edition of "Lyrical Ballads" appeared in 1802; and during that year he
wrote forty-three new poems, many of them amongst the most perfect of
his Lyrics. His critical instinct had become much more delicate since
1800: and it is not surprising to find--as we do find--that between the
text of the "Lyrical Ballads" of 1800, and that of 1802, there are many
important variations. This is seen, for example, in the way in which he
dealt with 'The Female Vagrant', which is altered throughout. Its early
redundance is pruned away; and, in many instances, the final text,
sanctioned in 1845, had been adopted in 1803. Without going into further
detail, it is sufficient to remark that in the year 1803 Wordsworth's
critical faculty, the faculty of censorship, had developed almost step
for step with the creative originality of his genius. In that prolific
year, when week by week, almost day by day, fresh poems were thrown off
with marvellous facility--as we see from his sister's Journal--he had
become a severe, if not a fastidious, critic of his own earlier work. A
further explanation of the absence of critical revision, in the edition
of 1800, may be found in the fact that during that year Wordsworth was
engaged in writing the "Preface" to his Poems; which dealt, in so
remarkable a manner, with the nature of Poetry in general, and with his
own theory of it in particular.

A further reference to the 'Evening Walk' will illustrate Wordsworth's
way of dealing with his earlier text in his later editions. This Poem
showed from the first a minute observation of Nature--not only in her
external form and colour, but also in her suggestiveness--though not in
her symbolism; and we also find the same transition from Nature to Man,
the same interest in rural life, and the same lingering over its
incidents that we see in his maturer poems. Nevertheless, there is much
that is conventional in the first edition of 'An Evening Walk',
published in 1793. I need only mention, as a sample, the use of the