well have bought some ground for graves when he first persuaded this bloody project; whereby he made all Jerusalem Golgotha, a place for skulls; and all the Holy Land, Aceldama, a field of blood.' 6-8 Cf. Prelude 2.1 17 and White Doe 126-35. 9-14 Wordsworth, Prose Works 2.150: 'Farwel my Frendys, the tyd abidyth no man, I am departed hens, and so sal ye. But in this passage the best song I can Is Requiem Elernam, now Jesu grant it me. When I have ended all myn adversity- Grant me in Paradys to have a mansion That shedst Thy bloud for my redemption. This epitaph might seem to be of the age of Chaucer, for it has the very tone and manner of the Prioress' Tale.' 2.9 1-14 For the date of this sonnet, see pp. 29-30, 54. 2-5 Written late in life, this sonnet is notable for the double occurrence of the word 'Unity,' which can be found once again in Eccl. Son. (3.15.7), and only four times more throughout the poems. 254 THE ECCLESIASTICAL SONNETS 6 'Works of Art' as the result of 'Unity' indicate the funda- mental truth of Wordsworth's later years, a criterion toward which his career steadily progressed. Cf. Lycoris 37-41: But something whispers to my heart That as we downward tend, Lycoris! life requires an art To which our souls must bend; A skill — to balance and supply. 9-14 _ Cf. Eccl. Son. 3.35, 38, 39, 42, 43, 44, of which this sonnet is reminiscent. 2.10 1-14 The figure of which Wordsworth had made a political application in Convention of Cintra {Prose Works 1. 119 and 1.274) and in Westmoreland 2 {ihid. 2.326) he found by Heylin applied to the Anglican Church {Cyp. Angl., p. 499): 'It hath flourished, and been a shelter to other neighboring Churches, when storms have driven upon them; but alas! now it is in a storm itself and God only knows whether, or how, it shall get out; and (which is worse than the storm from without) it is become like an oak cleft to shivers with wedges made out of its own body, and at every cleft profaneness and irreligion is entering in.' The verbal similarity of this sonnet to the passage in Westmoreland 2 is marked: 'I am conscious of the sad deterioration, and no one can lament it more deeply; but sufficient vitality is left in the stock of ancient virtue to furnish hope that, by a careful manuring, and skilful application of the knife to withered branches, fresh shoots might thrive in their place — were it not for the base artifices of malignants, who, pretending to invigorate the tree, pour scalding water and corrosive compounds [cf. 'bane'] among its roots; so that the fibres are killed in the mould by which they have been nourished.' Milton uses similar images in Reformation and Defensio Prima. Cf. also the notes on Eccl. Son. 1.27. For the date of this sonnet, see pp. 29-30, 54. 2.11 1-8 Cf. Journals 2.167 ^or one of several accounts of services attended during the tour on the Continent, 1820. 9-14 Fuller, Holy War, p. 140: 'About the year 1160, Peter Waldo, a merchant of Lyons, rich in substance and learning (for a layman), was walking and talking with his friends, when one of them suddenly fell down dead. Which lively spectacle of man's mortality so impressed the soul of this Waldo, that instantly he resolved on a strict reformation of his life. Which to his power he performed: translating some books of the Bible; instructing such as resorted to him in godliness of life; teaching withal that purga- tory, masses, dedication of temples, worshipping of saints, prayers for the dead, were inventions of the devil, and snares of avarice. OF WILLIAM WORDSWORTH 255 . . . He sharply lanced the vicious ulcers of clergymen's lives, re- proving their pride and luxury. Soon got he many followers, both because novelty is a forcible lodestone, and because he plentifully relieved his poor disciples: and those that use that trade shall never want custom. The Archbishop of Lyons, hearing such doctrines broached as were high treason against the triple crown, ferreted Waldo and his sectaries out of Lyons and the country thereabouts. But persecution is the bellows of their Gospel, to blow every spark into a flame. [Cf. 2.14.4, 14.] This their division proved their multiplication.' 2.12 1-5 Smith, Poems of W. W. 2.515: '"Ages ere Waldo," etc., rests upon historical views which have been revised since Words- worth's day.' The 'fugitive Progenitors' of the Waldenses may have been those Christians of Lyons whom Eusebius mentions as suffering persecution while Eleutherius was Bishop of Rome in 179 (Eccl. Hist., tr. by Hanmer, pp. 75-82). 6-9 Fuller, Holy War, p. 140, of the Waldenses: 'Some fled into the Alps, living there on so steep hills, and in so deep holes, that their enemies were afraid to climb or dive after them. Here they had the constant company of the snow; and as it by the height of the hills was protected from the sunbeams, so they from the scorching of persecution, even to Luther's time.' 10 Wordsworth's letter to Dorothj-, Sept. 6, 1790 (Letters 1. 13), describes the 'large sweeping woods of chestnut' covering the steeps on the shores of Lake Como. 11-13 Cf. Desc. Sk. 328. 13-14 Refer to the note on lines 6-9 of this sonnet. 2.13 1-14 Cf. Poems Dedicated to National Independence and Liberty 1.12.1-4,11-14; 2.9.1-4; 2.10.1-5; and Pe5c. 5/^. 260-9, 449-60, 591-600, 652-64. 8-9 Ven. Rep. ^•. 'Venice, the eldest Child of Liberty,' Walton {Lives 1. 148 ff.) gives a spirited account of the Venetian breach with Rome during the ambassadorship of Henry Wotton. 12 'Glorious lights' is in contrast to 'greedy flame' of 2.1 1.3, which is thus brought into relation with 'sacred fire' and 'new Flame' of 2.14.9 and 14. By the addition of 2.12 and 2.13 (1835) did Wordsworth hope to restore what he felt to be a lapse of the figure, no less than to strengthen the claim of the Anglican Church to be lineal descendant of the 'pure Church'? 2.14 1-14 For the frequent revisions of this sonnet, see pp. loO, 109, 194. 256 THE ECCLESIASTICAL SONNETS 1-2 A favorite simile with Wordsworth. Cf. Westmoreland Girl 86, In Youth 76, Misc. Son. 1.3 1.2, Prelude 14.382-7. 3-5,14 Cf. the note on 2. 11. 9-14; and see 'ashes' in the note below. Milton uses the figure of tapers and blaze in regard to Wyclif's preaching {Reformation). 6-14 Fuller, Holy War, p. 150, of the persecution of the Wal- denses: ' Dominick a Spaniard was first author hereof. Well did his mother, being with child of him, dream that she had a dog vomiting fire in her womb. This ignivomous cur (sire of the litter of mendicant friars called Dominicanes) did bark at and deeply bite the poor Albigenses. . . . And who can but admire at the continuance of the doctrine of the Albigenses to this day, maugre all their enemies? Let those privy-counsellors of nature, who can tell where swallows lie all winter, and how at spring they have a resurrection from their seeming deadness [cf. lines 1-2], let those, I say, also inform us in what invisible sanctuaries this doctrine did lurk in spite of persecution, and how it revived out of its ashes at the coming of Luther.' Wordsworth, note on 2.14: 'The list of foul names bestowed upon those poor creatures is long and curious — and, as is, alas! too natural, most of the opprobrious appellations are drawn from circumstances into which they were forced by their persecutors, who even consolidated their miseries into one reproach- ful term, calling them Patarenians, or Paturins, from pati, to suffer. Dwellers with wolves she names them, for the pine And green oak are their covert; as the gloom Of night oft foils their enemy's design. She calls them Riders on the flying broom; Sorcerers, whose frame and aspect have become One and the same through practices malign.' Cf. MS. F, p. 100. The source is Fuller's Holy War, p. 141: 'They had also nick-names; called, first, poor men of Lyons, not because they chose to be poor, but could not choose but be poor, being stripped out of all their goods. And why should the friars' glory be this people's shame? they mocking at poverty in others, which they count meritorious in themselves. Secondly, Pataren- ians, that is. Sufferers, whose backs were anvils for others to beat on. Thirdly, Turlupins, that is. Dwellers with wolves (and yet might they be God's sheep), being forced to flee into woods. Fourthly, likewise they were called Sicars, that is. Cut-purses. Fifthly, Fraterculi, that is, Shifters. Sixthly, Insabbathae, that is, Observers of no sabbath. Seventhly, Passagenes, that is, W^anderers — as also Arians, Manichaeans, Adamites (how justly will appear afterwards). Yea, scarce was there an arrow in all the quiver of malice which was not shot at them.' 9-14 Fuller {ibid., p. 139) recounts the three opinions con- cerning the Albigenses or Waldenses: (i) That they were 'very monsters in life and doctrine'; (2) That they were 'only the true OF WILLIAM WORDSWORTH 257 Church of God in that age'; (3) 'That these Albigenses were a purer part of the Church; and though guilty of some errors (as there must be a dawning before the day [cf. lines 3-5]), and charged with more, yet they maintained the same doctrine in ore, which since Luther's time was refined.' Ibid., p. 145: 'They continued till the days of Luther, when this morning-star willingly surrendered his place to him a brighter sun.' 12 Cf. Milton, P. L. 4.971: 'Proud limitarie Cherube.' 2.15 1-9 In Drayton's Agincozirt the speech of Chicheley continues for II stanzas (ed. by Anderson, 3.1 ff.) ; Fuller's account follows {Ch. Hist. 1.487): 'The prelates, and abbots especially, began now to have the active soul of King Henry in suspicion. . . . Such a meddling soul must be sent out of harm's way; if that the clergy found not this king some work abroad, he would make them new work at home. . . . Hereupon the clergy cunningly gave vent to his activity by diverting it on a long w^ar upon the French.' Baker, Chronicle, p. 173: 'And thereupon Chicheley, Archbishop of Canterbury, in a long narration deduced the King's right. . . . This indeed struck upon the right string of the King's inclination; for as he afifected nothing more than true glory, so in nothing more than in warlike actions. Hereupon nothing was now thought of but the conquest of France. First, therefore, he begins to alter in his arms the bearing of Semi-de-Luces, and quarters the three Flower-de-Luces, as the Kings of France then bare them.' 2 Drayton, Polyolbion, Upon the Frontispiece: 'The Norman Leopards bath'd in gules.' lo-ii Drayton describes the gathering of the fleet {Agincourt, ed. by Anderson, 3.4-6): . . . these From every small creek cover'd all the seas. 12-14 Fuller {op. cit. 2.ig-j) refers to the 'ambition' of King Henry, _'a spark in himself, . . . inflamed ... by this prelate's persuasion.' 14 Baker, op. cit., p. 174: 'The wind blowing fair. King Henry weighs anchor, and with a fleet of 1200 sail ... he puts to sea.' Wordsworth's personal associations with this theme may be inferred from the following passage in his sister's Journals (1.119): 'We sowed the scarlet beans in the orchard, and read Henry V there. William lay on his back on the seat, and wept.' 2.16 1-4 Fuller uses the epithet 'shrewd' of the 'thrust' parried by Chicheley; Wordsworth has transferred the word to describe Chicheley's design. Cf. Ch. Hist. 2.197. 18 258 THE ECCLESIASTICAL SONNETS 4-5 Drayton, Agincoxirt, ed. by Anderson, 3.4: ... an English archer see Who shooting at a French twelve score away, Quite through the body stuck him to a tree. 5-6 Ibid. 3.13: 'Gore . . . blood.' 5-14 Fuller, op. cit. 1.487, 511: 'His victories are loudly sounded forth by our state-historians: a war of more credit than profit to England in this king's reign, draining the men and money thereof. Thus victorious bays bear only barren berries, no whit good for food, and very little for physic; whilst the peaceable olive drops down that precious liquor, "making the face of man to shine therewith." ... If we cast our eyes on the civil estate [1447], we shall find our foreign acquisitions in France, which came to us on foot, running from us on horseback. . . . Yet let not the French boast of their valor, but, under God's providence, thank our sins, and particularly our discords, for their so speedy recoveries. There were many clefts and claps in our council-board; factions betwixt the great lords present thereat; and these differences descended on their attendants and retainers, who, putting on their coats, wore the badges as well of the enmities as of the arms of their lords and masters.' Ibid. 1.5 14-18: 'Now [1455] began the broils to break out betwixt the two Houses of Lancaster and York. . . . Such who consider the blood lost therein would admire England had any left. . . . Indeed, now the sound of all bells in the steeples was drowned with the noise of drums and trumpets; and yet this good was done by the civil wars — it diverted the prelates from troubling the Lollards; so that this very storm was a shelter to those poor souls, and the heat of these intestine enmities cooled the persecution against them.' 2.17 1-14 Wordsworth, note on i.ii : 'I must, however, particularize Fuller, to whom I am indebted in the sonnet upon Wicliffe.' Fuller, Ch. Hist. 1.493: 'Hitherto [1428] the corpse- of John Wickliffe had quietly slept in his grave, about one-and-forty years after his death, till his body was reduced to bones, and his bones almost to dust. . . . But now, such the spleen of the council of Constance, as they not only cursed his memory, as dying an obstinate heretic, but ordered that his bones ... be taken out of the ground, and thrown far from any Christian burial. In obedience hereunto . . . the servants . . . take what was left out of the grave, and burnt them to ashes, and cast them into Swift, a neighboring brook running hard by. Thus this brook hath conveyed his ashes into Avon, Avon into Severn, Severn into the narrow seas, they into main ocean. And thus the ashes of Wickliffe are the emblem of his doctrine, which now is dispersed all the world over.' Cf. Lamb's estimate of Fuller's account {Works, ed. by Macdonald, 3. 151):. OF WILLIAM WORDSWORTH 259 'The concluding period of this most lively narrative I will not call a conceit: it is one of the grandest conceptions I ever met with.' 5 Cf. the Greek 6m<^i7, a divine or prophetic voice {Iliad 2.41); the 'vox' of Virgil's Georg. 1.476; and Wordsworth's conception of 'voice' in the Concordance, pp. 1064-7. To Richard Sharp (in 1808; see Letters 1.378) he mentioned Two Voices are there as the best of his sonnets. Later, he was more apt to refer 'voice' to a power above external nature, and distinguished from it. 2.18 1-14 Wordsworth might have procured the material for this sonnet from The Life of Cardinal Wolsey by Cavendish, in Christo- pher Wordsworth's Ecclesiastical Biography, or from the shorter account of W^olsey's career given in Stow's Chronicle; or even from the MSS. at Lambeth. The reference to Wolsey is unmistakable. Cf. also Henry VIII 3.2.108 ff. The ideas of the sonnet are like those of Milton {Reformation); cf. with line 4 Milton's phrase 'the pomp of prelatism'; and cf. with line 8 his 'vanities thick sown through the volumes of Justin Martyr, Clemens, Origen, Tertullian, and others of oldest time.' 3-4 Cavendish (in Eccl. Biog., ed. by Wordsworth, 1.330) relates the speed of Wolsey's journey to France by the aid of 'post- horses,' and the eagerness with which, being Bishop of Lincoln, he prepared for his installation as Bishop of York {ibid. 1.342). Wolsey later became priest Cardinal and legatus de latere {ibid. 1.343); his preparations to receive the cardinal's hat were osten- tatious {ibid. 1.343-4); and to his titles, Archbishop and Cardinal, he soon aspired to add that of Chancellor {ibid. 1.344). His retinue, his public 'down-lying' and 'up-rising,' his processions to Westminster and to the Court, his hospitality, are set forth at length. During his entertainment of the French ambassadors at Hampton Court, he 'came in booted and spurred all suddenly among them, and bade them proface' {ibid. 1.411). 5-6 There were 180 persons 'in his check-roll' {ibid. 1.350), detailed in four paragraphs by the gentleman-usher. Cavendish. Ibid. 1.461: 'And when Mr. Russell was come before him, he most humbly reverenced him, upon his knees, whom my lord stooped unto, and took him up, and bade him welcome.' 6-10 Ibid. 1.542: '"But if I had served God as diligently as I have done the king, he would not have given me over in my gray hairs."' 10-12 Ibid. 1.449: 'O wavering and newfangled multitude! ... I cannot see but always men in authority be disdained with the common sort of people; and they most of all, that do observe and minister justice.' 13-14 Ibid. 1.546: 'Here is the end and fall of pride and 260 THE ECCLESIASTICAL SONNETS arrogancy of men, exalted by fortune to dignities: for, I assure you, in his time he was the haughtiest man in all his proceedings alive; having more respect to the honor of his person than he had to his spiritual profession; wherein should be showed all meekness, humility, and charity.' Fuller, Ch. Hist. 2.25, of Wolsey: 'Pride accounts the greatest plenty, if without pomp [cf. line 4], no better than penury.' 2.19 1-14 Fuller, Ch. Hist. 2.159: 'Antipathy betwixt Friars and Parish-Priests, in Erasmus's jest-earnest Dialogue. Monks, why hating Friars.' My italics in the following passage from Fuller {op. cit. 2.167-8) indicate Wordsworth's indebtedness: ' The specious pretences of piety and contempt of the ivorld, abbots and monks, were notoriously covetous, even to the injury of others. . . . They impoverished parish-priests by decrying their performances and magnifying their own merits. Alas! what was the single devotion of a silly priest, in comparison of a corporation of prayers (twisted cables to draw down blessings on their patrons' heads) from a whole monastery? And, suppose (which was seldom done) the parson in the parish preaching to his people; yet sermons in a church once constituted were needless, as ministering matter of schisms and disputes, and, at the best, only profiting the present; whilst prayers benefited as well the absent as the present, dead as living. But especially prayers of monasteries commanded heaven [cf. line 11], pleased with the holy violence [cf. lines 1-4] of so many and mighty petitioners. By these and other artifices they under- mined all priests in the affections of their own people [cf. line 7], and procured from pope and prince [cf. line 13], that many churches presentative, ivith their glebes and tithes, were appropriated, to their convents, leaving hut a poor pittance to the parish-vicar' [cf. 'rob']. Wordsworth has translated Fuller's ironical argument into an accu- sation. 