logical place, and in
the longer poem of which they form a part, according to the original
plan of their author.

A detail, perhaps not too trivial to mention, is that, in this
edition--at the suggestion of several friends--I have followed the
example of Professor Dowden in his Aldine edition, and numbered the
lines of almost all the poems--even the sonnets. When I have not done
so, the reason will be obvious; viz. either the structure, or the
brevity, of the poem. [19]

In giving the date of each poem, I have used the word "composed," rather
than "written," very much because Wordsworth himself,--and his sister,
in her Journals--almost invariably use the word "composed"; although he
criticised the term as applied to the creation of a poem, as if it were
a manufactured article. In his Chronological Table, Mr. Dowden adopts
the word "composed"; but, in his edition of the Poems, he has made use
of the term" written." [20]

No notice (or almost none) of misprints in Wordsworth's own text is
taken, in the notes to this edition. Sometimes an error occurred, and
was carried on through more than one edition, and corrected in the next:
e.g., in 'The Childless Father', the editions of 1827, 1832, and 1836
have the line:

Fresh springs of green boxwood, not six months before.

In the 'errata' of the edition of 1836 this is corrected to "fresh
sprigs." There are other 'errata', which remained in the edition of
1849-50, e.g., in 'Rob Roy's Grave', "Vools" for "Veols," and mistakes
in quotations from other poets, such as "invention" for "instruction,"
in Wither's poem on the Daisy. These are corrected without mention.

I should perhaps add that, while I have included, amongst the
illustrative notes, extracts from Henry Crabb Robinson's 'Diary', etc.,
many of them are now published for the first time. These voluminous MSS.
of Robinson's have been re-examined with care; and the reader who
compares the three volumes of the 'Diary', etc.--edited by Dr.
Sadler--with the extracts now printed from the original MS., will see
where sentences omitted by the original editor have been included.

As this edition proceeds, my debt to many--who have been so kind as to
put their Wordsworth MSS. and memoranda at my disposal--will be
apparent.

It is difficult to acknowledge duly my obligation to collectors of
autograph Letters--Mr. Morrison, the late Mr. Locker Lampson, the late
Mr. Mackay, of the Grange, Trowbridge, and a score of others