This great and estimable man must have entertained for his high calling an affection hardly ever equalled, in pureness and intensity, by any who have pursued it; and apparently in his boyish days, amid scenery well fitted to produce it, he caught the fine enthusiasm which afterwards prompted his verse, nerved his spirit, and inspired his brain.

William "Wordsworth—destined to exercise no slight or limited influence on the poetry of the age in which he lived - was born on the 7th of April; 1770, at Cockermouth, in Cumberland, where his father, who was by profession an attorney-at-law, acted as agent for the noble family of Lowther.

The scenery around was worthy of the birthplace of so celebrated a man, and well calculated to give the "poetic impulse." There is no account cer-tainly of his "lisping in numbers," but it is hardly to be questioned that he would, in childhood, indulge in fine imaginings as he was led along the picturesque banks of the Derwent, or as he rested his young eyes on the baronial pile hard by. His earlier years were passed alternately at home and with his mother's relatives at Penrith, where her father carried on the trade of a mercer. But Wordsworth's maternal grandmother was the daughter of an ancient Westmoreland family; and he, coupling this fact with the supposition that he was descended, on the father's side, from a tribe of landowners who had flourished in Yorkshire at the time of the Norman conquest, rejoiced in the belief of a long pedigree, and apparently adhered to it with all the imaginative tenacity of a hard, and the calm satisfaction of a dalesman.

At Penrith he was sent to the school of a venerable dame, who had instructed three generations in reading and spelling; and there, among the pupils, he met with a little girl, a few months younger than himself, who perhaps, even then, had the radiant look and placid expression which, in after years, led to her becoming his wife.

Returning to his native place, he was for some time under the tuition of a clergyman, but without making any extraordinary progress in his daily studies. However, he was grounded in the rudiments of learning, and induced by his father, a man of some mental capacity, to commit to memory pieces from the works of English poets - no bad preparation for his future career. His mother, a pious and sagacious woman, foretold, with mingled pride and anxiety, that he would one day be remarkable either for good or evil; while it is stated that he was of a strange and violent temper, of which some unbecoming, but not uninstructive, displays are related.

His favourite recreation at this period seems to have been bathing; in which he would indulge to his heart's content, and then lie basking by the stream's side under the merry summer's sun.

In his ninth year he was deprived, by death, of the care and guidance of his mother; but was much influenced for good by a sister two years his junior, who, as he gratefully records, lived to be "the blessing of his later years." Soon after this bereavement, which affected his surviving parent so much that he never regained his natural cheerfulness, the young poet was sent to a school at Hawksworth, situated in a vale near a lake in the most beautiful part of Lancashire. The constitution of the school, which had been founded by an Archbishop of York in the sixteenth century, was somewhat peculiar. The boys, instead of being regularly housed under the master's care, and superintended by ushers, were left to do as seemed best in their own eyes, except during the hours of instruction; and, whether or not they approached its precincts each morning with the anxious and reluctant step, which Gibbon ascribes to the urchins of the Latin class, it is certain that out of doors they enjoyed themselves without stint. In fine, long, warm evenings, Wordsworth would urge the bounding ball, or pitch the rotund quoit, with his schoolfellows till the stars arose; and then retiring to his lodgings, he lay awake in his little chamber, sometimes watching the moon, as it disappeared behind a cloud, or shone with silver splendour on the fair and striking scene below,-presenting dark pools, shady trees, precipitous crags, and those "twilight glens "in which he delighted to wander and muse. On holidays he read and angled by turns at the side of the mountain pools, rowed and skated on the lakes, or sat admiring the beauties of nature by some grey monastic ruin. Though deriving more, perhaps, from the study of nature than of hooks, he was far from neglecting the latter. On the contrary, he became familiar with the works of Cervantes, Le Sage, Fielding, and Swift, and expresses his sense of gratitude to an under-teacher, for having conveyed to him more knowledge of Latin in the short space of a fortnight than he had learned at Cockermouth in two long years.

He now, at the instance of the master, made his earliest attempt at versification, the given theme heing "The Summer Vacation." The effort would appear to have stirred his lurking ambition, for he added, of his own accord, a short piece on the "Return to School."

A. poem of considerable length, in imitation of Pope, was composed on the occasion of some high day in the school, and much admired at the time. This was succeeded by a long production in verse, recounting the adventures of his boyish life, and descriptive of the scenery amid which his lot had been cast. His school career he states, with every appearance of sincerity, was happy; and it termi-nated, along with the irresponsibility of boyhood, in 1787, the worthy law-agent having previously followed his departed spouse.

In the autumn of the year named, Wordsworth was entered at St. John's College, Cambridge. While there he once worked himself, in an hour of festive mirth, into the belief that the mantle of Milton had fallen upon him. He encouraged his poet's frenzy by frequenting the college gardens in the stilly evenings, and after completing his academic course, took his degree in 1791.

Meantime he had engaged in the study of Italian, and translated some papers in the "Spectator" into that language. He had likewise, during the vacations, astonished his rural friends by the fineness of his attire, made a continental tour in company with a young friend, as well as an expedition into North Wales; both of which, no doubt, increased his knowledge, and ministered to the poetic develop-ment. On leaving the University he set off for Paris, and there remained for some time. After visiting several places of note in France, he returned to London, and, in 1793, produced two short poems—"The Evening Walk," and "Descriptive Sketches."

In 1796 he took up his abode, along with his sister, in Dorsetshire; his means being, indeed, limited, but his wants proportionately few. There he was visited by Coleridge, his friend, associate, and admirer, in conjunction •with whom he planned to write the wondrous, moving, and mysterious ballad of "The Ancient Mariner." But their styles being too dissimilar, Wordsworth withdrew from the un-dertaking, leaving his brother poet to bring his preternatural rhyme to a conclusion.

In a short time after this the "Lyrical Ballads" were published at Bristol; and in 1799, settling down at Grasmere, he resolved to devote his time and talents to poetry, which henceforth became the occupation of his life.

"A lover of the meadows and the woods, And mountains, and all that he beheld," he set himself to his task in the spirit of a true artist; and, writing from the fulness of nature, he continued, during a particularly regular and uniform existence, to create and fashion according to the suggestions of his own fine genius, unmoved by the sneers, censure, or ridicule of acute critics.

In 1813 he took up his residence at Rydal Mount, and next year gave the "Excursion" to the world. He continued in this beautiful retreat, among lakes and mountains, ever after; was honoured with the degree of Doctor of Laws by Oxford, appointed to the laureateship on the death of Mr. Southey, and breathed his last on the 23d of April, 1850.

Then he was laid among the trees that grow from the green sod, which covers the quiet churchyard at Grasmere.