And solemn harmony pervades
The hollow vale from steep to steep,
And penetrates the glades.
Far-distant images draw nigh, 25
Called forth by wondrous potency
Of beamy radiance, that imbues
Whate'er it strikes, with gem-like hues!
In vision exquisitely clear,
Herds range[334] along the mountain side; 30
And glistening antlers are descried;[DE]
And gilded flocks appear.
Thine is the tranquil hour, purpureal Eve!
But long as god-like wish, or hope divine,
Informs my spirit, ne'er can I believe 35
That this magnificence is wholly thine!
--From worlds not quickened[335] by the sun[DF]
A portion of the gift is won;
An intermingling of Heaven's pomp is spread
On ground which British shepherds tread! 40
III
And, if there be whom broken ties[336]
Afflict, or injuries assail,
Yon hazy ridges to their eyes
Present a glorious scale,[DG]
Climbing suffused with sunny air, 45
To stop--no record hath told where!
And tempting Fancy to ascend,
And with immortal Spirits blend![337]
--Wings at my shoulders[338] seem to play;[DH]
But, rooted here, I stand and gaze 50
On those bright steps that heaven-ward raise[339]
Their practicable way.
Come forth, ye drooping[340] old men, look abroad,
And see to what fair countries ye are bound!
And if some traveller, weary of his road, 55
Hath slept since noontide on the grassy ground,
Ye Genii! to his covert speed;[341]
And wake him with such gentle heed[342]
As may attune his soul to meet the dower
Bestowed on this transcendent hour! 60
IV
Such hues from their celestial Urn
Were wont to stream before mine eye,[343]
Where'er it[344] wandered in the morn
Of blissful infancy.[DI]
This glimpse of glory, why renewed? 65
Nay, rather speak with[345] gratitude;
For, if a vestige of those gleams
Survived, 'twas only in my dreams.
Dread Power! whom peace and calmness serve
No less than Nature's threatening voice,[346] 70
If aught unworthy be my choice,
From THEE if I would swerve;
Oh, let thy grace remind me of the light
Full early lost, and fruitlessly deplored;
Which, at this moment, on my waking sight 75
Appears to shine, by miracle restored;
My soul, though yet confined to earth,
Rejoices in a second birth!
--'Tis past, the visionary splendour fades;
And night approaches with her shades. 80
VARIANTS:
[Footnote 326: 1827.
... with suppliant knee; 1820.
]
[Footnote 327: 1827.
But faith, and hope, and extacy! 1820.
]
[Footnote 328: 1820.
And solemnize ... MS.
]
[Footnote 329: 1820.
... rang
Of harp and voice while angels sang
Amid the umbrageous grove, MS.
]
[Footnote 330: 1832.
Or, ranged like stars along some sovereign height, MS. and 1820.
]
[Footnote 331: 1820.
... both.--Ye sons of Light
If such communion were repeated now
Nor harp nor seraph's voice could move MS.
]
[Footnote 332: 1820.
... holier ... MS.
]
[Footnote 333: 1820.
What though no sound be heard--a deep MS.
]
[Footnote 334: 1820.
Herds graze ... MS.
]
[Footnote 335: 1820.
From worlds unquicken'd ... MS.
]
[Footnote 336: 1820.
And if they wish for smooth escape, etc. MS.
]
[Footnote 337: 1820.
Yon hazy ridges take the shape
Of stars, a glorious scale
{Climbing }
{That climb} suffused with sunny air
To stop, no record hath told where,
Tempting my fancy to ascend
And with immortal spirits blend. MS.
And if they wish for smooth escape
From grief and this terrestrial vale,
Yon rocks and clouds present the shape
Of stairs, a gradual scale
By which the fancy might ascend,
And with those happy spirits blend,
Whose motions ...
By night the dreaming Patriarch saw. MS.
And if those whom broken ties
Afflict, or injuries assail,
Yon hazy ridges to their eyes
Present a {climbing} scale,
{glorious}
Suffused in misty sunny air.
It climbs no records have told where.
It {sailed} on ether's glowing waves,
{stole }
And occupied heaven's shining caves,
Tempting the fancy to ascend
And with immortal spirits blend. MS.
]
[Footnote 338: 1837.
--Wings at my shoulder ... 1820.
]
[Footnote 339: 1820.
... upward raise MS.
