THE POETICAL WORKS OF WILLIAM WORDSWORTH, VOL. 8 (Completed)

TO A CHILD WRITTEN IN HER ALBUM

Composed 1834.--Published 1835

[This quatrain was extempore on observing this image, as I had often done, on the lawn of Rydal Mount. It was first written down in the Album of my God-daughter, Rotha Quillinan.--I.F.]

In 1837 this was one of the "Inscriptions." In 1845 it was transferred to the "Miscellaneous Poems."--ED.

Small service is true service while it lasts:

Of humblest Friends, bright Creature! scorn not one![9]

The Daisy, by the shadow that it casts,

Protects the lingering dew-drop from the Sun.[10]

[8] The original title (1835) was "Written in an Album." In 1837 it was"Written in the Album of a Child." In 1845 the title was reconstructed as above.

[9] 1845.

Of Friends, however humble, scorn not one: 1835.

[10] Compare the lines, written in 1845, beginning--

So fair, so sweet, withal so sensitive.

ED.