CHAPTER XXVIII. CONVENTION OF CINTRA. It has already been mentioned, that in 1807, Wordsworth's family had become too numerous to be contained in the cottage, which had, up to that time, been his abode in Grasmere. When, therefore, they returned from Coleorton, he looked around for another abode. A new house was just rising above the head of the lake, and to the north of it ALLAN BANK. Thither he migrated in the spring of 1808, and there he resided for three years. This period does not appear to have been very prolific in poetry, a circumstance which, perhaps, may be attributed, in some degree, to the great inconveniences of this new residence. The chimneys smoked; the rooms were hardly finished; the grounds were to be laid out; the workmen were still on the premises; there was little of the repose favourable to the Muses. But, on the other hand, the time of this sojourn at Allan Bank was rendered memorable by the production of two works in prose, by two Poets the "Essay on the CONVENTION OF CINTRA," by Wordsworth, and "THE FRIEND," 1 by Coleridge, who dictated it (for he did not write it with his own hand) under Wordsworth's roof. The first number appeared June 1st, 1809; the last, March 25th, 1810. as The title is follows: "THE FRIEND; A Literary, Moral, and Political Weekly Paper, excluding personal and party politics, and the events of the day. Conducted by S. T. COLERIDGE, of Grasmere, Westmoreland. " Much of Mr. Wordsworth's life was spent in comparative retirement, and a great part of his poetry concerns natural and quiet objects. But it would be a great error to imagine that he was not an attentive observer of public events. He was an ardent lover of his country, and of mankind. He watched the progress of civil affairs in England with a vigilant eye, and he brought the actions of public men to the test of the great and lasting principles of equity and truth. He extended his range of view to events in foreign parts, especially on the continent of Europe. Few persons, though actually engaged in the great struggle of that period, felt more deeply than Mr. Wordsworth did in his peaceful retreat, for the calamities of European nations suffering at that time from the imbecility of their governments, and from the withering oppression of a prosperous despotism. His heart burned within him when he looked forth upon the contest; and impassioned words proceeded from him, both in poetry and prose. The contemplative calmness of his position, and the depth and intensity of his feelings, combined together to give a dignity and clearness, a vigour and a splendour, and, consequently, a lasting value, to his writings on measures of domestic and foreign policy, qualities that rarely belong to contemporaneous political effusions produced by those engaged in the heat and din of the battle. This remark is specially applicable to his tract on the CONVENTION OF CINTRA: "Not 'mid the world's vain objects that enslave The free-born soul, that world whose vaunted skill In selfish interest perverts the will, Whose factions lead astray the wise and brave, — Not there, but in dark wood, and rocky cave, Here, mighty Nature! in this school sublime 1 I weigh the hopes and fears of suffering Spain." The earnestness with which he watched the course of the peninsular war, was thus described in conversation by himself: "It would not be easy to conceive with what a depth of feeling I entered into the struggle carried on by the Spaniards for their deliverance from the usurped power of the French. Many times have I gone from Allan Bank in Grasmere Vale, where we were then residing, to the Raise-Gap, as it is called, so late as two o'clock in the morning, to meet the carrier bringing the newspaper from Keswick. Imperfect traces of the state of mind in which I then was may be found in my tract on the Convention of Cintra, as well as in the Sonnets dedicated to Liberty." The three following letters to Archdeacon Wrangham belong to this period; and the two latter may serve to give a sketch of the author's design in his work on the CONVENTION OF CINTRA, which was published at the end of May, 1809.3 1 Vol. iii. p. 73. 2 MSS. I. F. 3 The title is as follows: " Concerning the relations of Great Britain, Spain, and Portugal, to each other, and to the common enemy, at this crisis; and specifically as affected by the Convention of Cintra. The whole brought to the test of those principles by which alone the independence and freedom of nations can be preserved or recovered. Qui didicit patriæ quid debeat; Quod sit conscripti, quod judicis officium; quæ Partes in bellum missi ducis. By WILLIAM WORDSWORTH. London: Printed for Longman, Hurst, Rees, and Orme, Paternoster Row, 1809." The Appendix, a portion of the work which Mr. Wordsworth regarded as executed in a masterly manner, was drawn up by Mr. De Quincey, who revised the proofs of the whole. 66 Rev. Francis Wrangham, Hunmanby, near My dear Wrangham, "Grasmere, Oct. 2. 1808. "In what are you employed—I mean by way of amusement and relaxation from your professional duties? Is there any topographical history of your neighbourhood? I remember reading White's Natural History and Antiquities of Selbourne with great pleasure, when a boy at school, and I have lately read Dr. Whitaker's History of Craven and Whalley, both with profit and pleasure. Would it not be worth your while to give some of your leisure hours. to a work of this kind, making those works partly your model, and adding thereto from the originality of your own mind? "With your activity you might produce something of this kind of general interest, taking for your limit any division in your neighbourhood, natural, ecclesiastical, or civil: suppose, for example, the coast from the borders of Cleveland, or from Scarborough, to Spurnhead; and inward into the country to any boundary that you might approve of. Pray think of this. I am induced to mention it from belief that you are admirably qualified for such a work; that it would pleasantly employ your leisure hours; and from a regret in seeing works of this kind, which might be made so very interesting, utterly marred by falling into the hands of wretched bunglers, e. g. the History of Cleveland, which I have just read, by a Clergyman of, the most heavy performance I ever encountered; and what an interesting district! Pray let me hear from you soon. "Affectionately and sincerely yours, "W. WORDSWORTH." “Grasmere, Dec. 3. 1808. แ My dear Wrangham, "On the other side you have the prospectus of a weekly essay intended to be published by your friend Coleridge. "Your Sermon did not reach me till the night before last; we have all read it, and are much pleased with it. Upon the whole, I like it better than the last it must have been heard with great interest. I differ, however, from you in a few particulars. 1st. The Spaniards 'devoting themselves for an imprisoned Bourbon, or the crumbling relics of the Inquisition.' This is very fair for pointing a sentence, but it is not the truth. They have told us over and over again, that they are fighting against a foreign tyrant, who has dealt with them most perfidiously and inhumanly, who must hate them for their worth, and on account of the injuries they have received from him, and whom they must hate accordingly; against a ruler over whom they could have no control, and for one whom they have told us they will establish as a sovereign of a free people, and therefore must he himself be a limited monarch. You will permit me to make to you this representation for its truth's sake, and because it gives me an opportunity of letting out a secret, viz. that I myself am very deep in this subject, and about to publish upon it, |