Barrett Browning and Dante Gabriel Rossetti - has it been a favorite form of expression. Browning, who is master of so many varieties of verse, has, I think, never used the sonnet form.

1802.

I.

"I Grieved for Buonaparte."

We are fortunate in knowing the birthday of the Wordsworthian sonnet. On May 21, 1802, while his sister was reading to him some of Milton's sonnets, his genius was kindled and immediately produced three sonnets: this sonnet is the only one of the three which has been preserved. With this trumpet-call to "a few strong instincts and a few plain rules," opens that magnificent series of Sonnets to Liberty, which Mr. Myers says are worthy of comparison with the noblest passages of patriotic verse or prose which history has inspired.

The Prelude gives us the character of Wordsworth's early patriotism; the Sonnets to Liberty, his later; the aims and principles are the same in both - the enfranchisement of the individual from the tyranny of a low ideal. His change of opinion as to methods was entirely consistent, and he had a much truer democratic sense of the dignity of man than did those who hastened to pronounce him a deserter of the cause.

In this sonnet one hardly knows which to praise the most — the practical wisdom, the lofty conception, or the grave and solemn harmony. Can one confidently affirm that in these respects even Shakespeare's sonnets are superior?

II.

Composed upon Westminster Bridge, September 3, 1802.

Wordsworth and his sister left Town-End for the Continent in July, 1802. Under date of July 30, we have the following record in his sister's diary: "Left London between five and six o'clock of the morning, outside the Dover coach. A beautiful morning. The city, St. Paul's, the river — a multitude of boats-made a beautiful sight as we crossed Westminster Bridge; the houses not overhung by their clouds of smoke, and were spread out endlessly; yet the sun shone so brightly, with such a pure light, that there was something like the purity of one of Nature's own grand spectacles." It was on

the way to Dover that this sonnet was written, hence the date of the heading is incorrect. This is perhaps the best known of Wordsworth's sonnets, as it is certainly one of the noblest. In simplicity and grace of language, in dignity and purity of sentiment, in unity and compactness of form, it has no superior. In reference to it Walter Bagehot says: "A better instance of pure style cannot be found. Not a single expression can be spared, yet not a single expression rivets the attention." The full beauty of this sonnet was revealed to me when in July, 1887, after I had spent the night in the House of Commons listening to Gladstone, Harcourt, and Balfour, I crossed Westminster Bridge at early dawn. The contrast between the boisterous scenes of the House of Commons and the beauty and serenity of that July morning was indescribable.

III.

Composed by the Sea-side near Calais, 1802.

This sonnet and the six that follow it were composed at Calais in August, 1802. The following is from Dorothy's Journal: "Arrived at Calais at four o'clock in the morning of July 31st. Delightful walks in the evening, seeing far off in the west the coast of England like a cloud, crested with Dover Castle, the evening star, and the glory of the sky. The reflections in the water were more beautiful than the sky itself, - purple waves brighter than precious stones forever melting far away upon the sands."

IV.

Calais, August, 1802.

Cf. Prelude, vi. 339–341.

V.

Composed near Calais, on the Road leading to Andres.

Robert Jones was a college mate of Wordsworth, and accompanied him upon the pedestrian tour in Switzerland, 1790. Cf. Prelude, vi. 342 et seq., with notes.

4. July 14, 1790, when the King swore fidelity to the new constitution.

VI.

Calais, August 15, 1802.

3, 11. Cf. Prelude, xi. 358–364, and note to previous sonnet.

VII.

Composed on the Beach near Calais.

The spirit of adoration, so restful, so calm, so intense, pervading this sonnet, is eminently Wordsworthian. The concluding lines express that belief in the divinity of childish intuition, which is so prominent in We are Seven and the Ode.

VIII.

On the Extinction of the Venetian Republic.

1. The result of the fourth crusade, in which only French and Venetians took part, was that the Cyclades, a part of Thessaly, some of the Byzantine cities, and about one half of the city of Constantinople fell to Venice. - KNIGHT.

