II. ETHICAL.
I. Of Legislation for the Poor.
[P. 275], ll. 28 onward. Quotation from Milton. From 'Paradise Lost,' book x. ll. 743-747, but changed somewhat in meaning.
[P. 277], ll. 16-17. Quotation. Adapted from 'Guilt and Sorrow,' st. xli. II. 8-9.
II. (e) Speech on Laying the Foundation-stone of the New School, &c.
On this occasion a prayer was offered by the Rev. R.P. Graves, M.A., (then) the curate, which—as admirably suitable, and as having made a profound impression at the time, the bowed head and reverent look of the venerable Poet as he joined in it remaining 'pleasures of memory' still—it is deemed expedient to preserve permanently. I derive it from the same source as the full Speech itself, and give the context: 'Mr. Wordsworth then descended a step-ladder to the foundation-stone, and deposited the bottle in the cavity, which was covered with a brass plate, having inscribed on it the name of the founder, date, &c. Being furnished with a trowel and mortar by the master mason, Mr. John Holme, he spread it; another massy stone was then let down upon the first, and adjusted to its position, Mr. Wordsworth handling the rule, plumb-line, and mallet, and patting the stone he retired. The Rev. R.P. Graves next offered up the following prayer for the welfare and success of the undertaking: "The foundation-stone of the new parochial school-house of Bowness being now laid, it remains that, as your minister, I should invoke upon the work that blessing of God, without which no human undertaking can prosper,—O Lord God, Who dwellest on high, Whose throne is the Heaven of heavens, and Who yet deignest to look down with goodness and mercy on Thy children of earth, look down, we beseech Thee, with favour upon us who now implore Thy gracious benediction on the work which is before Thee. The building which Thou hast put into the heart of Thy servant to erect grant that, as it is happily begun, it may be successfully completed, and that it may become a fountain-head of blessing to this place and neighbourhood. Thou hast directed us, O Lord, to bring up our children in Thy nurture and admonition; bless, we pray Thee, this effort to secure the constant fulfilment of so important a duty, one so entirely bound up with our own and our children's welfare. Grant that here, from age to age, the youth of these hamlets may receive such faithful instruction as may fit them for usefulness in this life, and for happiness in the next. Grant that the one school may send out numbers endued with such principles and knowledge as may make them, in their several callings, industrious, upright, useful men; in society, peaceful neighbours, contented citizens, loyal subjects; in their families, affectionate sons, and husbands, and fathers; in the Church, dutiful members of that pure and Scriptural Establishment with which Thou hast blessed our Land; and, as crowning and including all, resolved and pious followers of our Redeemer Christ. Grant too, O Lord, that the females which shall be educated in the other school shall receive there such valuable principles and such convenient knowledge as may fit them to make happy the homes of such men; that, with Thy blessing on their instruction, they may become obedient and dutiful children, modest and virtuous women, faithful and affectionate wives and mothers, pious and unassuming Christians; so that with regard to both it may be widely and gratefully owned that here was sown the good seed which shall have borne fruit abundantly in all the relations of life, and which at the great day of harvest hereafter shall, according to Thy word, be gathered into Thy garner. Such, O Lord God, Thou knowest to be the good objects contemplated by the original founders of the school, and the promotion of which is at the heart of him whose benefaction we have this day seen auspiciously begun. Trusting, therefore, O Lord, with full assurance that Thou dost favourably allow and regard these pious designs, I now undertake, as God's minister, and in His name, to bless and dedicate for ever this spot of ground, and the building which, with the Divine permission, will be here erected, and of which this is the foundation-stone, to the sound and religious training up of youth from generation to generation, to the continued grateful remembrance of the pious benefactor, and to the everlasting glory of God Most High, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. And let all the people say, Amen."'
[P. 288], ll. 1-3. These lines might have gone into the closing book of 'The Prelude,' but I have failed to trace or recall them.
[P. 223]. Long verse-quotation. From 'The Prelude,' book xiii. ll. 220-277.
[P. 311], footnote [A], viz. Captain T. Ashe's 'Travels in America in the year 1806, for the purpose of exploring the rivers of Alleghanny, Monongahela, Ohio, and the Mississippi, and ascertaining the Produce and Condition of their Banks and Vicinity.' 3 vols. 12mo, 1808. Alexander Wilson, the 'Ornithologist,' vainly sought to accompany Ashe. Had he done so the incredibilities of these Travels had probably been omitted. (See his Works by me, 2 vols. 8vo, 1875.)
[P. 326]. Verse-quotation at close. From close of 'Ode to Duty' (xix. 'Poems of Sentiment and Reflection').
[P. 353], ll. 7-8. Verse-quotation. Whence? It sounds familiarly.
[P. 353], ll. 20-25. From Milton, 'Sonnet xiv.'
[P. 356], ll. 16-24. Verse-quotation. From Burns' 'Cottar's Saturday Night.' It may be noted here that the 'saint, the father, and the husband' of this imperishable celebration of lowly Scottish godliness was William Burns (or Burness), father of the Poet; and whilst this note is being written a copy of a most interesting MS. (about to be published) by William Burness, prepared by him for his children, reaches me. It is entitled, 'Manual of Religious Belief, by William Burness, in the form of a Dialogue between a Father and his Son.' G.
FOOTNOTES:
[1] 'Memoirs,' vol. ii. p. 466.
