of the author, with the pieces not arranged under
that head. I, therefore, feel much obliged to you for suggesting by your
practice the plan which I have adopted. In respect to the Prefaces, my
own wish would be that now the Poems should be left to speak for
themselves without them; but I know that this would not answer for the
purposes of sale. They will, therefore, be printed at the end of the
volume; and to this I am in some degree reconciled by the matter they
contain relating to poetry in general, and the principles they
inculcate. I hope that, upon the whole, the edition will please you. In
a very few instances I have altered the expression for the worse, on
account of the same feeling or word occurring rather too near the
passage. For example, the Sonnet on Baptism begins '_Blest_ be the
Church.' But unfortunately the word occurs some three or four lines just
before or after; I have, therefore, though reluctantly, substituted the
less impressive word, '_Dear_ be the Church.' I mention this solely to
prevent blame on your part in this and a few similar cases where an
injurious change has been made. The book will be off my hands I hope in
about two weeks.

* * * * *

Mrs. Wordsworth and I left home four days ago, and do not intend to
return, if all goes well, in less than five or six weeks from this time.
We purpose in our way home to visit York, the cathedral of which city
has been restored; and then we shall go to Leeds, on a visit to our
friend Mr. James Marshall, in full expectation that we shall be highly
delighted by the humane and judicious manner in which his manufactory is
managed, and by inspecting the schools which he and his brother have
established and superintended. We also promise ourselves much pleasure
from the sight of the magnificent church, which, upon the foundation of
the old parish church of that town, has been built through the exertions
and by the munificence of the present incumbent, that excellent and able
man Dr. Hook, whom I have the honour of reckoning among my friends.

This letter is written by the side of my brother-in-law, who, eight
years ago, became a cripple, confined to his chair, by the accident of
his horse falling with him in the high road, where he lay without power
to move either hand or leg, but left in perfect possession of his
faculties. His bodily sufferings are by this time somewhat abated, but
they still continue severe. His patience