SUB-FOOTNOTE ON THE TEXT
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Sub-Footnote a: In the late Lord Coleridge's copy of the edition of1836, there is a footnote in Wordsworth's handwriting to the word"meanwhile" which is substituted for "newly." "If 'newly' come, could hehave traced a visible path?"--Ed.] This wish was not granted; the lamented Person, not long after, perishedby shipwreck, in discharge of his duty as Commander of the HonourableEast India Company's Vessel, the 'Earl of Abergavenny'.--W. W. 1815. For the date of this poem in the Chronological Tables given in theeditions of 1815 and 1820, Wordsworth assigned the year 1802. But, inthe edition of 1836, he assigned it to the year 1805, the date retainedby Mr. Carter in the edition of 1857. Captain Wordsworth perished on the5th of February 1805; and if the poem was written in 1805, it must havebeen in the month of January of that year. The note to the poem isexplicit--"Not long after" he "perished by shipwreck," etc. Thus thepoem _may_ have been written in the beginning of 1805; but it is not atall certain that part of it at least does not belong to an earlier year.John Wordsworth lived with his brother and sister at the Town-endCottage, Grasmere, during part of the winter, and during the whole ofthe spring, summer, and autumn of 1800, William and John going togetheron foot into Yorkshire from the 14th of May to the 7th of June. Johnleft Grasmere on Michaelmas day (September 29th) 1800, and neverreturned to it again. The following is Miss Wordsworth's record of thatday in her Journal of 1800: "On Monday, 29th, John left us. William and I parted with him in sightof Ullswater. It was a fine day, showery, but with sunshine and fineclouds. Poor fellow, my heart was right sad, I could not help thinkingwe should see him again, because he was only going to Penrith." In the spring of 1801, John Wordsworth sailed for China in the'Abergavenny'. He returned from this voyage in safety, and the brothersmet once again in London. He went to sea again in 1803, and returned toLondon in 1804, but could not visit Grasmere; and in the month ofFebruary 1805--shortly after he was appointed to the command of the'Abergavenny'--the ship was lost at the Bill of Portland, and every oneon board perished. It is clear that the latter part of the poem, "When,to the attractions of the busy world," was written between JohnWordsworth's departure from Grasmere and the loss of the 'Abergavenny',i. e. between September 1800 and February 1805, as there are referencesin it both to what his brother did at Grasmere and to his return tosea: 'Back to the joyless Ocean thou art gone.' There are some things in the earlier part of the poem that appear tonegative the idea of its having been written in 1800. The opening linesseem to hint at an experience somewhat distant. He speaks of being"wont" to do certain things. But, on the other hand, I find an entry inDorothy Wordsworth's Journal, which leads me to believe that the poemmay have been begun in 1800, and that the first part, ending (as it didthen) with the line: 'While she is travelling through the dreary sea,' may have been finished before John Wordsworth left Grasmere;the second part being written afterwards, while he was at sea;and that this is the explanation of the date given in the editionsof 1815 and 1820, viz. 1802. Passages occur in Dorothy Wordsworth's Journal to thefollowing effect: "Monday Morning, 1st September.--We walked in the wood by the lake.William read 'Joanna' and 'the Firgrove' to Coleridge." A little earlier there is the record, "Saturday, 22nd August.--William was composing all the morning....William read us the poem of 'Joanna' beside the Rothay by theroadside." Then, on Friday, the 25th August, there is the entry, "We walked over the hill by the Firgrove, I sate upon a rock andobserved a flight of swallows gathering together high above my head.We walked through the wood to the stepping stones, the lake of Rydalevery beautiful, partly still, I left William to compose aninscription, that about the path...." Then, next day, "Saturday morning, 30th August.--William finished his inscription ofthe Pathway, then walked in the wood, and when John returned he soughthim, and they bathed together." To what poem Dorothy Wordsworth referred under the name of the"Inscription of the Pathway" has puzzled me much. There is no poemamongst his "Inscriptions" (written in or before August 1800) thatcorresponds to it in the least. But, if my conjecture is right that this"Poem on the Naming of Places," beginning: 'When, to the attractions of the busy world,' was composed at two different times, it is quite possible that "theFirgrove" which was read--along with 'Joanna'--to Coleridge on September1st, 1800, was the first part of this very poem. If this supposition is correct, some light is cast both on the"Inscription of the Pathway." and on the date assigned by Wordsworthhimself to the poem. There is a certain fitness, however, in this poembeing placed--as it now is--in sequence to the 'Elegiac Verses' inmemory of John Wordsworth, beginning, "The Sheep-boy whistled loud," andnear the fourth poem 'To the Daisy', beginning, "Sweet Flower! belikeone day to have." The "Fir-grove" still exists. It is between Wishing Gate and White MossCommon, and almost exactly opposite the former. Standing at the gate andlooking eastwards, the grove is to the left, not forty yards distant.Some of the firs (Scotch ones) still survive, and several beech trees,not "a single beech-tree," as in the poem. From this, one might inferthat the present colony had sprung up since the beginning of thecentury, and that the special tree, in which was the thrush's nest, hadperished; but Dr. Cradock wrote to me that "Wordsworth pointed out thetree to Miss Cookson a few days before Dora Wordsworth's death. The treeis near the upper wall and tells its own tale." The Fir-grove--"John'sGrove"--can easily be entered by a gate about a hundred yards beyondthe Wishing-gate, as one goes toward Rydal. The view from it, the"visionary scene," 'the spectacleOf clouded splendour, ... this dream-like sightOf solemn loveliness,' is now much interfered with by the new larch plantations immediatelybelow the firs. It must have been very different in Wordsworth's time,and is constantly referred to in his sister's Journal as a favouriteretreat, resorted to 'when cloudless sunsShone hot, or wind blew troublesome and strong.' In the absence of contrary testimony, it might be supposed that "thetrack" which the brother had "worn," 'By pacing here, unwearied and alone,' faced Silver-How and the Grasmere Island, and that the single beech treewas nearer the lower than the upper wall. But Miss Cookson's testimonyis explicit. Only a few fir trees survive at this part of the grove,which is now open and desolate, not as it was in those earlier days,when 'the treesHad been so thickly planted, and had thrivenWith such perplexed and intricate array,That vainly did I seek, beneath their stemsA length of open space ...' Dr. Cradock remarks, "As to there being more than one beech, Wordsworth would not havehesitated to sacrifice servile exactness to poetical effect." He had afancy for "one"-- 'Fair as a star when only oneIs shining in the sky;' "'One' abode, no more;" Grasmere's "one green island;" "one greenfield." Since the above note was printed, new light has been cast on the"Inscription of the Pathway," for which see volume viii. of thisedition.--Ed. * * * * *
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