1-14 Bede (Eccl. Hist., tr. by Sellar, p. 284) repeats the proph- ecy made by Adamnan of the destruction of Coldringham: 'The cells that were built for prayer or reading are now converted into places of feasting, drinking, talking, and other delights; the very virgins dedicated to God, laying aside the respect due to their profession, whensoever they are at leisure, apply themselves to weaving fine garments, wherewith to adorn themselves like brides, to the danger of their state, or to gain the friendship of strange men.' The close of this sonnet was taken 'from a MS. written about the year 1770'; so with line 3. See Wordsworth's note on 2.21. 12 Cf. Milton, Hymn on the Morning of Christ's Nativity 175. OF WILLIAM WORDSWORTH 261 2.21 1-2 Dyer, Hist. Camh. 2.62-3: 'The immoralities of monas- teries became the subject of complaint very early in the 13th and 14th centuries; . . . and in the beginning of the 15th, Henry IV, commissioners were appointed to visit and reform all the monas- teries of the Cistercian order in England; so that, with respect to the dissolution of these houses, and the confiscating of their reve- nues, the Reformation of the i6th century did but hatch the egg; for it was laid long before.' 1-4 The rhyme 'assuage' . . . 'rage' and the phrase 'belfries mute' are good evidence to refer these lines to Fuller {Ch. Hist. 2.194-5), who speaks of 'the proud motto, commonly written on the bells in their steeples, wherein each bell entitled itself to a six- fold efficacy: 1. Funera plango, " Men's deaths I tell By doleful knell." 2. Fulmina frango, "Lightning and thunder I break asunder." 3. Sabbata pango, "On Sabbath, all Tq church I call." 4.. Excito lentos, " The sleepy head I raise from bed." 5. Dissipo ventos, "The winds so fierce I do disperse." 6. Paco cruentos, "Men's cruel rage I do assuage." Whereas, it plainly appears that these abbey-steeples, though quilted with bells almost cap-a-pie, were not of proof against the sword of God's lightning. Yea, generally, when the heavens in tempests did strike fire, the steeples of abbeys proved often their tinder, whose frequent burning portended their final destruction; which now, God willing, we come to relate.' 4-5 Cf. Journals 1.206-7 for an authentic picture of 'choir unroofed,' 'warbling wren,' and 'leafy cage.' 6 Refer to my article, Wordsworth arid the Bramble, in Jour. Eng. and Germ. Phil. 19.340. For 'gadding' cf. Milton, Lycidas 40. 7-8 Wordsworth, note on 2.21: 'These two lines are adapted from a MS., written about the year 1770, which accidentally fell into my possession. The close of the preceding sonnet on monastic voluptuousness is taken from the same source, as is the verse, "where Venus sits," etc., and the line, "Once ye were holy, ye are holy still," in a subsequent sonnet' [3.35.13]. Cf. Fort Fuentes 1-8. 10 At Waltham Abbey Harold was interred. Cf. Fuller, Ch. Hist. 2.228. 11-14 Stillingfleet, Orig. Brit., pp. 9-10, quoting MS. Cott: '"That in the Western parts of Britain there is a royal Island 262 THE ECCLESIASTICAL SONNETS called Gleston; ... it was devoted to the service of God. Here the first Disciples of the Catholic Law found an ancient Church, not built as was reported by men's hands, but prepared by God himself for the benefit of men, and which by miracles was showed to be consecrated to himself and to the Blessed Virgin. To which they adjoined another Oratory made of stone, which they dedicated to Christ and to St. Peter." The question is, who are here meant by these first disciples of the Catholic Law? not Joseph of Ari- mathea and his companions, who are never mentioned by him, and who are never said to have found a church there built to their hands, but he speaks of some of the first Saxon Christians in those parts, who might probably find there such a low wattled church as is described in Sir H. Spellman [Concil. Brit. 15]; a remainder of the British Christianity in that island.' Cf. Drayton, Polyol- bion 3.307-12. Turner {Hist. Angl. Sax. 1.401) refers to the rebuilding of Glastonbury by Ine at the request of Aldhelm. Cf. the note on Eccl. Son. 1.2.11-12. 2.22 1-8 Fuller, Ch. Hist. 2.210: 'Ten thousand persons were by this Dissolution sent to seek their fortunes in the wide world. Some, indeed, had fathers or friends to receive them, others none at all. Some had twenty shillings given them at their ejection, and a new gown, which needed to be of strong cloth to last so long till they got another.' Cf. Bruges I 12-14; Journals 2.180. 9-10 Cf. Triad 84-5; Ossian 5-10; cf. also Milton, Hymn on the Morning of Christ's Nativity, stanza 15. 11-14 Cf. Journals 2.52. 2.23 1-8 Fuller, Ch. Hist. 2.214: 'Some counted their convents their prisons, being thus confined. ... It was a fine thing when they might, but sad case when they must, live in their monasteries. . . . Many who had hopes of others' subsistence cast off the cowls and vails, and quitted their convents' [cf. Eccl. Son. 2.22.5]. 9-14 Ibid. 2.210: 'Most were exposed to want. I see no such certainty for a comfortable livelihood as a lawful calling; for monkish profession was no possession, and many a young nun proved an old beggar. I pity not those who had hands and health to work; but, surely, the gray hairs of some impotent persons deserved compassion; and I am confident such, had they come to the doors of the charitable reader hereof, should have had a meal's meat and a night's lodging given unto them.' Cf. Misc. Son. I.I. 13: 'The weight of too much liberty.' Fuller returns to this theme {op. cit. 2.255): 'Alas! many of them, "dig they could not, — and to beg they were ashamed."' OF WILLIAM WORDSWORTH 263 2.24 1-6 Cf. Excursion 4.894-918; cf. also Milton, Hymn on the Morning of Christ's Nativity, stanzas 19-24. 8 Weever (Funeral Monuments) gives evidence of the numerous dedications to St. Michael. 8-9 Cf. Ode 1814 24. Cf. also the passage (Prose Works 2.153) on the epitaph of Sir George Vane. 9-10 Whitaker, Hist. Craven, p. 371: 'St. Mary, St. Margaret, and St. Helena were the vvnai kwdpoi Xeifiuviades of Craven.' 11-12 Cf. Dryden, A Song for St. Cecilia's Day, i68y, stanza 7. 12-14 Anderson's British Poets i. 525-31 includes as Chaucerian The Lamentacion of Marie Magdaleine. See the note on 2. 31. 12 for evidence that Wordsworth had recently consulted this volume; Marie's plaint may be quoted in part (p. 528) : Into wildernesse I thinke best to go . . . There for to wepin with gret aboundance. 2.25 1-14 The numerous Cistertian abbeys with which Wordsworth was familiar would suggest a sonnet upon the Virgin, to whose service this order was devoted. Cf. Guilt 149-50, Meek Virgin i, Excursion 8.486-90. 6-7 In a note at the beginning of On the Same Occasion, When in, and in the poem itself, Wordsworth amplifies the reference to 'eastern skies at daybreak': 'Our churches, invariably perhaps, stand east and west, but why is by few persons exactly known; nor, that the degree of deviation from due east often noticeable in the ancient ones was determined, in each particular case, by the point in the horizon at which the sun rose upon the day of the saint to whom the church was dedicated. These observances of our ancestors, and the causes of them, are the subject of the fol- lowing stanzas.' 7-8 These two lines occur in MS. F (p. 82) as part of a dis- carded version of 1.2. Presumably they established the rhyme of this sonnet; and the lines ending in 'uncrost,' 'boast,' and 'tost' were suggested by and subsequent to them. 9 Stow, Chronicle, p. 575: 'The Images of our Lady of Wal- singham and Ipswich were brought up to London, with all the jewels that hung about them, and divers other images both in England and Wales, whereunto any common pilgrimage was used, for avoiding of idolatry;' 2.26 1-7 Fuller, whose Church History was Wordsworth's main source in 2.15, 2.16, 2.17, 2.19, 2.21, 2.22, 2.23, seems to be the 264 THE ECCLESIASTICAL SONNETS authority here. He relates within some few pages (2.34-42) the de- bate over 'the supremacy of crafty Rome,' noting the premunire of 1 53 1, the consecration of Cranmer as Archbishop, the divorce and remarriage of Henry, Henry's displeasure at Fisher and More, the imprisonment of Fisher for refusing the Oath of Supremacy, the Convocation of York. He quotes (ibid. 2.48) the words offensive to Fisher in the preamble of the statute of succession: '"The bishop of Rome and see apostolic, contrary to the great and in- violable grants of jurisdiction by God immediately to emperors, kings, and princes, in succession to their heirs, hath presumed in times past to invest who should please them to inherit in other men's kingdoms and dominions; which thing we, your most humble subjects, both spiritual and temporal, do most abhor and detest." ' And he includes Protestants among those not conforming (ibid. 2.105): 'After the execution of the lord Cromwell, the parliament still sitting, a motley execution happened in Smithfield; three papists hanged by the statute for denying the king's suprem- acy, and as many Protestants burned at the same time and place by virtue of the Six Articles, dying with more pain and no less patience.' 8 Ibid. 2.62: '"I forgive thee," said he [Fisher to his execu- tioner], " with all my heart, and I trust thou shalt see me overcome this storm lustily." ' Ibid. 2.62,: 'These words he spake with , . . such a reverend gravity that he appeared to all men not only void of fear, but also glad of death' [cf. lines 10-12]. 9 Wordsworth's quotation is from Romeo and Juliet 5.1.3: ' My bosom's lord sits lightly in his throne.' See Knight, P. W., Eversley ed., 7.56. 11-12 Notice the Aristotelian terms: 'tragic,' 'pity,' 'fear.' 12 Fuller, op. cit. 2.64: 'Pass we from Fisher to More.' 12-14 Ibid. 2.65: 'Yet some have taxed him that he wore a feather in his cap, and wagged it too often; meaning, he was over-free in his fancies and conceits; insomuch that on the scaffold (a place not to break jests, but to break off all jesting) he could not hold, but bestowed his scoffs on the executioner and standers- by.' The Life of Sir Thomas More, published by Christopher Wordsworth in his Eccl. Biog. (2.53-232), from a MS. in the Lambeth library, was accessible to Wordsworth. In it (2.1 18) are comments such as: 'Sir Thomas for his wit and learning, even when he lived, throughout all Christendom was almost miraculously accounted of; and (2.132-3) 'As he lived, so he died; always possessing his soul in peace and tranquillity. . . . Going to the scaffold to lose his head, the ascending of the stairs not being easy, " Help me up with one of your hands," said he to one of the oflficers, "for as for my coming down, let me shift as I may: for by then I am sure I shall take no great harm." His head being laid on the block, the executioner asked him pardon, as the custom is. "I OF WILLIAM WORDSWORTH 265 forgive thee with all my heart" (quoth he). "Marry, my neck is so short, I fear me thou shalt have little honesty by thy workman- ship. See therefore that thou acquit thyself well."' 2.27 1-14 Contrast this sonnet with Milton's Hymn on the Morning of Christ's Nativity, stanzas 20-5, and with the 'joyful annuncia- tion' of Ode 1815, especially lines 25-6: The Arabian desert shapes a willing road Across her burning breast. Cf. Wordsworth's use of the figure of reverberation in Eccl. Son. i-33i White Doe 670-87, and To Joanna 51-65. Refer to Cooper, On Wordsworth's Joanna, in Academy 1969.108-10. The use of Tiber, Ganges, and the Nile to represent Europe, Asia, and Africa is appropriate to the 'holy river.' The obligation to Armstrong's Art of Preserving Health, and to Dyer's The Ruins of Rome, is an im- portant one. Cf. the passages in Poems and Extracts, ed. by Little- dale, pp. 54-5, 69-71, as follows: I Dyer : Yon hoary monk laments the same. 3 Ihid.: How musical, when all-composing Time, Here sits upon his throne of ruins hoar While winds and tempests sweep his various lyre, How sweet the diapason! 4 Armstrong: A land of genii? 5 Dyer: Fallen, fallen, a silent heap! Behold the pride of pomp, The throne of nations, fall'n! obscured in dust; Even yet majestical. 6-9 Armstrong: Now come, ye Naiads, to the fountains lead; Now let me wander through your o'elid reign. . . . First springs the Nile; here bursts the sounding Po In angry waves; Euphrates hence devolves A mighty flood to water half the East ; And there in Gothic solitude reclined The cheerless Tanais pours his hoary urn. Dyer: Shrouded Nile, Eridanus, and Tiber with his twins. And palmy Euphrates; who with dropping locks Hang o'er their urns, and mournfully among The plaintive-echoing ruins pour their streams. 11-14 Stow, Chronicle, p. 62: 'Mahomet . . . was very skilful in magic, and had learned many deceits of the Egyptians: for the which he was held in admiration of the rude ignorant Saracens, 266 THE ECCLESIASTICAL SONNETS and distracted Arabians. . . . This subtle Mahomet attributed great divinity to himself; and having the falling sickness, he denied it, saying he was only in a trance, being ravished with the vision of the Angel Gabriel, who delivered him secret instructions and new commandments from God. He taught a white dove to peck food out of his ears, which he made the people believe was the Holy Ghost that came to inspire him. By means whereof, and other his illusions which his cunning confederates used in his behalf, he strongly possessed the multitude with a most holy and reverent opinion of him. . . . [His] devilish and anti-Christian doctrine, through the negligence and civil dissension of the Christian princes, hath overspread all Asia, Africa, and the best part of Europe, and in many places of India' [cf. lines 9 and 10, and the references to Tiber, Ganges, Nile]. 2.28 1-3 Cf. Journals 1.6, 57. 6-9 Milton, P. L. 3.474-5, 487-96, as Knight indicates (P. W., Eversley ed., 7.57): Eremits and Friers White, Black and Grey, with all thir trumperie. . . . A violent cross wind from either Coast Blows them transverse ten thousand Leagues awry Into the devious Air; then might ye see Cowles, Hoods and Habits with thir wearers tost And flutterd into Raggs, then Reliques, Beads, Indulgences, Dispenses, Pardons, Bulls, The sport of Winds: all these upwhirld aloft Fly o're the backside of the World farr off Into a Limbo large and broad, since calld The Paradise of Fools. 9-14 Daniel, Works, ed. by Grosart, 5.98-9: 'Such is the nature of Domination, wheresoever it sits, that, finding an yielding- ness to endure, it never thinks it hath power sufficient, unless it hath more than enough; for, if the Popes (the professed sovereigns of piety) upon the advantage of men's zeal, and belief, grew to make their will and their power equal (so that to question their sanctions was taught to be sin against the Holy Ghost), no marvel if secular Princes, whose consciences are untied, strive to break out into the wildness of their wills from those bounds wherein by the law of the State they are placed.' 2.29 i-ii Fuller, Ch. Hist. 2.313, after referring to the Liturgy: 'The Book of books still remains; I mean the Bible itself. • • • • The First Translation of the Bible. Set forth in the reign of King Henry VIII, anno 1541, countenanced with a grave and pious preface of Archbishop Cranmer, and authorized by the King's OF WILLIAM WORDSWORTH 267 proclamation, dated May 6th, seconded also with "Instructions" from the King; to prepare people to receive benefit the better from "so heavenly a treasure," it was called "the Bible of the greater volume," rather commended than commatided to people.' 2 Cf. MUton, Reformation: 'Then was the sacred Bible sought ■out of the dusty corners where profane falsehood and neglect had thrown it.' 4 Milton (ibid. ) refers to 'Our Chaucer's Ploughman.' 12-14 Cf. Fuller's accounts of the 'Devon commotion' and the 'Norfolk rebellion' (Ch. Hist. 2.318-26), and especially the fol- lowing: 'The people tumultuously compelled the priest ... to say mass and officiate in Latin, as best pleased with what they least understood.' Cf. White Doe jii-i^: To Durham first their course they bear; And in Saint Cuthbert's ancient seat Sang mass, — and tore the book of prayer, — And trod the bible beneath their feet. Child (The English and Scottish Popular Ballads 3.401-8) gives the ballad, The Rising in the North. 2.30 1-14 For the form of this sonnet Wordsworth was unmistakably indebted to Hebrews 1 1 : Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. For by it the elders obtained a good report. Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear. And cf. the phrases 'by faith' and 'through faith' at the beginning of the following verses of this chapter: 4, 5, 7, 8, 9, il, 17, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31. For the ideas and some of the phrases he has recalled Milton: P. L. 1. 17-18; Church-gov., ' the soul of man, which is his rational temple,' and 'the love of God, as a fire sent from heaven to be ever kept alive upon the altars of our hearts'; and passages in Reformation. 4-5 Wordsworth, Convention of Cintra, Prose Works 1.208: 'In following the stream of these thoughts, I have not wandered from my course: I have drawn out to open day the truth from its recesses in the minds of my countrymen.' Cf. the frequent and often symbolical use of 'root,' 'rooted,' 'roots,' in the Concordance, p. 801. 6 Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, are the patriarchs to whom St. Paul and Wordsworth refer. 7-8 The Ten Commandments. 9-14 Hebrews 12.2: 'Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith ..." 268 THE ECCLESIASTICAL SONNETS 12 For instance, Paul. 13-14 Cf. Hebrews 3.14, 9.12, 9.24. 2.31 1-4 Wordsworth modernized The Prioress Tale in 1801 {Jour- nals 1.67). I Prioress 61: ' Sweet is the holiness of youth.' This line does not occur in Chaucer. 