WORDSWORTH'S POETICAL WORKS
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821-2 The only poems belonging to the years 1821-2 were the "EcclesiasticalSonnets," originally called "Ecclesiastical Sketches." These werewritten at intervals, from 1821 onwards, but the great majority belongto 1821. They were first published in 1822, in three parts; 102 Sonnetsin all. Ten were added in the edition of 1827, several others in theyears 1835 and 1836, and fourteen in 1845,--the final edition of 1850containing 132. After Wordsworth's return from the Continent in 1820, he visitedthe Beaumonts at Coleorton, and as Sir George was then about tobuild a new Church on his property, conversation turned frequentlyto ecclesiastical topics, and gave rise to the idea of embodyingthe History of the Church of England in a series of "EcclesiasticalSketches" in verse. The Sonnets Nos. XXXIX., XL., and XLI., in thethird series, entitled, _Church to be erected_, and _New Churchyard_,are probably those to which Wordsworth refers as written first, inmemory of his morning walk with Sir George Beaumont to fix the siteof the Church: but it was the discussions which were being carried onin the British Parliament and elsewhere, in 1821, on the subject ofCatholic Disabilities, that led him to enlarge his idea, and project aseries of Sonnets dealing with the whole course of the EcclesiasticalHistory of his country. His brother Christopher--while Dean and Rectorof Bocking, and domestic chaplain to the Archbishop of Canterbury--hadpublished, in 1809, six volumes of _Ecclesiastical Biography; or,the Lives of Eminent Men connected with the History of Religion inEngland_. Southey's _Book of the Church_,--to which Wordsworth refersin the Fenwick note prefixed to his _Sonnets_--was not published till1823; and Wordsworth says, in a note to the edition of 1822, that hisown work was far advanced before he was aware that Southey had taken upthe subject. As several of the Sonnets, however, are well illustratedby passages in Southey's book, I have given a number of extracts fromthe latter work in the editorial notes. Southey, writing to C. H. Townshend, on 6th May 1821, says: "Wordsworthwas with me lately. His thoughts and mine have for some timeunconsciously been travelling in the same direction; for while I havebeen sketching a brief history of the English Church, and the systemswhich it has subdued or struggled with, he has been pursuing preciselythe same subject in a series of sonnets, to which my volume will servefor a commentary, as completely as if it had been written with thatintent." (See _Life and Correspondence of R. Southey_, vol. v. p. 65.) Wordsworth's own notes appended to the Sonnets, and others which areadded, will show his indebtedness to such writers as Bede, Strype,Foxe, Walton, Whitaker, and Sharon Turner. The subjects of the sonnetson the "Aspects of Christianity in America" were suggested to himby Bishop Doane and Professor Henry Reed; and others in the series,dealing with offices of the English Liturgy, were also suggested by Mr.Reed.--ED. ECCLESIASTICAL SONNETS[1]
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