[701] 1845.
... it give? 1835.
VIII
COMPOSED AFTER READING A NEWSPAPER OF THE DAY[702]
"People! your chains are severing link by link;
Soon shall the Rich be levelled down—the Poor
Meet them half-way." Vain boast! for These, the more
They thus would rise, must low and lower sink
Till, by repentance stung, they fear to think; 5
While all lie prostrate, save the tyrant few
Bent in quick turns each other to undo,
And mix the poison they themselves must drink.
Mistrust thyself, vain Country! cease to cry,
"Knowledge will save me from the threatened woe."
For, if than other rash ones more thou know, 11
Yet on presumptuous wing as far would fly
Above thy knowledge as they dared to go,
Thou wilt provoke a heavier penalty.
FOOTNOTES:
[702] This Sonnet ought to have followed No. vii. in the series of 1831, but was omitted by mistake.—W. W. 1835.
As the above note indicates Wordsworth's own wish as to where this sonnet should be placed, and approximately gives the date of composition, it is placed as No. VIII. in the sonnets of 1831. In later editions, Wordsworth placed it as the first in the series of "Sonnets dedicated to Liberty and Order." The original title was Sonnet, composed after reading a Newspaper of the Day.—Ed.