Memoir of William Wordsworth, Esq. bridge; whose acute and erudite Letters on the Greek definitive article, in confirmation of the late Granville Sharpe's rule, procured him the patronage of the Archbishop of Canterbury, recently deceased, to whom he was indebted for the highly valuable preferments he now so deservedly enjoys. THE tranquillity of a life devoted to letters, and the seclusion which is esteemed most favourable to the inspirations of the Muse, afford few materials for the pen of the biographer. The poverty which pervades this interesting department of English literature has long been a subject of deep and just regret to all who appreciate the learning and genius of former days. It is true that endea- The brothers were educated at the same school, vours have been made in many instances to and though their pursuits have since been dissisupply the deficiency, and to redeem the cha-milar, yet from much congeniality of taste, they racters, habits, and feelings of those who have were remarkable for their affectionate attachgraced the literary annals of our own times from ment to each other. The classical attainments the obscurity which veils those of their illus- of our poet are described to have been superior trious predecessors: yet it frequently occurs that to his young contemporaries; and his English - either from the retiring nature of pre-eminent compositions both in verse and prose were distalent, or the delicacy of private friendship-the tinguished at a very early age, as possessing the authentic information which is only to be derived germs of those high talents which were hereafter from primary sources is not sufficiently copious to confer such celebrity on their possessor: his to gratify the scarcely illegitimate curiosity of chief amusement even at that period consisted in the public, respecting those from whose labours the study of our best poets, and in the recitation they have derived instruction and delight. of their most splendid passages. The contracted limits within which our Memoir Having profited largely by his studies at Hawkesof the distinguished Poet who is the subject of it head, Mr Wordsworth removed to the University is comprised, has strongly forced this observation of Cambridge in 1787, where he was matriculated upon us. In the present instance, however, our a student of St John's. Here he remained a suffitask is abridged by a circumstance fortunately cient length of time to attain his Bachelor's devery favourable to the reader, namely, that Mr gree, without aspiring, it would appear, to higher Wordsworth's writings are in their very nature academical honours. While yet a student, he and essence a species of auto-biography, and pre- | made a pedestrian excursion through part of sent the reader with a perfect and most interest-France, Savoy, Switzerland, and Italy, accompaing exposition of the feelings under which they nied by a college friend. On this tour he comwere composed. Added to which the introduc-posed the greater part of those delightful lines tory notices, or essays, prefixed to his poems, at various times as they were published (all of which will be found in the succeeding pages) are unusually copious, and afford such ample explanations of the literary opinions of the author, that any additional remarks—(information is out of the question) — of ours would be a work of idle supererogation. subsequently published under the title of « Descriptive Sketches in Verse, which, as also an Epistle in verse addressed to a young Lady from the Lakes in the North of England, was given to the world in 1793; being, we believe, the first of Mr Wordsworth's productions formally submitted to the ordeal of public criticism. In a short time after his return from the conOur Author is descended from a family of tinent, Mr-Wordsworth quitted the University, high respectability in Cumberland, where he was and, indulging his taste for contemplating the born, at Cockermouth, on the 7th April, 1770. beauties of nature, to which he had been from At the age of eight years he was sent to Hawkes-early childhood enthusiastically attached, visited head School in Lancashire, one of the best semi- most parts of the country where the character of naries in the north of England. It was founded the scenery promised to gratify his prevailing and endowed in the reign of Elizabeth, by the passion, of which England and Scotland exhibit venerable Sandys, Archbishop of York. Two of its a rich and almost unequalled variety. Thou, living ornaments are Mr Wordsworth the subject Nature, art my goddess, is a sentence which of this Memoir, and his brother, Dr Christopher would indeed befit the lips of Mr Wordsworth; Wordsworth, formerly Chaplain to the House of for never did a more fervent worshipper kneel Commons, Rector