ge, which he read, with its motto. He
began the preface then, in the same way. But here I must record a
trifling incident, which may yet be worth noting. We were standing
together in the road, Wordsworth reading aloud, as I have said, when a
man accosted us asking charity--a beggar of the better class.
Wordsworth, scarcely looking off the book, thrust his hands into his
pockets, as if instinctively acknowledging the man's right to beg by
this prompt action. He seemed to find nothing, however; and he said, in
a sort of soliloquy, 'I have given to four or five, already, to-day,' as
if to account for his being then unprovided.

Wordsworth, as he turned over one leaf after another, said, 'But I shall
weary you, sir.' 'By no means,' said I; for I could have been content to
stand there for hours to hear, as I did, the Poet read from time to
time, with fitting emphasis, the choice passages which your preface and
biographical sketch contain. Imagine with what delight I listened to the
venerable man, and to hear, too, from his own lips, such words as these,
your own most true reflection: '_His has been a life devoted to the
cultivation of the poet's art for its best and most lasting uses--a
self-dedication as complete as the world has ever witnessed_.' Your
remark with regard to his having outlived many of his contemporaries
among the poets, he read with affecting simplicity; his manner being
that of one who looked backward to the past with entire tranquillity,
and forward with sure hope. I felt that his honoured life was drawing
rapidly to a close, and with him there was evidently the same
consciousness.

He made but little comment on your notice of him. Occasionally he would
say, as he came to a particular fact, 'That's quite correct;' or, after
reading a quotation from his own works, he would add, 'That's from my
writings.' These quotations he read in a way that much impressed me; it
seemed almost as if he was awed by the greatness of his own power, the
gifts with which he had been endowed. It was a solemn time to me, this
part of my interview; and to you, my friend, it would have been a
crowning happiness to stand, as I did, by his side on that bright summer
day, and thus listen to his voice. I thought of his long life; that he
was one who had felt himself from early youth 'a renovated spirit
singled out for holy services'--one who had listened to the teachings of
Nature, and communed with his own heart in the seclusion of