The very form and substance of the monument which has received the inscription, and the appearance of the letters, testifying with what a slow and laborious hand they must have been engraven, might seem to reproach the author who had given way on this occasion to transports of mind, or to quick turns of conflicting passion; though the same might constitute the life and beauty of a funeral oration or elegiac poem. These sensations and judgments, acted upon perhaps unconsciously, have been one of the main causes why epitaphs so often personate the deceased, and represent him as speaking from his own tomb-stone. The departed Mortal is introduced telling you himself that his pains are gone; that a state of rest is come; and he conjures you to weep for him no longer. He admonishes with the voice of one experienced in the vanity of those affections which are confined to earthly objects, and gives a verdict like a superior Being, performing the office of a judge, who has no temptations to mislead him, and whose decision cannot but be dispassionate. Thus is death disarmed of its sting, and affliction unsubstantialised. By this tender fiction, the survivors bind themselves to a sedater sorrow, and employ the intervention of the imagination in order that the reason may speak her own language earlier than she would otherwise have been enabled to do. This shadowy interposition also harmoniously unites the two worlds of the living and the dead by their appropriate affections. And it may be observed, that here we have an additional proof of the propriety with which sepulchral inscriptions were referred to the consciousness of immortality as their primal source. I do not speak with a wish to recommend that an epitaph should be cast in this mould preferably to the still more common one, in which what is said comes from the survivors directly; but rather to point out how natural those feelings are which have induced men, in all states and ranks of society, so frequently to adopt this mode. And this I have done chiefly in order that the laws, which ought to govern the composition of the other, may be better understood. This latter mode, namely, that in which the survivors speak in their own persons, seems to me upon the whole greatly preferable: as it admits a wider range of notices; and, above all, because, excluding the fiction which is the groundwork of the other, it rests upon a more solid basis. Enough has been said to convey our notion of a perfect epitaph; but it must be borne in mind that one is meant which will best answer the general ends of that species of composition. According to the course pointed out, the worth of private life, through all varieties of situation and character, will be most honourably and profitably preserved in memory. Nor would the model recommended less suit public men, in all instances save of those persons who by the greatness of their services in the employments of peace or war, or by the surpassing excellence of their works in art, literature, or science, have made themselves not only universally known, but have filled the heart of their country with everlasting gratitude. Yet I must here pause to correct myself. In describing the general tenour of thought which epitaphs ought to hold, I have omitted to say, that if it be the actions of a man, or even some one conspicuous or beneficial act of local or general utility, which have distinguished him, and excited a desire that he should be remembered, then, of course, ought the attention to be directed chiefly to those actions or that act: and such sentiments dwelt upon as naturally arise out of them or it. Having made this necessary distinction, I proceed.-The mighty benefactors of mankind, as they are not only known by the immediate survivors, but will continue to be known familiarly to latest posterity, do not stand in need of biographic sketches, in such a place; nor of delineations of character to individualise them. is already done by their Works, in the memories of men. Their naked names, and a grand comprehensive sentiment of civic gratitude, patriotic love, or human admiration or the utterance of some elementary principle most essential in the constitution of true virtue; or a declaration touching that pious humility and self-abasement, which are ever most profound as minds are most susceptible of genuine exaltation or an intuition, communicated in adequate words, of the sublimity of intellectual power; these are the only tribute which can here be paid-the only offering that upon such an altar would not be unworthy. This "What needs my Shakspeare for his honoured bones The labour of an age in piled stones, Or that his hallowed reliques should be hid Under a star-ypointing pyramid ? Dear Son of Memory, great Heir of Fame, What need'st thou such weak witness of thy name? Thou in our wonder and astonishment Hast built thyself a livelong monument, -W. W. "And spires whose silent finger points to heaven”” (page 187). An instinctive taste teaches men to build their churches in flat countries with spire-steeples, which as they cannot be referred to any other object, point as with silent finger to the sky and stars, and sometimes, when they reflect the brazen light of a rich though rainy sunset, appear like a pyramid of flame burning heaven-ward. Friend," by S. T. Coleridge, No. 14, p. 223. See "The "That sycamore, which annually holds S. T. COLERIDGE.