]
[Footnote 340: 1820.
Come from your Doors, ye ... MS.
]
[Footnote 341: 1820.
... couch repair MS.
]
[Footnote 342: 1820.
... care MS.
]
[Footnote 343: 1837.
... my eye, 1820.
]
[Footnote 344: 1820.
Whence but from some celestial urn
{spread before}
These colours--{wont to meet } my eye MS.
Where'er I ...
]
[Footnote 345: 1820.
... in ... MS.
]
[Footnote 346: 1820.
Dread Power! whom clouds and darkness serve,
The thunder, or the still small voice, MS.
]
FOOTNOTES:
[Footnote DD: The title, in the first edition of 1820, was "Ode,
composed upon an evening of extraordinary splendor and beauty." In the
four-volume edition of that year it was "Evening Ode, composed upon an
evening of extraordinary Splendor and Beauty." In a MS. copy I have
found the following, "Composed during a sunset of transcendent Beauty,
in the summer of 1817."--ED.]
[Footnote DE: There used to be fallow deer in the park at Rydal Hall.
Compare _The Triad_ (where the local allusions all refer to the Rydal
district)--
Pass onward (even the glancing deer
Till we depart intrude not here;)
and _The Excursion_, book ix. l. 563 (vol. v. p. 373).--ED.]
[Footnote DF: Compare Gray's _Progress of Poesy_, ll. 119, 120--
Such forms, as glitter in the Muse's ray,
With orient hues, unborrow'd of the Sun.
ED.
]
[Footnote DG: The multiplication of mountain-ridges, described at the
commencement of the third Stanza of this Ode, as a kind of Jacob's
Ladder, leading to Heaven, is produced either by watery vapours, or
sunny haze;--in the present instance by the latter cause. Allusions to
the Ode, entitled _Intimations of Immortality_, pervade the last Stanza
of the foregoing Poem.--W. W. 1820.
The "hazy ridges" referred to in the text are probably those to the
west, behind Silver How.--ED.]
[Footnote DH: In the lines "Wings at my shoulders seem to play," etc., I
am under obligation to the exquisite picture by Mr. Alstone, now in
America. It is pleasant to make this public acknowledgment to men of
genius, whom I have the honour to rank among my friends.--W. W. 1820.
The phrase "men of genius" includes Haydon. The first part of this note
of 1820, being one on _Peter Bell_, referring to Haydon's Bible picture
of Christ's Entry into Jerusalem. (See note to _Peter Bell_, l. 979.)
The American painter was Mr. Washington Allston. Wordsworth sent him a
MS. copy of the poem, transcribed "in gratitude for the pleasure he had
received from the sight of Mr. Allston's pictures, in particular
'Jacob's Dream,'" and at the end of the MS. of his poem, Wordsworth
wrote, "The Author does not know how far he was indebted to Mr. Allston
for part of the 3rd stanza. The multiplication of ridges in a
mountainous country, as Mr. A. has probably observed, arises from two
causes, sunny or watery vapour--the former is here meant. When does Mr.
A. return to England?" In a letter on "Wordsworth and Allston," in _The
Athenæum_, Mr. J. Dykes Campbell refers to "something in the picture
having given definite form to observations of natural phenomena the
significance of which the poet had not immediately noted." "Wordsworth,"
he adds, "was a close and untiring rather than a quick or keen observer,
and his mind was at all times stored with a wealth of notes which
sometimes had to wait long before they could either be worked out or
worked in. Sometimes--as in this instance, perhaps--they were revivified
by the suggestions of some kindred observer who happened to anticipate
the poet in giving them form."--See _The Athenæum_, August 7,
1894.--ED.]
[Footnote DI: Compare the reference in the _Ode, Intimations of
Immortality_, ll. 178, 179, to--
Though nothing can bring back the hour
Of splendour in the grass, of glory in the flower.
ED.
