These lines were written by Wordsworth, after reading a sentence in the Stranger's Book at "The Station,"--not a railway station!--on the western side of Windermere lake, opposite Bowness. Their poetic merit is slight, but they illustrate the honesty and directness of the writer's mind. The Stranger's Book at "The Station" contained the following:--
"Lord and Lady Darlington, Lady Vane, Miss Taylor, and Captain Stamp pronounce this Lake superior to Lac de Genève, Lago de Como, Lago Maggiore, L'Eau de Zurich, Loch Lomond, Loch Katerine, or the Lakes of Killarney."-ED.
My Lord and Lady Darlington,
I would not speak in snarling-tone;
Nor, to you, good Lady Vane,
Would I give one moment's pain;
Nor Miss Taylor, Captain Stamp,
Would I your flights of memory cramp.
Yet, having spent a summer's day
On the green margin of Loch Tay,
And doubled (prospect ever bettering)
The mazy reaches of Loch Katerine,
And more than once been free at Luss,
Loch Lomond's beauties to discuss,
And wished, at least, to hear the blarney
Of the sly boatmen of Killarney,
And dipped my hand in dancing wave
Of Eau de Zurich, Lac Genève,
And bowed to many a major domo
On stately terraces of Como,
And seen the Simplon's forehead hoary,
Reclined on Lago Maggiore
At breathless eventide at rest
On the broad water's placid breast,
I, not insensible, Heaven knows,
To all the charms this Station shows,
Must tell you, Captain, Lord, and Ladies--
For honest worth one poet's trade is--
That your praise appears to me
Folly's own hyperbole.
YOU ARE READING
THE POETICAL WORKS OF WILLIAM WORDSWORTH, VOL. 8 (Completed)
PoetryThe Poetical Works of William Wordsworth, Vol. 8. Edited by William Knight
