the glory of the sky: the reflections in the water were more beautiful than the sky itself; purple waves brighter than precious stones for ever melting away upon the sands.

'On 29th Aug. left Calais at twelve 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. Mounted the coach at half-past four; arrived in London at six.—

'30th Aug. stayed in London till 22nd September arrived at Gallow Hill on Friday, Sept. 24.'

And now preparations are being made for a highly important event in the life of Wordsworth.

'But there is matter for a second rhyme,
And we to this would add another tale.'

CHAPTER VI.

'The treasures of the deep are not so precious
As are the conceal'd comforts of a man
Locked up in woman's love. I scent the air
Of blessings, when I come but near the house.
What a delicious breath marriage sends forth!
The violet-bed's not sweeter.'

Middleton.

Wordsworth marries (October 4, 1802) -His poetical tributes to his wife-His children-Makes acquaintance of De Quincey-De Quincey's description of WordsworthVisits Scotland with his sister (August, 1803)-Becomes acquainted with Scott-His friendship with Southey-Sir George Beaumont-His brother John dies (1805)-Scott visits Grasmere 'The Prelude' and 'The Waggoner' finished.

ON Monday, the 4th of October, 1802, Wordsworth was married at Brompton Church, near Scarborough, to Mary Hutchinson, with whom, it will be remembered, he went to school as a child at Penrith, and whom he at once brought home as his bride to Grasmere, which they reached at six o'clock in the evening of the 6th. Before setting out from Grasmere, he had written a truly beautiful poem, entitled A Farewell,' in which, addressing his home surroundings, he feelingly sings:

'We go for one to whom ye will be dear;

And she will prize this bower, this Indian shed,
Our own contrivance, building without peer!
-A gentle maid, whose heart is lowly bred,
Whose pleasures are in wild fields gathered,
With joyousness, and with a thoughtful cheer,
Will come to you; to you herself will wed;
And love the blessed life that we lead here.

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'O happy garden! whose seclusion deep
Hath been so friendly to industrious hours;
And to soft slumbers, that did gently steep

Our spirits, carrying with them dreams of flowers,
And wild notes warbled among leafy bowers;
Two burning months let summer overleap,
And, coming back with her who will be ours,
Into thy bosom we again shall creep.'

It is easy to form a very definite idea of the domestic happiness which ensued on the alliance of the poet with his amiable and devoted cousin, from the various references to her which are to be found in his writings. He had long been ardently attached to her, and henceforth almost half a century of connubial felicity was to be their portion. A beautiful tribute to our mind the highest ever paid to woman-was rendered by the poet to this sterling lady, in the immortal stanzas, written in 1804, commencing:

'She was a Phantom of delight

When first she gleamed upon my sight;
A lovely apparition, sent

To be a moment's ornament.'

On closer relationship with her, however, he can

sing:

A creature not too bright or good
For human nature's daily food;

For transient sorrows, simple wiles,

Praise, blame, love, kisses, tears, and smiles.'

Eventually, having gauged her spiritual character

as only a poet can, he exclaims:

'And now I see with eye serene
The very pulse of the machine;
A being breathing thoughtful breath,
A traveller between life and death;
The reason firm, the temperate will,
Endurance, foresight, strength, and skill;
A perfect woman, nobly planned,
To warn, to comfort, and command;
And yet a spirit still, and bright
With something of angelic light.'

Not satisfied, however, with having thus immortalized the gentle partner of his joys and sorrows, to whom he specially refers in the sixth book of 'The Prelude,' written about this period, he composed, in 1824, twenty-two years after his marriage, three other short poems, which at this stage every lover of Wordsworth should read, as they convey in the poet's own language his sentiments with regard to her. The verses are well known. During the interval, it should be remarked that, great as was the sunshine which had steeped the married life of the poet and his wife, the dark clouds had been many. They had drank deeply of the cup of sorrow, and they knew full well what it is to pass

through the furnace of affliction. They had taken each other for better for worse, for richer for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish; and nobly did they stand together. They had lost two of their children, whom they dearly loved, in early childhood, and they had learned by painful experience how hard and bitter it is to sit in the presence of the last enemy

'The Shadow cloak'd from head to foot,
Who keeps the keys of all the creeds.'

We append the opening lines of two of the poems referred to:

'Let other bards of angels sing,'

and

'Yes! thou art fair, yet be not moved,'

and the third we give in its entirety:

'O dearer far than light and life are dear, Full oft our human foresight I deplore;

Trembling, through my unworthiness, with fear

That friends, by death disjoined, may meet no more!

'Misgivings, hard to vanquish or control,

Mix with the day, and cross the hour of rest;

While all the future, for thy purer soul,

With "sober certainties" of love is blest.

'That sigh of thine, not meant for human ear,
Tells that these words thy humbleness offend;

Yet bear me up-else faltering in the rear
Of a steep march: support me to the end.

'Peace settles where the intellect is meek,
And love is dutiful in thought and deed;
Through thee communion with that love I seek:

The faith Heaven strengthens where He moulds the creed.'