his "Tour through the Highlands," but he always declined, and it was
printed at last without his knowledge, by some one to whom he had lent
his MS.

Wilkinson's relations to Wordsworth are alluded to in the note to _The
Solitary Reaper_. He is occasionally referred to in Dorothy Wordsworth's
Grasmere Journal of January and March 1802, _e.g._:--"Monday, 12th
March.--The ground covered with snow. Walked to T. Wilkinson's and sent
for letters. The woman brought me one from Wm. and Mary. It was a sharp
windy night. Thomas Wilkinson came with me to Barton, and questioned me
like a catechiser all the way. Every question was like the snapping of a
little thread about my heart. I was so full of thought of my half-read
letter and other things."

The following are extracts from letters of Wilkinson to Miss Mary
Leadbeater of Ballintore:--"Yanwath, 15. 2. 1801.--I had lately a young
Poet seeing me that sprang originally from the next village. He has left
the College, turned his back on all preferment, and settled down
contentedly among our Lakes, with his Sister and his Muse. He ... writes
in what he conceives to be the language of Nature in opposition to the
finery of our present poetry. He has published two volumes of Poems,
mostly of the same character. His name is William Wordsworth." In a
letter, dated 29. 1. 1809, the following occurs:--"Thou hast wished to
have W. Wordsworth's Lines on my Spade, which I shall transcribe thee. I
had promised Lord Lonsdale to take him to Lowther, when he came to see
me, but when we arrived he was gone to shoot moor-game with Judge
Sutton. William and I then returned, and wrought together at a walk I
was then forming, which gave birth to his Verses." The expression
"sprang from the next village" might not be intended to mean that he was
born there; or, if it did, the fact that Wordsworth's mother was a
native of Penrith, and his own visits to that town, might account for
the mistake of one who had made no minute enquiry as to the poet's
birthplace. He was born at Cockermouth. Compare an interesting account
of Thomas Wilkinson, by Mary Carr, reprinted from the _Friends'
Quarterly Examiner_, 1882.--ED.

VARIANTS:

[1] 1837.

... toiling ... 1807.

[2] 1827.

Health, quiet, meekness, ardour, hope secure, 1807.

[3] 1815.

... hath ... 1807.

[4] 1815.

More noble than the nobles