]
1819
With the exception of _The Haunted Tree_, and the lines entitled
_September 1819_, all the poems composed during the year 1819 were
sonnets. Four of the latter were published along with _Peter Bell_, in
the first edition of that poem; and other twelve, along with _The
Waggoner_, which was first published in the same year. One of the twelve
refers to the Old Hall of Donnerdale, and belongs to the series of
_Sonnets on the River Duddon_, where it will be found (No. XXVII.) It
was first published, along with those referring to Rydal, in the volume
of 1819, and probably detached from the rest of the series, because
originally it had no particular reference to the Old Hall in the Duddon
Valley; but was (as Wordsworth indicates in the third of the Fenwick
notes to the Duddon) "taken from a tradition belonging to Rydal Hall,
which once stood, as is believed, upon a rocky and woody hill on the
right hand as you go from Rydal to Ambleside, and was deserted from the
superstitious fear here described, and the present site fortunately
chosen instead."--ED.
THIS, AND THE TWO FOLLOWING, WERE SUGGESTED[347] BY MR. W. WESTALL'S
VIEWS OF THE CAVES,[DJ] ETC., IN YORKSHIRE
This, and the two following sonnets, were first published in
_Blackwood's Magazine_, vol. iv., January 1819, p. 471. They were
reprinted in _The Poetical Album_, edited by Alaric Watts, in 1829
(Second Series, vol. i. pp. 332, 333) under the title,
"The Caves of Yorkshire." The same volume of the _Album_ contains (p.
43) the sonnet beginning--
Not Love, not War, nor the tumultuous swell.
In the 1819 edition of _Peter Bell_, p. 84, a note, prefatory to the
four following sonnets, occurs to this effect: "The following Sonnets
having lately appeared in Periodical Publications are here
reprinted."--ED.
Composed 1819.--Published 1819
One of the "Miscellaneous Sonnets."--ED.
Pure element of waters! wheresoe'er
Thou dost forsake thy subterranean haunts,
Green herbs, bright flowers, and berry-bearing plants,
Rise[348] into life and in thy train appear:
And, through the sunny portion of the year, 5
Swift insects shine, thy hovering pursuivants:
And, if thy bounty fail, the forest pants;
And hart and hind and hunter with his spear,
Languish and droop together. Nor unfelt
In man's perturbèd soul thy sway benign; 10
And, haply, far within the marble belt
Of central earth, where tortured Spirits pine
For grace and goodness lost, thy murmurs melt
Their anguish,--and they blend sweet songs with thine.[DK]
VARIANTS:
[Footnote 347: 1820.
Sonnets, suggested ... 1819.
]
FOOTNOTES:
[Footnote DJ: Wordsworth visited these caves with Edward Quillinan in
1821.--ED.]
MALHAM COVE
Composed 1819.--Published 1819
One of the "Miscellaneous Sonnets."--ED.
Was the aim frustrated by force or guile,
When giants scooped from out the rocky ground,
Tier under tier, this semicirque profound?
(Giants--the same who built in Erin's isle
That Causeway with incomparable toil!)-- 5
O, had this vast theatric structure wound[349][DL]
With finished sweep into a perfect round,
No mightier work had gained the plausive smile
Of all-beholding Phoebus! But, alas,
Vain earth! false world! Foundations must be laid 10
In Heaven; for, 'mid the wreck of IS and WAS,
Things incomplete and purposes betrayed
Make sadder transits o'er thought's optic glass[350]
Than noblest objects utterly decayed.[DM]
Malham Cove is a noble amphitheatre of perpendicular limestone rock,
lying in regular strata, the height being 300 feet in the centre. The
Aire issues from the rock at the base of the cliff, a considerable
stream. Possibly Westall's picture of Malham Cove suggested to
Wordsworth the Giant's Causeway in Ireland, and its legend. They have
the same columnar appearance; although the former is limestone, and the
latter basalt.--ED.
VARIANTS:
[Footnote 348: 1820.
Start ...
_Blackwood's Magazine_, January 1819.
]
FOOTNOTES:
[Footnote DK: Waters (as Mr. Westall informs us in the letterpress
prefixed to his admirable views) are invariably found to flow through
these caverns.--W. W. 1819.]
GORDALE
Composed 1819.--Published 1819
One of the "Miscellaneous Sonnets."--ED.
At early dawn, or rather when the air[351]
Glimmers with fading light, and shadowy Eve
Is busiest to confer and to bereave;
Then, pensive Votary! let thy feet repair[352]
To Gordale-chasm, terrific as the lair 5
Where the young lions couch; for so,[353] by leave
Of the propitious hour, thou may'st perceive
The local Deity, with oozy hair
And mineral crown, beside his jagged urn, 9
Recumbent: Him thou may'st behold, who hides
His lineaments by day,[354] yet[355] there presides,
Teaching the docile waters how to turn,
Or (if need be) impediment to spurn,
And force their passage to[356] the salt-sea tides!