5-14, and especially 12 Denham's verses on the death of Cowley are in Anderson's Works of the British Poets prefixed to the selections from Chaucer (Title-page to Chaucer, vol. i): Old Chaucer, like the morning star, To us discovers day from far; His light those mists and clouds dissolv'd, Which our dark nation long involv'd; But he descending to the shades, Darkness again the age invades. Cf. Spenser, Hymyi of Heavenly Love 25.2; Milton, P. L. 5.705 and Song on May Morning i; Revelation 2.28, 22.16. Cf. also the Essay Supplementary, 1815 (P. W., Oxford ed., p. 951): 'What is become of the morning-star of English Poetry?' Still earlier {Reply to the Letter of Mathetes, Prose Works 1.91) : ' Happy moment was it for England when her Chaucer, who has been rightly called the morning-star of her literature, appeared above the horizon; when her Wicliffe, like the sun, shot orient beams through the night of Romish superstition!' In this same year (1909-10) was published Christopher Wordsworth's Eccl. Biog., including Foxe's account of Chaucer and Gower. Cf. this work 1.308: *I marvel to consider this, how that the bishops condemning and abolishing all manner of English books and treatises which might bring the people to any light of knowledge, did yet authorize the works of Chaucer to remain still and to be occupied; who (no doubt) saw in religion as much almost as even we do now, and uttereth in his works no less, and seemeth to be a right Wiclevian, or else was never any.' 7-9 Chaucer, The Prioress' Tale 50-7: * Among thise children was a widwes sone, A litel clergeon, seven year of age. That day by day to scole was his wone. And eek also, wher-as he saugh th'image Of Cristes moder, hadde he in usage, As him was taught, to knele adoun and seye His Ave Marie, as he goth by the weye. 8 Fuller, Ch. Hist. 2.357: 'Such was the piety of this young prince, that, being about to take down something which was above his reach, one of his play-fellows proffered him a bossed-plated Bible to stand upon, and heighten him to take what he desired. Perceiving it a Bible, with holy indignation he refused it, and sharply reproved the offerer thereof; it being unfit he should trample that OF WILLIAM WORDSWORTH 269 under his feet which he was to treasure up in his head and heart.' Ibid. 2.358: 'When crowned king, his goodness increased with his greatness; constant in his private devotions.' 2.32 1-14 Burnet, Hist. Ref. 2.2.126, quoting Cardan's De Genitura Edwardi Sexti: ' Dignus Apoliineis Lachrymis.' Baker, Chron- icle, p. 311: 'Concerning his personage, it is said he was in body beautiful, of a sweet aspect, and specially in his eyes, which seemed to have a starry liveliness and lustre in them. Concerning his conditions, in matter of fact, there is not much to be said; but in matter of disposition and inclination very much, even to admira- tion. . . . For proof of his merciful disposition this one example may be sufficient: when one Joan Butcher was to be burned for blasphemy and heresy, all the council could not get him to sign the warrant, till the Archbishop Cranmer, with much importunity, persuaded him; and then he did it, but not without weeping.' 2-33 1-2 In the year 1553 (Baker, Chronicle, p. 311). 2-3 Burnet, Hist. Ref. 2.1.426, 429: 'The people were generally running to Queen Mary! . . . The tide grew everywhere strong for the queen.' 4-5 Ibid. 2. 1. 19, of ante- Marian idolatry: 'It was notorious that the people everywhere doated on them [images], and gave them divine honor. Nor did the clergy, who were generally too guilty themselves of such abuses, teach them how to distinguish aright; and the acts of worship that were allowed were such, that, beside the scandal such worship had in it, and the danger of drawing people into idolatry, it was in itself inexcusable to offer up such external parts of religious adoration to gold or silver, wood or stone.' Then followed Ridley's Lenten sermon. Gardiner' was offended (ibid. 20), 'hearing that on May-day the people of Ports- mouth had removed and broken the images of Christ and the saints.' Burnet (ibid. 2.2.97) quotes a paper written in French by Edward VI, a collection of scriptural passages against idolatry. Cf. Milton, Piemont 4; P.L. 12. 119. 6-12 Stow (Chronicle, pp. 616-17) gives an account of Mary's coronation: 'At the upper end of Grace-street there was another pageant made by the Florentines very high, on the top whereof there stood four pictures, and in the midst of them, and most highest, there stood an Angel all in green, with a trumpet in his hand; and when the trumpeter that stood secretly in the pageant did sound his trump, the Angel did put his trump to his mouth, as though it had been the same that had sounded, to the great marveling of many ignorant persons. . . . The cross in Cheap new washed and burnished. . . . The twenty-seven of August, the service began in Latin to be sung in Paul's Church in London! 270 THE ECCLESIASTICAL SONNETS . . . And on the one and twentieth of December, began throughout England the Church service to be done in Latin,' 13-14 Fuller, Ch. Hist. 2.360: 'Whilst mutual animosities were heightened betwixt the opposers and assertors of the Liturgy, Providence put a period for a time to that controversy in England. Such who formerly would not — soon after durst not — use the Common Prayer; mass and popery being set up by Queen Mary in the room thereof. Thus when children fall out and fight about the candle, the parents, coming in and taking it away, leave them to decide the differences in the dark.' 2.34 I Fuller, Ch. Hist. 2.399: 'Of all the Marian martyrs, Mr. Philpot was the best-born gentleman; bishop Ridley, the pro- foundest scholar; Mr. Bradford, the holiest and the devoutest man; archbishop Cranmer, of the mildest and meekest temper; bishop Hooper, of the sternest and austerest nature; Dr. Taylor had the merriest and pleasantest wit; Mr. Latimer had the plainest and simplest heart, etc. O the variety of these several instruments! O their joint harmony in a concert to God's glory!' 2-3 Foxe {Acts and Mon. 2.1606) prints 'A table describing the burning of B. Ridley and father Latimer at Oxford.' 4-8 Wordsworth, note on 2.34: '" M. Latimer suffered his keeper very quietly to pull off his hose, and his other array, which to look unto was very simple; and being stripped into his shroud, he seemed as comely a person to them that were present, as one should lightly see: and whereas in his clothes he appeared a withered and crooked silly (weak) old man, he now stood bolt upright, as comely a father as one might lightly behold. . . . Then they brought a faggot, kindled with fire, and laid the same down at Dr. Ridley's feet. To whom Mr. Latimer spake in this manner, 'Be of good comfort, master Ridley, and play the man: we shall this day light such a candle by God's grace in England, as I trust shall never be put out."' — Foxe's Acts, &. Similar alterations in the outward figure and deportment of persons brought to like trial were not uncommon. See note to the above passage in Dr. Words- worth's Ecclesiastical Biography, for an example in an humble Welsh fisherman.' Cf. Eccl. Biog. 3.287: 'It is recorded further- more of the said good father Rawlines . . . that as he was going to his death and standing at the stake, he seemed in a manner to be altered in nature. For whereas before he was wont to go stooping, or rather crooked through the infirmity bf age, having a sad countenance, and a very feeble complexion, and withal very soft in speech and gesture; now he went and stretched up himself not only bolt upright, but also bare withal a most comfortable countenance, not without great courage and audacity both in speech and behavior. Foxe's Acts, p. 1416.' 11-12 I have been unable to find the source of this quotation. OF WILLIAM WORDSWORTH 271 2.35 i-ii Foxe, Acts and Mon. 2. 17 14: 'Then was an iron chain tied about Cranmer, whom when they perceived to be more stead- fast than that he could be moved from his sentence, they com- manded the fire to be set unto him. And when the wood was kindled, and the fire began to burn near him, stretching out his arm, he put his right hand into the flame, which he held so stead- fast and immovable (saving that once with the same hand he wiped his face) that all men might see his hand burned before his body was touched. His body did so abide the burning of the fiame with such constancy and steadfastness, that standing always in one place without moving his body, he seemed to move no more than the stake to which he was bound: his eyes were lifted up into heaven, and oftentimes he repeated his "unworthy right hand," so long as his voice would suffer him: and using often the words of Stephen, "Lord Jesus receive my spirit," in the greatness of the flame he gave up the ghost.' I Burnet, Hist. Ref. 2.1.605: 'All the way the priests up- braided him for changing.' 4 Foxe, op. cit. 2. 1 7 14: 'Such a countenance of gravity moved the hearts both of his friends and of his enemies.' 6-7 Ibid.: 'His feet were bare. Likewise his head, when both his caps were off, was so bare one hair could not be seen upon it.' 8 Ibid.: 'His shirt was made long down to his feet.' 9 Ibid.: 'This fortitude of mind, which perchance is rare and not found among the Spaniards, when friar John saw, thinking it came not of fortitude, but of desperation . . .' 12-14 Wordsworth, note on 2.35: 'For the belief in this fact, see the contemporary historians.' Cf. Baker, Chronicle, p. 321: 'Only (which was no small miracle) his heart remained whole and not once touched with the fire.' This legend and the note first appeared in the series in 1827. 2.36 1-3 Fuller, Ch. Hist. 2.402-3: 'The heraldry of heaven knows how to marshal them, in the place of dignity due unto them. . . . But, though the Protestants showed much mercy to the Papists, their persecutors, yet the God of the Protestants manifested much justice in their woful and wretched deaths. . . . However, when a remarkable death suddenly follows a notorious, wicked life, even such passengers as are posting in the speed of their private affairs are bound to make a stand, and solemnly to observe the justice of God's proceedings therein.' 4-9 Ibid. 2.404: '"Rejoice, O ye nations, with his people: for he will avenge the blood of his servants, and will render vengeance to his adversaries, and will be merciful unto his land, and to his 272 THE ECCLESIASTICAL SONNETS people." Deut. xxxii.43.' Such 'showers of blood seem rather to incite than to allay' the spirit of Fuller, for he goes on to take issue with the Jesuit, Parsons, in a 'cloud ... of polemic dust.' 9-1 1 Ihid. 2.381, 446-7, 463: 'The issueless Issue of a Dispu- tation at Oxford. . . . The Disputations betwixt the Papists and Protestants at Westminster. . . . Whereof more noise than fruit, and wherein more passion than reason, cavils than arguments. . . . The assembly dissolved, it were hard to say which were louder — the Papists in complaining, or the Protestants in triumphing. . . . Bale rails not more on Papists, than Pits ... on Protestant writers.' 10-12 Cf. Milton, P. L. 2.51-70. 14 Cf. Homer, Iliad 6.2)39'. vIkt] b' kTvafitlfieTai avbpas. 2-37 1-14 Fuller, Ch. Hist. 2.407 ff: 'Come we now to set down the sad troubles of Frankfort, rending these banished exiles asunder into several factions. . . . Thus settled in their church, their next care was to write letters ... to all the English congregations . . . to invite them, with all convenient speed, to come and join with them at Frankfort. This is the "communion of saints," who never account themselves peaceably possessed of any happiness until (if it be in their power) they have also made their fellow- sufiferers partakers thereof. However, this their invitation found not any great entertainment amongst the other English church- colonies; all delaying, and some denying, to come; but especially . . . those of Zurich were resolved no whit to recede from the Liturgy used in England under the reign of King Edward VI, and, except those of Frankfort would give them assurance that, coming thither, they should have full and free use thereof, they utterly refused any communion with their congregation.' 9 'Prurient speculations,' the reading from 1822 to 1827, in- dicates that Wordsworth had read Walton's transcript of Wotton's epitaph {Lives 1.183): '"Hie jacet hujus sententiae primus author, DISPUTANDI PRURITUS ECCLESIARUM SCABIES NOMEN ALIAS QUAERE" Which may be Englished thus: "Here lies the first author of this sentence, THE ITCH OF DISPUTATION WILL PROVE THE SCAB OF THE CHURCH INQUIRE HIS NAME ELSEWHERE'" OF WILLIAM. WORDSWORTH 257 Church of God in that age'; (3) 'That these Albigenses were a purer part of the Church; and though guilty of some errors (as there must be a dawning before the day [cf. lines 3-5]), and charged with more, yet they maintained the same doctrine in ore, which since Luther's time was refined.' Ibid., p. 145: 'They continued till the days of Luther, when this morning-star willingly surrendered his place to him a brighter sun.' 12 Cf. Milton, P. L. 4.971: 'Proud limitarie Cherube.' 2.15 1-9 In Drayton's Agincourt the speech of Chicheley continues for II stanzas (ed. by Anderson, 3.1 ff.) ; Fuller's account follows {Ch. Hist. 1.487): 'The prelates, and abbots especially, began now to have the active soul of King Henry in suspicion. . . . Such a meddling soul must be sent out of harm's way; if that the clergy found not this king some work abroad, he would make them new work at home. . . . Hereupon the clergy cunningly gave vent to his activity by diverting it on a long war upon the French.' Baker, Chronicle, p. 173: 'And thereupon Chicheley, Archbishop of Canterbury, in a long narration deduced the King's right. . . . This indeed struck upon the right string of the King's inclination; for as he affected nothing more than true glory, so in nothing more than in warlike actions. Hereupon nothing was now thought of but the conquest of France. First, therefore, he begins to alter in his arms the bearing of Semi-de-Luces, and quarters the three Flower-de-Luces, as the Kings of France then bare them.' 2 Drayton, Polyolbiori, Upon the Frontispiece: 'The Norman Leopards bath'd in gules.' lo-ii Drayton describes the gathering of the fleet (Agincourt, ed. by Anderson, 3.4-6): . . . these From every small creek cover'd all the seas. 12-14 Fuller (op. cit. 2.197) refers to the 'ambition' of King Henry, 'a spark in himself, . . . inflamed . . . by this prelate's persuasion.' 14 Baker, op. cit., p. 174: 'The wind blowing fair. King Henry weighs anchor, and with a fleet of 1200 sail ... he puts to sea.' Wordsworth's personal associations with this theme may be inferred from the following passage in his sister's Journals (1.119): 'We sowed the scarlet beans in the orchard, and read Henry V there. William lay on his back on the seat, and wept.' 2.16 1-4 Fuller uses the epithet 'shrewd' of the 'thrust' parried by Chicheley; Wordsworth has transferred the word to describe Chicheley's design. Cf. Ch. Hist. 2.197. 18 258 THE ECCLESIASTICAL SONNETS 4-5 Drayton, Agincourt, ed. by Anderson, 3.4: ... an English archer see Who shooting at a French twelve score away, Quite through the body stuck him to a tree. 5-6 Ihid. 3.13: 'Gore . . . blood.' 5-14 Fuller, op. cit. 1.487, 511: 'His victories are loudly sounded forth by our state-historians: a war of more credit than profit to England in this king's reign, draining the men and money thereof. Thus victorious bays bear only barren berries, no whit good for food, and very little for physic; whilst the peaceable olive drops down that precious liquor, "making the face of man to shine therewith." ... If we cast our eyes on the civil estate [1447], we shall find our foreign acquisitions in France, which came to us on foot, running from us on horseback. . . . Yet let not the French boast of their valor, but, under God's providence, thank our sins, and particularly our discords, for their so speedy recoveries. There were many clefts and claps in our council-board; factions betwixt the great lords present thereat; and these differences descended on their attendants and retainers, who, putting on their coats, wore the badges as well of the enmities as of the arms of their lords and masters.' Ibid. i. 514-18: 'Now [1455] began the broils to break out betwixt the two Houses of Lancaster and York. . . . Such who consider the blood lost therein would admire England had any left. . . . Indeed, now the sound of all bells in the steeples was drowned with the noise of drums and trumpets; and yet this good was done by the civil wars — it diverted the prelates from troubling the Lollards; so that this very storm was a shelter to those poor souls, and the heat of these intestine enmities cooled the persecution against them.' 2.17 1-14 Wordsworth, note on i.li : 'I must, however, particularize Fuller, to whom I am indebted in the sonnet upon Wicliffe.' Fuller, Ch. Hist. 1.493: 'Hitherto [1428] the corpse of John Wickliffe had quietly slept in his grave, about one-and-forty years after his death, till his body was reduced to bones, and his bones almost to dust. . . . But now, such the spleen of the council of Constance, as they not only cursed his memory, as dying an obstinate heretic, but ordered that his bones ... be taken out of the ground, and thrown far from any Christian burial. In obedience hereunto . . . the servants . . . take what was left out of the grave, and burnt them to ashes, and cast them into Swift, a neighboring brook running hard by. Thus this brook hath conveyed his ashes into Avon, Avon into Severn, Severn into the narrow seas, they into main ocean. And thus the ashes of Wickliffe are the emblem of his doctrine, which now is dispersed all the world over.' Cf. Lamb's estimate of Fuller's account {Works, ed. by Macdonald, 3. 151): OF WILLIAM WORDSWORTH 259 'The concluding period of this most lively narrative I will not call a conceit: it is one of the grandest conceptions I ever met with.' 5 Cf. the Greek 6nri, a divine or prophetic voice (Iliad 2.41); the 'vox' of Virgil's Georg. 1.476; and Wordsworth's conception of 'voice' in the Concordance, pp. 1064-7. To Richard Sharp (in 1808; see Letters 1.378) he mentioned Two Voices are there as the best of his sonnets. Later, he was more apt to refer 'voice' to a power above external nature, and distinguished from it. 1-14 Wordsworth might have procured the material for this sonnet from The Life of Cardinal Wolsey by Cavendish, in Christo- pher Wordsworth's Ecclesiastical Biography, or from the shorter account of Wolsey's career given in Stow's Chronicle; or even from the MSS. at Lambeth. The reference to Wolsey is unmistakable. Cf. also Henry VIII 3.2.108 ff. The ideas of the sonnet are like those of Milton {Reformation); cf. with line 4 Milton's phrase 'the pomp of prelatism'; and cf. with line 8 his 'vanities thick sown through the volumes of Justin Martyr, Clemens, Origen, TertuUian, and others of oldest time.' 3-4 Cavendish (in Eccl. Biog., ed. by Wordsworth, 1.330) relates the speed of Wolsey's journey to France by the aid of 'post- horses,' and the eagerness with which, being Bishop of Lincoln, he prepared for his installation as Bishop of York {ihid. 1.342). Wolsey later became priest Cardinal and legatus de latere (ibid. 1.343); his preparations to receive the cardinal's hat were osten- tatious {ibid. 1.343-4); 3.nd to his titles. Archbishop and Cardinal, he soon aspired to add that of Chancellor {ibid. 1.344). His retinue, his public 'down-lying' and 'up-rising,' his processions to Westminster and to the Court, his hospitality, are set forth at length. During his entertainment of the French ambassadors at Hampton Court, he 'came in booted and spurred all suddenly among them, and bade them proface' {ibid. 1.411). 