FOOTNOTES:
[374] Macbeth, act I. scene vi. l. 7.—Ed.
[375] 1827.
... nests of clay,
Work cunningly devised, and seeming sound;
But quickly from its airy hold unbound
By its own weight, or washed, or blown away
With silent imperceptible decay.
If man must build, admit him to thy ground,
O Truth! to work within the eternal ring,
Where the stars shine, ... 1823.
[376] Compare Alexander Hume's Day's Estival (1599). This and the preceding sonnet were first published in 1823 in A Collection of Poems, chiefly manuscript, and from living authors, edited for the benefit of a Friend, by Joanna Baillie. The collection includes Sir Walter Scott's Macduff's Cross, and Southey's The Cataract of Lodore.—Ed.
1824
The poems written in 1824 were few. They include two addressed to Mrs. Wordsworth, two or three composed at Coleorton, and a couple of memorial sonnets suggested during a tour in North Wales.—Ed.