istle to Sir G. Beaumont, lived
some time under its shadow.

168. *_The Haunted Tree_. [XXXIX.]

1819. This tree grew in the park of Rydal, and I have often listened to
its creaking as described.

169. *_The Triad_. [XL.]

'Rydal Mount, 1828. The girls Edith Mary Southey, my daughter Dora, and
Sarah Coleridge.' More fully on this and others contemporaneously
written, is the following letter:

To G.H. GORDON, ESQ.
Rydal Mount, Dec. 15, 1828.

How strange that any one should be puzzled with the name 'Triad' _after_
reading the poem! I have turned to Dr. Johnson, and there find '_Triad,
three united_,' and not a word more, as nothing more was needed. I
should have been rather mortified if _you_ had not liked the piece, as I
think it contains some of the happiest verses I ever wrote. It had been
promised several years to two of the party before a fancy fit for the
performance struck me; it was then thrown off rapidly, and afterwards
revised with care. During the last week I wrote some stanzas on the
_Power of Sound_, which ought to find a place in my larger work if aught
should ever come of that.

In the book on the Lakes, which I have not at hand, is a passage rather
too vaguely expressed, where I content myself with saying, that after a
certain point of elevation the effect of mountains depends much more
upon their form than upon their absolute height. This point, which ought
to have been defined, is the one to which fleecy clouds (not thin watery
vapours) are accustomed to descend. I am glad you are so much interested
with this little tract; it could not have been written without long
experience.

I remain, most faithfully,
Your much obliged,
WILLIAM WORDSWORTH.

170. _The Wishing-gate_. [XLI.]

In the Vale of Grasmere, by the side of the old highway leading to
Ambleside, is a gate which, time out of mind, has been called the
'Wishing-gate,' from a belief that wishes formed or indulged there have
a favourable issue.

171. _The Wishing-gate destroyed_.

Having been told, upon what I thought good authority, that this gate had
been destroyed, and the opening, where it hung, walled up, I gave vent
immediately to my feelings in these stanzas. But going to the place some
time after, I found, with much delight, my old favourite unmolested.
[*Rydal Mount, 1828.]

172. *_The Primrose of