[614] 1845.
[615] 1827.
[616] 1845.
[617] 1827.
[618] 1836.
[620] 1827.
[621] 1827.
[622] 1827
[623] 1827.
[624] 1845.
[625] 1827.
[626] 1832.
FOOTNOTES:
[HA] Note Wordsworth's love for the Established Church of England, and compare the Ecclesiastical Sonnets.—ED.
[HC] Was he thinking of Cranmer?—ED.
[HD] "His story is here truly related. He was a schoolfellow of mine for some years. He came to us when he was at least seventeen years of age, very tall, robust, and full grown. This prevented him from falling into the amusements and games of the school; consequently, he gave more time to books. He was not remarkably bright or quick, but, by industry, he made a progress more than respectable. His parents not being wealthy enough to send him to college when he left Hawkshead, he became a schoolmaster, with a view to prepare himself for holy orders. About this time he fell in love, as related in the poem, and everything followed as there described, except that I do not know exactly when and where he died."—I. F.
[HE] Compare, in Keble's Christian Year, "Forms of Prayer to be used at Sea."
[HF] "The Miner, described as having found his treasure after twice ten years of labour, lived in Paterdale, and the story is true to the letter. It seems to me, however, rather remarkable, that the strength of mind which had supported him through his long unrewarded labour, did not enable him to bear its successful issue."—I.F.
[HG] See Paradise Lost, book v. l. 899.—ED.
[HH] See Comus, I. 244.—ED.
[HI] "The next character, to whom the priest is led by contrast with the resoluteness displayed by the foregoing, is taken from a person born and bred in Grasmere, by name Dawson; and whose talents, dispositions, and way of life, were such as are here delineated. I did not know him, but all was fresh in memory when we settled at Grasmere in the beginning of the century."—I. F.
[HJ] Hawkshead. The series of small valleys from Dunmail Raise to Esthwaite is described as one "far-winding vale."—ED.
[HK] "Two individuals, who, by their several fortunes, were, at different times, driven to take refuge at the small and obscure town of Hawkshead on the skirt of these mountains. Their stories I had from the dear old dame with whom, as a schoolboy, and afterwards, I lodged for nearly the space of ten years. The elder, the Jacobite, was named Drummond, and was of a high family in Scotland."—I. F.
[HL] "The Hanoverian Whig bore the name of Vandeput [Sir George Vandeput], and might, perhaps, be a descendant of some Dutchman who had come over in the train of King William."—I.F.
[HM] Of this "dial," as of the "decorated pillar," there is no trace in Grasmere churchyard, and no tradition exists of either. There is, however, a pillar in Bowness churchyard in which a dial used to stand, and Wordsworth may have blended his descriptions of Grasmere with his remembrances of Bowness.—ED.
[HN] See the note on the previous page.
[HO] This may be an allusion to Wray Ghyll Force, which descends between Silver How and Easdale. No other white torrent falling down rocks is visible from the Grasmere churchyard. This one is distinctly seen, when looking towards Silver How to the west.—ED.
[HP] Compare "How many people there are that weep with want, and are mad with oppression, or are desperate by too quick a sense of a constant infelicity."—Jeremy Taylor's Rule and Exercises of Holy Dying, i. 5, 2.—ED.
[HQ] Prometheus, son of the Titan Iapetus, outwitted Jupiter, stealing fire from heaven, etc. Jupiter, in revenge, caused Vulcan to chain him to a rock in the Caucasus, where an eagle or vulture preyed on his liver daily. See Æsch. Prometheus. Compare, "Prometheus tied to Caucasus," Titus Andronicus, act II. scene i.—ED.
[HR] Tantalus, son of Jupiter, punished for disclosing his father's secrets, by being placed after death up to the chin in the waters of a lake, which withdrew whenever he attempted to drink, while boughs laden with fruit hung above his head, and were tossed from him by the wind whenever he tried to grasp them.—ED.
[HS] "The dark sorrows of the line of Thebes" descended for three generations; from Lais and Iocaste to Œdipus; thence to Eteocles, Polynices, Antigone, and Ismene.
Compare Milton's lines in Il Penseroso, ll. 97-100—
[HT] Grasmere churchyard was, in Wordsworth's time,
Compare the Fenwick note to the Epistle to Sir George Beaumont (vol. iv. p. 258). Dr. Cradock wrote in 1878—"I cannot count more than two or three gravestones of earlier date than 1800. Most of the others are of a much more recent date."—ED.
[HU] Was he thinking of such a spectacle as the churchyard at Crosthwaite, Keswick, now presents?—ED.
[HV] "This person lived at Town-end, and was almost our next neighbour.... She was a most striking instance how far a woman may surpass in talent, in knowledge, and culture of mind, those with and among whom she lives, and yet fall below them in Christian virtues of the heart and spirit."—I.F.
[HW] As is notably the case with the beck in Tongue Ghyll.—ED.
[HX] This "long stone seat" (now a thing of the past) was fixed to the wall on the left of the south entrance-gate into the churchyard; and not—as might have been supposed—on the opposite wall, which reaches from the entrance-gate to the poet's grave. The old wall was rebuilt by the late rector, but the seat was not replaced.—ED.
[HY] "The story was told to Mrs. Wordsworth and my sister, by the sister of this unhappy young woman. Every particular was exactly as I have related.... She lived at Hawkshead."—I. F. See the whole of the Fenwick note, also Charles Lamb's remarks, in his letter of Aug. 14, 1814.—ED.
[HZ] Compare the Hon. Justice Coleridge's "Reminiscences" of a walk and conversation with Wordsworth (October 1836) in Easdale, where—at the pool, which many have identified as "Emma's Dell"—he said, "I have often thought what a solemn thing it would be could we have brought to our mind at once all the scenes of distress and misery which any spot, however beautiful and calm before us, has been witness to since the beginning." (See vol. ii. p. 156.)—ED.
[IA] Compare Hamlet, act III. scene i. l. 72—
[IB] This custom still survives in the country; sons working as servants on ground belonging to their parents, and receiving payment for it.—ED.
THE CHURCH-YARD AMONG THE MOUNTAINS—Continued
ARGUMENT
Impression of these Narratives upon the Author's mind—Pastor invited to give account of certain Graves that lie apart—Clergyman and his Family—Fortunate influence of change of situation—Activity in extreme old age—Another Clergyman, a character of resolute Virtue—Lamentations over mis-directed applause—Instance of less exalted excellence in a deaf man—Elevated character of a blind man—Reflection upon Blindness—Interrupted by a Peasant who passes—his animal cheerfulness and careless vivacity—He occasions a digression on the fall of beautiful and interesting Trees—A female Infant's Grave—Joy at her Birth—Sorrow at her Departure—A youthful Peasant—his patriotic enthusiasm and distinguished qualities—his[627] untimely death—Exultation of the Wanderer, as a patriot, in this Picture—Solitary how affected—Monument of a Knight—Traditions concerning him—Peroration of the Wanderer on the transitoriness of things and the revolutions of society—Hints at his own past Calling—Thanks the Pastor.