My sister is not quite so well.  She, Mrs. W., and Dora, all unite with me in best wishes and kindest remembrances to yourself and yours; and

Believe me, dear Mrs. Hemans,
To remain faithfully yours,
WM. WORDSWORTH.[145]

[145] Memoirs, ii. 286-7.

93. Verse-Attempts.

LETTER TO LIEUTENANT-GENERAL SIR WM. M. GOMM.

Rydal Mount, April 16. 1834.

MY DEAR SIR,

Your verses, for which I sincerely thank you, are an additional proof of the truth which forced from me, many years ago, the exclamation, ’O, many are the poets that are sown by nature!’[146] The rest of that paragraph also has some bearing upon your position in the poetical world.  The thoughts and images through both the poems, and the feelings also, are eminently such as become their several subjects; but it would be insincerity were I to omit adding, that there is here and there a want of that skill in workmanship, which I believe nothing but continued practice in the art can bestow.  I have used the word art, from a conviction, which I am called upon almost daily to express, that poetry is infinitely more of an art than the world is disposed to believe.  Nor is this any dishonour to it; both for the reason that the poetic faculty is not rarely bestowed, and for this cause, also, that men would not be disposed to ascribe so much to inspiration, if they did not feel how near and dear to them poetry is.

[146] Excursion, book i.

With sincere regards and best wishes to yourself and Lady Gomm,

Believe me to be very sincerely yours,
W. WORDSWORTH.[147]

[147] Memoirs, ii. 287-8.

94. The Poems of Mrs. Hemans.

LETTER TO MRS. HEMANS.

Rydal Mount, Sept. 1834.

MY DEAR MRS. HEMANS,

I avail myself gladly of the opportunity of Mr. Graves’s return, to acknowledge the honour you have done me in prefixing my name to your volume of beautiful poems, and to thank you for the copy you have sent me with your own autograph.  Where there is so much to admire, it is difficult to select; and therefore I shall content myself with naming only two or three pieces.  And, first, let me particularise the piece that stands second in the volume, ‘Flowers and Music in a Sick Room.’  This was especially touching to me, on my poor sister’s account, who has long been an invalid, confined almost to her chamber.  The feelings are sweetly touched throughout this poem, and the imagery very beautiful; above all, in the passage where you describe the colour of the petals of the wild rose.  This morning, I have read the stanzas upon ‘Elysium’ with great pleasure.  You have admirably expanded the thought of Chateaubriand.  If we had not been disappointed in our expected pleasure of seeing you here, I should have been tempted to speak of many other passages and poems with which I have been delighted.