rite to the Bishop of ----, I do not like the term
_reformed_; if taken in its literal sense, as a _transformation_, it is
very objectionable.

'Yours affectionately,
'W. WORDSWORTH.'

Further, on the Sonnets on 'Aspects of Christianity in America,'
Wordsworth wrote to his valued friend, Professor Reed of Philadelphia,
as follows:

'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 also, at the same time, added two others, one upon Visiting the
Sick, and the other upon the Thanksgiving of Women after Childbirth,
both subjects taken from the Services of our Liturgy. To the second part
of the same series, 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. By the by, the sonnet
beginning, "Men of the Western World," &c. was slightly altered after I
sent it to you, not in the hope of substituting a better verse, but
merely to avoid the repetition of the same word, "book," which occurs as
a rhyme in "The Pilgrim Fathers." These three sonnets, I learn, from
several quarters, have been well received by those of your countrymen
whom they most concern.'] [5]

[5] Extract: September 4th, 1842: _Memoirs_, ii. 389-90.

PART I. FROM THE INTRODUCTION OF CHRISTIANITY INTO BRITAIN TO THE
CONSUMMATION OF THE PAPAL DOMINION.

334. _St. Paul never in Britain_.

'Did holy Paul,' &c. [Sonnet II. l. 6.]

Stillingfleet adduces many arguments in support of this opinion, but
they are unconvincing. The latter part of this Sonnet (II.
'Conjectures') refers to a favourite notion of Roman Catholic writers,
that Joseph of Arimathea and his companions brought Christianity into
Britain, and built a rude church at Glastonbury; alluded to hereafter in
a passage upon the dissolution of monasteries.

335. _Water-fowl_. [Sonnet III. l. 1.]

'Screams round the Arch-druid's brow the sea-mew.'

This water-fowl was among the Druids an emblem of those traditions
connected with the deluge that made an important part of their
mysteries. The cormorant was a bird of bad omen.

336. _Hill at St. Allan's: Bede_.

'That hi