OF WILLIAM WORDSWORTH, POET-LAUREATE, D. C. L. BY CHRISTOPHER WORDSWORTH, D.D. CANON OF WESTMINSTER. IN TWO VOLUMES. EDITED BY HENRY REED. VOL. I. BOSTON: TICKNOR, REED, AND FIELDS. MDCCC LI. Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1851, by In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the District of Massachusetts. THURSTON, TORRY, AND EMERSON, PRINTERS. ADVERTISEMENT TO THE AMERICAN EDITION. WHEN the MEMOIRS OF WILLIAM WORDSWORTH' were in course of preparation in England, I was led to suppose that they would be reprinted in America. An earnest desire was felt by the friends of Mr. Wordsworth in his own country, that the American re-impression should be ushered into the world under the editorial superintendence of a person, who united affectionate veneration for the Poet with intelligent appreciation of his Poetry. Such being case, I believe that I am giving utterance to their sentiments, as well as my own, when I express much gratification that, in compliance with my desire, the Memoirs of Wordsworth' are introduced to the notice of his numerous readers in America, by a zealous friend of Mr. Wordsworth, and the skilful Editor of his Works, Professor HENRry Reed. the Cloisters, Westminster Abbey, CHR. WORDSWORTH. April 26, 1851. NOTE BY THE AMERICAN EDITOR. In fulfilling the duty with which I have been charged by the friendly confidence of the Author, and of the Wordsworth family, my chief aim has been accuracy of reprint in this edition. Careful correction of the proof sheets enables me to give ample assurance in this particular. I have also introduced some editorial notes, prepared, in part from materials in my possession, and in part from other authorities, with the hope that the annotation may in some degree further illustrate the subject of the ‘Memoirs,' without encumbering the text, or being mistaken for the Author's own notes. The numerous references to Wordsworth's Poems, which occur in these volumes, are to one of the London editions of the Poetical Works.' I have not thought it worth while to accompany these with references to an American edition, because in the edition of The Complete Poetical Works of Wordsworth,' published this year at Philadelphia, there may be found a classified table of |