of Lambeth and Dean of Bocking, before her altar, or celebrate her mysteries with and at present master of Trinity College, Cam- an idolatry at once so glowing and so profound. a With what power he expresses this feeling, which breathes through every page of his writings, the following passage, taken almost at random, will attest: O then what soul was his, when on the tops Of the high mountains, he beheld the sun up, Rise and bathe the world in light! He look'd- And ocean's liquid mass beneath him lay many respects similar to his own, and who then resided in the neighbouring village. In this remote part of the kingdom they lived in almost entire seclusion, exploring the adjacent country by day, and by night arranging the plans of future literary works. This apparently unobjectiouable mode of life was not, however, from the critical and perilous nature of the times, free from inconvenience. The violence of the French In gladness and deep joy. The clouds were touch'd, Revolution had by this period subsided, but its And in their silent faces did he read And by them did he live; they were his life. influence had extended itself to the obscurest nook of the British isles, and even the retired neighbourhood in which our young philosophers had taken up their abode had not escaped its contagion. At the little inn of the village, which was occasionally visited by Mr Wordsworth and his friend, politics were the general topic of conver It is difficult for those who are acquainted-and who is not?- with the writings of Lord By-sation. In these discussions, Mr Coleridge, whose ron, to read the above magnificent lines without being struck with the almost startling resemblance borne to them by a passage in a poem of the noble Lord's, who, it is evident, from many other parts of his works, had studied our Poet with advantage. Far be it from us to endeavour to depreciate the genius of Byron, or to tear one leaf from the laurels that shadow his immortal name. Yet that he should have pursued with unrelenting satire a poet by whose labours he did not scruple to profit, and that largely, is surely one of those unaccountable and wayward inconsistencies which seem scarcely reconcileable with that erect and lofty moral deportment which, in the blindness of erring humanity, we would fain assign as the concomitant of high intellectual superiority. previous conduct at Bristol had attracted the notice of Government (being at that time a zealous reformist), took an active and vehement part. Mr Wordsworth was generally on these occasions a silent listener; but it will not surprise those who are acquainted with the eloquence and powers of argument which distinguish Mr Coleridge, to learn that his discourse, in such a place and in such society, must have produced an extraordinary impression; his opinions being, as we have hinted, liberal in the utmost possible sense of the word. This circumstance, taken in conjunction with the evident superiority of the habits and manners of our two literary companions, their solitary walks and their unusually retired manner of living, created a strong distrust among their uncongenial occasional associates; in But to return to our subject.-Mr Wordsworth fine, our two poets became first objects of curiosity, was at Paris during a considerable time before, and at length of suspicion. All their proceedings and at the commencement of the French Revolu- were guardedly watched, in their walks they tion. He was acquainted with many of the lead- were now cautiously followed at a distance, and, ers of the revolutionary party, and lodged in the directed by the sagacity of the lawyer of the vilsame mansion with Brissot. He was driven from lage, a complete system of espionage was estathe capital by the tremendous horrors of the blished over them.' These absurd suspicions, of Reign of Terror. On his return to England, our course, were removed in a little time, and the author again resumed his pedestrian excursions, innocent objects of the alarm were only acquaintand afterwards resided for some time in Dorset-ed with the dangerous opinions which had been shire, without, however, relaxing in his favourite formed of them, long after their termination. pursuit. At length, it would appear that, weary of wandering, Mr Wordsworth became, in the year 1797, a resident at Alfoxden, an ancient Mansion in a highly picturesque dell about two miles from Nether Stowey, in the northern part of Somersetshire; where he formed an intimacy with Mr Coleridge, whose pursuits and habits were in We are informed upon good authority, that so little interest has Mr Wordsworth himself felt on the subject of his Lordship's satire, that to this day he has never perused «English Bards and Scotch Reviewers.»