5-6 There were 180 persons 'in his check- roll' {ibid. 1.350), detailed in four paragraphs by the gentleman-usher. Cavendish. Ibid. 1. 461: 'And when Mr. Russell was come before him, he most humbly reverenced him, upon his knees, whom my lord stooped unto, and took him up, and bade him welcome.' 6-10 Ibid. 1.542: '"But if I had served God as diligently as I have done the king, he would not have given me over in my gray hairs."' 10-12 Ibid. 1.449: 'O wavering and newfangled multitude! ... I cannot see but always men in authority be disdained with the common sort of people; and they most of all, that do observe and minister justice.' 13-14 Ibid. 1.546: 'Here is the end and fall of pride and 260 THE ECCLESIASTICAL SONNETS arrogancy of men, exalted by fortune to dignities: for, I assure you, in his time he was the haughtiest man in all his proceedings alive; having more respect to the honor of his person than he had to his spiritual profession; wherein should be showed all meekness, humility, and charity.' Fuller, Ch. Hist. 2.25, of Wolsey: 'Pride accounts the greatest plenty, if without pomp [cf. line 4], no better than penury.' 2.19 1-14 Fuller, Ch. Hist. 2.159: 'Antipathy betwixt Friars and Parish-Priests, in Erasmus's jest-earnest Dialogue. Monks, why hating Friars.' My italics in the following passage from Fuller {op. cit. 2.167-8) indicate Wordsworth's indebtedness: ' The specious pretences of piety and contempt of the world, abbots and monks, were notoriously covetous, even to the injury of others. . . . They impoverished parish-priests by decrying their performances and magnifying their own merits. Alas! what was the single devotion of a silly priest, in comparison of a corporation of prayers (twisted cables to draw down blessings on their patrons' heads) from a whole monastery? And, suppose (which was seldom done) the parson in the parish preaching to his people; yet sermons in a church once constituted were needless, as ministering matter of schisms and disputes, and, at the best, only profiting the present; whilst prayers benefited as well the absent as the present, dead as living. But especially prayers of monasteries commanded heaven [cf. line 11], pleased with the holy violence [cf. lines 1-4] of so many and mighty petitioners. By these and other artifices they under- mined all priests in the affections of their own people [cf. line 7], and procured from pope and prince [cf. line 13], that many churches presentative, ivith their glebes and tithes, were appropriated to their convents, leaving but a poor pittance to the parish-vicar' [cf. 'rob']. Wordsworth has translated Fuller's ironical argument into an accu- sation. 2.20 1-14 Bede (Eccl. Hist., tr. by Sellar, p. 284) repeats the proph- ecy made by Adamnan of the destruction of Coldringham: 'The cells that were built for prayer or reading are now converted into places of feasting, drinking, talking, and other delights; the very virgins dedicated to God, laying aside the respect due to their profession, whensoever they are at leisure, apply themselves to weaving fine garments, wherewith to adorn themselves like brides, to the danger of their state, or to gain the friendship of strange men.' The close of this sonnet was taken 'from a MS. written about the year 1770'; so with line 3. See Wordsworth's note on 2.21. 12 Cf. Milton, Hymn on the Morning of Christ's Nativity 175. OF WILLIAM WORDSWORTH 261 1-2 Dyer, Hist. Camb. 2.62-3: 'The immoralities of monas- teries became the subject of complaint very early in the 13th and 14th centuries; . . . and in the beginning of the 15th, Henry IV, commissioners were appointed to visit and reform all the monas- teries of the Cistercian order in England; so that, with respect to the dissolution of these houses, and the confiscating of their reve- nues, the Reformation of the i6th century did but hatch the egg; for it was laid long before.' 1-4 The rhyme 'assuage' . . . 'rage' and the phrase 'belfries mute' are good evidence to refer these lines to Fuller {Ch. Hist. 2.194-5), who speaks of 'the proud motto, commonly written on the bells in their steeples, wherein each bell entitled itself to a six- fold efficacy: 1. Funera plango, "Men's deaths I tell By doleful knell." 2. Fulmina frango , "Lightning and thunder I break asunder." 3. Sahbata pango, "On Sabbath, all To church I call." 4. Excito lentos, "The sleepy head I raise from bed." 5. Dissipo ventos, "The winds so fierce I do disperse." 6. Paco criientos, " Men's cruel rage I do assuage." Whereas, it plainly appears that these abbey-steeples, though quilted with bells almost cap-a-pie, were not of proof against the sword of God's lightning. Yea, generally, when the heavens in tempests did strike fire, the steeples of abbeys proved often their tinder, whose frequent burning portended their final destruction; which now, God willing, we come to relate.' 4-5 Cf. Journals 1.206-7 ^or an authentic picture of 'choir unroofed,' 'warbling wren,' and 'leafy cage.' 6 Refer to my article, Wordsworth and the Bramble, in Jour. Eng. and Germ. Phil. 19.340. For 'gadding' cf. Milton, Lycidas 40. 7-8 Wordsworth, note on 2.21: 'These two lines are adapted from a MS., written about the year 1770, which accidentally fell into my possession. The close of the preceding sonnet on monastic voluptuousness is taken from the same source, as is the verse, "where Venus sits," etc., and the line. "Once ye were holy, ye are holy still," in a subsequent sonnet' [3.35.13]. Cf. Fort Fuentes 1-8. 10 At Waltham Abbey Harold was interred. Cf. Fuller, Ch. Hist. 2.228. 11-14 Stillingfleet, Orig. Brit., pp. 9-10, quoting MS. Cott: '"That in the Western parts of Britain there is a royal Island 262 THE ECCLESIASTICAL SONNETS called Gleston; ... it was devoted to the service of God. Here the first Disciples of the Catholic Law found an ancient Church, not built as was reported by men's hands, but prepared by God himself for the benefit of men, and which by miracles was showed to be consecrated to himself and to the Blessed Virgin. To which they adjoined another Oratory made of stone, which they dedicated to Christ and to St. Peter." The question is, who are here meant by these first disciples of the Catholic Law? not Joseph of Ari- mathea and his companions, who are never mentioned by him, and who are never said to have found a church there built to their hands, but he speaks of some of the first Saxon Christians in those parts, who might probably find there such a low wattled church as is described in Sir H. Spellman [Coficil. Brit. 15]; a remainder of the British Christianity in that island.' Cf. Drayton, Po/yoZ- bion 3.307-12. Turner {Hist. Angl. Sax. 1.401) refers to the rebuilding of Glastonbury by Ine at the request of Aldhelm. Cf. the note on Eccl. Son. 1.2.11-12. 2.22 1-8 Fuller, Ch. Hist. 2.210: 'Ten thousand persons were by this Dissolution sent to seek their fortunes in the wide world. Some, indeed, had fathers or friends to receive them, others none at all. Some had twenty shillings given them at their ejection, and a new gown, which needed to be of strong cloth to last so long till they got another.' Cf. Bruges I 12-14; Journals 2.180. 9-10 Cf. Triad 84-5; Ossian 5-10; cf. also Milton, Hymn on the Morning of Christ's Nativity, stanza 15. 11-14 Cf. Journals 2.52. 1-8 Fuller, Ch. Hist. 2.214: 'Some counted their convents their prisons, being thus confined. ... It was a fine thing when they might, but sad case when they must, live in their monasteries. . . . Many who had hopes of others' subsistence cast off the cowls and vails, and quitted their convents' [cf. Eccl. Son. 2.22.5]. 9-14 Ibid. 2.210: 'Most were exposed to want. I see no such certainty for a comfortable livelihood as a lawful calling; for monkish profession was no possession, and many a young nun proved an old beggar. I pity not those who had hands and health to work; but, surely, the gray hairs of some impotent persons deserved compassion; and I am confident such, had they come to the doors of the charitable reader hereof, should have had a meal's meat and a night's lodging given unto them.' Cf. Misc. Son. 1. 1. 13: 'The weight of too much liberty.' Fuller returns to this theme {op. cit. 2.255): 'Alas! many of them, "dig they could not, — and to beg they were ashamed."' OF WILLIAM WORDSWORTH 263 2.24 1-6 Cf. Excursion 4.894-918; cf. also Milton, Hymn on the Morning of Christ's Nativity, stanzas 19-24. 8 Weever {Funeral Monuments) gives evidence of the numerous dedications to St. Michael. 8-9 Cf. Ode 18 1 4 24. Cf. also the passage {Prose Works 2.153) on the epitaph of Sir George Vane. 9-10 Whitaker, Hist. Craven, p. 371: 'St. Mary, St. Margaret, and St. Helena were the mii^ai ewdpot. \eimcvia8es of Craven.' 11-12 Cf. Dryden, A Song for St. Cecilia's Day, 1687, stanza 7- 12-14 Anderson's British Poets i. 525-31 includes as Chaucerian The Lamentacioft of Marie Magdaleine. See the note on 2.31. 12 for evidence that Wordsworth had recently consulted this volume; Marie's plaint may be quoted in part (p. 528) : Into wildernesse I thinke best to go . . . There for to wepin with gret aboundance. 2.25 1-14 The numerous Cistertian abbeys with which Wordsworth was familiar would suggest a sonnet upon the Virgin, to whose service this order was devoted. Cf. Gtiilt 149-50, Meek Virgin i, Excursion 8.486-90. 6-7 In a note at the beginning of On the Same Occasion, When in, and in the poem itself, Wordsworth amplifies the reference to 'eastern skies at daybreak': 'Our churches, invariably perhaps, stand east and west, but why is by few persons exactly known; nor, that the degree of deviation from due east often noticeable in the ancient ones was determined, in each particular case, by the point in the horizon at which the sun rose upon the day of the saint to whom the church was dedicated. These observances of our ancestors, and the causes of them, are the subject of the fol- lowing stanzas.' 7-8 These two lines occur in MS. F (p. 82) as part of a dis- carded version of 1.2. Presumably they established the rhyme of this sonnet; and the lines ending in 'uncrost,' 'boast,' and 'tost' were suggested by and subsequent to them. 9 Stow, Chronicle, p. 575: 'The Images of our Lady of W^al- singham and Ipswich were brought up to London, with all the jewels that hung about them, and divers other images both in England and Wales, whereunto any common pilgrimage was used, for avoiding of idolatry.' 2.26 1-7 Fuller, whose Church History was Wordsworth's main source in 2.15, 2.16, 2.17, 2.19, 2.21, 2.22, 2.23, seems to be the 264 THE ECCLESIASTICAL SONNETS authority here. He relates within some few pages (2.34-42) the de- bate over 'the supremacy of crafty Rome,' noting the premunire of 1 53 1, the consecration of Cranmer as Archbishop, the divorce and remarriage of Henry, Henry's displeasure at Fisher and More, the imprisonment of Fisher for refusing the Oath of Supremacy, the Convocation of York. He quotes {ibid. 2.48) the words offensive to Fisher in the preamble of the statute of succession: '"The bishop of Rome and see apostolic, contrary to the great and in- violable grants of jurisdiction by God immediately to emperors, kings, and princes, in succession to their heirs, hath presumed in times past to invest who should please them to inherit in other men's kingdoms and dominions; which thing we, your most humble subjects, both spiritual and temporal, do most abhor and detest." ' And he includes Protestants among those not conforming (ibid. 2.105): 'After the execution of the lord Cromwell, the parliament still sitting, a motley execution happened in Smithfield; three papists hanged by the statute for denying the king's suprem- acy, and as many Protestants burned at the same time and place by virtue of the Six Articles, dying with more pain and no less patience.' 8 Ibid. 2.62: '"I forgive thee," said he [Fisher to his execu- tioner], " with all my heart, and I trust thou shalt see me overcome this storm lustily." ' Ibid. 2.6t,: 'These words he spake with . . . such a reverend gravity that he appeared to all men not only void of fear, but also glad of death' [cf. lines 10-12]. 9 Wordsworth's quotation is from Romeo and Juliet 5.1.3: ' My bosom's lord sits lightly in his throne.' See Knight, P. W., Eversley ed., 7.56. 11-12 Notice the Aristotelian terms: 'tragic,' 'pity,' 'fear.' 12 Fuller, op. cif. 2.64: 'Pass we from Fisher to More.' 12-14 Ibid. 2.65: 'Yet some have taxed him that he wore a feather in his cap, and wagged it too often; meaning, he was over-free in his fancies and conceits; insomuch that on the scaffold (a place not to break jests, but to break off all jesting) he could not hold, but bestowed his scoffs on the executioner and standers- by.' The Life of Sir Thomas More, published by Christopher Wordsworth in his Eccl. Biog. (2.53-232), from a MS. in the Lambeth library, was accessible to Wordsworth. In it (2. 11 8) are comments such as: 'Sir Thomas for his wit and learning, even when he lived, throughout all Christendom was almost miraculously accounted of; and (2.132-3) 'As he lived, so he died; always possessing his soul in peace and tranquillity. . . . Going to the scaffold to lose his head, the ascending of the stairs not being easy, " Help me up with one of your hands," said he to one of the officers, "for as for my coming down, let me shift as I may: for by then I am sure I shall take no great harm." His head being laid on the block, the executioner asked him pardon, as the custom is. "I OF WILLIAM WORDSWORTH 265 forgive thee with all my heart" (quoth he). "Marry, my neck is so short, I fear me thou shalt have little honesty by thy workman- ship. See therefore that thou acquit thyself well."' 2.27 1-14 Contrast this sonnet with Milton's Hymn on the Morning of Christ's Nativity, stanzas 20-5, and with the 'joyful annuncia- tion' of Ode 1815, especially lines 25-6: The Arabian desert shapes a willing road Across her burning breast. Cf. Wordsworth's use of the figure of reverberation in Eccl. Son. 1-33. White Doe 670-87, and To Joanna 51-65. Refer to Cooper, On Wordszvorth' s Joanna, in Academy 1969. 108-10. The use of Tiber, Ganges, and the Nile to represent Europe, i\.sia, and Africa is appropriate to the 'holy river.' The obligation to Armstrong's Art of Preserving Health, and to Dyer's The Ruiyis of Rome, is an im- portant one. Cf. the passages in Poems and Extracts, ed. by Little- dale, pp. 54-5, 69-71, as follows: I Dyer: Yon hoary monk laments the same. 3 Ibid.: How musical, when all-composing Time, Here sits upon his throne of ruins hoar While winds and tempests sweep his various lyre, How sweet the diapason! 4 Armstrong: A land of genii? 5 Dyer: Fallen, fallen, a silent heap! Behold the pride of pomp, The throne of nations, fall'n! obscured in dust; Even yet majestical. 6-9 Armstrong: Now come, ye Naiads, to the fountains lead; Now let me wander through your ^elid reign. . . . First springs the Nile; here bursts the sounding Po In angry waves; Euphrates hence devolves A mighty flood to water half the East ; And there in Gothic solitude reclined The cheerless Tanais pours his hoary urn. Dyer: Shrouded Nile, Eridanus, and Tiber with his twins. And palmy Euphrates; who with dropping locks Hang o'er their urns, and mournfully among The plaintive-echoing ruins pour their streams. 11-14 Stow, Chronicle, p. 62: 'Mahomet . . . was very skilful in magic, and had learned many deceits of the Egyptians: for the which he was held in admiration of the rude ignorant Saracens, 266 THE ECCLESIASTICAL SONNETS and distracted Arabians. . . . This subtle Mahomet attributed great divinity to himself; and having the falling sickness, he denied it, saying he was only in a trance, being ravished with the vision of the Angel Gabriel, who delivered him secret instructions and new commandments from God. He taught a white dove to peck food out of his ears, which he made the people believe was the Holy Ghost that came to inspire him. By means whereof, and other his illusions which his cunning confederates used in his behalf, he strongly possessed the multitude with a most holy and reverent opinion of him. . . . [His] devilish and anti-Christian doctrine, through the negligence and civil dissension of the Christian princes, hath overspread all Asia, Africa, and the best part of Europe, and in many places of India' [cf. lines 9 and 10, and the references to Tiber, Ganges, Nile]. 2.28 1-3 Cf. Journals 1.6, 57. 6-9 Milton, P. L. 3.474-5, 487-96, as Knight indicates (P. W., Eversley ed., 7.57): Eremits and Friers White, Black and Grey, with all thir trumperie. . . . A violent cross wind from either Coast Blows them transverse ten thousand Leagues awry Into the devious Air; then might ye see Cowles, Hoods and Habits with thir wearers tost And flutterd into Ragfgs, then Reliques, Beads, Indulgences, Dispenses, Pardons, Bulls, The sport of Winds: all these upwhirld aloft Fly o're the backside of the World farr off Into a Limbo large and broad, since calld The Paradise of Fools. 9-14 Daniel, Works, ed. by Grosart, 5.98-9: 'Such is the nature of Domination, wheresoever it sits, that, finding an yielding- ness to endure, it never thinks it hath power sufficient, unless it hath more than enough; for, if the Popes (the professed sovereigns of piety) upon the advantage of men's zeal, and belief, grew to make their will and their power equal (so that to question their sanctions was taught to be sin against the Holy Ghost), no marvel if secular Princes, whose consciences are untied, strive to break out into the wildness of their wills from those bounds wherein by the law of the State they are placed.' 2.29 l-li Fuller, Ch. Hist. 2.313, after referring to the Liturgy: 'The Book of books still remains; I mean the Bible itself The First Translation of the Bible. Set forth in the reign of King Henry VHI, anno 1541, countenanced with a grave and pious preface of Archbishop Cranmer, and authorized by the King's OF WILLIAM WORDSWORTH 267 proclamation, dated May ,6th, seconded also with "Instructions" from the King; to prepare people to receive benefit the better from "so heavenly a treasure," it was called "the Bible of the greater volume," rather commended than commatided to people.' 2 Cf. M'lton, Reformation: ' Then was the sacred Bible sought out of the dusty corners where profane falsehood and neglect had thrown it.' 4 Milton {ibid.) refers to 'Our Chaucer's Ploughman.'' 