There are many legendary stories connected with the Yorkshire caves,
particularly in the Giggleswick district; but I have been unable to
trace any legend about the "local Deity" of Gordale. There is nothing in
the letterpress of Westall's views, or in the "addenda" to West's _Guide
to the Lakes in Cumberland_, about these legends. The chasm is a very
remarkable cleft in the limestone rock, near Malham. Gray's description
of Gordale, in his _Journal_ (1796), may be referred to.--ED.
VARIANTS:
[Footnote 349: 1820.
Oh! had the Crescent stretched its horns, and wound
_Blackwood's Magazine_, January 1819.
]
[Footnote 350: 1837.
... o'er truth's mystic glass, 1819.
]
[Footnote 351: 1819.
... or when the warmer air,
_Blackwood's Magazine_, January 1819.
]
[Footnote 352: 1819.
At either moment let thy feet repair
_Blackwood's Magazine_, January 1819.
]
[Footnote 353: 1819.
... for then ...
_Blackwood's Magazine_, January 1819.
]
[Footnote 354: 1819.
... from day, ...
_Blackwood's Magazine_, January 1819.
]
[Footnote 355: 1827.
... and ... 1819.
]
[Footnote 356: 1819.
... toward ...
_Blackwood's Magazine_, January 1819.
]
FOOTNOTES:
[Footnote DL: Compare the Fenwick note to _The Excursion_.--ED.]
[Footnote DM: Compare the Fenwick note to _The Excursion_.--ED.]
COMPOSED DURING A STORM[357]
Composed 1819.--Published 1819
[Written in Rydal Woods, by the side of a torrent.--I. F.]
One of the "Miscellaneous Sonnets."--ED.
One who was suffering tumult in his soul
Yet failed to seek the sure relief of prayer,
Went forth--his course surrendering to the care
Of the fierce wind, while mid-day lightnings prowl
Insidiously, untimely thunders growl; 5
While trees, dim-seen, in frenzied numbers, tear
The lingering remnant of their yellow hair,
And shivering wolves, surprised with darkness, howl
As if the sun were not. He raised his eye
Soul-smitten; for, that instant, did appear[358] 10
Large space ('mid dreadful clouds) of purest sky,
An azure disc[359]--shield of Tranquillity;
Invisible, unlooked-for, minister
Of providential goodness ever nigh!
VARIANTS:
[Footnote 357: 1827.
Composed during one of the most awful of
the late storms, February 1819. 1819.
Composed during a severe storm. 1820.
]
"AERIAL ROCK--WHOSE SOLITARY BROW"
Composed 1819.--Published 1819
[A projecting point of Loughrigg, nearly in front of Rydal Mount. Thence
looking at it, you are struck with the boldness of its aspect; but
walking under it, you admire the beauty of its details. It is vulgarly
called Holme-scar, probably from the insulated pasture by the waterside
below it.--I. F.]
One of the "Miscellaneous Sonnets."--ED.
Aerial Rock--whose solitary brow
From this low threshold daily meets my sight;
When I step[360] forth to hail the morning light;
Or quit the stars with a lingering farewell--how[361]
Shall Fancy pay to thee a grateful vow? 5
How, with the Muse's aid, her love attest?
--By planting on thy naked head the crest[362]
Of an imperial Castle, which the plough
Of ruin shall not touch. Innocent scheme!
That doth presume no more than to supply 10
A grace the sinuous vale and roaring stream
Want, through neglect of hoar Antiquity.
Rise, then, ye votive Towers! and catch a gleam
Of golden sunset, ere it fade and die.
Compare the sonnet No. XXVII. of the Duddon Series, beginning "Fallen,
and diffused into a shapeless heap," as it was evidently written with
reference to the old (traditional) Hall of Rydal. If an
... embattled House, whose massy Keep
Flung from yon cliff a shadow large and cold,
stood in "the sinuous vale" of Rydal, there was no "neglect of hoar
Antiquity."--ED.
VARIANTS:
[Footnote 358: 1827.
As if the sun were not;--he lifted high
His head--and in a moment did appear 1819.
]
[Footnote 359: 1840.
... orb ... 1819.
