Composed 1833.--Published 1835 Having been prevented by the lateness of the season, in 1831, from visiting Staffa and Iona, the author made these the principal objects of a short tour in the summer of 1833, of which the following series of poems is a Memorial. The course pursued was down the Cumberland river Derwent, and to Whitehaven; thence (by the Isle of Man, where a few days were passed) up the Frith of Clyde to Greenock, then to Oban, Staffa, Iona; and back towards England by Loch Awe, Inverary, Loch Goilhead, Greenock, and through parts of Renfrewshire, Ayrshire, and Dumfries-shire to Carlisle, and thence up the river Eden, and homewards by Ullswater.--W. W. [My companions were H. C. Robinson and my son John.--I. F.] FOOTNOTES: [791] 1845. The Title in the 1835 edition was Sonnets composed or suggested during a tour in Scotland, in the Summer of 1833. I ADIEU, RYDALIAN LAURELS! THAT HAVE GROWN Adieu, Rydalian Laurels! that have grown And spread as if ye knew that days might come When ye would shelter in a happy home, On this fair Mount, a Poet of your own, One who ne'er ventured for a Delphic crown 5 To sue the God; but, haunting your green shade[792] All seasons through, is humbly pleased to braid[793] Ground-flowers, beneath your guardianship, self-sown.[794] Farewell! no Minstrels now with harp new-strung For summer wandering quit their household bowers; Yet not for this wants Poesy a tongue 11 To cheer the Itinerant on whom she pours Her spirit, while he crosses lonely moors, Or musing sits forsaken halls among. FOOTNOTES: [792] 1835. One who to win your emblematic crown Aspires not, but frequenting your green shade MS. Who dares not sue the God for your bright crown Of deathless leaves, but haunting your green shade MS. [793] 1835. ... delights fresh wreaths to braid. MS. [794] The yellow flowering poppy and the wild geranium. Compare the poem _Poor Robin_, March 1840.--ED. II "WHY SHOULD THE ENTHUSIAST, JOURNEYING THROUGH THIS ISLE"