the case of each poem included in it, although it would be impossible to state the grounds on which the selec tion has been made. It is not with the view of adding to Wordsworth's fame that this little book has been prepared, or that any new selection from his works is desirable; but rather with the view of popularising him, and of extending his influence amongst the masses of the English-speaking Within a certain limited area that influence could scarcely be deeper than it is. By the suffrage of the wisest, and the ever-increasing recognition of the best of men, the place which he now fills, both as Teacher and Poet, is high up amongst the Immortals of Literature; and to praise him is almost an impertinence. race. But the masses do not know him. And yet why should not the masses both know and appreciate him, as much as they appreciate Scott and Burns? Hartley Coleridge once said of Wordsworth that "he alone, of all the followers of Milton, had a right to appropriate his 'fit audience may I find, though few.'" But why should the audience now be few? It has grown more numerous every year since the poet's death, and it should grow more numerous still. In one of his finest sonnets Wordsworth wrote of Milton "Milton, thou should'st be living at this hour, The last of these two lines may certainly be applied to himself. We do not wish him back amongst us, but we desire that his influence should increase, for nothing is more needed in our time than the elevating and tranquillising influence of poetry of the first magnitude, -such poetry as lifts us above ourselves to what is great, elemental, and enduring. The publication, in a convenient form, of the best things that Wordsworth has given us-issued with the sanction of representative members of a Society founded to promote the study of his works, and edited by several of them in concertshould help toward this end. Selection and compression are of course necessary, if the masses are to read Wordsworth, and find out the secret of his power; but I think that the masses may yet come to endorse Mr. Arnold's judgment as to "the great and ample body of powerful work which remains, after all his inferior work has been cleared away," greater in amount and quality, Mr. Arnold thinks-and I humbly endorse his opinion-than that of any other English poet except Shakespeare and Milton. If this be so, Wordsworth's influence over the generations of the future is an assured influence. It will last, because it deals not with transient fashions but with abiding needs, because it touches the deepest springs of human life, and is therefore an inexhaustible fountain of inspiration, strength, and joy. In further explanation of the order adopted in this volume, reference must be made to Wordsworth's own arrangement of his poems. It is an extremely artificial one, although many have come to like it from old association, and from the interest attaching to the main distinction which he drew between poems of the Fancy and those of the Imagination; but his groups were both arbitrary and very miscellaneous.1 1 Sir William Rowan Hamilton wrote to Mr. Aubrey de Vere in 1835, that Wordsworth's daughter had hinted to him that her father himself "was sometimes at a loss whether to refer her to the Poems of Mr. Arnold-who has given us by far the best volume of "Selections" hitherto issued-has divided the poems into classes, which appear to me to labour under the same disadvantage as Wordsworth's own. We have (1) Ballads, (2) Narrative poems, (3) Lyrics, (4) Poems akin to the antique, (5) Sonnets, (6) Reflective and elegiac poems. I do not criticise the arrangement, we are so grateful to Mr. Arnold for the services he has rendered. It would be a mistake, however, to attempt another classification of the poems; it would be unwise to recast them in new groups, even were it possible to make the groups more adequate. It is in all respects more desirable to keep to the chronological order, which will be of use as exhibiting the growth of Wordsworth's genius, and enabling the reader to follow its successive stages. As to previous volumes of Selections, Mr. Joseph Hine prepared a volume during the poet's life-time which he called Selections from the Poems of William Wordsworth, Esq., chiefly for the use of Schools and Young Persons. It was first published in 1831, and a new edition appeared in 1834. This was in many respects a praiseworthy selection. Mr. Hine followed an order of his own, and included portions of four books of The Excursion. A short collection-(67 in all)—of Select Pieces from the Poems of William Wordsworth (illustrated) was published by Messrs. Moxon & Son during the poet's life, but the edition is undated-the motive, as explained in the "advertisement," being that it was "now high the Imagination or Poems of the Fancy for some particular passage;" and Aubrey de Vere, in reply to Hamilton, spoke of Wordsworth's arrangement as a "parade of system," and adds, "I cannot help thinking that in it he mistakes classification for method." (See the Life of Sir W. R. Hamilton, vol. ii. pp. 132 and 135.) time to have recourse to the poetry of Wordsworth as one of our direct instruments in education." His "sense of the beauty of the world," and his "flexible command of the resources of the English tongue," are pointed out. The latter, the editor says, is "only surpassed by Shakespeare, and is not surpassed by Spenser or by Milton." The selection is well made, but the author should not have given titles of his own to any of the poems. In 1857, Mr. William Johnston edited The Earlier Poems of William Wordsworth, corrected as in the latest editions. His arrangement is not chronological, nor does it follow Wordsworth's own classification, except in part. Some of the Sonnets, and the Poems on the Naming of Places, the Inscriptions, and the Poems referring to Old Age, are arranged as Wordsworth arranged them; but the rest are mixed together arbitrarily. There was greater reason for keeping the Poems of "the Fancy" distinct from those of "the Imagination," and those of "the Affections" from both, than for following Wordsworth's classification in the other instances. Mr. Johnston's preface is valuable, and the various readings of the text, though incomplete, add a distinct feature to his edition. In 1866, the Messrs. Moxon published a Selection from the Works of William Wordsworth, arranged by Francis Turner Palgrave. This is an excellent selection of 123 poems, arranged by Mr. Palgrave on a principle of his own. It contains much of Wordsworth's best work, and scarcely one poem-if there be one-that is not of absolute and permanent value. In 1874, the Messrs. Rivington published a small volume of Selections from the Poetical Works of William Wordsworth, edited with notes by Hawes Turner. There are only thirty poems in this selection, and it was prepared for the use of schools. It follows Wordsworth's own plan of arrangement, without any reference, however, to his classification. To thirteen of them Mr. Turner has given titles of his own, a somewhat hazardous experiment, and, in one case at least, unhappy as well as inaccurate, when Stone Arthur is called "Wordsworth Peak." A second edition of this little book was published in 1881. In 1879, Mr. Arnold's Selection, already referred to, was issued by the Messrs. Macmillan. In 1883, Mr. Gardner of Paisley published a volume of Selections from Wordsworth, edited by J. S. Fletcher, with an introductory Memoir. (The latter cannot be commended, as the Selection can.) One hundred and five of the best poems are brought together, in the order of the poet's own arrangement, without allusion to his classification. It is done with care and success, and is praiseworthy. In 1885, a small volume entitled The Poetical Works of William Wordsworth, was edited by Mr. A. J. Symington, and issued by Walter Scott. It is a selection of 134 of the poems, and it would have been better to have been called a Selection. In this book, as in Mr. Turner's, we find new titles given to the poems, a practice which must be condemned. One is called "University Life,” another "Moral Truth," another "Life under the British Constitution," another "Loyalty to State and Church," another "Happy Cottage Homes." No student of Wordsworth need be told that these are not his titles, but "the general reader" should be told that he was incapable of |