]
[Footnote 360: 1827.
... look ... 1819.
]
[Footnote 361: 1837.
... with lingering farewell--how 1819.
]
[Footnote 362: 1827.
Shall I discharge to thee a grateful vow?--
By planting on thy head (in verse, at least,
As I have often done in thought) the crest 1819.
]
THE WILD DUCK'S NEST
Composed 1819.--Published 1819
[I observed this beautiful nest on the largest island of Rydal
Water.--I. F.]
One of the "Miscellaneous Sonnets."--ED.
The imperial[363] Consort of the Fairy-king
Owns not a sylvan bower; or gorgeous cell[364]
With emerald floored, and with purpureal shell
Ceilinged and roofed; that is so fair a thing[365]
As this low structure, for the tasks of Spring, 5
Prepared by one who loves the buoyant swell
Of the brisk waves, yet here consents to dwell;
And spreads[366] in steadfast peace her brooding wing.
Words cannot paint the o'ershadowing yew-tree bough,
And dimly-gleaming Nest,--a hollow crown 10
Of golden leaves inlaid with silver down,
Fine as the mother's softest plumes allow:[367]
I gazed--and, self-accused while gazing, sighed
For human-kind, weak slaves of cumbrous pride![368]
VARIANTS:
[Footnote 363: 1819.
Imperial ... MS.
]
[Footnote 364: 1819.
Thy favourite home (albeit a bright cell MS.
]
[Footnote 365: 1819.
... is not so fair a thing MS.
]
[Footnote 366: 1819.
And spread ... MS.
]
[Footnote 367: 1819.
The Nest a hollow diadem composed
Of russet leaves and down where lie enclosed
The tenderest cares that earthly laws allow: MS.
]
[Footnote 368: 1837.
I gaze--and almost wish to lay aside
Humanity, weak slave of cumbrous pride! MS. and 1819.
]
WRITTEN UPON A BLANK LEAF IN "THE COMPLETE ANGLER"
Composed 1819.--Published 1819
One of the "Miscellaneous Sonnets."--ED.
While flowing rivers yield a blameless sport,
Shall live the name of Walton: Sage benign!
Whose pen, the mysteries of the rod and line
Unfolding, did not fruitlessly exhort
To reverend watching of each still report 5
That Nature utters from her rural shrine.
Meek, nobly versed in simple discipline--
He found the longest summer day too short,
To his[369] loved pastime given by sedgy Lee,
Or down the tempting maze of Shawford brook-- 10
Fairer than life itself, in this[370] sweet Book,
The cowslip-bank[371] and shady willow-tree;
And the fresh meads--where flowed, from every nook
Of his[372] full bosom, gladsome Piety!
VARIANTS:
[Footnote 369: 1827.
O nobly versed in simple discipline,
Meek, thankful soul, the vernal day how short
To thy ... 1819.
O, nobly versed in simple discipline--
Who found'st the longest summer day too short,
To thy ... 1837.
1845 returns to 1827.
]
[Footnote 370: 1827.
... thy ... 1819.
]
[Footnote 371: 1819.
Are cowslip-bank ... 1837.
1845 returns to 1819.
]
[Footnote 372: 1827.
Of thy ... 1819.
1837 returns to 1819.
1845 returns to 1827.
]
CAPTIVITY--MARY QUEEN OF SCOTS[373]
Composed 1819.--Published 1819
One of the "Miscellaneous Sonnets."--ED.
"As the cold aspect of a sunless way
Strikes through the Traveller's frame with deadlier chill,
Oft as appears a grove, or obvious hill,
Glistening with unparticipated ray,
Or shining slope where he must never stray; 5
So joys, remembered without wish or will,
Sharpen the keenest edge of present ill,--
On the crushed heart a heavier burthen lay.
Just Heaven, contract the compass of my mind
To fit proportion with my altered state! 10
Quench those felicities whose light I find
Reflected in[374] my bosom all too late!--
O be my spirit, like my thraldom, strait;
And, like mine eyes that stream with sorrow, blind!"
Compare the _Lament of Mary Queen of Scots_, p. 162.
Why this sonnet was printed, from 1819 (in which year it appeared in
_The Waggoner, a Poem, to which are added Sonnets_,) to the last edition
of 1849, within inverted commas, I have never been able to
discover.--ED.
