Page:Notes and Queries - Series 12 - Volume 6.djvu/106

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NOTES AND QUERIES. [12 s. vi. APRIL 3, 1920.

letter in Knight's Eversley edition of the ' Poetical "Works,' vii. 94, copied from his Edinburgh edition, vii. 90 :

" In a letter to Prof. Henry Reed, dated ' Rydal Mount, Sept. 4, 1842,' Wordsworth says : ' A few days ago, after a very long interval. I returned to poetical composition ; and my first employment was to write a couple of Sonnets upon subjects recommended by you to take place in the Ecclesiastical Series. They are upon the Marriage Ceremony and the Funeral Service. I have, about the same time, added two others, both upon subjects taken from the Services of our Liturgy.' "

In the Aldine edition, Dowden, who without acknowledgment accepted Knight's quotation as it stood, failed no less in a final statement of the evidence. Under ' Ec- clesiastical Sonnets,' iii. 21-31, his note reads :

" Of these sonnets the text of which is unchanged certainly four were written in 1842, and probably the others followed in the same year or a little later. They were all first published in 1845. Writing to Henry Reed, Sept. 4, 1842, Wordsworth says : [Here follows the mistaken text as Knight has given it both in the Edinburgh and Eversley editions, identical even to the use of capitals]."

With Hutchinson and Smith, as well as Dowden, unable to furnish a definite state- ment, and in view of Knight's misleading quotations, it seems best once for all to set the whole matter forth at some length. ' Ecclesiastical Sonnets,' iii. 26, 27, 28, and 31 were composed between April 28 and Sept. 4, 1842, probably " a few days " before the latter date.

Of Pt. ii., Nos. 1, 2, 9, and 10. Since the letter of Sept. 4, 1842, from Wordsworth to Reed is under discussion, it may be well to refer to one sentence in it which is correctly quoted by Knight when he would establish the dates of composition of ' Ecclesiastical Sonnets,' ii. 9 and 10. Knight says (Eversley edition, vii. 42 ; Edinburgh edition, vii. 41) :

" In a letter to Prof. Henry Reed, Philadelphia, Sept. 4, 1842, Wordsworth writes : ' To the second part of the Series ' (the ' Ecclesiastical Sonnets ') ' I have also added two. in order to do more justice to the Papal Church for the services which she did actually render to Christianity and humanity in the Middle Ages.' "

Dowden repeats Knight's note (omitting the words " and humanity " and the parenthesis). He applies it to ' Ecclesias- tical Sonnets,' ii. 9 and 10. Smith and Hutchinson assert that ii. 9 and 10 were composed in 1842. But no evidence is given by Knight or Dowden or Smith or Hutchin- son that these two rather than ii. 1 and 2 are the sonnets to which Wordsworth refers.

Indeed, the words of the letter " did actually render " point to ii. 2 and 9 as more- explicitly doing " justice to the Papal Church." Editors have not yet hazarded a- date of composition for 11. 1 and 2 ; but have, with no clear statement of the evidence, believed their conclusions on 9 and 10 to be- final.

Of Pt. iii., Nos. 16, 29, and 30. A letter from Wordsworth to Reed, dated Mar. 27, 1843, is quoted by Knight ( ' Letters,' iii. 263-5). The present writer, who has examined the original in Mrs. St. John's library, attests the accuracy of the following sentence from it :

... .1 send you, according to your wish, the additions to the ecclesiastical sonnets...."

Reed's reply, written April 27, 1843, i here quoted from the original :

" Your letter of the 27th of March reached me some days ago ....

" Let me most cordially thank you for the

precious inclosures in your letter. The Church sonnets have an especial interest inasmuch as they give a completeness to the Ecclesiastical series which was very greatly to be desired. There now seems to be nothing wanting in fulfilment of the design of this imaginative commentary (if that be not too prosaic a title) upon the history and services of the Church. ..."

The MS. which accompanies these letters of March and April in the Wordsworth-Reed correspondence was pointed out to the present writer by Mrs. St. John in 1919. It bears no date, but it is creased into folds exactly corresponding to the cover of the letter it is supposed to accompany, and satisfies the references to such a document made by both Reed and Wordsworth. Its contents are as follows :

" The sonnet 12 (Sacheverel) is to stand else- where and this to be inserted in its place. "

[Here is written a version of iii. 16 beginning : Bishops and Priests, how blest are Ye. . . .]

"... .after the one on the Sacrament comes- the following :

' The Marriage Ceremony.' "

[Here is written iii. 26, and following it in order come :

' Thanksgiving after Childbirth,' iii. 27.

' The Commination Service,' iii. 29.

' Forms of Prayer at Sea,' iii. 30.

' Visitation of the Sick.' iii. 28.

' Funeral Service,' iii. 31.

Suggested alterations for iii. 32 and iii. 19.]

Hence it becomes possible to say, pending: the discovery of some other " inclosure " which would better satisfy the references of Wordsworth and Reed, that ' Ecclesiastical Sonnets,' iii. 16, 29, and 30, respectively ' Bishops and Priests,' ' The Commination Service,' and ' Forms of Prayer at Sea,' were