imes, to or
from Scotland? I need not say how glad I should be to see you for a few
days.

What a pity that Mr. Heber's wonderful collection of books is about to
be dispersed![144]

[144] _Memoirs_, ii. 284-6.

92. _Proposed Dedication of Poems to Wordsworth_.

LETTER TO MRS. HEMANS.

Rydal Mount, April 1834.

MY DEAR MRS. HEMANS,
* * * * *

You have submitted what you intended as a dedication of your poems to
me. I need scarcely say that, as a _private letter_, such expressions
from such a quarter could not have been received by me but with pleasure
of _no ordinary kind_, unchecked by any consideration but the fear that
my writings were overrated by you, and my character thought better of
than it deserved. But I must say, that a _public_ testimony, in so high
a strain of admiration, is what I cannot but shrink from: be this
modesty true or false, it is in me; you must bear with it, and make
allowance for it. And, therefore, as you have submitted the whole to my
judgment, I am emboldened to express a wish that you would, instead of
this dedication, in which your warm and kind heart has overpowered you,
simply inscribe them to me, with such expression of respect or gratitude
as would come within the limits of the rule which, after what has been
said above, will naturally suggest itself. Of course, if the sheet has
been struck off, I must hope that my shoulders may become a little more
Atlantean than I now feel them to be.

My sister is not quite so well. She, Mrs. W., and Dora, all unite with
me in best wishes and kindest remembrances to yourself and yours; and

Believe me, dear Mrs. Hemans,
To remain faithfully yours,
WM. WORDSWORTH.[145]

[145] _Memoirs_, ii. 286-7.

93. _Verse-Attempts_.

LETTER TO LIEUTENANT-GENERAL SIR WM. M. GOMM.

Rydal Mount, April 16. 1834.

MY DEAR SIR,

Your verses, for which I sincerely thank you, are an additional proof of
the truth which forced from me, many years ago, the exclamation, 'O,
many are the poets that are sown by nature!'[146] The rest of that
paragraph also has some bearing upon your position in the poetical
world. The thoughts and images through both the poems, and the feelings
also, are eminently such as become their several subjects; but it would
be insincerity were I to omit adding, that there is here and there a
w