her brother; and
says

"What inclined me to think that the poem was written earlier than 1805
was that it anticipates Dorothy's marriage, and this would more
naturally be present as a probable event in W. W.'s mind in 1794 or
thereabouts than in 1805, after Dorothy had dedicated her life to her
brother, to the exclusion of all wish to make a home of her own by
marriage. The expression 'Healthy as a shepherd boy' is also more
applicable to a girl of twenty-two than to a woman of thirty-three. Do
you think it possible that the poem may have been written in 1794, and
not published till later, when its application would be less evident
to the family circle?"

Dorothy Wordsworth's letter will be quoted in full in a later volume,
but the following extract from it may be given now:

"I cannot pass unnoticed that part of your letter in which you speak
of my 'rambling about the country on foot.' So far from considering
this as a matter for condemnation I rather thought it would have given
my friends pleasure that I had courage to make use of the strength
with which Nature has endowed me, when it not only procured me
infinitely more pleasure than I should have received from sitting in a
post-chaise, but was also the means of saving me at least thirty
shillings."

I do not think the date of composition can be so early as 1794. What may
be called internal, or structural, evidence is against it. Wordsworth
never could have written these two poems till after his settlement at
Dove Cottage. Besides, in 1794, he could have no knowledge of a possible
"nest in a green dale, a harbour and a hold"; while at that time his
sister had certainly no "cottage home." I believe they were written
after he took up his residence at Town-end (the date being uncertain);
and that they refer to his sister, and not to his wife. It has been
suggested by Mr. Ernest Coleridge (see 'The Athenaeum', Oct. 21, 1893)
that they refer to Mary Hutchinson: but there is no evidence of
Wordsworth taking long country walks with her before their marriage, or
that she was "nymph-like," "fleet and strong," that she loved to "roam
the moorland," "in weather rough and bleak," or that she "hunted
waterfalls." The reference to his sister is confirmed by the omission of
the delightful second stanza of the poem in the last edition revised by
the poet, that of 1849, when she was a confirmed invalid at Rydal Mount.
Those "smiles to earth u