Page:Poems and extracts - Wordsworth.djvu/24

This page has been validated.
INTRODUCTION

wall of his place of confinement, but lunatics are not usually provided with keys, and the story is suspiciously reminiscent of Pope's

'Is there, who, lock'd from ink and paper, scrawls
With desperate charcoal round his darkened walls?'

The whole of Smart's poem was reprinted in 1819; and again (with an interesting preface by Mr. Streatfield) in 1901. In the full text the three stanzas Wordsworth gives occur as Nos. 18, 21, and 40. Thus the diapason closes with an impassioned hymn of praise to

'the Mighty Source
Of all things, the stupendous force
On which all things depend.'

We may turn back to the Dedicatory sonnet to see how the poet surveys his work:

'a grotto bright—and clear
From stain or taint.'

As regards the present impression. Miss Hutchinson's beautiful transcript of these Poems and Extracts is here faithfully reproduced in print, page for page and line for line, even to the smallest slips of her pen. The pages and lines have been numbered for convenience of reference, otherwise no change has been made in pp. 1–92.

Lovers of Wordsworth will appreciate the generosity of Mr. John Rogers Rees, in letting me 'rifle' this treasure from that Parnassian Cave, his Library. Mr. Rogers Rees has increased the obligation by contributing an interesting preface, and Miss Rogers Rees by making an admirably executed type-written copy for working purposes.

xvi