n given of Mrs. Hemans (pp. 193-4). Three
things it must be permitted me to recall: (_a_) That the 'brevity's
sake' hardly condones the fulness of statement of an imagined ignorance
of 'housewifery' on the part of Mrs. Hemans. (_b_) That a visitor for a
few days in a family could scarcely be expected to set about using her
needle in home duties. (_c_) That unquestionable testimony, furnished me
by those who knew her intimately, warrant me to state that Wordsworth
was mistaken in supposing that Mrs. Hemans 'could as easily have managed
the spear of Minerva as her needle.' Her brave and beautiful life, and
her single-handed upbringing of her many boys worthily, make one deeply
regret that such sweeping generalisation from a narrow and hasty
observation should have been indulged in. My profound veneration for
Wordsworth does not warrant my suppression of the truth in this matter.
Be it remembered, too, that other expressions of Wordsworth largely
qualify the present ungracious judgment.

P. 209, l. 8. 'Lord Ashley.' Now the illustrious and honoured Earl of
Shaftesbury.

P. 212, l. 17. 'Burnet;' _i.e._ Thomas Burnet, whose Latin treatise was
published in 1681 and 1689; in English, 1684 and 1689. Imaginative
genius will be found in this uncritical and unscientific book.

P. 214, l. 12. 'The Hurricane,' &c.; viz. 'The Hurricane; a Theosophical
and Western Eclogue,' &c. 1797; reprinted 1798.

P. 216, ll. 4-5. Quotation from Coleridge, from 'Sibylline Leaves,'
Inscription for a Fountain on a Heath.

P. 216, l. 29. 'Dr. Bell.' Southey edited the bulky Correspondence of
this pioneer of our better education, in 3 vols. 8vo.

P. 233, ll. 34-36. 'They have been treated,' &c. ('Evening Walk,' &c.,
1794.)

P. 247, foot-note [A]. De Quincey, in his 'Recollections of the Lakes
and the Lake Poets, Coleridge, Wordsworth, and Southey' (Works, vol. ii.
pp. 151-6), gives a very realistic _expose_ of the Lonsdales--abating
considerably the glow of Wordsworth's recurring praise and homage.

P. 255, l. 31. 'History of Cleveland.' The book is by the Rev. John
Graves, and is entitled 'The History of Cleveland in the North Riding of
the County of York.' Carlisle, 1808. Wordsworth is unjust: it is a
deserving work, if o' times inevitably dry.

P. 285, l.1. 'Francis Edgeworth's "Dramatic Fragment."' This was Francis
Beaufort Edgeworth, half-brother of Maria Edgeworth.

P. 285, ll. 29-30. 'Spectator.' From No. 46, April 23, 1711, one of
A