Description, and Dedication
of 1815
(_e_) Of 'The Excursion:' Preface
*(_f_) Letters to Sir George and Lady Beaumont and others,
on the Poems and related Subjects[1]
(_g_) Letter to Charles Fox with the 'Lyrical Ballads,'
and his Answer, &c.
(_h_) Letter on the Principles of Poetry and his own Poems
to (afterwards) Professor John Wilson
IV. Descriptive:
(_a_) A Guide through the District of the Lakes, 1835
(_b_) Kendal and Windermere Railway: two Letters reprinted
from the _Morning Post_. Revised, with
Additions, 1844
NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS

[1] The Beaumont Letters are given from the originals, and in many
cases, as elsewhere, contain important additions and corrections. G.

AESTHETICAL AND LITERARY.

I. OF LITERARY BIOGRAPHY AND MONUMENTS.

(_a_) A LETTER TO A FRIEND OF ROBERT BURNS, 1816.

(_b_) LETTER TO A FRIEND ON MONUMENTS TO LITERARY MEN, 1819.

(_c_) LETTER TO JOHN PEACE OF BRISTOL, 1844.

NOTE.

For details on the several portions of this division, see the Preface in
Vol. I. G.

A LETTER TO A FRIEND OF ROBERT BURNS: OCCASIONED BY AN INTENDED
REPUBLICATION OF THE ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE OF BURNS, BY DR. CURRIE; AND OF
THE SELECTION MADE BY HIM FROM HIS LETTERS.

BY WILLIAM WORDSWORTH.

_LONDON_:

PRINTED FOR LONGMAN, HURST, REES, ORME, AND BROWN, PATERNOSTER-ROW.

1816.

(_a_) A LETTER TO A FRIEND OF ROBERT BURNS.

TO JAMES GRAY, ESQ., EDINBURGH.

DEAR SIR,

I have carefully perused the Review of the Life of your friend Robert
Burns,[2] which you kindly transmitted to me; the author has rendered a
substantial service to the poet's memory; and the annexed letters are
all important to the subject. After having expressed this opinion, I
shall not trouble you by commenting upon the publication; but will
confine myself to the request of Mr. Gilbert Burns, that I would furnish
him with my notions upon the best mode of conducting the defence of his
brother's injured reputation; a favourable opportunity being now
afforded him to convey his sentiments to the world, along with a
republication of Dr. Currie's book, which he is about to superintend.
From the respect which I have long felt for the character of the person
who has thus honoured me, and from the gratitude which, as a lover of
poetry, I owe to the genius of his departed relative, I should