be specially unnatural. But Wordsworth himself sanctioned the principle.
If there was a fitness in collecting all his sonnets in one volume in
the year 1838, out of deference to the wishes of his friends, in order
that these poems might be "brought under the eye at once"--thus removing
them from their original places, in his collected works--it seems
equally fitting now to rearrange them chronologically, as far as it is
possible to do so. It will be seen that it is not always possible.

Then, there is the case of two Poems following each other, in
Wordsworth's own arrangement, by natural affinity; such as the 'Epistle
to Sir George Beaumont', written in 1811, which in almost all existing
editions is followed by the Poem written in 1841, and entitled, 'Upon
perusing the foregoing Epistle thirty years after its composition'; or,
the dedication to 'The White Doe of Rylstone', written in April 1815,
while the Poem itself was written in 1807. To separate these Poems seems
unnatural; and, as it would be inadmissible to print the second of the
two twice over--once as a sequel to the first poem, and again in its
chronological place--adherence to the latter plan has its obvious
disadvantage in the case of these poems.

Mr. Aubrey de Vere is very desirous that I should arrange all the "Poems
dedicated to National Independence and Liberty" together in series, as
Wordsworth left them, "on the principle that, though the order of
publication should as a rule be the order of composition in poetry, all
rules require, as well as admit of, exceptions." As I have the greatest
respect for the judgment of such an authority as Mr. de Vere, I may
explain that I only venture to differ from him because there are
seventy-four Poems--including the sonnets and odes--in this series, and
because they cover a period ranging from 1802 to 1815. I am glad,
however, that many of these sonnets can be printed together, especially