[2] Ibid. vol. i. p. 420.
[3] Lucubrations = meditative studies. It has since deteriorated in meaning.
[4] Lockhart's 'Life of Scott,' vol. iii. pp. 260-1 (edition, 1856).
[5] 'Memoirs,' as before, vol. i. pp. 383, 399.
[6] 'Poems dedicated to National Independence and Liberty,' viii.
[7] Southey's 'Life and Correspondence,' vol. iii. p. 180; 'Gentleman's Magazine' for June 1850, p. 617.
[8] 'Memoirs,' as before, vol. i, pp. 404-5.
[9] 'Poems dedicated to National Independence and Liberty,' vii.
[10] The charming 'Journal' in full of Miss WORDSWORTH has only within the past year been published. The welcome it has met with—having bounded into a third edition already—is at once proof of the soundness of judgment that at long-last issued it, if it be also accusatory that many have gone who yearned to read it. The Editor ventures to invite special attention to WORDSWORTH'S own express wish that the foreign 'Journals' of Miss WORDSWORTH and Mrs. WORDSWORTH should be published. Surely his words ought to be imperative (vol. iii. p. 77)?
[11] It may be well to point out here specially a mistake in heading two of the WORDSWORTH letters to Sir W.R. HAMILTON: 'Royal Dublin Society,' instead of 'Royal Irish Academy' (see vol. iii. pp. 350 and 352); also that at p. 394 'of the' has slipped in from the first 'of the,' and so now reads 'Of the Heresiarch of the Church of Rome,' for 'The Heresiarch Church,' as in the body of the letter.
[12] Will the Reader indulgently correct a most unfortunate oversight of the printers in vol. iii. p. 497, l. 15, where 'no angel smiled' (mis)reads 'no angle smiled'?
[13] Possibly indignation roused by the 'Recollections' has provoked too vehement condemnation. Let it therefore be noted that it is the 'Recollections' that are censured. Elsewhere DE QUINCEY certainly shows a glimmering recognition of WORDSWORTH'S great qualities, and that before they had been fully admitted; but everywhere there is an impertinence of familiarity and a patronising self-consciousness that is irritating to any one who reverences great genius and high rectitude. It may be conceded that DE QUINCEY, so far as he was capable, did reverence WORDSWORTH; but his exaggerations of awe and delays bear on the face of them unveracity.
[14] Mr. Graves has published the following on the Wordsworths: (a) 'Recollections of Wordsworth and the Lake Country'; a lecture, and a capital one. (b) 'A Good Name and the Day of Death: two Blessings'; a sermon preached in Ambleside Church, January 30, 1859, on occasion of the death of Mrs. Wordsworth—tender and consolatory. (c) 'The Ascension of our Lord, and its Lessons for Mourners'; a sermon (1858) finely commemorative of Arnold, the Wordsworths, Mrs. Fletcher, and others.
[15] M. Gregoire.
[16] See Athalie, [act i.] scene 2:
'Il faut que sur le trône un roi soit élevé,
Qui se souvienne un jour qu'au rang de ses ancêtres.
Dieu l'a fait remonter par la main de ses prêtres:
L'a tiré par leurs mains de l'oubli du tombeau,
Et de David éteint rallumé le flambeau.'
The conclusion of the same speech applies so strongly to the present period that I cannot forbear transcribing it:
'Daigne, daigne, mon Dieu, sur Mathan, et sur elle
Répandre cet esprit d'imprudence et d'erreur,
De la chute des rois funeste avant-coureur!'
[18] Prince de Rohan.
[19] Those rare cases are of course excepted, in which the superiority on the one side is not only fairly to be presumed but positive—and so prominently obtrusive, that to propose terms is to inflict terms.
[20] Written in February.
[21] From this number, however, must be excepted the gallant and patriotic General Ferguson. For that officer has had the virtue publicly and in the most emphatic manner, upon two occasions, to reprobate the whole transaction.
[22] 'Totis imperii viribus consurgitur,' says the historian, speaking of the war of the gladiators.
[23] Memoirs, vol. i. pp. 406-20.
[24] In this classification I anticipate matter which Mr. Southey has in the press, the substance of a conversation between us.
[25] L. i. 9. But the passage is made up from, rather than found in, Antoninus. Ed. of Friend.
[26] See Ashe's Travels in America.
[27] 'The Friend,' vol. i. p. 158 (ed. 1850). G.
[28] 'The Friend,' vol. i. p. 96 (ed. 1850). G.
[29] Memoirs, vol. ii. pp. 164-70. G.
[30] Memoirs, vol. ii. pp. 171-9. G.
[31] On the Commission and consequent Duties of the Clergy, preached before the University of Cambridge, in April 1826, and published in 1828. G.
[32] The title of which is The Priest's Office difficult and dangerous. It will be found in vol. i. p. 137. of Dr. Burton's edition of the bishop's works. G.
[33] The State of the Protestant Religion in Germany, a series of discourses preached before the University of Cambridge, by the Rev. Hugh James Rose; Lond. 1825: and his Letter to the Bishop of London, in reply to Mr. Pusey's work on that subject; Lond. 1829. G.
[34] Memoirs, vol. ii. pp. 180-3. G.
[35] Memoirs, vol. ii. pp. 183-92. G.
[36] Memoirs, vol. ii. p. 193. G.