See note to the sonnet beginning "And is it among rude untutored Dales" ([p. 222]). "Saragossa surrendered February 20, 1809, after a heroic defence, which may recall the sieges of Numantiaor Saguntum. Every street, almost every house, had been hotly contested; the monks, and even the women, had taken a conspicuous share in the defence; more than 40,000 bodies of both sexes and every age testified to the obstinate courage of the besieged." (See Dyer's History of Modern Europe, vol. iv. p. 496.)—Ed.
VARIANTS:
[1] The word "necessity" was italicised in the editions of 1815 to 1843.
FOOTNOTES:
[A] Compare a passage in Wordsworth's Essay Concerning the Convention of Cintra (1809, pp. 180-1), beginning "Most gloriously have the Citizens of Saragossa proved that the true army of Spain, in a contest of this nature, is the whole people."—Ed.
[B] The beginning is imitated from an Italian Sonnet.—W. W. 1815.
In 1837 Wordsworth put it thus, "In this Sonnet I am under some obligations to one of an Italian author, to which I cannot refer." But it is to be noted that in the edition of 1837, this note does not refer to the sonnet on Saragossa, but to that beginning "O, for a kindling touch from that pure flame," belonging to the year 1816. In subsequent editions the note is reappended to this sonnet beginning "Hail, Zaragoza!"—Ed.