XLII.
He quits that moon-light yard of skulls,
And still he feels right glad, and smiles
With moral joy at that old tomb;
Peters’ cheek recalls its bloom,
And as he creepeth by the tiles,
He mutters ever—“W. W.
Never more will trouble you, trouble you.”
There has been some speculation as to the author of this parody, and as far back as 1866 the following letter appeared in Notes and Queries:
“It was Reynolds, too, who, in 1819, anticipated the genuine Peter Bell of Wordsworth by a spurious Peter Bell, in which were exhibited and exaggerated the characteristics of Wordsworth’s earlier simplicitas.