-W. W. "Perish the roses and the flowers of kings" (page 260). The "Transit gloria mundi" is finely expressed in the Introduction to the Foundation-charters of some of the ancient Abbeys. Some expressions here used are taken from that of the Abbey of St. Mary's Furness, the translation of which is as follows:- "Considering every day the uncertainty of life, that the roses and flowers of Kings, Emperors, and Dukes, and the crowns and palms of all the great, wither and decay; and that all things, with an uninterrupted course, tend to dissolution and death: I therefore," etc.-W. W. "Earth has lent Her waters, Air her breezes" (page 268). In treating this subject, it was impossible not to recollect, with gratitude, the pleasing picture, which, in his Poem of the Fleece, the excellent and amiable Dyer has given of the influences of manufacturing industry upon the face of this Island. He wrote at a time when machinery was first beginning to be introduced, and his benevolent heart prompted him to augur from it nothing but good. Truth has compelled me to dwell upon the baneful effects arising out of an ill-regulated and excessive application of powers so admirable in themselves.-W. W. Binding herself by statute" (page 296). The discovery of Dr. Bell affords marvellous facilities for carrying this into effect; and it is impossible to overrate the benefit which might accrue to humanity from the universal application of this simple engine under an enlightened and conscientious government.-W. W. EDITOR'S NOTES. "The Excursion" includes work of as early a date as the autumn of 1795 (see the "I. F." note on this poem, p. 313), and work as late, perhaps, as the year of publication, 1814. The story of" Margaret, or the Ruined Cottage,' in Book I., seems to have been at first designed as an independent poem, and was begun in 1795; it was substantially complete in 1797-1798, but in Dec., 1801, Wordsworth was again at work upon it. On March 11, 1798, Wordsworth mentions (Knight's "Life," vol. i. p. 148) that he has written 706 lines of "The Recluse, or Views of Nature, Man, and Society." Coleridge, in the same month, writes of 1,200 lines by Wordsworth, "superior. to anything in our language which in any way resembles it." These 1,200 lines were probably made up of "The Ruined Cottage" (perhaps 11. 1-107 and 11. 438-970 of "The Excursion" Book i.) and the 706 lines of "The Recluse." The whole was probably afterwards included in "The Excursion. On Oct. 9, 1800, Coleridge mentions Wordsworth's "The Pedlar" as a long blankverse poem; there was some thought of publishing it in a volume with "Christabel." From Dorothy Wordsworth's Journal we learn that Wordsworth was working at "The Pedlar " at intervals from Dec., 1801, to March 9, 1802 (adding, perhaps, the greater part of 11. 108-437 of "The Excursion" Book i.). On July 8, 1802, Dorothy writes: "William was looking at The Pedlar' when I got up, He arranged it, and after tea I wrote it out-280 lines.' In Dec., 1804, Wordsworth writes to Sir G. Beaumont of The Pedlar," 2,000 lines, as intended to form part of "The Recluse." Thus "The Pedlar" at different times probably meant (1) "The Tale of Margaret," (2) "The Excursion" Book 1., (3) "The Excursion," Books i. and ii. The greater part of The Excursion," however, belongs to 1808-1811, the period of Wordsworth's residence at Allan Bank. The first edition-a quarto-1814, consisted of 500 copies, and sold slowly. In the second edition, 1820-an octavo-the changes were very few and unimportant. For the next edition, that of 1827, the poem was carefully revised, the main feature of the revision being the strengthening of feeble passages by condensation. A long passage at the close of Book VI., telling of a widower's happy second marriage, was now omitted, (see pp. 375-377), and in connection with this it may be noted that the incident of the second marriage of the Wanderer's mother in Book I. was also omitted. Were we in the dark as to the chronology of Wordsworth's poems, something might be learnt by studying the omission or alteration in this edition of "The Excursion," and in other poems, of the following words: frame (verb) towards and toward, that and which, sweet. Again in 1832 some changes were effected, and a more extensive revision was made for the edition of 1837. Many of the alterations, however, of 1827, 1832, and 1837 are in details of workmanship or manipulation, and some of these I have not thought it necessary to record. Of the alterations made in 1845 several are of considerable interest, and in some instances they consist of additions. These additions remaining in the text, the chief results of this last revision can be traced only by observing the date 1845 in the notes, and referring to the text; and such a scrutiny will repay the careful student. In certain cases, as towards the close of Book I. (11. 934-940 and ll. 952-955) and elsewhere, the additions indicate the added importance which Wordsworth attached to Christian faith; see also Book V., 11. 824-826; Book VI., 11. 766-774; Book IX., II. 225-228. The collation in the present edition, while not aiming at exhaustiveness, omits nothing which affects in any noteworthy way the thought of the poem; and I am glad to be able to refer to the collation of "The Excursion" in Professor Knight's edition as being full and (apart from a narrow margin of inevitable error) as accurate. The reader of Professor Knight's notes, however, may almost invariably alter the date 1849 to 1845, and he should be on his guard against the erroneous numbering of lines in every book of the poem. If notes of a topographical kind be desired, in addition to what is given in the Fenwick note, they may be found in Professor Knight's edition; but it should be remembered that Wordsworth's topography, though founded on fact, is ideal, and not literal, |