12-14 Cf. Fuller's accounts of the 'Devon commotion' and the 'Norfolk rebellion' {Ch. Hist. 2.318-26), and especially the fol- lowing: 'The people tumultuously compelled the priest ... to say mass and officiate in Latin, as best pleased with what they least understood.' Cf. White Doe 711-14: To Durham first their course they bear; . And in Saint Cuthbert's ancient seat Sang mass, — and tore the book of prayer, — And trod the bible beneath their feet. Child {The English and Scottish Popnlar Ballads 3.401-8) gives the ballad. The Rising in the North. 2.30 1-14 For the form of this sonnet Wordsworth was unmistakably indebted to Hebrews 1 1 : Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. For by it the elders obtained a good report. Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear. And cf. the phrases 'by faith' and 'through faith' at the beginning of the following verses of this chapter: 4, 5, 7, 8, 9, il, 17, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31. For the ideas and some of the phrases he has recalled Milton: P. L. 1. 17-18; Church-gov., ' the soul of man, which is his rational temple,' and 'the love of God, as a fire sent from heaven to be ever kept alive upon the altars of our hearts' ; and passages in Reformation. 4-5 Wordsworth, Convention of Cintra, Prose Works 1.208: 'In following the stream of these thoughts, I have not wandered from my course: I have drawn out to open day the truth from its recesses in the minds of my countrymen.' Cf. the frequent and often symbolical use of 'root,' 'rooted,' 'roots,' in the Concordance, p. 801. 6 Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, are the patriarchs to whom St. Paul and Wordsworth refer. 7-8 The Ten Commandments. 9-14 Hebrews 12.2: 'Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith . . .' 268 THE ECCLESIASTICAL SONNETS 12 For instance, PauL • 13-14 Cf. Hebrews 3.14, 9.12, 9.24. 2.31 1-4 Wordsworth modernized The Prioress' Tale in 1801 {Jour- nals 1.67). I Prioress 61: 'Sweet is the holiness of youth.' This line does not occur in Chaucer. 5-14, and especially 12 Denham's verses on the death of Cowley are in Anderson's Works of the British Poets prefixed to the selections from Chaucer (Title-page to Chaucer, vol. i): Old Chaucer, like the morning star, To us discovers day from far; His light those mists and clouds dissolv'd, Which our dark nation long involv'd; But he descending to the shades. Darkness again the age invades. Cf. Spenser, Hymn of Heavenly Love 25.2; Milton, P. L. 5.705 and So7ig on May Morning i; Revelation 2.28, 22.16. Cf. also the Essay Supplementary, 1815 (P. W., Oxford ed., p. 951): 'What is become of the morning-star of English Poetry?' Still earlier {Reply to the Letter of Mathetes, Prose Works 1.91) : ' Happy moment was it for England when her Chaucer, who has been rightly called the morning-star of her literature, appeared above the horizon; when her Wicliffe, like the sun, shot orient beams through the night of Romish superstition!' In this same year (1909-10) was published Christopher Wordsworth's Eccl. Biog., including Foxe's account of Chaucer and Cower. Cf. this work 1.308: 'I marvel to consider this, how that the bishops condemning and abolishing all manner of English books and treatises which might bring the people to any light of knowledge, did yet authorize the works of Chaucer to remain still and to be occupied; who (no doubt) saw in religion as much almost as even we do now, and uttereth in his works no less, and seemeth to be a right Wiclevian, or else was never any.' 7-9 Chaucer, The Prioress' Tale 50-7: Among thise children was a widwes sone, A litel clergeon, seven year of age, That day by day to scole was his wone. And eek also, wher-as he saugh th'image Of Cristes moder, hadde he in usage. As him was taught, to knele adoun and seye His Ave Marie, as he goth by the weye. 8 Fuller, Ch. Hist. 2.357: 'Such was the piety of this young prince, that, being about to take down something which was above his reach, one of his play-fellows proffered him a bossed-plated Bible to stand upon, and heighten him to take what he desired. Perceiving it a Bible, with holy indignation he refused it, and sharply reproved the offerer thereof; it being unfit he should trample that OF WILLIAM WORDSWORTH 269 under his feet which he was to treasure up in his head and heart.' Ibid. 2.358: 'When crowned king, his goodness increased with his greatness; constant in his private devotions.' 2.32 1-14 Burnet, Hist. Ref. 2.2.126, quoting Cardan's De Genitura Edwardi Sexti: ' Dignus Apollineis Lachrymis.' Baker, Chron- icle, p. 311: 'Concerning his personage, it is said he was in body beautiful, of a sweet aspect, and specially in his eyes, which seemed to have a starry liveliness and lustre in them. Concerning his conditions, in matter of fact, there is not much to be said; but in matter of disposition and inclination very much, even to admira- tion. . . . For proof of his merciful disposition this one example may be sufficient: when one Joan Butcher was to be burned for blasphemy and heresy, all the council could not get him to sign the warrant, till the Archbishop Cranmer, with much importunity, persuaded him; and then he did it, but not without weeping.' 2-33 1-2 In the year 1553 (Baker, Chronicle, p. 311). 2-3 Burnet, Jy^^i. i?e/. 2.1.426, 429: 'The people were generally running to Queen Mary! . . . The tide grew everywhere strong for the queen.' 4-5 Ihid. 2. 1. 19, of ante-Marian idolatry: 'It was notorious that the people everywhere doated on them [images], and gave them divine honor. Nor did the clergy, who were generally too guilty themselves of such abuses, teach them how to distinguish aright; and the acts of worship that were allowed were such, that, beside the scandal such worship had in it, and the danger of drawing people into idolatry, it was in itself inexcusable to offer up such external parts of religious adoration to gold or silver, wood or stone.' Then followed Ridley's Lenten sermon. Gardiner was offended {ibid. 20), 'hearing that on May-day the people of Ports- mouth had removed and broken the images of Christ and the saints.' Burnet {ihid. 2.2.97) quotes a paper written in French by Edward VI, a collection of scriptural passages against idolatry. Cf. Milton, Piemont 4; P.L. 12. 119. 6-12 Stow {Chronicle, pp. 616-17) gives an account of Mary's coronation: 'At the upper end of Grace-street there was another pageant made by the Florentines very high, on the top whereof there stood four pictures, and in the midst of them, and most highest, there stood an Angel all in green, with a trumpet in his hand; and when the trumpeter that stood secretly in the pageant did sound his trump, the Angel did put his trump to his mouth, as though it had been the same that had sounded, to the great marveling of many ignorant persons. . . . The cross in Cheap new washed and burnished. . . . The twenty-seven of August, the service began in Latin to be sung in Paul's Church in London! 270 THE ECCLESIASTICAL SONNETS . . . And on the one and twentieth of December, began throughout England the Church service to be done in Latin.' 13-14 Fuller, Ch. Hist. 2.360: 'Whilst mutual animosities were heightened betwixt the opposers and assertors of the Liturgy, Providence put a period for a time to that controversy in England. Such who formerly would not — soon after durst not — use the Common Prayer; mass and popery being set up by Queen Mary in the room thereof. Thus when children fall out and fight about the candle, the parents, coming in and taking it away, leave them to decide the differences in the dark.' 2.34 I Fuller, Ch. Hist. 2.399: 'Of all the Marian martyrs, Mr. Philpot was the best-born gentleman; bishop Ridley, the pro- foundest scholar; Mr. Bradford, the holiest and the devoutest man; archbishop Cranmer, of the mildest and meekest temper; bishop Hooper, of the sternest and austerest nature; Dr. Taylor had the merriest and pleasantest wit; Mr. Latimer had the plainest and simplest heart, etc. O the variety of these several instruments! O their joint harmony in a concert to God's glory!' 2-3 Foxe (Acts and Mon. 2.1606) prints 'A table describing the burning of B. Ridley and father Latimer at Oxford.' 4-8 Wordsworth, note on 2.34: '"M. Latimer suffered his keeper very quietly to pull off his hose, and his other array, which to look unto was very simple; and being stripped into his shroud, he seemed as comely a person to them that were present, as one should lightly see: and whereas in his clothes he appeared a withered and crooked silly (weak) old man, he now stood bolt upright, as comely a father as one might lightly behold. . . . Then they brought a faggot, kindled with fire, and laid the same down at Dr. Ridley's feet. To whom Mr. Latimer spake in this manner, 'Be of good comfort, master Ridley, and play the man: we shall this day light such a candle by God's grace in England, as I trust shall never be put out."' — Foxe's Acts, &. Similar alterations in the outward figure and deportment of persons brought to like trial were not uncommon. See note to the above passage in Dr. Words- worth's Ecclesiastical Biography, for an example in an humble Welsh fisherman.' Cf. Eccl. Biog. 3.287: 'It is recorded further- more of the said good father Rawlines . . . that as he was going to his death and standing at the stake, he seemed in a manner to be altered in nature. For whereas before he was wont to go stooping, or rather crooked through the infirmity of age, having a sad countenance, and a very feeble complexion, and withal very soft in speech and gesture; now he went and stretched up himself not only bolt upright, but also bare withal a most comfortable countenance, not without great courage and audacity both in speech and behavior. Foxe's Acts, p. 1416.' 11-12 I have been unable to find the source of this quotation. OF WILLIAM WORDSWORTH 271 2-35 i-ii Foxe, Acts and Mon. 2. 17 14: 'Then was an iron chain tied about Cranmer, whom when they perceived to be more stead- fast than that he could be moved from his sentence, they com- manded the fire to be set unto him. And when the wood was kindled, and the fire began to burn near him, stretching out his arm, he put his right hand into the flame, which he held so stead- fast and immovable (saving that once with the same hand he wiped his face) that all men might see his hand burned before his body was touched. His body did so abide the burning of the flame with such constancy and steadfastness, that standing always in one place without moving his body, he seemed to move no more than the stake to which he was bound: his eyes were lifted up into heaven, and oftentimes he repeated his "unworthy right hand," so long as his voice would suffer him: and using often the words of Stephen, "Lord Jesus receive my spirit," in the greatness of the flame he gave up the ghost.' I Burnet, Hist. Ref. 2.1.605: 'All the way the priests up- braided him for changing.' 4 Foxe, op. cit. 2. 1 7 14: 'Such a countenance of gravity moved the hearts both of his friends and of his enemies.' 6-7 Ibid.: 'His feet were bare. Likewise his head, when both his caps were ofT, was so bare one hair could not be seen upon it.' 8 Ibid.: 'His shirt was made long down to his feet.' 9 Ibid.: 'This fortitude of mind, which perchance is rare and not found among the Spaniards, when friar John saw, thinking it came not of fortitude, but of desperation . . .' 12-14 Wordsworth, note on 2.35: 'For the belief in this fact, see the contemporary historians.' Cf. Baker, Chronicle, p. 321: ' Only (which was no small miracle) his heart remained whole and not once touched with the fire.' This legend and the note first appeared in the series in 1827. 2.36 1-3 Fuller, Ch. Hist. 2.402-3: 'The heraldry of heaven knows how to marshal them, in the place of dignity due unto them. .^ . . But, though the Protestants showed much mercy to the Papists, their persecutors, yet the God of the Protestants manifested much justice in their woful and wretched deaths. . . . However, when a remarkable death suddenly follows a notorious, wicked life, even such passengers as are posting in the speed of their private affairs are bound to make a stand, and solemnly to observe the justice of God's proceedings therein.' 4-9 Ibid. 2.404: '"Rejoice, O ye nations, with his people: for he will avenge the blood of his servants, and will render vengeance to his adversaries, and will be merciful unto his land, and to his 272 THE ECCLESIASTICAL SONNETS people." Deut. xxxii.43.' Such 'showers of blood seem rather to incite than to allay' the spirit of Fuller, for he goes on to take issue with the Jesuit, Parsons, in a 'cloud ... of polemic dust.' 9-1 1 Ibid. 2.381, 446-7, 463: 'The issueless Issue of a Dispu- tation at Oxford. . . . The Disputations betwixt the Papists and Protestants at Westminster. . . . Whereof more noise than fruit, and wherein more passion than reason, cavils than arguments. . . . The assembly dissolved, it were hard to say which were louder — the Papists in complaining, or the Protestants in triumphing. . . . Bale rails not more on Papists, than Pits ... on Protestant writers.' 10-12 Cf. Milton, P. L. 2.51-70. 14 Cf. Homer, Iliad 6.T)T,(): viKrj d' tTranei^eTai. avdpas. 2.37 1-14 Fuller, Ch. Hist. 2.407 ff: 'Come we now to set down the sad troubles of Frankfort, rending these banished exiles asunder into several factions. . , . Thus settled in their church, their next care was to write letters ... to all the English congregations . . . to invite them, with all convenient speed, to come and join with them at Frankfort. This is the "communion of saints," who never account themselves peaceably possessed of any happiness until (if it be in their power) they have also made their fellow- sufferers partakers thereof. However, this their invitation found not any great entertainment amongst the other English church- colonies; all delaying, and some denying, to come; but especially . . . those of Zurich were resolved no whit to recede from the Liturgy used in England under the reign of King Edward VI, and, except those of Frankfort would give them assurance that, coming thither, they should have full and free use thereof, they utterly refused any communion with their congregation.' 9 'Prurient speculations,' the reading from 1822 to 1827, in- dicates that Wordsworth had read Walton's transcript of Wotton's epitaph (Lives 1.183): '"Hie jacet hujus sententiae primus author, DISPUTANDI PRURITUS ECCLESIARUM SCABIES NOMEN ALIAS QUAERE" Which may be Englished thus: "Here lies the first author of this sentence, THE ITCH OF DISPUTATION WILL PROVE THE SCAB OF THE CHURCH INQUIRE HIS NAME ELSEWHERE'" OF WILLIAM WORDSWORTH 289 13. 10-12 Bishop Seabury, in his Brief View (p. 2), a sermon on Bishop White sent by Seabury himself to Wordsworth {Memoirs 2.389), refers to Moses and the children of Israel: 'He conducted them in their perilous sojourn through the wilderness, heading them in the hour of danger, guiding them in perplexity, and cheering them in adversity, until they arrived at the confines of the promised land.' Seabury applies the figure to the leadership of W^hite. 13. 13-14 Bishop Doane's Sermon has as its text Proverbs 4.18: 'The path of the just is as the shining light.' 14. 1-9 Bishop Seabury {op. cit., pp. 21-2) speaks of 'the excellence of our laws in discouraging the spirit of caprice and innovation without repressing a prudent zeal,' and of 'the whole- some restraints of our discipline,' which, 'far from checking the flow of piety, have served rather to guide it in the channels of peace and order.' 14. 9-14 Bishop Doane's Sermon (p. 6) has a passage very like the sestet of Wordsworth's sonnet: 'Nor does the glorious progress ever terminate. . . . "They go on from strength to strength." They rise from grace to grace. Knowledge is added to knowledge. Virtue is builded upon virtue. . . . Triumph lends facility to triumph. Conquest gathers security from conquest.' Cf. also Seabury, op. cit., p. 25: 'Happy are we, my brethren, as a Church at unity with herself.' 15. 1 Bishop Doane's Sermon begins with a rhapsody on the word 'light.' 15.7 Cf. the 'Church at unity' of the note on 14. 9-14. 15.8 Letter to Wordsworth from Henry Reed, April 7, 1840, in MS. in the collection of Mrs. St. John: 'I have in my mind the career of the late Bishop White (the grandfather of my wife)- — a long old age was his in the enjoyment of unbroken health. Year after year came round, and we beheld him still zealous in his ecclesiastical functions, active for the good of mankind, with his kindred and friends around him, awaiting with placid piety his last hour; and thus was his life protracted to near the verge of 90 years, and to the last his length of days was a happiness to himself and a blessing mercifully vouchsafed to his fellow men.' Cf. also Doane, op. cit., p. 28: 'His saintly death.' 15.9 Seabury, op. cit. (p. 7): 'The venerable patriarch'; and (p. 26) : 'The family that has been reared and educated and advan- tageously, settled in life by the labors of a father . . . grieve at his loss'; and (p. 22): 'Our missionaries. Bishops as well as Pres- byters, are found in the distant extremes of both hemispheres.' 15. 1 1 Doane, op. cit., p. 14: 'A Church was to be reformed, and Thomas Cranmer rose. A Church was to be built up, and he sent William White.' 15.12 Cf. the note on 14. 1-9. 20 290 THE ECCLESIASTICAL SONNETS 15. 13-14 Seabury, op. cit., p. 21: 'The silent influence of collective wisdom embodied in a primitive and catholic liturgy.' Doane {op. cit.) refers to the Scriptures in this connection, and continues (p. 16): 'The learning of our senior Bishop ... he [poured out] as freely as men pour out water, and with as much simplicity.' Cf. the note on Eccl. Son. 1. 25. 1 3-14. Doane is also the source of the unusual phrase 'patient energy' (p. 17). 3-i6 1-5 The Annotated Book of Common Prayer, ed. by Blunt, 1871, P- 557= 'And now again we exhort you, in the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you have in remembrance into how high a Dignity, and to how weighty an Office and Charge ye are called: that is to say, to be Messengers, Watchmen, and Stewards of the Lord; to teach and to premonish, to feed and provide for the Lord's family; to seek for Christ's sheep that are dispersed abroad, and for his children who are in the midst of this naughty world, that they may be saved through Christ for ever. . . . Have always therefore printed in your remembrance, how great a treasure is committed to your charge. For they are the sheep of Christ, which he bought with his death, and for whom he shed his blood.' Cf. Jeremiah 5.6, Ezekiel 22.27, Habakkuk 1.8, Zephaniah 3.3, Matthew 7.15 and 10.16, Acts 20.29. 