nd which might have been undesirable
for the reader."

His sister Dorothy frequently refers to the intensity of his passionate
affection for the members of his family, and of the full and free
expression he gave it. Greatly indeed have they erred who have imagined
him as by nature cold or even tranquil. "What strange workings," writes
one, "are there in his great mind! how fearfully strong are all his
feelings and affections! If his intellect had been less powerful they
would have destroyed him long ago." Indeed, no one who had ever known
him well could doubt this intensity of nature, this smothered fire. It
leaped out in bursts of anger at the report of evil doings; in long and
violent tramps over the mountains, in exaggerated grief at the death of
loved ones; and in almost unnatural intensity of devotion, to his sister
first, and his daughter Dora afterwards. It took the form of passionate
adoration of Nature in his poems, and of passionate patriotism as well,
and it gave strength and fire to the best of all his literary work.

Let us dwell for a moment more upon the married life of the poet,--that
calm and quiet and happy life which made it possible that he should be
the poet he was, unvexed by worldly cares or vanities. His late
biographer, Mr. Myers, tells us:--

"The life which the young couple led was one of primitive
simplicity. In some respects it was even less luxurious than that
of the peasants about them. They drank water, and ate the simplest
fare. Miss Wordsworth had long rendered existence possible for her
brother, on the narrowest of means, by her unselfish energy and
skill in household management; and plain living and high thinking
were equally congenial to the new inmate of the frugal home.
Wordsworth gardened; and all together, or oftenest the poet and his
sister, wandered almost daily over the neighboring hills. Narrow
means did not prevent them from offering a generous welcome to
their few friends, especially Coleridge and his family, who
repeatedly stayed for months under Wordsworth's roof. Miss
Wordsworth's letters breathe the very spirit of hospitality in
their naive details of the little sacrifices gladly made for the
sake of the presence of these honored guests. But for the most
part the life was solitary and uneventful. Books they had few,
neighbors none, and their dependence was almost entirely upon