" Tbe 6pettator," april 27th, 1850
THE death of a poet creates an official vacancy—the Laureate Wordsworth has departed. It is an histOrical fact, but not more ; for he had long been withdrawn from the world of active life, and even his pen had forgotten its function. One tribute Wordsworth paid as suit and service for the tenure of his post ; and occasionally his stubborn, unrelenting conservatism appeared in a sonnet against railways or steam-boats—the effusion of a sublimer Sibthorp. But his glory was on the shelves: man and public officer, he was unknown to the world —was but a " wandering voice" of the past. Discussion busies itself with the disposal of the vacant Laureateship. The Times proposes to cut the gordian knot by abolishing the office, finish- ing off with Wordsworth as a bonne bouche. Two candidates, however, have been named, both reposing under the sun of Royal favour.
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