62

DIFFICULTIES REMOVED.

for his friend a competency, in order that he might devote himself to literary leisure.

This is a very interesting period of our author's life -judging from his writings we must say his mind had not entered into light; his faith in politics and in religion was not that high, clear, vigorous exercise that it shortly became. Indeed, our faith in objective things depends much on our subjective faith; clouds without, are ever the reflections of clouds within. The objects of his mind have not as yet taken shape; he has hitherto only spread the canvas, and prepared the colours; he has done but little-attempted but little; we shall find however now, that he begins the life of an artist in earnest; indeed from the death of his friend and the reception of his legacy, it really might seem that heaven had spoken to him, and delegated to him the task of reforming the literature of his age.

We do not profess to present merely the stream of narrative; we must stop or turn aside to make our commentaries on events as they move. Our author is saved from the dangerous mountain pass of poverty. We have heard something said at this time of an attempt at starting a school; no doubt many a scheme-many a dim idea passed in review through his mind; of course he would have commanded our veneration more, had he been called out into active service to fight the wild temptations of life, and the probability is, we should have had a more rugged and daring poetry-he might have approached somewhat nearer to Milton. As we

DIFFICULTIES REMOVED.

63

believe that Wordsworth was really a true and brave man, we must regret that the adventitious fortune fell at his feet, because the greatest souls always look so much more noble when making their own fortunes, than when being crowned with the fortunes made for them. The truth is, the necessities of the outer world never sat severely on Wordsworth; he never heard the harsh voice of nature saying to him, "You must work or starve." Poor Coleridge heard that voice. Southey too, perhaps. One cannot but wonder how Wordsworth would have succeeded in a real encounter with the fiercest foes of human life-bodily vigour he had-shrewd sagacity he had-we feel that he must have been successful. He was apparently one of those men born to command evil to retire from them. Looking at his entrance on life-his desultory habits-his unfixed mind-his comparative poverty-all appear the prophecy of some future, like that which the lives of nearly all the Poets record. He escaped by no Providence within him, but by a Providence acting for him. His prudence,-his general economy, lead to the impression that wherever he had been cast,-whatever had been his lot, he would have retained his soul in tranquility, and his life in dignity; but we cannot but think of the hundreds of sons of genius less favored than he: men sublime as teachers-heroic as sufferers, on whom no kindly dispensation smiled;-Otway, Chatterton, Burns. Our more rigid philosophy opposes the thought; and yet for a time it will hold us. Had they only held the same

64

DIFFICULTIES REMOVED.

golden key, committed to their trust, what might they not have done, or been? This is certain, Wordsworth now resigned all thought of a profession; his means were poor indeed still, but he practices the spirit of his celebrated line

"Plain living and high thinking;

And henceforth he yielded himself to the life of the student of Nature, and of Man.

"Hence too the folly of this impossible Precept, 'Know thyself;' till it be translated into this partially possible one, Know what thou canst work at. The speculative Mystery of Life grew ever more mysterious to me neither in the practical Mystery had I made the slightest progress, but had been everywhere buffetted, foiled, and contemptuously cast out."

SARTOR RESARTUS.

PROBABLY the great University in which he studied was Paris; he spent some time in France, visiting that

66

WORDSWORTH IN FRANCE.

country twice during the period of his vacations, the first time in company with a friend and brother collegian, but his second visit he performed alone in 1791— that most eventful year, from the silence and the repose of the Lakes, from the conservative order, or thoughtless frivolity of Cambridge, he plunged into a land where all around were the evidences of revolution, turbulence, and disorder; he was there during the days of the King's imprisonment; of Robespierre's pre-eminence; of the massacres of September; of the disputes between the Gironde and the Mountain; the wild harpies of war were hovering all around the fated nation, and within, the screams of anarchy. Wordsworth at this time was an ardent Republican too; he had pictured before his eyes man independent and virtuous, living among the harmonies of nature, and he had not seen enough of man or cities to break the pleasant spell, and delightful illusion; he formed intimacies too with some of the leaders of the parties of France; he walked along the banks of the Loire, and meditated far deeper things than had pleased the fancy of Goldsmith by the same rich and verdant river. Through Orleans and Blois, and other districts of France, he was a pilgrim, and again he sped to Paris, and found the horrors ripening there -those horrors not only haunted him then in his high dark lonely chamber, but during future years they continued even to disturb his dreams.

It has been remarked how critical was his position at this time-a youth; an orphan; most inexperienced; unused to cities and to the depravities of man: and