9-14 Ihid., p. 557: 'And if it shall happen the same Church, or any Member thereof, to take any hurt or hindrance by reason of your negligence, ye know the greatness of the fault, and also the horrible punishment that will ensue.' 12 Cf. the 'gulf profound' of Milton's Serbonian bog {P.L. 2.592); cf. also {Apology) his reference to 'the non-resident and plurality-gaping prelates, the gulfs and whirlpools of benefices, but the dry pits of all sound [line 10] doctrine.' 13 Henry Reed wrote to Wordsworth, Sept. 28, 1843, a letter now in the collection of Mrs. St. John: 'In the sonnet on the ordination and consecration services is there not a possibility that the "if" in the last line but one ("if rightly taught") may be misapprehended so as to convey the notion of an expression of doubt. I do not at all so understand your meaning, but it has occurred to me that it might be so taken, especially as it is preceded in the same sentence by another "if," which is purely conditional in its meaning, and another of the same kind some lines above. Would it admit of the' substitution of the word "for" ("for they were rightly taught")?' Wordsworth replied {Letters 3.284): 'I thank you for your criticism upon the sonnet. Let it be altered as you suggest.' But the change was not made in the text. 3-17 1-2 Wordsworth usually refers to an individual star. But cf. Prelude 6.127-8. OF WILLIAM WORDSWORTH 291 3-4 Cf. Misc. Son. 1.32. 1-2: With Ships the sea was sprinkled far and nigh, Like stars in heaven, and joyously it showed. 5-8 Cf. Duddon 31. 1-6: The Kirk of Ulpha to the pilgrim's eye Is welcome as a star, that doth present Its shining forehead through the peaceful rent Of a black cloud diffused o'er half the sky: Or as a fruitful palm-tree towering high O'er the parched waste beside an Arab's tent. 9-14 Cf. Desc. Seen. Lakes, Prose Works 2.60-3, especially the following: 'A man must be very insensible who would not be touched with pleasure at the sight of the chapel of Buttermere, so strikingly expressing, by its diminutive size, how small must, be the congregation there assembled, as it were, like one family; and proclaiming at the same time to the passenger, in connection with the surrounding mountains, the depth of the seclusion in which the people live, that has rendered necessary the building of a separate place of worship for so few.' 3.18 •1-14 Wordsworth, note on 3.18: 'Among the benefits arising, as Mr. Coleridge has well observed, from a Church establishment of endowments corresponding with the wealth of the country to which it belongs, may be reckoned as eminently important, the examples of civility and refinement which the clergy stationed at intervals afiford to the whole people. The established clergy in many parts of England have long been, as they continue to be, the principal bulwark against barbarism, and the link which unites the sequestered peasantry with the intellectual advancement of the age. Nor is it below the dignity of the subject to observe that their taste, as acting upon rural residences and scenery, often furnishes models which country gentlemen, who are more at liberty to follow the caprices of fashion, might profit by. The precincts of an old residence must be treated by ecclesiastics with respect, both from prudence and necessity. I remember being much pleased some 3'ears ago at Rose Castle, the rural seat of the See of Carlisle, with a style of garden and architecture which, if the place had belonged to a wealthy layman, would no doubt have been swept away. A parsonage-house generally stands not far from the church; this proximity imposes favorable restraints, and sometimes sug- gests an affecting union of the accommodations and elegancies of life with the outward signs of piety and mortality. With pleasure r recall to mind a happy instance of this in the residence of an old and much-valued friend in Oxfordshire. The house and church stand parallel to each other, at a small distance; a circular lawn, or rather grass-plot, spreads between them; shrubs and trees 292 THE ECCLESIASTICAL SONNETS curve from each side of the dwelling, veiling, but not hiding, the church. From the front of this dwelling no part of the burial- ground is seen; but as you wind by the side of the shrubs towards the steeple-end of the church, the eye catches a single, small, low, monumental head-stone, moss-grown, sinking into, and gently inclining towards the earth. Advance, and the churchyard, populous and gay with glittering tombstones, opens upon the view. This humble and beautiful parsonage called forth a tribute, for which see the seventh of the Miscellaneous Sonnets, PartllL' The sonnet to which Wordsworth refers was from 1822 to 1827 in print only here, at the end of his note on Pastoral Character. Cf. MS. F, p. 107; cf. also Excursion 5.97-106, 769. 3-19 1-14 Knight, P. W., Eversley ed., 7.89: 'Cf. The Christian Year, by Keble, passim.' 1-3 The phrase 'passionate exercise of lofty thoughts' recalls the Preface of 1800: 'The manner in which we associate ideas in a state of excitement.' 9-14 The frequent revision of this sonnet (see p. 201) indicates Wordsworth's uncertainty as to the part the liturgical group should play in the series. 14 Revelation 21.1: 'And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea.' 3.20 I Wordsworth wrote to Reed, Sept. 27, 1845, about the edition of 1845 (Memoirs 2.425): 'In a very few instances I have altered the expression for the worse, on account of the same feeling or word occurring rather too near the passage. For example, the sonnet on Baptism begins "Blest be the Church." But unfortu- nately the word occurs some three or four lines just before or after; I have therefore, though reluctantly, substituted the less impressive word, "Dear be the Church."' Does he refer to 'fitliest'? 'Blest' occurs no nearer than 3.13 or 3.31; 'blessed,' however, occurs in 3.16.1. 1-4 Walton (Hooker, in Lives 2.21-2) speaks of 'the seeds of piety ... so seasonably planted, and so continually watered with the daily dew of God's blessed spirit, that his infant virtues grew into such holy habits as did make him grow daily into more and more favor, both with God and man.' Book of Common Prayer, ed. by Blunt, pp. 217-18: 'Dearly beloved, forasmuch as all men are conceived and born in sin; and that our Saviour Christ saith. None can enter into the kingdom of God, except he be regenerate and born anew of Water and of the holy Ghost; I beseech you to call upon God the Father, through our Lord Jesus Christ, that of OF WILLIAM WORDSWORTH 293 his bounteous mercy he will grant to this Child that thing which by nature he cannot have.' 8 Ihid., p. 220: 'After the Gospel is read, the Minister shall make this brief exhortation upon the words of the Gospel.' See ihid., pp. 221-3, for the pledges of godfathers and godmothers. 3.21 1-14 See the Book of Common Prayer, ed. by Blunt, pp. 221-3, for the vows of the sponsors. 12 Shakespeare, Macbeth 4.1.83. 3.22 1-14 Hutchinson, P. W., Oxford ed., p. 445: 'See Bishop Wordsworth's Memoirs of William Wordsworth 1.8; and The Prelude 5.256-93.' Memoirs: 1 remember my mother only in some few situations, one of which was her pinning a nosegay to my breast when I was going to say the Catechism in the church, as was customary before Easter.' 5 Virgil, Ec. 1.54-5: Hyblaeis apibus florem depasta salicti Saepe levi somnum suadebit inire susurro. Wordsworth's references to bees are numerous. Cf. Vernal Ode, especially line 90: To the soft murmur of the vagrant Bee. Cf. the vocabulary of this sonnet with that of The Funeral Service, Eccl. Son. 3.31 (1845). The diction of the later sonnet is more abstract ('vernal posy' — 'hope'), more general ('happy hand' — 'weal, care'), less personal ('Pastor' — -'Church'), more formal ('sweet flowers' — ^'blest rite'), less emotional ('anxious heart' — 'mortal weight'), less suggestive of associated experience ('murmur . . . dis- tant bee' — 'its natural echo'), and less compact ('heartfelt' — 'deep in the thankful heart'). 3-23 4-5, 8 Book of Common Prayer, ed. by Blunt, p. 256: 'Do ye here, in the presence of God, and of this congregation, renew the solemn promise and vow that was made in your name at your Baptism; rectifying and confirming the same in your own persons, and acknowledging yourselves bound to believe, and to do, all those things which your Godfathers and Godmothers then under- took for you?' 5-6 Ibid.: ' I do.' 9-10 Ibid., p. 258: 'Then all of them in order kneeling before the Bishop, he shall lay his hand upon the head of every one severally.' 294 THE ECCLESIASTICAL SONNETS 10 Ibid.: 'Defend, O Lord, this thy child with thy heavenly grace, that he may continue thine for ever: and daily increase in thy holy Spirit more and more, until he come unto thy everlasting kingdom.' 3-24 5, 10-13 Milton, P. L. 7.1, 7-12: Descend from Heav'n Urania, . . . Heav'niie borne, Before the Hills appeerd, or Fountain flow'd, Thou with Eternal wisdom didst converse, Wisdom thy Sister, and with her didst play In presence of th' Almightie Father, pleas'd With thy Celestial Song. 3-25 5-8 Book of Common Prayer, ed. by Blunt, p. 183: 'Therefore with Angels and Archangels, and with all the company of heaven, we laud and magnify thy glorious Name.' lO-ii Ibid., p. 173: 'Do ye not know, that they who would minister about holy things live of the sacrifice; and they who wait at the altar are partakers with the altar?' 11-13 Ibid., p. 172: 'Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in Heaven.' 13-14 Prayer is made for the Church militant. 3.26 2-3 Book of Common Prayer, ed. by Blunt, p. 264: 'Dearly beloved, we are gathered together here in the sight of God, and in the face of this congregation . . .' 4-5 Ibid., pp. 266-8: 'The Minister, receiving the woman at her father's or friend's hands, shall cause the man with his right hand to take the woman by her right hand. . . And the woman, with her right hand taking the man by his right hand. . . And the man shall give unto the woman a ring.' 5-8 Ibid., p. 269: 'Send thy blessing upon these thy servants . . . that . . . [they] may surely perform and keep the vow and covenant betwixt them made.' 10 Spenser, Epithalamion 216-17. Knight and Smith both refer to this source. Knight also refers to Southey's All for Love 4.46 (P. W., Eversley ed., 7.95). 3-27 1-14 Harper {William Wordsworth 2.51) quotes from a letter of Dorothy Wordsworth to Mrs. Clarkson, July 15, [1803]: 'To-day OF WILLIAM WORDSWORTH 295 we have all been at Church. Mary was churched and the babe christened.' 6-8 Book of Common Prayer, ed. by Blunt, p. 305: 'Forasmuch as it hath pleased Almighty God of his goodness to give you safe deliverance, and hath preserved you in the great danger of child- birth; you shall therefore give hearty thanks unto God.' 8-13 Notice Wordsworth's adaptation of this liturgical prayer {ibid., p. 306): 'Grant, we beseech thee . . . that she, through thy help, may both faithfully live, and walk according to thy will in this life present.' 3.28 4-6 Book of Common Prayer, ed. by Blunt, p. 277: 'When any person is sick, notice shall be given thereof to the Minister of the Parish; who, coming into the sick person's house, shall say . . . When he cometh into the sick man's presence he shall say, kneeling down . . . Then the Minister shall say, Let us Pray.' 7-9 Ihid., pp. 283-4: 'Here shall the sick person be moved to make a special confession of his sins, if he feel his conscience troubled with any weighty matter. After which confession, the Priest shall absolve him (if he humbly and heartily desire it) after this sort.' 9-14 Ibid., p. 279: 'That, if it be thy good pleasure to restore him to his former health, he may lead the residue of his life in thy fear, and to thy glory: or else give him grace so to take thy visitation, that after this painful life ended he may dwell with thee in life everlasting.' 3-29 1-3 Book of Common Prayer, ed. by Blunt, pp. 308-9, note: 'The introduction of the awful Judaic maledictions into the ancient service, and the archaic character of the homily, will probably always restrict its use to the first day of Lent. The form in which these are used is singularly out of character with the general tone of the Prayer Book; denunciation of sin ordinarily taking the form of a Litany, not of an exhortation, under the Christian dispensation.' 7-8 Ibid., p. 307: 'The general sentences of God's cursing against impenitent sinners . . . and that ye should answer to every sentence, Amen.' 13-14 Ibid., p. 308: 'For now is the axe put unto the root of the trees, so that every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire.' 3-30 5 Book of Common Prayer, ed. by Blunt, p. 525: 'O most powerful and glorious Lord God, at whose command the winds blow, and lift up the waves of the sea, and who stillest the rage thereof . . .' 296 THE ECCLESIASTICAL SONNETS 6-8 Ibid., p. 527: 'We . . . humbly present ourselves again before thy Divine Majesty, to offer a sacrifice of praise and thanks- giving, for that thou heardest us when we called in our trouble, and didst not cast out our prayer, which we made before thee in our great distress: even when we gave all for lost, our ship, our goods, our lives, then didst thou mercifully look upon us, and wonderfully command a deliverance.' 8-14 Ibid., p. 526: 'Thou sittest in the throne judging right, and therefore we make our address to thy Divine Majesty in this our necessity, that thou wouldest take the cause into thine own hand, and judge between us and our enemies.' 3-31 1-14 Cf. the last note on Eccl. Son. 3.22. 5-6 Book of Common Prayer, ed. by Blunt, p. 295: 'I know that my Redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth.' 9-1 1 Ibid., p. 297: 'He cometh up, and is cut down, like a flower.' Cf. Psalm 103.15: 'As for man, his days are as grass: a a flower of the field, so he flourisheth.' 13-14 I Corinthians 15.55. 3-32 I The Book of Common Prayer. 2-3 Wordsworth, note on 3.32: 'This is still continued in many churches in Westmoreland. It takes place in the month of July, when the floor of the stalls is strewn with fresh rushes; and hence it is called the "Rush-bearing."' Cf. Letters 3.205. 4-12 Whitaker, Hist. Craven, p. 402: 'Among the seasons of periodical festivity was the rush-bearing, or the ceremony of conveying fresh rushes to strew the floor of the parish church. This method of covering floors was universal in houses while floors were of earth; but is now confined to places of worship. The bundles of the girls were adorned with wreaths of flowers, and the evening concluded with a dance.' 13-14 Laud's concern for the outward form of worship has been mentioned {Eccl. Son. 2.45). Hooker's perambulations are referred to by Walton (Lives 2.91-2): 'He would by no means omit the customary time of procession, persuading all, both rich and poor, if they desired the preservation of love, and their parish rights and liberties, to accompany him in his perambulation; and most did so: in which perambulation he would usually express more pleasant discourse than at other times, and would then always drop some loving and facetious observations, to be remembered against the next year, especially by the boys and young people; still inclining them and all his present parishioners to meekness and mutual OF WILLIAM WORDSWORTH 297 kindnesses and love; because "Love thinks not evil, but covers a multitude of infirmities."' 3-33 1-6 Whitaker, Hist. Craven, pp. 401-2: 'The Catholic religion was admirably calculated to lay hold on the imagination and senses of the vulgar. It was a religion of shows and festivities. Nor was its influence forgotten in Craven at the end of two centuries after the "Reformation. Such as the great holidays of the Church, the feast of the patron saint, parochial perambulations and religious epochs in private families, baptisms, thanksgivings after child- birth, marriages, and even burials, were all celebrated with ca- rousing. To these may be added the masks, mummeries, and rude dramatic performances, which evidently arose out of the mystery plays anciently exhibited in the parish church by the minister and his clerks. And when we take into account another class of feastings purely rustic, such as the sheep-shearing, hay-getting, and harvest-home, it cannot be denied that the life of a Craven peasant was sufficiently diversified and cheerful.' 6-8 Cf. Eccl. Son. 2.1 1. 1-3. 9-14 In these lines the trace of earlier impressions is very clear. Cf. Journals 1.3-4, 5i 8, 9, 115, 116, 118. Cf. also Nith 4 and Green Linnet 13-16. 3-34 1-14 Dyer {Hist. Camh. 2.179), ^^ his description of Catherine Hall, uses images which are at the basis of Eccl. Son. 3.34, 3.35, and 3.37, sonnets illustrating the themes of mutability and charity: ' Passing from the hall, chapel, and other parts of these buildings, we may spend a minute or two agreeably enough in the garden. No scene is more pleasing to the eye than a garden, or spreads over the mind a finer calm: this, in the present instance, may be assisted, on observing how the features of this piece of ground harmonize with the general character of the place. It is a flower- garden, a little spot, but neat and elegant; formerly, about some 50 years ago, a statue of Charity stood in the midst; and though ancient or foreign statues may not comport well with an English garden, as having no relation to the place, and expressing no important meaning, yet Charity never faileth; she is the genius of all climes and ages; and in a place that was founded by a lady, and of which a lady is the protectress saint, a statue of Charity was a natural memento, and an appropriate decoration.' 1-3 Ibid.: 'A contemplative mind might, perhaps, find further^ matter for reflection, on recollecting that on the spot where is now the garden, was formerly a chapel: thus time changes everything; and the place which at one period is the grave of human beings, becomes at another a garden fragrant with sweets, and blooming with vegetative life.' This is a concrete expression of 'high to low' and 'low to high.' Cf. MS. F, p. 108. 298 THE ECCLESIASTICAL SONNETS 10-14 Cf. White Doe 1909-10. 10-12 Ci. Journals 2. i6g: 'That once superb but now decaying structure . . . "lorded over and possessed by nature."' 