Teach me, father John, to read.
"The true use of the cross in drawing is to define or mark a point, especially a point to start or measure from.... But it was impossible that it could be used long without reference being supposed to be made to the cross of Christ, and it must soon have been regarded as invoking Christ's blessing upon the commencement of any writing."—W. W. Skeat in Notes and Queries, 3rd Series, XI. May 4, 1867.
And from the cross-row plucks the letter G.
Shakespeare, Richard III. act 1. scene i. l. 55.—ED.
[KG] The "hedge of hollies dark and tall," and the "pure cerulean gravel" on the walk between the "pastor's mansion" and the "house of prayer," are all due to the imagination of the poet. There is nothing now—either at Hackett or at the parsonage in Grasmere—at all corresponding to the details given in The Excursion; and it is not likely that the surroundings of either house in Wordsworth's time resembled the description given in the poem.—ED.
[KH] See the note on the preceding page.
[KI] A reminiscence of St. Bees, or of days spent on the Cumbrian coast. Compare the two sonnets (1806), With Ships the sea was sprinkled far and nigh, and Where lies the Land to which yon Ship must go? (vol. iv. pp. 40, 41).—ED.