In that keen sport along the plain, of heaven; 1837.

... in emulous company
Sparkling, and hurrying through the clear blue heaven;
1838 and C.

Hurrying and sparkling through the clear blue Heaven. C.

With emulous brightness through the clear blue Heaven.
C.

FOOTNOTES:

[A] From a sonnet of Sir Philip Sydney.--W. W. 1807.

"THE WORLD IS TOO MUCH WITH US; LATE AND SOON"

Composed 1806.--Published 1807

One of the "Miscellaneous Sonnets."--ED.

The world is too much with us; late and soon,
Getting and spending, we lay waste our powers:
Little we see in Nature that is ours;
We have given our hearts away, a sordid boon!
This[1] Sea that bares her bosom to the moon; 5
The winds that will be howling at all hours,
And are up-gathered now like sleeping flowers;
For this, for every thing, we are out of tune;
It moves us not.--Great God! I'd rather be
A Pagan suckled in a creed outworn; 10
So might I, standing on this pleasant lea,[A]
Have glimpses that would make me less forlorn;
Have sight of Proteus rising[2] from the sea;[B]
Or hear old Triton blow his wreathed horn.[C]

The "pleasant lea" referred to in this sonnet is unknown. It may have
been on the Cumbrian coast, or in the Isle of Man.

I am indebted to the Rev. Canon Ainger for suggesting an (unconscious)
reminiscence of Spenser in the last line of the sonnet. Compare Dr.
Arnold's commentary (_Miscellaneous Works of Thomas Arnold_, p. 311),
and that of Sir Henry Taylor in his _Notes from Books_.--ED.

VARIANTS:

[1] 1807.

The ... MS.

[2] 1827.

... coming ... 1807.

FOOTNOTES:

[A] See Spenser's _Colin Clout's come Home againe_, l. 283--

"A goodly pleasant lea." ED.

[B] Compare _Paradise Lost_, book iii. l. 603.

[C] See _Colin Clout's come Home againe_, ll. 244-5--

Of them the shepheard which hath charge in chief,
Is Triton, blowing loud his wreathed horne. ED.

"WITH SHIPS THE SEA WAS SPRINKLED FAR AND NIGH"

Composed 1806.--Published 1807

Placed among the "Miscellaneous Sonnets."--ED.

Wit