The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1900-05-17

a tour on foot through France and
Switzerland. He found "a whole ma
ton mad with joy in consequence Of
the revolution" and with this passion
every fibre of his being sympathized.
To the child Of the northern hills lib
erty was as the very breath he drew,
and from the beginning joy was to
Word worth a neces sry element. of life.
During his second visit to France he
formed a close friendship with Michael
BeaUpuy, the nOblest type of the repub-
ican soldier, and learned at first hand
the causes of the revolution and the
sources Of its strength During his
stay in Paris IN the autumn of 1892
he even meditated throwing himself
into the strife of factions in the wild
hope that his voice might recall the
nation from the path of blood. Re-
called to England by the stOppage of
supplies, his return was soon followed
by the news of the execution of the
king and the tragic fall of his own
friends, the Gir0ndists. Wordsworth
has left a lasting record in the Pre-
Jude of the effect the Terror made
upon his mind. For long years after
ward his sleep was haunted with Wis
ions of despair and implements Of
death. or he saw himself pleading in
vain before the savage tribunals Of
the Mountain. But even yet he did not
despair of the republic. On the out
break Of war he sylnpathized with
France rather than with his own coun-
try, and shared all the hatred of the
English radicals for the reactionary
policy of Pitt. Little by little. however.
as the revolution changed its charac-
ter, Wordsworth lost hope in the move
ment with which ne had 50 passionate
~ sympathized. He became sOured
and gloomy. The strange and morbid
tragedy of the ''BOrderers, COMPOSED
in 1855, is a revelation Of the depths
to which his mind had sunk.
From this nadir of moral despair
Wordsworth recovered by a slow and
gradual process. The peaceful seen
cry of the English country. the gentle
ministratiOns of his sister, Dorothy, the
stimulating influence of Coleridge and
most of all his Cwn abiding sympathy
with the joys and sorrows of the coun-
try folk, among whom his life was
spent. at last restored him to the state
Of hope and joy which he once seemed
to have lost forever We find the first
evidence of his complete recovery in
the glorious Lines Composed Near
Tintern Abbey" At last when the mill
itary despOtism Of France was incar-
mated in Napoleon and England enter
ed upon her epic struggle against this
tremendous power, Wordsworth was
reConciied To his country. He felt that
the parts had been exchanged and that
England now stood as the champion Of
liberty. And with this feeling he
poured out a series of sonnets dedicated
to liberty which remain today the mob
lest monument in English literature of
the NaDoleonic wars. From this time
on, Wordsworth remained UNCHANGED
d conservative and nationalist seek
ing for freedom rather in the liberia
ton of the individual mind that in any
change OF political institutions.
OF all his critics Arnold has perhaps
best summed up the cause of Words
WOTth's greatness. It lies in the lex
tra0rdinary power with which Words
worth feels the JOY offered to us in ma
ture, the JOY offered to us in the sim
pie primary affections and duties and
in the extraordinary power with which
he shows Us this JOY and renders it so
as to make us share It." In other
words, the poets greatness consists in