i published between the earlier and the later dates. Thus, "1. 10 (1837)" means that the text of line 10 was reached in ed. 1836-37; if a reading of 1800 cited in the notes be followed by a reading of 1827, it implies that the reading of 1800 remained unaltered in editions prior to 1827. The notes are placed at the end of each volume, not at the foot of the page. I desire to present the poems as such without the distraction of footnotes. If it gives trouble to the student to seek for variations of text at the back of the volume, I am not ill pleased; he must take the trouble. Nothing shall here be thrust into view which could disturb the pleasure of the reader who cares for the poetry of Wordsworth and for the poetry alone. This edition gives the complete Poetical Works of Wordsworth, with one inevitable omission that of the " "First Book of the Recluse," first published in 1888, which is copyright. Special thanks are due to the poet's grandson, Mr. Gordon Wordsworth, and to Professor Knight for permission to make quotations from the Journals of Dorothy Wordsworth (as I have frequently done in my notes), and for permission to print in full the poems which first appeared in Professor Knight's edition and his Life of William Wordsworth." These will be given with others not included in ed. 1849-50 in an Appendix. In the present volume I have perhaps erred in accepting Wordsworth's date for "Vaudracour and Julia," 1805. It seems very likely that this episode, intended at first for the close of the ninth book of The Prelude," was written, together with that book, late in the year 1804. But we cannot be certain. My task in this edition has been entered on with zeal and carried through with patience. Wordsworth, more than any other writer, was for me a teacher and inspirer during many years. My reverence for him and for his work in literature will be shown, I trust, if not by fervid words, at least by fidelity in my record of facts. I desire to associate whatever is mine in these volumes with the memory of my wife. October 23, 1892. E. D. MEMOIR CONTENTS. Extract from the Conclusion of a Poem, com- posed in anticipation of leaving School An Evening Walk. Addressed to a Young Lady Descriptive Sketches taken during a Pedestrian Lines left upon a Seat in a Yew-tree, which stands near the Lake of Esthwaite, on a Strange fits of passion have I known. She dwelt among the untrodden ways Yes! thou art fair, yet be not moved How rich that forehead's calm expanse |