14 Ibid. 2.168-9: 'The silent progress of time.' 3-35 3-12 Wordsworth's note on 3.35: 'This is borrowed from an affecting passage in Mr. George Dyer's history of Cambridge.' Dyer, op. cit. i.vii-viii: ' It is as natural for people to receive gratifica- tion from the history of the places where they were educated, as from revisiting them. In both cases, where there is a consciousness of having passed the years of early life in literary pursuits, and virtu- ous conduct, there will arise a thousand pleasing recollections, not affected much by the remembrance of departed friends (for what we call melancholy feelings are our better and more salutary ones), nor much by a sense of the intermixture of some follies like the ivy twining about the oak; for time acts by our follies as by our resentments; it teaches us to forgive and forget our own in- firmities, not less than those of others: so that, generally speaking, in retracing the scenes of early life, and not less in reading their history, there will be found a preponderance of pleasure; and hence the propriety of combining together a particular with a general interest.' Cf. Westmoreland 2, Prose Works 2.319. Cf. also Spenser's Ruins of Time, and Wrangham's Ruins of Rome. I am not certain that Wordsworth knew Volney's Les Ruines? 13 Refer to the notes on Eccl. Son. 2.3, and to Wordsworth's note on Eccl. Son. 2.21 for this line, taken 'from a MS. written about the year 1770, which accidentally fell into my possession.' 3-36 1-14 The date of this sonnet is not known. May Wordsworth refer to the sympathy aroused in England for those persecuted at Nimes in 181 5, after the second restoration of the Bourbons? Cf. Waddington, W. H., The Protestant Church and Religious Liberty in France, in Cambridge Essays, 1856, p. 217: 'It was not till March, 1819 [?i8i6] that, in the course of a debate about some modification of the electoral law, the whole truth came out. ... In England much sympathy was aroused, and meetings were held in the principal towns in favor of the Protestants. ... In May, 1 816, Sir Samuel Romilly, himself descended from a French refugee, brought the matter before parliament, and moved that an address be presented to the Prince Regent, on the subject of the persecutions in the South of France; he was ably supported by Mr. Brougham. This debate drew general attention to the events of Nimes all over Europe, and at last compelled the French government to interfere.' Cf. Burnet, Hist. Own Time 3.128-9. OF WILLIAM WORDSWORTH 299 3-37 I See the note on Eccl. Son. 3.34. 1-14. 2-4 Burnet {Hist. Ow?i Time 3.307 ff.) gives in detail the changes of the*wind. Finally {ibid. 3.325-7), 'on the first of No- vember, O. S., we sailed out witn the evening tide; . . . [after some vicissitudes] the wind turned into the south, and a soft and happy gale of wind carried in the whole fleet in four hours time into Torbay.' 5-6 Wordsworth, note on 3.37: 'See Burnet, who is unusually animated on this subject; the east wind, so anxiously expected and prayed for, was called the "Protestant wind."' Cf. Burnet, op. cit. 3.316. 6 Burnet {ibid. 3.128) says of the repeal of the Edict of Nantes: ' Under so cloudy a prospect it should be expected that a spirit of true devotion and of a real reformation should appear more, both among the clergy and laity; that they should all apprehend that God was highly offended with them, and was therefore punishing some, and threatening others, in a most unusual manner.' This temper of 'apprehension' hastened affairs in England {ibid. 3.316): 'The Church party did now show their approbation of the Prince's expedition in such terms that many were surprised at it, both then .and since that time. They spoke openly in favor of it. They expressed their grief to see the wind so cross. They wished for an east wind, which on that occasion was called the Protestant wind.' 7 The series of injuries included the following {ibid. 3.16, 59 ff., 71, 108, 157, 164, 184, 222, 223): Elections of parliament unjustly managed by James, 1685; Jeffreys' cruelty on the western circuit after the Duke of Monmouth's Rebellion, 1685; James' declaration against the tests, 1685; the extra-legal ecclesiastical commission, 1686; a Popish president in Magdalen College, 1687; Palmer sent as ambassador to Rome, 1687; The Declaration of Toleration, 1687; its renewal, 1688; orders that the clergy read it, 1688. 3-38 1 Such 'triumphs' as that near La Hogue, 1692, those of the War of Spanish Succession, those of Lord Nelson. 2 Such 'armies' as that which captured Namur in 1695, that of the Duke of Marlborough, or that of the Duke of Wellington. 7-9 Cf. Desc. Sk. 658. 9-11 Knight, P. W., Eversley ed., 7.103: 'In 1818, under the ministry of Lord Liverpool, £1,000,000 was voted by parliament to build new churches in England.' Cf. Postscript, 1835, P. W., Oxford ed., pp. 963 ff. 12-14 Cf. Guilt 211, White Doe 2, Ode: Thanks. 205-6, Excursion 9.726-7. Cf. also the notes on reverberation, 2.27.1-14. 300 THE ECCLESIASTICAL SONNETS 3-39 1-14 Refer to the Advertisement, p. 117, for the circumstances of composition. 5-6 Cf. Journals 1.6, 40, 106, 108, 129, for the hawthorn. Wordsworth had chosen a ' hawthorn brake ' for Emily's ' sad words ' to the Doe (line 877). In this sonnet he may have recalled Dray- ton's line {Polyolhion 3.314), which Selden annotated as follows: 'It goes for current truth that a hawthorn thereby on Christmas day always blossometh: which the author tells you in that, "Trees yet in winter, &.' Agamemnon's spear {Iliad 1 1 .256) was avenoTp€es. 7 Cf. the notes on the latter part of Eccl. Son. 1.4. 9-10 Journals 1.7. Wordsworth had spoken of the 'function apostolical' of the daisy {Bright flower 23). 12-14 Cf. White Doe 667-9. Fenwick note: 'I have only further to observe that the intended church which prompted these sonnets was erected on Coleorton Moor towards the centre of a very populous parish between three and four miles from Ashby- de-la-Zouch, on the road to Loughborough, and has proved, I believe, a great benefit to the neighborhood.' 340 1-14 With this sonnet Wordsworth takes his place in the English tradition begun by the author of The Dream of the Rood. 1-6 Journals 2.167: 'The priests in their gaudy attire, with their young white-robed attendants, made a solemn appearance, while clouds of incense were ascending over their heads to the large crucifix above the altar; and the "pealing organ" sounded to the "full-voiced quire."' Ibid. 2.217: 'It was a moonlight night — rather a night of fitful moonshine; for large clouds were driving rapidly over the narrow arch of sky above the town. A golden cross upon one of the steeples shone forth at times as bright as a star in heaven against the black mountain-wall.' Ibid. 2.ig6: 'By degrees (the vapors settling or shifting) other castles were seen on island eminences; and the tops of bare or woody hills taking the same island form; while trees, resembling ships, appeared and disappeared, and rainbow lights (scarcely more visionary than the mimic islands) passed over, or for a moment rested on the breaking mists.' 9-10 Wordsworth, note on 3.40: 'The Lutherans have retained the Cross within their churches: it is to be regretted that we have not done the same.' Knight, P. W., Eversley ed., 7.104: 'It has always been retained without, and is now scarcely less common within the churches of England. Did the poet confound the Cross with the Crucifix?' 12 Knight, ibid.: ' Cf . Gray's Elegy, stanza 5: The breezy call of incense-breathing morn.* OF WILLIAM WORDSWORTH 301 341 1-14 Cf. Epitaphs 2, Prose Works 2.146, 4-5 Virgil, Georg. 2.471: 'lUic saltus ac lustra ferarum.' 6 Percy, Reliques, 1864, 1.66-7: Then they cast on their gownes of grene, And tooke theyr bowes each one; And they away to the greene forrest A shooting forth are gone. 7 Refer to The Book of Common Prayer, ed. by Blunt, pp. [62H63]. 12 Ibid., p. 298. 13 See Epitaphs 2, Prose Works 2.147, for 'the afflictions which peasants and rural citizens have to struggle with, . . . the tears which they wipe away, and the sighs which they stifle.' 342 1-14 Dorothy Wordsworth wrote to Samuel Rogers, Jan. 3, 1823 {Letters 2.200): 'My brother . . . likes best ... in the Sketches the succession of those on the Reformation, and those towards the conclusion of the third part.' Wordsworth himself wrote to Richard Sharp, April 16, [1822] {Letters 2.176): 'The Ecclesiastical Sketches labor under one obvious disadvantage, that they can only present themselves as a whole to the reader who is pretty well acquainted with the history of this country; and, as separate pieces, several of them suffer as poetry from the matter of fact, there being unavoidably in all history- — except as it is a mere suggestion — something that enslaves the fancy. But there are in these poems several continuous strains, not in the least degree liable to this objection. I will only mention two: the sonnets on The Dissolution of the Monasteries, and almost the whole of the last part, from the picture of England after the Revolution, scattered over with Protestant churches, till the conclusion. Pray read again from "Open your gates, ye everlasting Piles" to the end.' Cf. Journals 2.163. 5 'Intricate defile' had been used in Duddon 16.8. Lines 5-10 of Eccl. Son. 3.42 are, like many of the lines of Duddon, remarkable for the skilful use of phonetic elements. 10 Cf. Jacob's ladder (Genesis 28.12). 12 Cf. Dorothy's account of Lincoln {Journals 1.144). 13 It was 'the death-sounds of the Minster-bell' of York that Francis Norton heard when he fled 'from the doleful City.' 14 Dyer {Hist. Camh. 2.334-7) speaks of the character of Cam. Cf. Misc. Son. 3.2.10-11. 302 THE ECCLESIASTICAL SONNETS 343 1-14 Hutchinson, P. W., Oxford ed., p. 451: 'Wordsworth appears to have written one at least of these sonnets (3.43-45), and perhaps wrote all three, during a visit to his brother Christopher (Master of Trinity) at Cambridge, Nov.-Dec, 1820.' For further discussion, see p. 28. Cf. Letters 1.2 1, 374. This sonnet and the following recall lines 155-66 of Milton's // Penseroso. 1 Of the canonization of Henry VI, Dyer says (Hist. Camb. 2.184): 'Henry VII was in treaty with Pope Julius II, pontiff of Rome, for the canonization of Henry VI, but it seems that his holiness was for driving a hard bargain, and Henry VII, it is well known, was not over-liberal; so, between both, poor Henry was, unfortunately, never canonized; but, though never actually canon- ized, he was worshipped as a martyr and saint, miracles were wrought by him, while living, and prayers addressed to him after death.' Cf. Gray, Ode . . . Eton, quoted by Dyer (ibid. 2.185). Eton also was founded by Henry VI. Ibid. 2. 181: 'This then is the college, which, in honor of the royal founder, is now called King's, and which was so well endowed by Henry as to stand in little want of future benefactors. ... It should seem that Henry, from the first, meditated a foundation worthy of a king.' 2 Ibid. 2.190-1: 'Nicholas Close, Cloos, or Closse . . . was a native of Drybeach, in Westmoreland, archdeacon of Colchester in 1450. He was chancellor of the University, and Bishop of Carlisle; and in 1452 translated to Litchfield and Coventry. He died in October following. Besides the other literary qualities ascribed to Bishop Close by Bishop Godwin, must be mentioned his skill in architecture; and I particularly notice him as having been men- tioned by some as overseer and manager of all Henry's intended works for this college. This honor has been denied him by a modern writer [Dalloway, says Dyer in a note on 2. 191]; but it is certainly claimed for him in the old histories of the college, and several circumstances seem to favor the belief. . . . Though certainly he could have no share in the amended plan adopted by Henry VII, if my MS. [Cole's History] speaks correctly, Bishop Close must be considered the surveyor and manager of these works till his death, under Henry VI.' Ibid. 2.204, '^^ which Dyer quotes Dalloway: 'That particular species of architecture and carving called "fan-work," which from its extreme cost and delicacy had been hitherto confined to cloisters, small chapels, and tombs, was now applied to whole roofs, and with an equal defiance of expense and labor [cf. lines i and 3] made to supersede all the excellence of construction and finishing that had been previously attainable. It is a fair conjecture that this new method was either known to few of the master-masons, or was too expensive [cf . line I ] for frequent adoption upon a large scale. Certain it is, that the vaults of W^indsor [the chapel of St. George], the choir of Winton, Henry OF WILLIAM WORDSWORTH 303 VII's [Westminster] and King's College chapels; were commenced and completed within twenty years, and that no farther attempts were subsequently made.' Ibid. 2.205, iri which Dyer quotes an explanation of the structure by Dalloway {Observations on English Architecture, sect. 8): 'Allowing this to be the case, the length ceases to be wonderful, excepting on account of the labor and expense' [cf. lines i and 3]. 3-4 The scholars were clerks of St. Nicholas. Dyer {op. cit. 2.209) quotes Cole, who gives the original version of a poetical account of the founding. Cf. Fuller, Ch. Hist. 1.509, for these verses as an instance of 'the bad poetry of that age.' 5 Dyer {op. cit. 2.202) quotes Dalloway, who considers 'the roof of King's College Chapel as the utmost effort of constructive skill, and the paragon of architectural beauty.' 8-12 Cf. Journals 2.274. For a picture of the interior of the chapel see p. 58. Dyer's description includes a remark which Wordsworth used for lines 9 and 10 {op. cit. 2.200) : 'The admirable arched roof, without the support of any pillars, displaying all the richness of its fine fan- work.' 13-14 Ibid.: 'All combine to impress the beholder with emotions which can be better felt than expressed.' Cf. Milton, IlPenseroso 164. 344 1-2 Dyer, Hist. Camb. i. 240-1: 'In Gothic buildings the great variety of windows has a happy effect on the inside perspective, for they have within arches and pillars by which the rays of light are reflected and intermingled, so as to produce something like picturesqueness to the sight.' 3-8 Ibid. 2.202: 'The stained glass heightens the effect of the stone-work, and gives it a tint which can never be produced by any wash of lime, with whatever substance it may be combined, when the light passes through diminutive squares of raw white glass.' For ' Portraitures ' and 'light' see // Penseroso 149 and 159-60. 9-14 Dorothy Wordsworth's Journals (2.169-70 and 181) con- tain descriptions of cathedral music as it affected the tourists of 1820. Cf. Wordsworth's 'eye' and 'ecstacy' with Milton's 'eyes' and 'exstacies' {op. cit. 165-6). 345 1-14 Refer to the Introduction, pp. 10-14. 2-3 Cf. Letters 1.349. 4-14 Cf. Prelude 7. 129-31. 304 THE ECCLESIASTICAL SONNETS 346 1-14 ' Christ, the true Sun, . . . the supreme, everlasting Power of Heaven': so Stillingfleet (Orig. Brit., pp. 4-5) translates Gildas, Cf. also imagery in Burnet, Sacred Theory of the Earth. 3 Psalm 19.4: 'In them hath he set a tabernacle for the sun.* 4 Homer, Iliad 1.482: ■wop\)ptov. 5-6 Wordsworth, note on 3.46: 'Some say that Monte Rosa takes its name from a belt of rock at its summit — a very unpoetical and scarcely a probable supposition.' Q-ii Cf. Eccl. Son. 3.20.12. 12-14 Cf. Journals 2.197, 199. 347 1-5 Virgil, Georg. 3.424: 'Tardosque . . . sinus.' 5-9 See pp. 62-78 for a full discussion of the ' Holy river.' Cf. also Duddon, especially 33.9-14. 10 Cf. Eccl. Son. 3.1; the reference to the 'eternal City' (line 13) suggests that Wordsworth had in mind the Revelation of St. John. 11-12 Cf. Convention of Cintra, Prose Works 1.212: 'So the domestic loves and sanctities, . . . wherever they have flowed with a pure and placid stream, do instantly under the same influence [intense passion consecrated by a sudden revelation of justice], put forth their strength as in a flood; and, without being sullied or polluted, pursue — exultingly and with song — a course which leads the contemplative reason to the ocean of eternal love.' 13-14 Cf. Epitaphs 3, ibid. 2.189, where, among the resources of the deaf dalesman is the word of Holy Writ Announcing immortality and joy To the assembled spirits of the just, From imperfection and decay secure. See the Introduction, pp. 9-10, for a discussion of Wordsworth's conception of 'justice.' The last word of Eccl. Son. is an echo of Plato's Republic, Dante's Divina Commedia, and Milton's Paradise Lost, although Wordsworth's immediate text is Hebrews 12.23: 'To the general assembly and church of the firstborn, which are writ- ten in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect.' BIBLIOGRAPHY Baker, R., A Chronicle of the Kings of England. London, 1674. Bede: Baeda, Opera Historica, ed. by Plummer. 2 vols. Oxford, 1896. , Ecclesiastical History of England, tr. by A. M. Sellar. London, 1917. The Annotated Book of Common Prayer, ed. by Blunt. London, 1872. Bowles, W. L., Sonnets. 9th edition. 1805. , The Grave of the Last Saxon; or, The Legend of the Curfew. London, 1822. British Poets, The Works of the, ed. by Anderson. 13 vols. London, 1795. Broughton, L. N., The Theocritean Element in the Works of Wil- liam Wordszvorth. Halle, 1920. 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Edin- burgh, 1889. Lamb, C, Works, ed. by Macdonald. 12 vols. London, 1903. Letters of the Wordsworth Family, ed. by Knight. 3 vols. Lon- don, 1907. Lienemann, K., Die Belesenheit von William Wordsworth. Ber- lin, 1908. Milton, Poetical Works, ed. by Beeching. Oxford, 1910. s^ , The History of Britain, in Prose Works, ed. by Mitford. Vol. 5. London, 1851. Other prose works in the edition of St. John. London, 1848-53. Minto, W., Wordsworth' s Great Failure, in the Nineteenth Century for September, 1889. Percy, T., Reliques of Ancient English Poetry. 3 vols. Edin- burgh, 1864. Robinson, H. C, Diary, Reminiscences, and Correspondence, ed. by Sadler. 2 vols. London, 1869. Seabury, S., A Brief View of the Origin and Results of Episcopacy in the United States of America. New York, 1836. Sellar, W. Y., Virgil. Oxford, 1897. Shakespeare, Poetical Works, ed. by Craig. Oxford, n.d. OF WILLIAM WORDSWORTH 307 Six Old English Chronicles, ed. by Giles. London, 1848. Smith, Charlotte, Elegiac Sonnets. 9th edition. London, 1800. Southey, R., Life and Correspondence, ed. by C. Southey. 6 vols. London, 1850. , Book of the Church. London, 1824. Spenser, Poetical Works, ed. by Smith and de Selincourt. Ox- ford, 1912. Stillingfleet, E., Origines Britannicae. London, 1685. Stow, J., Annals, or a General Chronicle of England. London, 1631. Strype, J., Life and Acts of Matthew Parker. 2 vols. Oxford, 1821. Turner, Sharon, History of the Anglo-Saxons. 3rd edition. 3 vols. London, 1820. Virgil, Opera, ed. by Hirtzel. Oxford, 1900. Walton, I., The Lives of Donne, Wotton, Hooker, Herbert, and Sanderson. 2 vols. Boston, 1832. Weever, J., Ftmeral Monuments. London, 1757. Whitaker, T. D., The History and Antiquities of the Deanery of Craven. London, 1805. , An History of the Original Parish of Whalley, and Honor of Clitheroe. 