Wordsworth and de Quincey in Westmorland Politics, 1818: Addendum

Extract

In a recent article, Wordsworth and De Quincey in Westmorland Politics, 1818, Professor John Edwin Wells has ably presented with his usual thoroughness an important chapter in the political campaign of 1818 in which Wordsworth and De-Quincey played an important role. On p. 1084 Professor Wells remarks: “Hitherto only the pamphlet Two Addresses to the Freeholders of Westmorland, with his own mention of newspaper publication of parts of it, and two letters to the Chronicle, have been securely assigned to him” [Wordsworth]. Some years ago Mr. Thomas J. Wise in his Ashley Library showed me a speech published as a pamphlet which he was convinced was also written by Wordsworth. I was able to give it only a hurried examination at the time without reaching any conclusion, and so far as I know the authorship has never been discussed.