TO A SNOW-DROP[375]
Composed 1819.--Published 1819
One of the "Miscellaneous Sonnets."--ED.
Lone Flower, hemmed in with snows and white as they
But hardier far, once more I see thee bend
Thy forehead, as if fearful to offend,
Like an unbidden guest. Though day by day,[376]
Storms, sallying from the mountain-tops, way-lay 5
The rising sun, and on the plains descend;
Yet art thou welcome, welcome as a friend[377]
Whose zeal outruns his promise! Blue-eyed May
Shall soon behold this border thickly set
With bright jonquils, their odours lavishing 10
On the soft west-wind and his frolic peers;
Nor will I then thy modest grace forget,[378]
Chaste Snow-drop, venturous harbinger of Spring,
And pensive monitor of fleeting years!
VARIANTS:
[Footnote 373: 1837.
CAPTIVITY. 1819.
]
[Footnote 374: 1827.
Burning within ... 1819.
]
[Footnote 375: 1827.
To a snow-drop, appearing very early in the season. 1819.
]
"WHEN HAUGHTY EXPECTATIONS PROSTRATE LIE"
Composed 1819.--Published 1820
One of the "Miscellaneous Sonnets."--ED.
When haughty expectations prostrate lie,[DN]
And grandeur crouches like a guilty thing,
Oft shall the lowly weak, till nature bring
Mature release, in fair society
Survive, and Fortune's utmost anger try; 5
Like these frail snow-drops that together cling,
And nod their helmets, smitten by the wing
Of many a furious whirl-blast sweeping by.
Observe the faithful flowers![DO] if small to great
May lead the thoughts, thus struggling used to stand
The Emathian phalanx,[DP] nobly obstinate; 11
And so the bright immortal Theban band,[DQ]
Whom onset, fiercely urged at Jove's command,
Might overwhelm, but could not separate!
VARIANTS:
[Footnote 376: 1827.
But hardier far, though modestly thou bend
Thy front--as if _such_ presence could offend!
Who guards thy slender stalk while, day by day, 1819.
]
[Footnote 377: 1827.
Accept the greeting that befits a friend 1819.
]
[Footnote 378: 1827.
Yet will I not thy gentle grace forget, 1819.
]
FOOTNOTES:
[Footnote DN: In the edition of 1820 this sonnet was entitled,
_On seeing a tuft of Snow-drops in a Storm;_
and, in the edition of 1827, the title was,
_Composed a few days after the foregoing;_
the "foregoing" sonnet being that addressed _To a Snow-drop_.--ED.]
TO THE RIVER DERWENT
Composed 1819.--Published 1819
This sonnet was first published along with _The Waggoner_. In the
editions from 1820 to 1832 it was placed among the "Miscellaneous
Sonnets." In 1835 it was included in the series of "Poems, composed or
suggested during a tour, in the summer of 1833."--ED.
Among the mountains were we nursed, loved Stream!
Thou near the eagle's nest--within brief sail,
I, of his bold wing floating on the gale,
Where thy deep voice could lull me! Faint the beam
Of human life when first allowed to gleam 5
On mortal notice.--Glory of the vale,
Such thy meek outset, with a crown, though frail,
Kept in perpetual verdure by the steam
Of thy soft breath!--Less vivid wreath[379] entwined
Nemæan victor's brow; less bright was worn, 10
Meed of some Roman chief--in triumph borne
With captives chained; and shedding from his car
The sunset splendours of a finished war
Upon the proud enslavers of mankind!
The Derwent has its source on the slopes of Glaramara; and an _Eagle
Crag_ rises above one of its affluents (the Langstrath beck, separating
the Langstrath from the Greenup Valley). Doubtless there were eagles
there in the last century when Wordsworth was born, and they would soar
over Skiddaw and the Grasmere group of mountains towards Cockermouth,
his birth-place.--ED.
VARIANTS:
[Footnote 379: 1827.
... wreaths ... 1819.
]
FOOTNOTES:
[Footnote DO: Compare in _The Primrose of the Rock_--
The flowers, still faithful to the stems,
Their fellowship renew;
The stems are faithful to the root,
That worketh out of view;
And to the rock the root adheres
In every fibre true.
ED.
]
[Footnote DP: Macedonian; the district of Emathia being the original
seat of the Macedonian monarchy.--ED.]