> It was in this retreat that the « Lyrical Ballads » were commenced. «They were intended,» says Mr Coleridge, « as an experiment whether subjects which from their nature rejected the usual ornaments and extra-colloquial style of poems in general, might not be so managed in the lan Mr Coleridge has always considered himself-justly, no doubt the principal cause of this unseemly and ridiculous vigilance. He attributes it to his having, during a long and abstruse conversation (we presume, with Mr Wordsworth), on scholastic and other topics, pronounced several times, with extraordinary emphasis, the name of Spinoza. guage of ordinary life as to produce the pleasureable interest which it is the peculiar business of poetry to impart. » Mr Wordsworth in private life is described, by all who have the honour of his intimacy, as amiable in the highest degree, and as discharging every duty in the various relations of society with affectionate tenderness and scrupulous fidelity. To his regular and temperate course of life it may probably be attributed that, during a space of nearly sixty years, Mr Wordsworth has never experienced a day's illness. It is not to be understood, however, that our author is so much attached to his own native vales and mountains as not to feel and appreciate the natural beauties of other countries. That he has done so is indeed known to all who are acquainted with him only through the medium of his writings; nor is he so much of a recluse as not to have felt a warm interest in the moral and political condition and prospects of all Europe: he is not an indifferent spectator of events which affect the glory of his own nation, or the happiness of the whole civilized world. But here we may refer the reader In the year 1798, MrWordsworth, accompanied by his sister Dorothea, made a tour through part of Germany, where he joined Mr Coleridge.' How long the travellers remained abroad we are not informed, but in 1800, we find Mr Wordsworth settled at Grasmere, a small village in Westmorland, from whence he removed to his present elegant residence at Rydal. In 1803 he married Miss Mary Hutchinson, the daughter of a merchant at Penrith, a young lady of highly respectable family and exemplary character; two sons and a daughter are the living produce of this union. The picturesque beauties in the neighbourhood of Rydal prove more attractive to Mr Wordsworth than the charms of the metropolis (to which, however he pays an annual visit), or the pleasures of artificial society; and here, his leisure devoted to poetry and contemplation, in the enjoyment of an extensive circle of acquaint- to the succeeding pages, which are his best bioance, comprising the most distinguished charac-graphy. Mr Wordsworth's prose writings are ters in the kingdom for rank, literature, or science, in the bosom of a happy domestic circle, he spends most of his time. In point of fortune, Mr Wordsworth enjoys an elegant sufficiency," arising from a patrimonial estate, and the emoluments of a situation under the Government, for which, we understand, he was indebted to the personal friendship of the Earl of Lonsdale. not numerous; the most remarkable is a large Mr Wordsworth in his person is above the middle size, with, says the author of the Spirit of the Age, marked features, and a somewhat stately air. He reminds one of some of Holbein's heads, grave, saturnine, with a slight indication of sly humour, kept under by the manners of the age, or by the pretensions of the person. He has a peculiar sweetness in his smile, and great depth and manliness and a rugged harmony in the tones of his voice. His manner of reading his own poetry is particularly imposing, and in his favourite passages his eye beams with preternatural lustre, and the meaning labours slowly up from his swelling bosom. No one who has seen him at these moments, could go away with an impression that he was a inan of no mark or likeli-enced, not only by his writings, which, however, hood.» " Thirty years after this date, that is, during the present year, Mr Wordsworth and Mr Coleridge have again visited Germany together. In the autumn of 1820, our author also, with Mrs Wordsworth and a friend, made a long pedestrian tour in Switzerland. 2 The best likeness of him is a bust executed by Chantrey for Sir George Beaumont, one of Mr Wordsworth's dearest friends. His portrait was also introduced into Mr Haydon's picture of Christ's entry into Jerusalem. are sufficient, in our opinion, for a proof of what we affirm; but also by his conversation, which is always open to an extensive acquaintance. From these rich sources many original and philosophical observations have been derived, and presented from various channels to the public, who were little aware to whom the credit of their invention should be given. The following analysis of Mr Wordsworth's |