The multitude of little rocky hills, Rocky or green, that do like islands rise From the flat meadow lonely there. 10 … Embowering mountains, and the dome of Heaven And waters in the midst, a Second Heaven. MICHAEL ANGELO IN REPLY TO THE PASSAGE UPON HIS STATUE OF NIGHT SLEEPING In the first volume of a copy of the edition of 1836,--long kept by Wordsworth at Rydal Mount, and afterwards the property of the late Lord Coleridge--which has been referred to in the Preface to Vol. 1., and very often in the footnotes to all the volumes, signed C.--Wordsworth wrote in MS. two translations of a fragment of Michael Angelo’s on Sleep, and a translation of some Latin verses by Thomas Warton on the same subject. These fragments were never included in any edition of his published works, and it is impossible to say to what year they belong. From their close relation to other translations from Michael Angelo, made by Wordsworth in 1806, I assign them, conjecturally, to the same year. The title is from Wordsworth’s own MS.--ED. I Grateful is Sleep, my life, in stone bound fast, More grateful still: while wrong and shame shall last, On me can Time no happier state bestow Than to be left unconscious of the woe. Ah then, lest you awaken me, speak low. 5 II Grateful is Sleep, more grateful still to be Of marble; for while shameless wrong and woe Prevail, ’tis best to neither hear nor see. Then wake me not, I pray you. Hush, speak low. “COME, GENTLE SLEEP, DEATH’S IMAGE THO’ THOU ART” Come, gentle Sleep, Death’s image tho’ thou art, Come share my couch, nor speedily depart; How sweet thus living without life to lie, Thus without death how sweet it is to die. The Latin verse by Thomas Warton, of which these lines are a translation, is as follows:-- Somne veni! quamvis placidissima Mortis imago es, Consortem cupio te tamen esse tori; Hue ades, haud abiture citò! nam sic sine vita Vivere quam suave est, sic sine morte mori! Thomas Warton, Fellow of Trinity College, Oxford, and Professor of Poetry in that University, is chiefly known by his _History of English Poetry_ (1774-1781).--ED. “BROOK, THAT HAST BEEN MY SOLACE DAYS AND WEEKS” The following version of the sonnet beginning “Brook! whose society the Poet seeks,” probably written in 1806 and first published in 1815 (see vol. iv. p. 52), has come to light since that volume was issued. The variants throughout are sufficient to warrant its publication here. Had I received it earlier they would have appeared in vol. iv.--ED.