"IT IS NOT TO BE THOUGHT OF"
This sonnet was composed in September, 1802, first published in the
Morning Post in 1803, and subsequently in 1807.
WRITTEN IN LONDON, SEPTEMBER, 1802:
PUBLISHED 1807
"This was written immediately after my return from France to London, when I could not but be struck, as here described, with the vanity and parade of our own country, especially in great towns and cities, as contrasted with the quiet, I may say the desolation, that the Revolution had produced in France. This must be borne in mind, or else the Reader may think that in this and the succeeding Sonnets I have exaggerated the mischief engendered and fostered among us by undisturbed wealth."