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All consequences; work he hath begun
Of fortitude, and piety, and love,

Which all his glorious ancestors approve :
The heroes bless him, him their rightful son.

The king referred to is Gustavus IV., who was born in 1728, proclaimed king in 1792, and died in 1837. His first public act after his accession was to join in the coalition against Napoleon, and dislike of Napoleon was the spring of his policy. It is to this that Wordsworth refers in the sonnet

the illustrious Swede hath done

The thing which ought to be.

It made him unpopular, however, and gave rise to a conspiracy against him, and to his consequent abdication in 1809. He "died forgotten and in poverty."-ED.

TO TOUSSAINT L'OUVERTURE.

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TOUSSAINT, the most unhappy man of men!
Whether the whistling Rustic tend his plough
Within thy hearing, or thy head be now
Pillowed in some deep dungeon's earless den ;1
O miserable Chieftain! where and when
Wilt thou find patience? Yet die not; do thou
Wear rather in thy bonds a cheerful brow :
Though fallen thyself, never to rise again,

Live, and take comfort. Thou hast left behind

1827.

Whether the rural milk-maid by her cow
Sing in thy hearing, or thou liest now
Alone in some deep dungeon's earless den.

Whether the all-cheering sun be free to shed
His beams around thee, or thou rest thy head
Pillowed in some dark dungeon's noisome den.
Whether the whistling Rustic tend his plough
Within thy hearing, or thou liest now
Buried in some deep dungeon's earless den.

1807.

1815.

1820

Powers that will work for thee; air, earth, and skies;
There's not a breathing of the common wind

That will forget thee; thou hast great allies;
Thy friends are exultations, agonies,

And love, and man's unconquerable mind.

Francois Dominique Toussaint (who was surnamed L'Ouverture), the child of African slaves, was born at St Domingo in 1743. He was a Royalist in political sympathy till 1794, when the decree of the French convention, giving liberty to the slaves, brought him over to the side of the Republic. He was made a general of division by Laveux, and succeeded in taking the whole of the north of the island from the English. In 1796 he was made chief of the French army of St Domingo, and first the British commander, and next the Spanish, surrendered everything to him. He became governor of the island, which prospered under his rule. Napoleon, however, in 1801, issued an edict re-establishing slavery in St Domingo. Toussaint professed obedience, but showed that he meant to resist the edict. A fleet of fifty-four vessels was sent from France to enforce it. Toussaint was proclaimed an outlaw. He surrendered, and was received with military honours, but was treacherously arrested and sent to Paris in June 1802, where he died after ten months hardship in prison. He had been two months in prison when Wordsworth addressed this sonnet to him.-ED.

COMPOSED IN THE VALLEY NEAR DOVER, ON THE DAY OF

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HERE, on our native soil, we breathe once more,1
The cock that crows, the smoke that curls, that sound
Of bells; those boys who2 in yon meadow-ground
In white-sleeved shirts are playing; and the roar3

1 1827.

Dear fellow traveller! here we are once more,

1807.

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Of the waves breaking on the chalky shore;- 1
All, all are English. Oft have I looked round
With joy in Kent's green vales; but never found
Myself so satisfied in heart before.

Europe is yet in bonds; but let that pass,
Thought for another moment. Thou art free,
My Country! and 'tis joy enough and pride
For one hour's perfect bliss, to tread the grass
Of England once again, and hear and see,
With such a dear Companion at my side.

"On 29th Aug. left Calais, at twelve in the morning for Dover. Bathed, and sat on the Dover Cliffs, looked upon France. We could see the shores about as plain as if it were but an English lake. Mounted the coach at half-past four; arrived in London at six."-(Dorothy Wordsworth's Journal.)

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[Among the capricious acts of tyranny that disgraced those times, was the chasing of all negroes from France by decree of the government : we had a Fellow-passenger who was one of the expelled.]

WE had a female Passenger who came2
From Calais with us, spotless in array,3
A white-robed Negro, like a lady gay,

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Yet downcast as a woman fearing blame;1
Meek, destitute, as seemed, of hope or aim2
She sate, from notice turning not away,
But on all proffered intercourse did lay3
A weight of languid speech, or to the same
No sign of answer made by word or face:
Yet still her eyes retained their tropic fire,
That, burning independent of the mind,
Joined with the lustre of her rich attire

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To mock the Outcast-0 ye Heavens, be kind!
And feel, thou Earth, for this afflicted Race ! 5

It was a natural arrangement which led Wordsworth to place this Sonnet immediately after the one addressed To Toussaint L'Ouverture.— ED.

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She was a Negro woman driven from France,
Rejected like all others of her race,

Not one of whom may now find footing there;
This the poor Outcast did to us declare,
Nor murmured at the unfeeling Ordinance.

1807.

Meanwhile these eyes retained their tropic fire,
Which, burning independent of the mind,
Joined with the lustre of her rich attire
To mock the outcast-O ye Heavens be kind!
And feel, thou earth, for this afflicted race!

Yet still these eyes retained
Which burning

1827.

1836.

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INLAND, within a hollow vale I stood;

And saw, while sea was calm and air was clear,
The coast of France-the coast of France how near!
Drawn almost into frightful neighbourhood.

I shrunk; for verily the barrier flood

Was like a lake, or river bright and fair,
A span of waters; yet what power is there!
What mightiness for evil and for good!
Even so doth God protect us if we be

Virtuous and wise. Winds blow, and waters roll,
Strength to the brave, and Power, and Deity;
Yet in themselves are nothing! One decree
Spake laws to them, and said that by the soul
Only, the Nations shall be great and free.

Coleridge, in The Friend, thus refers to the above sonnet :- "The narrow seas that form our boundaries, what were they in times of old? The convenient highway for Danish and Norman pirates. What are they now? Still, but a 'Span of Waters.' Yet they roll at the base of the Ararat, on which the Ark of the Hope of Europe and of Civilization rested!"

Even so doth God protect us, if we be

Virtuous and wise. Winds blow and waters roll,
Strength to the brave, and power, and Deity:
Yet in themselves are nothing! One Decree
Spake laws to them, and said that by the Soul
Only, the Nations shall be great and free !”
The Friend, Vol. I., p. 106.

The note appended to the previous sonnet, "composed in the Valley near Dover, on the day of landing," shows that this one refers to the same occasion; and that while "inland, within a hollow vale,” he was at the same time on the Dover Cliffs-the "vale" being one of the hollow clefts in the headland, which front the Dover coast-line. The sonnet may have been composed, however, afterwards in London, and the date given to it by Wordsworth (September) be correct.-ED.

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