2. Venice, in virtue of her naval power, was once mistress of the Mediterranean. The spoils and trade of the East enriched the city. 4, 5. See Ruskin, Stones of Venice.

In 452 Attila invaded Venetia and destroyed its capital, Aquileia; the fugitives from the cities fled to the islands in the lagoons and the Gulf of Venice; they soon became independent and chose their own consuls; in 697 they chose their first doge.

7, 8. In 1177 she gained a great victory over Otho, son of Frederick Barbarossa; in gratitude for this the Pope Alexander III. gave the Doge Ziani a ring, and instituted the ceremony of "marrying the Adriatic," by which was signified the supremacy of Venice. In May, 1797, the French troops took possession of the city, which no hostile force had ever before entered, and Venice lost her independence. Cf. Mrs. Oliphant's Makers of Venice.

IX.

To Toussaint L'Ouverture.

The life of the Hero of St. Domingo is one of the most thrilling in the annals of history. Born of slave parents, having learned to read and write from a fellow slave, he joined the negro army in maintaining

their rights, and rose to be brigadier-general; in 1793 Hayti declared for France, and slaves were freed. In 1796 he was made commander of the French army of St. Domingo, and conquered the English and Spanish armies. When Napoleon attempted to reinstate slavery Toussaint resisted, and in 1802 he was declared an outlaw and captured by treachery; without trial he was cast into the dungeon at the Castle of Joux and left to die of starvation.

See Toussaint L'Ouverture, by Whittier.

In this "soul-animating strain" passion, with a step as stately as that of Milton, rises into an outburst of noble exultation. A divine sympathy, overleaping the narrow limits of nationality, breathes from every line.

X.

September, 1802, near Dover.

In Dorothy's Journal we have the following: "On 29th August left Calais at twelve o'clock in the morning for Dover. . . . Bathed and sat on the Dover cliffs, and looked upon France; we could see the shores almost as plain as if it were but an English lake."

No man of his time, statesman, philosopher, or poet, saw with such unerring insight into the great moral forces that determine the currents of history. - HON. GEORGE F. HOAR.

XI.

Written in London, September, 1802.

Wordsworth had a high ideal of his art, because he had a high ideal of man. Perhaps in none of his sonnets are there so many les sons for us in this mechanical and utilitarian age.

See Shakespeare, Sonnet CXLVI.

There tiny pleasures occupy the place

Of glories and of duties, as the feet

Of fabled fairies, when the sun goes down,

Trip o'er the grass where wrestlers strove by day.

LANDOR.

The work Wordsworth did - and I say it in all reverence - was the work which the Baptist did when he came to the pleasure-laden citizens of Jerusalem to work a reformation. - REV. F. W. ROBERTSON.

XII.

London, 1802.

The procession of the verse in this noble sonnet is easy and graceful, rising throughout the major part into the full organ tone; then in the minor falling gently away, calming, regulating, and restraining, with "artlessness which only art commands." For splendor of thought, vigor of style, and beauty of purpose it is unsurpassed.

XIII.

66 Great men have been among us."

Goethe says that the theme of all human history is the contest between belief and unbelief; that periods in which belief prevails are inspiring, while periods in which unbelief predominates furnish but little food for the spirit of man.

Cf. Prelude, vii. 512-543.

XIV.

"It is not to be thought of that the Flood."

In this time of an expected invasion by Napoleon, when the heart of England was beating high, and signal beacons were flashing the summons to arms, this calm, clear, triumphant faith in freedom was uttered.

Cf. Coleridge's Ode on France.

XV.

66 When I have borne in Memory."

In the history of Wordsworthian criticism there are to be found three sets of charges against him Simplicity and Transcendentalism; Pantheism and High Churchism; Liberalism and Conservatism; now the truth of the matter is that none of these were well founded. In this sonnet we have a mingling of the aristocratic and democratic, resulting in intense and lofty love of country.

Cf. Prelude, xi. 105, —“Bliss was it in that dawn to be alive," etc.