it floated down the Rhine
as far as Cologne, intending to proceed in the same way to Ostend; but
they returned to England from Cologne by Calais. In the course of this
tour, Wordsworth wrote a letter to his sister, dated "Sept. 6, 1790,
Keswill, a small village on the Lake of Constance," which will be found
amongst his letters in a subsequent volume.--Ed.

* * * * *

APPENDIX III

The following two variants in 'Descriptive Sketches' are from MS. notes
written in the late Lord Coleridge's copy of the edition of 1836-7.

l. 247.

Yet the world's business hither finds its way
At times, and unsought tales beguile the day,
And tender thoughts are those which Solitude

l. 249.

Yet tender thoughts dwell there. No Solitude
Hath power Youth's natural feelings to exclude.

* * * * *

APPENDIX IV

'Anecdote for Fathers'

See Eusebius' 'Praeparatio Evangelica', vi. 5.--[Greek: kleie bi_en
kartos te log_on pseud_egora lex_o]--which was Apollo's answer to
certain persons who tried to force his oracle to reply.--Ed.

* * * * *

APPENDIX V

'The Thorn'

William Taylor's translation of Buerger's 'Pfarrer's Tochter' appeared in
'The Monthly Magazine' (1796), and as the same volume contained
contributions by Coleridge and Lamb, it is possible that Wordsworth saw
it. Buerger's Pastor's Daughter murdered her natural child, but it is her
ghost which haunts its grave, which she had torn

With bleeding nails beside the pond,
And nightly pines the pool beside.

* * * * *

APPENDIX VI

'Simon Lee'

It was found impossible fully to describe, within the limits of a
footnote, the endless shiftings to and fro of the stanzas and half
stanzas of 'Simon Lee'. The first eight stanzas of the edition of 1798
are therefore reprinted in this Appendix; and a Table is added, by means
of which the various transpositions effected from time to time may be
readily ascertained. In the Table 'a' stands for lines 1-4, and 'b' for
lines 5-8 of a stanza.

In the sweet shire of Cardigan,
Not far from pleasant Ivor-hall,
An old man dwells, a little man,
I've heard he once was tall.
Of years he has upon his back,
No doubt, a burthen weighty;
He says he is three score and ten,
But others say he's eighty.