r woe,
Insensible. He sits deprived of sight,
And lamentably wrapped in twofold night, 5
Whom no weak hopes deceived; whose mind ensued,
Through perilous war, with regal fortitude,
Peace that should claim respect from lawless Might.
Dread King of Kings, vouchsafe a ray divine
To his forlorn condition! let thy grace 10
Upon his inner[1] soul in mercy shine;
Permit his heart to kindle, and to embrace[2]
(Though it were[3] only for a moment's space)
The triumphs of this hour; for they are THINE!

The reference is to the rejoicings on the Leipzig victory of the Allied
Forces, October 16 to 19, 1813. Napoleon crossed the Rhine on the 2nd
November, and returned to Paris with the wreck of his army. George III.
was English Sovereign; but, owing to his illness, the Prince of Wales
had been appointed Regent, and assumed executive power in January 1811.
The King died at Windsor in 1820, being eighty-two years of age. He had
been entirely blind for some years before his death. The "twofold night"
referred to in the sonnet is sufficiently obvious.--ED.

VARIANTS:

[1] 1815.

... inmost ... 1838.

The text of 1840 returns to that of 1815.

[2] C. and 1838.

... and embrace, 1815.

[3] 1832.

(Though were it ...) 1815.

END OF VOL. IV

_Printed by_ R. & R. CLARK, LIMITED, _Edinburgh_.

* * * * *

Transcriber's note:

1. The Tyrolese Sonnets in German were originally printed in the
Fraktur Black Letter font and are unmarked. Within these sonnets
several words appear in gesperrt (s p a c e d), these words have been
surrounded by ~tilde signs~.

2. A full line ellipsis in poetry is represented by a single "..." and
a full line ellipsis in quoted text is represented by a row of spaced
periods, " . . . . . "

3. Minor punctuation errors have been corrected.

4. All footnotes have been moved to the chapter or sub-chapter ends
EXCEPTING the footnote at the end of Tyrolese Sonnet VI which has
been placed immediately after the sonnet though the chapter continues
and other succeeding footnotes appear at the end.

Numbered footnotes are "variants" of words or phrases changed by Mr.
Wordsworth in various