[ED] See Wordsworth's note, p. [387].—ED.
[EE] Compare Milton's Ode on the Nativity, l. 119.—ED.
[EF] St. Matt. xi. 19.—ED.
[EG] See Wordsworth's note, p. [387].—ED.
[EH] Samuel Daniel; from his poem, To the Lady Margaret, Countess of Cumberland. In his note Wordsworth says, "The two last lines printed in italics, are by him" (i.e. Daniel) "translated from Seneca." The passage is: "O quam contempta res est homo, nisi supra humana surrexerit" (Natur. quaest. lib. i. praef. 4). The discovery of this passage cost the late Bishop of St. Andrews several long days' hunting through Seneca's works. He wrote me afterwards: "The passage has nothing to do with moral elevation, the next words are 'quam diu cum affectibus colluctamur quid magnifici facimus.'"
The following occurs in The Soul's Conflict, by Richard Sibbes (1635), ch. ix.—"We see likewise hence a necessity of having something in the soul above itself. It must be partaker of a diviner nature than itself; otherwise, when the most refined part of our souls, the very spirit of our minds, is out of frame, what shall bring it in again?" See also the extract from Bacon's Essay, XVI., prefixed to The White Doe of Rylstone (vol. iv. p. 105).—ED.
[EI] The fact of the eagle having once haunted the Cumbrian and Westmoreland valleys is proved by the number of rocks, crags, etc., that are named from it.—ED.
[EJ] The following occurs in the Fenwick note to the lines addressed To Joanna in the "Poems on the naming of Places" (vol. ii. p. 157): "The effect of the reverberation of voices in some parts of the mountains is very striking. There is, in The Excursion, an allusion to the bleat of a lamb thus re-echoed, and described without any exaggeration, as I heard it, on the side of Stickle Tarn, from the precipice that stretches on to Langdale Pikes." The "precipice" referred to is Pavy Ark.—ED.
[EK] There are many ant-hills in this district of Westmoreland. Note that the description here is of the effect of a lake seen from above, looking down on it.—ED.
[EL] The fieldfares have a habit of settling together, and sitting perfectly still, till they are disturbed; when they fly off, and settling again, sit silently as before.—ED.