* * * * *

VARIANTS ON THE TEXT

[Variant 1: 

1807.

  ... bold ...  In 1838 only.]

[Variant 2: 

1845.

  ...  He stands above 1807.]

The following is Wordsworth’s note to this sonnet, added in 1837: 

“In this and a succeeding Sonnet on the same subject, let me be understood as a Poet availing himself of the situation which the King of Sweden occupied, and of the principles AVOWED IN HIS MANIFESTOS; as laying hold of these advantages for the purpose of embodying moral truths.  This remark might, perhaps, as well have been suppressed; for to those who may be in sympathy with the course of these Poems, it will be superfluous; and will, I fear, be thrown away upon that other class, whose besotted admiration of the intoxicated despot hereafter placed [A] in contrast with him, is the most melancholy evidence of degradation in British feeling and intellect which the times have furnished.”

The king referred to is Gustavus IV., who was born in 1778, 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 main-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.

[Footnote A:  See the sonnet beginning “Call not the royal Swede unfortunate,” vol. iv. p. 224.—­Ed.]

* * * * *

TO TOUSSAINT L’OUVERTURE

Composed August, 1802.—­Published 1807 [A]

  Toussaint, the most unhappy man of men! [B]
  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 5
  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. [2] Thou hast left behind
  Powers that will work for thee; air, earth, and skies; 10
  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. [C]

* * * * *

VARIANTS ON THE TEXT

[Variant 1: 

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, 1803.