Page:The Prelude, Wordsworth, 1850.djvu/19

Rh intended to be introductory to the, and that the , if completed, would have consisted of Three Parts. Of these, the Second Part alone, viz., the The Excursion, was finished, and given to the world by the Author.

The First Book of the First Part of the still remains in manuscript; but the Third Part was only planned. The materials of which it would have been formed have, however, been incorporated, for the most part, in the Author's other Publications, written subsequently to the.

The Friend, to whom the present Poem is addressed, was the late author:Samuel Taylor Coleridge, who was resident in Malta, for the restoration of his health, when the greater part of it was composed.

Mr. Coleridge read a considerable portion of the Poem while he was abroad; and his feelings, on hearing it recited by the Author (after his return