WORDSWORTH IN FRANCE.*

H. LEGOLTIS'S new book incorporates all that has so far come to light on the subject of Wordsworth's relations with Annette Vallon. M. Legouis has unearthed interesting material not only concerning Wordsworth and Annette themselves but also the Vallon family and the French descendants of the poet : the result is an exceedingly interesting study in intimate history which has much of the charm of a small novel.

It is a gratifying fact that the more we discover of the story the more honourable does Wordsworth's conduct appear to have been : it seems likely, in fact, that if the poet's nephew had not piously falsified his life-history by destroying the other documents bearing on the affair, our last doubts of Wordsworth's treatment of Annette might now have been relieved.

M. Legouis reminds us that in the time of the Georges irregularities of this kind were regarded less severely than they are to-day, and that we must therefore judge Wordsworth according to the standards of the time. He illustrates the point by a remark of Dorothy Wordsworth's. " Dorothy Wordsworth, the poet's exquisite sister, writing to a friend

• William Wordsworth and Annette Yam. By Emile Legouis. Dent. [Ss. net.!

in 1795—she was then twenty-three—expressed herself in this way :- ' A natural cUughter of Mr. Tom Myers (a cousin of mine whom I dare say you have heard me mention) is coming over to England

. . to be educated . . . and T. Myers' brother . . . has requested that I should take her under my care.'

Who could imagine a yon g lady of the Victorian era speak- ing with this simplicity and ingenuousness of her cousin's natural daughter ? "

The main outline of the story is already familiar Words- worth as a youth little over twenty fell in love with Annette Valion during a visit to France. Whether or not they con- templated marriage we do not know. It was probably the poverty of both that made such a solution impossible for them even after they knew that Annette was to have a child and she began secretly to prepare her baby's clothes, among them a little pink cap which she showed to William and referred to afterwards in a letter describing their small daughter. Wordsworth stayed in France till the child was born and then returned to England with the idea of con- fessing to his uncles and obtaining money enough to enable them to marry. He confided in Dorothy, whose sympathy for the young mother was expressed in letters which were continued throughout the lives of each. William was unsuc- cessful in his application to his guardians :—

"Repulsed by his guardians, called for by Annette, what did Wordsworth do ? War, which had been- officially declared on 1st February, had little by little become a reality. The lovers-who had, when they parted, hoped for a near reunion, found themselves divided by an almost insuperable obstacle. William could only run the risk of another journey to France at the cost of the utmost difficulties and perils. Did he run that risk It is an open goes- 'Con. Much may be said to prove that he did or that he did not.'

And in our conjectures we must not forget Wordsworth's innate cautiousness, which perpetually influenced his life and was his most unhappy quality as a poet

"He it is who thought at one time of joining his destiny to that 'of the Girondins, but was prevented ; who in the midst of the English counter-Terror wrote a proud republican letter to the 'Bishop of Llandaff, but kept it in manuscript and probably never even sent it to his opponent ; who in 1795 wrote satirical verses against the Court and the Regent, but decided not to publish them."

Meanwhile time passed. Wordsworth suffered acutely in mind throughout the Terror and found himself in distressing antagonism to the attitude of his own country ; about this time, too, he fell under the philosophical influence of Godwin, the adversary of marriage.

Annette, who was vehemently Royalist in her sympathies, was during this time actively concerned with. the Chouans. M. Legouis's account of her energetic and fearless work in the cause is detailed and is of the greatest interest.

When they met again, ten years later, it is hardly to be wondered at that their youthful passion had cooled. Dorothy accompanied William on his visit to France, and they spent a month in constant company with Annette and her daughter Caroline. Both sides seem to have agreed that former rela- tions could not be resumed. They remained friends to the end, but each followed" a separate path and Wordsworth soon

'after married Mary Hutchinson. In. later life they corre- sponded only through the faithful Dorothy. In 1816 Caroline married and her first child had Wordsworth not only as grandfather but also as godfather and Dorothy for one of

her names. In 1823, when Wordsworth, Mary, Dorothy and Crabb Robinson were returning from a tour on the Continent, they stopped in Paris and lodged near Caroline and her young family and Annette, too, was there. That was the last meeting.

The book is interesting, not only for the fuller account it gives of the main features of the story, but also for the many small human details with which it abounds---for Annette's ;Effuse, impulsive, passionate letters to William and Dorothy, he little pink hat which she worked for her baby, or the

glimpse we have of her when separated for a short time (for the sake of propriety, apparently) from the child, who was at first sent to a nurse some distance away in the suburbs. " Her bitterest trial was on the day on which the child went out for the first time, for the woman who carried her passed before

the mother's house without stopping : That scene,' she writes to Dorothy, ' caused me a whole day of team. They are flowing even now.' "1.