2nd edition. London, 1806. Wordsworth, C, Ecclesiastical Biography, ist edition. 6 vols. London, 1810. Wordsworth, C, Memoirs of William Wordsworth, ed. by Reed. 2 vols. Boston, 1851. Wordsworth, D., Journals, ed. by Knight. 2 vols. London, 1897. Wordsworth, G., The Boyhood of Wordsworth, in Cornhill Magazine, N. S., 48.419, April, 1920. Wordsworth, W., Poems, ed. by N. C. Smith. 3 vols. London, 1908. , Poems and Extracts for an Album Presented to Lady Mary Lowther, Christmas, 181Q, ed. by Littledale. London, 1905. , Poetical Works, ed. by Dowden. 7 vols. London, 1892-3. [Aldine edition.] , Poetical Works, ed. by Hutchinson. Oxford, 1906. [Oxford edition.] , Poetical Works, ed. by Knight. 8 vols. London, 1896. [Eversley edition.] , Prose Works, ed. by Knight. 2 vols. London, 1896. INDEX [All titles are listed under the name of the author except poetical and prose works of Wordsworth, certain books of the Bible, and certain works of unknown, doubtful, or collective authorship. Names of persons mentioned or clearly indicated in the text of the Ecclesiastical So7inets are within parentheses referred to their places in the text. References to William Wordsworth, and to the Ecclesiastical Sonnets, entire or in part, have been omitted.] Acts, 208, 290. Advertisement to Lyrical Ballads, 15. 19- JEWa. (1.13.13), 126, 222. iEschylus, 17. Alban (1.6.9), 39. 83, 122, 214. Album: Lady Mary Lowther, 25. Alexander III, Pope (1.38.2), 25, 93. 97. 138. 245. Alford, 17. Alfred (1.26.2, 1.27.2), 3, 4, 27, 60, 63, 66, 132, 133, 189, 233, 234, 237; Orpheus and Eurydice, 234; Preface to Gregory's Pastoral Care, 233. Allsop, 27. Aneurin, Gododin (i.io.i), 124, 217, 218. Annales of Rome, 24. Anselm, 26, 239. Aquinas, 251. Argonautica, 24. Aristotle, 251, 264; Poetics, 71. Armstrong, 78; Art of Preserving Health,- 265. A r legal and Elidure, 24, 281. Arthur (1.10.6), 124, 218. Augustine of Canterbury (1.14.6), 60, 66, 126, 221, 225, 226, 228, 236. Augustine of Hippo, 4, 248; De Civitate Dei, 4. Bacon, 4, 7; Advancement of Learn- ing, 251; Of Adversity, 28 1 . Baker, Chronicle, 252, 257, 269, 271. Barstow, Wordsworth's Theory of Poetic Diction, 5 n. Battle of Brunanburh, 219. Beaumont, 13, 37, 117. Becket (1.37.9), 91, 138. Bede (1.23.4), 3, 4, 24, 25, 26, 27, 38, 131, 189, 205, 225, 230, 231; Ecclesiastical History, 3, 39, 42, 205, 212, 214, 215, 216, 217, 218, 219, 221, 222, 223, 224, 225, 226, 227, 228, 229, 230, 231, 232, 233. 235, 240, 260, -275, 282, 285. Berengaria (1.35-5), I37. 242. Bernard, 26, 248, 249, 251. Bible (1.29.5, 2. 9. II, 2.10.2, 2.12.2- 4, 2.29.1, 2.40.6, 2.41.6, 3.29.1 1, 3.47.2), 17, 24, 77, 143, 144, 145, 153. 159, 176, 185, 213, 233, 266, 267, 268, 304. Boethius, Consolation of Philosophy, 251- Book of Common Prayer (see Lit- urgy). Borderers, 5, 7, 11, 274. Bowles, Grave of the Last Saxon, 239, 240; Sonnet on the River Rhine, 288. Bradwardine, 26, 251. Bright flower, 300. 309 310 INDEX Brocmail (Brocvail), 220. Broughton, Theocritean Element in the Works of William Wordsworth, 229. Browne, 7. Brownie's Cell, 229. Bruges I, 262. Bryce, Holy Roman Empire, 4. Brydges, 22. Burke, 9, 21. Burnet, G., 24, 25, 205; History of His Own Time, 39, 275, 277, 279, 280, 281, 283, 284, 285, 286, 287, 288, 298, 299; History of the Reformation, 39, 269, 271. Burnet, T., Sacred Theory of the Earth, 209, 304. Burns, 78. Caedmon, 26. Csesar, Julius (1.3. 10), 121, 210. Camden, 24; Britain, 205, 230. Camoens, 22. Canute (1.30.3), 63, 66, 134, 190, 238, 239; Ballad, 134, 238. Caractacus (1.10.3), 124, 187. Carter, editor of Wordsworth, 58. Cato, De Re Rustica, 238; Origities, 24. Catullus, 77. Cavendish, Life of Cardinal Wolsey, 259. Charles I (2.44, 2.46.10), 37, 38, 60, 88, 161, 162, 198, 278, 279, 280. Charles II (3.3), 37, 38, 63, 69, 94, 95, 163, 280, 281. Chaucer (2.31.2), 3, 8, 20, 154, 196, 205, 268; Canterbury Tales, 4; Nun's Priest's Tale, 251 ; Prioress' Tale, 154, 253, 268. 'Chetwind, Anthologia Historica, 239, 240. Chiabrera, 19. Chicheley (2.15.9, 2.16.2), 85, 146, 147, 257. Child, English and Scottish Popular Ballads, 267. Clarendon, History of the Rebellion, 281. Clement XIV, Pope (Ganganelli), Letters, 247, 248. Close (3.43-8), 59, 183, 302. Coleridge, H., 22. Coleridge, S. T., 2, 11, 22, 26, 27, 78; 209, 291 ; Biographia Literaria, 78, 216; Letters, 2. Comestor, Franciscus, editor of Bernard, 249. Concordattce to the Poems of William Wordsworth (see Cooper). Constable, Diana: To the King of Scots, 282. Convent of the Sacred Heart, New York City, 248. Convention of Cintra, 4, 7, 9, 10, 12, 234, 235, 244, 254, 267, 304. Cook, Chaucerian Papers I, ']']. Cooper, 251; Concordance to the Poems of William Wordsworth, 206, 210, 259, 267; On Words- worth's Joanna, 265 ; Wordsworth' s Knowledge of Plato, 282 ; Words- worth: Variant Readings, 200. Corinthians I, 177, 287, 296. Cowley, 273; Ode upon His Maj- esty' s Restoration and Return, 281. Cowper, 3, 21. Coxe, Travels in Switzerland, 277. Cranmer, G., Letter to Hooker, 273, 275, 276, 287. Cranmer, T. (2.35.4), 25, 37, 63, 106, 156, 264, 266, 269, 270, 271, 289. Cromwell {2,-7-2), 165, 279, 284. Cyclic poems, 24. Daniel, Book of, 211. INDEX 311 Daniel, S., 24, 25, 205, 220; Civil War, 239 ; Collection of the History of England, 205, 212, 216, 218, 219, 221, 222, 228, 234, 235, 239, 242, 243, 244, 246, 247, 252, 266; Musophilus, 243. Dante, 4, 15, 27, 205; Divina Corn- media, 4, 22, 62, 71, 304; Inferno, 18, 233, 238; Paradiso, 17, 20, 253- Darwin, 216. Davies, Celtic Researches, 24, 209, 210, 211; Mythology and Rites of the British Druids, 24, 207, 208, 209, 210, 211, 212, 217, 218, 219, 220. Denham, Verses on the Death of Cowley, 268. Dennis, 18. Departing stimmer, 10. Description of the Scenery of the Lakes, 7, 16, 64, 65, 78, 206, 208, 209, 217, 229, 277, 291. Descriptive Sketches, 245, 246, 255, • 299; Quarto, 11. Deuteronomy, 272. Digby, Broadstone of Honour, 247; Mores Catholici, 26, 247. Diocletian (1.6. i), 83, 122, 213, 214. Doane, 32, 38, 52, 288; Sermon in Commemoration of Bishop White, 288, 289. Donne (3.5), 22, 24, 164, 280, 283. Dowden, editor of Wordsworth, 29, 30; Memoir of Wordsworth, 2. Drayton, 24; Agincourt, 257, 258; Polyolbion, 205, 207, 208, 211, 212, 218, 219, 257, 262, 300. Dream of the Rood (Old English), 300. Dryden, 3; Absalom and A chitophel, 279; AstrcEa Redux, 278, 281; Song for St. Cecilia's Day, i68y, 263. Duddon, 10, 50, 78, 205, 229, 291, 301, 304- Duns Scotus, 251. Dunstan (1.28.6), 133, 236, 237. Duty, 6. Dyer, G., 24, 25, 205; History of Cambridge, 28, 42, 205, 238, 243, 251, 252, 253, 261, 273, 277, 283, 284, 297, 298, 301, 302, 303. Dyer, J., Fleece, 212; Ruins of Rome, 265. Ecclesiastes, 275. Ecclesiasticus, 276. Edward the Confessor (1.31.1), 135, 240. Edward III (2.7.9), 142, 251, 252, 253- Edward VI (2.31.8, 2.32), 63, 154, 155. 196, 268, 269, 272. Edwin (1.15.2, 1.16.1), 84, 127, 223, 224, 225. Egyptian Maid, 280. Eikon Basilike, attributed to Charles I, 279, 280. Elizabeth (2.38.1), 27, 37, 57, 63, 68, 76, 103, 158, 273, 275. Ennius, 24. Epitaphs, 10, 16, 19, 219, 222, 228, 247, 253, 263, 301, 304. Essay Supplementary, 15, 21, 22, 268. Ethelforth (Ethelfrith, Ethelfrid), 220, 221. Eusebius, 207, 212; Ecclesiastical History, 213, 214, 215, 255. Evening Walk, 246. Excursion, 7, 8, 14, 15, 206, 209, 228, 229, 231, 235, 237i 247, 249, 263, 285, 292, 299. Exodus, 241, 279. Ezekiel, 62, 290. 312 INDEX Fact, A, and an Imagination, 233, 238. Fasti of Rome, 24. Fenwick Notes, 25, 117, 245, 278, 280. Fisher (2.26.8), 152, 264. Fort Fuentes, 261. Foxe, 24, 25, 205; Acts and Monu- ments, 36, 245, 246, 268, 270, 271. Frederick Barbarossa (1.38.2), 25, 37. 93. 97. 138, 245, 246. Frederick II, Emperor, 246. Freeholders of Westmoreland, To the, 235, 236, 254, 276, 298. Fuller, 24, 25, 205, 220; Church History, 39, 207, 211, 214, 216, 218, 224, 225, 230, 231, 235, 236, 237, 239, 242, 243, 244, 247, 251, 257, 258, 260, 261, 262, 263, 264, 266, 267, 268, 269, 270, 271, 272, 277, 303; Holy War, 35, 36, 48, 205, 240, 241, 242, 243, 246, 253, 254. 255. 256. Gardiner, Great Civil War, 25. Genesis, 301. Geoffrey of Monmouth, Historia Britonum, 205, 212, 217, 218. Germanus, 219, 222, 225. Giles, Preface to Six Old English Chronicles, 218. Glen Almain, 229. Graves, 17. Gray, Bard, 219; Elegy written in a Country Churchyard, 300; Hymn to Adversity, 281; Ode: Eton, 302; Progress of Poesy, 206. Greek tragedies, 24. Green Linnet, 297. Gregory I, Pope (1.13.7), 4, 2-j, 66, 126, 221, 226, 228; Commentary on Job, 222. Gregory VII, Pope, 245. Guericius, Sermones, 249. Guilt and Sorrow, 5, 11, 211, 263, 274. 299- Habakkuk, 290. Hanmer, translator of Eusebius' Ecclesiastical History, 213, 214, 215. 255- Happy Warrior, 3, 6, 7. Harper, William Wordsworth, 2, 12, 25, 294. Hebrews, 267, 268, 304. Henry II (i.37-9), 2,7, 138, 244. Henry IV, Emperor, 245. Henry V (2.15.6), 26, 37, 85, 146, 257. 258. Henry VI (3.43-i), 59. 183, 302. Henry VIII (2.29.9), 26, 67, 153, 264, 266. Herbert (3.5), 24, 164, 283; The Temple: The Church Porch, 45, 119. Heylin, H., Dedication to Cypri- anus Anglicanus, 63. Heylin, P., 24; Cyprianus Angli- canus, 205, 254, 275, 276, 278, 279. Highland Girl, 280. Homer, 3, 17, 24, 205; Iliad, 220, 259, 272, 276, 300, 304. Homilia de Bonis Margaritis, attrib- uted to Bernard (2.3.1-5), 140, 248. Hooker (2.39.4, 3-32.14). 8, 24, 89, 158, 164, 178, 273, 274, 275, 282, 283, 292, 296; Ecclesiastical Pol- ity, 275. Horace, jj; Carmina, 206. Hume, 205, 278. Hutchinson, editor of Wordsworth, 22, 27, 29, 30, 293, 302. // thou indeed, 45. Inscriptions, 46, 243. Inscriptions: Hermit's Cell, 22g. In Youth, 256. Isaiah, 253. INDEX 313 Itinerary Poems of 1833, 30, 40, 104, 105, 212. Itinerary Sonnets, 50. James II (3.9-13), 38, 68, 166, 285, 286, 299. Jeremiah, 213, 219, 275, 290. Jewel (2.39.3), 89, 158, 274, 275. Joan of Kent (2.32), 155, 269. Joanna, 265. John, Gospel, 230, 253. John, King of England (1.37. 10), 37, 91, 138, 244, 247. Joseph of Arimathea (2.21. 14), 149, 208, 262. Judges, 279. Juvenal, 210, 252. Keble, Christian Year, 292. Kilchurn, 242. Knight, editor of Wordsworth, 29, 30, 31, 188, 191, 192, 193, 195, 200, 201, 202, 203, 204, 221, 235, 241, 264, 266, 277, 280, 282, 283, 285, 292, 294, 299, 300; Life of William Wordsworth, 27. Lamb, 205, 258. Lamentacion of Marie Magdaleine, in Anderson's British Poets listed as Chaucerian, 263. Landor, 20. Lanfranc, 26, 239. Laodamia, i, 8. Latimer (2.34.2), 45, 156, 270. Laud (2.45.3, 2.46.10, 3.32.13), 25, 63, 68, 161, 162, 178, 198, 278, 279, 296. Legouis, 2. Letter to a Friend of Burns, 283. Letter to Pasley, 16, 19. Letter to the Bishop of Llandaff, 9, 228, 242. Lienemann, Belesenheit von William Wordsworth, 282. Liturgy (3.16, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32.1, 41.12, 46.10-11), 24, 170, 171, 172, 173, 174, 175, 176, 177, 178, 182, 185, 270, 290, 292, 293, 294, 295, 296, 301. Long Meg, 28, 104, 105, 209, 210. Longfellow, translator of Dante, 238. Lonsdale, the first Lord, MS. Mem- oirs, 220, 285. Lucretius, 77; De Rerum Natura, 206. Luke, 282. Luther (2.37.4), 95, I57, 255, 256. Lycoris, 254. Lyrical Ballads, 4, 5, 50. Mabillon, editor of Bernard, 248, 249. Macpherson, Ossian, 20. Mahomet (2.27.1 1), 152, 265, 266. Malham, 8, 206. Mary Tudor,. Queen of England (2.33.7, 2.34.1), 37, 60, 155, 156, 269, 270, 273, 274. Maternal Grief, 228. Matthew, 128, 225, 253, 290. Meek Virgin, 263. Melville, Introduction to the Ecclesi- astical Sonnets of Wordsworth, 207, 208, 210, 212. Memorials of a Tour in Scotland, 1803, 46. Memorials of a Tour in Scotlandf 18 1 4, 46. Memorials of a Tour on the Conti- nent, 1820, 13, 29, 30, 35, 36, 39, 40, 42, 44, 46, 83, 90, 91, 96, 97, 102, 186, 197, 199, 200, 244, 246, 277. Michael, 235, 274. Michelangelo, 22, 209; Sonnets, 20. Milton (3.4.6, 3.7.2), 3, 17, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 27, 50, 69, 164, 282; 314 INDEX Apology, 290; Comus, 230, 282; Defensio Prima, 254, 279; Defen- sio Secunda, 280; Eikonoclastes, 278, 279, 280, 281; History of Britain, 24, 210, 218, 233; Hymn on the Morning of Christ's Nativity, 241, 247, 260, 262, 263, 265; II Pen5ero50, 300, 302, 303; Lycidas, 261; Of Reformation, 229, 254, 256, 259, 267; Paradise Lost, 4, 17, 205, 206, 209, 212, 226, 231, 237, 247, 257, 266, 267, 268, 269, 272, 274, 279, 282, 288, 290, 294, 304; Paradise Regained, 248 ; Piemont, 165, 269, 284; Reason of Church Government, 267, 275, 280; Samson Agonistes, 238; Song on May Morning, 268. Minto, Wordsworth in Encyclopcedia Britannica, 2 ; Wordsworth' s Great Failure, 4, 7, 8. Miscellaneous Sonnets, 22, 30, 36, 37, 40, 45, 50, 86, 94, 107, 206, 231, 237, 252, 256, 262, 291, 292, 301. Montalembert, Monks of the West, 26, 251. More (2.26.8), 4, 25, 152, 264. Naevius, 24. Nichols, Collection, 33, 34. Nith, 297. Oak of Guernica, 235. Ode 1814, 206, 214, 263. Ode 1815, 265. Ode: Thanksgiving, 8, 299. Osgood, Spenser's English Rivers, 205. Ossian, 3. Ossian, 3, 262. Pandolphus (1.37. 12), 91, 244. Paul (1.2.6), 81, 82, 120, 208, 267. Paulinus (1.15), 63, 66, 127, 188, 223. Peele Castle, 6. Percy, Reliques, 301. Personal Talk, 232. Peter (1.2.9), 81, 120, 208, 262, 276. Peter Bell, 5, 11, 210, 274. Petrarch, 22. Pilgrim's Dream, 283. Plato, 282; Republic, 4, S04. Plea: Historian, 15. Pliny, Natural History, 238. Poems, Chiefly of Early and Late Years, 43, 53, 186, 200. Poems Dedicated to National Inde- pendence and Liberty, 46, 48, 205, 255- Poems of 1807, 4, 22. Poems of Sentiment and Reflection, 46. Poems on the Naming of Places, 5, 46. Political Sonnets, 50. Postscript of 1835, 14, 18, 299. Potts, Wordsworth and the Bramble, 261. Power of Sound, 56. Preface of 1800, 2, 5, 15, 292. Preface of 1815, 2, 17, 18, 21. Preface to The Excursion, 12. Prelude, 2, 5, 6, 8, 9, 12, 210, 211, 229, 230, 249, 252, 253, 256, 290, 293. 303- Prelude to Poems, Chiefly of Early and Late Years, 3. Primrose, 9. Prioress' Tale, 209, 268. Processions, 246. Proverbs, 289. Psalms, "JJ, 206, 274, 279, 280, 284, 296, 304. Ramond, translator of Coxe's Trav- els in Switzerland, 277. Recluse, 5, 7, 8, 12, 231. INDEX 315 Reed, 32, 38, 41, 44, 50, 52, 54, 55, 288, 289, 290. Reply to the Letter of Mathetes, 3, 20, 268, 273, 278. Resolution and Independence, 229. Revelation, 62, 268, 276, 292, 304. Richard I (1.35.2), 26, 63, 66, 137, 242, 243. Ridley (2.34.2), 45, 156, 269, 270. Rising in the North, ballad, 267. Robinson, 25; Diary, 14, 16, 20. Russell, T., 22. Russell, W. (3.10.4), 167, 286. Sacheverell (3.1 1.4), 25, 63, 69, 167, 287, 288. Sanderson (3.5), 164, 283. Scott, 20, 26, 71. Seabury, Brief View of the Origin and Results of Episcopacy in the United States of America, 289, 290. Sellar, A. M., translator of Bede's Ecclesiastical History, 24. Sellar, W. Y., Virgil, 24. Shakespeare, 15, 21, 22; Henry V, 257; Henry VIII, 259; Macbeth, 293; Measure for Measure, 246; Midsummer- Night's Dream, 229; Romeo and Juliet, 264; Tempest, 4- Sidney, A. (3.10.3), 167, 286. Sidney, P., Astrophel and Stella, 237. Simonides, 10. Slattery, 248. Smart, Sonnets of Milton, 21, 23. Smith, Charlotte, Elegiac Sonnets and Other Poems, 206, 209, 246. Smith, N. C, editor of Wordsworth, 29, 30, 241, 255, 284, 294. Sonnets of William Wordsworth, 43, 49- Southey, 22, 117; All for Love, 294; Book of the Church, 117, 211,248; Elegy on Delia, 246. Speculum Religiosum, 248. Spensef, 4, 17, 21, 27, 205; Epithala- mion, 175, 294; Faerie Queene, 132, 206, 232, 273; Hymn of Heavenly Love, 268; Prothala^ mion, 252; Ruins of Time, 298. St. Bees, 29, 47, 48, 54, 250. St. John, Collection, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 289, 290. Stillingfleet, 24, 205; Origines Bri- tannicae, 24, 207, 208, 211, 212, 215, 217, 219, 261, 304.' Stow, 24; Chronicle, 24, 240, 252, 253, 259, 263, 265, 269. Strype, 205; Life and Acts of Mat- thew Parker, 275, 276, 2j'j. Taliesin (1.5. 10), 122, 125, 208, 211, 212, 218, 219, 220, 221. Tasso, 22. Thelwell, 14. Theocritus, Idyls, 230. Time's Telescope, 188, 189, 195, 204. Tintern A bbey, i . Triad, 262. Trosachs, 19. Turner, 24, 25, 38, 205; History of the Anglo-Saxons, 39, 42, 211, 212, 216, 217, 218, 219, 220, 221, 223, 228, 231, 232, 233, 234, 235, 236, 237, 238, 239, 240, 250, 251, 252, 262. Two Voices, 259. Urban II, Pope (1.33. i), 136, 241. Urien (1.10.9), 124, 218. • Valdo (2.1 1.9), 144, 145, 193, 254, 255- Varro, 24. Vaudracour and Julia, 22"]. Venetian Republic, 255. Vernal Ode, 293. Vinci da, 20. Virgil, 4, 8, 24, 27, 77, 78, 205; Mneid, 4, 20, 216, 225, 226, 231, 316 INDEX 246, 253; Eclogues, 4, 206, 229, 230, 246, 253, 293; Georgics, 4, 206, 214, 235, 259, 301, 304. Volney, Les Ruines, 298. Waddington, Protestant Church and Religious Liberty in France, 298. Walton (3.5.14). 21, 24, 25, 2-7, 45, 164, 205, 209, 210; Lives, 24, 48, 255, 272, 273, 274, 275, 276, 280, 282, 283, 287, 292, 296. Weever, 7; Funeral Monuments, 248, 263. Westminster Bridge, 1 1 . Westmoreland Girl, 256. When in, 263. When, to, 6. Whitaker, 24, 25, 205; History of Craven, 249, 251, 263, 296, 297; History of Whalley, 248. White, 51, 52, 69, 169, 288, 289, 290. White Doe, 5, 6, 7, 22, 46, 50, 223, 228, 232, 235, 241, 246, 251, 253, 265, 267, 273, 279, 280, 282, 285, 298, 299, 300, 301. William III (3.94> 3-37-3). 37- 63, 69, 73, 96, 166, 180, 286, 299. Williams, 22. Winchelsea, Aristomenes, 235; Tree, 235- Wolsey (2.18), 26, 259, 260. Woodford, Verses to Mr. Isaak Walton, 275. Wordsworth, Anne (3.22.9), 173, • 293. Wordsworth, Christopher, Bishop of Lincoln, Memoirs of William Wordsworth, 3, 10, 11, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 49, 57, 229, 275, 289, 292, 293. Wordsworth, Christopher, Master of Trinity, 302 ; Ecclesiastical Biog- raphy, 37, 38, 39, 259, 264, 268, 270. Wordsworth, Dora (3.1.1), 162, 280. Wordsworth, Dorothy, 12, 28, 29, 246, 294; Journals, 2, 8, II, 71, 206, 214, 227, 229, 235, 244, 249, 254, 257, 261, 262, 266, 268, 273, 277, 283, 288, 297, 298, 300, 301, 303, 304. Wordsworth, Gordon, Boyhood of Wordsworth, 11. Wordsworth, John, brother of Wil- liam, 6, 209. Wordsworth, John, nephew of Wil- liam, 49. Wordsworth, Mary, 31, 41, 209, 244, 295; Journal, 277. Wotton (3.5), 48, 164, 255, 272, 273, 283. Wrangham, 11, 20; Destruction of Babylon, 232; Restoration of the Jews, 232; Ruins of Rome, 298. Wyclif (2.17.2), 37, 39, 63, 67, 88, 147, 209, 220, 256, 258, 268. Yarrow Revisited, And Other Poems, 43, 47, 186, 192, 193. Zephaniah, 290. lbjl2: } Deacidified using the Bookkeeper process. Neutralizing agent: Magnesium Oxide Treatment Date: May 2009 PreservationTechnologies A WORLD LEADER IN COLLECTIONS PRESERVATION 111 Thomson Park Drive Cranberry Township, PA 1 6066 (724) 779-2111 LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 014 547 680 A # < j-i