Much the greatest part of this poem was composed during my walks 
      upon the banks of the Loire in the years 1791, 1792. I will only 
      notice that the description of the valley filled with mist, 
      beginning--"In solemn shapes," was taken from that beautiful 
      region of which the principal features are Lungarn and Sarnen. 
      Nothing that I ever saw in nature left a more delightful 
      impression on my mind than that which I have attempted, alas! how 
      feebly, to convey to others in these lines. Those two lakes have 
      always interested me especially, from bearing, in their size and 
      other features, a resemblance to those of the North of England. It 
      is much to be deplored that a district so beautiful should be so 
      unhealthy as it is.
<BR><BR>
<h4>TO</h4>
<h4>THE REV. ROBERT JONES,</h4>
<h4>FELLOW OF ST. JOHN'S COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE.</h4>
<BR><BR>
<h4>DEAR SIR,</h4>

             However desirous I might have been of giving you proofs of 
      the high place you hold in my esteem, I should have been cautious 
      of wounding your delicacy by thus publicly addressing you, had not 
      the circumstance of our having been companions among the Alps, 
      seemed to give this dedication a propriety sufficient to do away 
      any scruples which your modesty might otherwise have suggested.
<BR><BR>
        In inscribing this little work to you, I consult my heart. You 
      know well how great is the difference between two companions 
      lolling in a post-chaise, and two travellers plodding slowly along 
      the road, side by side, each with his little knapsack of 
      necessaries upon his shoulders. How much more of heart between the 
      two latter!
<BR><BR>
      I am happy in being conscious that I shall have one reader who 
      will approach the conclusion of these few pages with regret. You 
      they must certainly interest, in reminding you of moments to which 
      you can hardly look back without a pleasure not the less dear from 
      a shade of melancholy. You will meet with few images without 
      recollecting the spot where we observed them together; 
      consequently, whatever is feeble in my design, or spiritless in my 
      colouring, will be amply supplied by your own memory.
<BR><BR>
      With still greater propriety I might have inscribed to you a 
      description of some of the features of your native mountains, 
      through which we have wandered together, in the same manner, with 
      so much pleasure. But the sea-sunsets, which give such splendour 
      to the vale of Clwyd, Snowdon, the chair of Idris, the quiet 
      village of Bethgelert, Menai and her Druids, the Alpine steeps of 
      the Conway, and the still more interesting windings of the wizard 
      stream of the Dee, remain yet untouched. Apprehensive that my 
      pencil may never be exercised on these subjects, I cannot let slip 
      this opportunity of thus publicly assuring you with how much 
      affection and esteem
<dl>
<dd>I am, dear Sir,
<dd>Most sincerely yours,
<dd>W. WORDSWORTH.
<dt>London, 1793.
</dl>
<BR><BR>
      Happiness (if she had been to be found on earth) among the charms of Nature--Pleasures of the pedestrian Traveller--Author crosses France to the Alps--Present state of the Grande Chartreuse--Lake of Como--Time, Sunset--Same Scene, Twilight---Same Scene, Morning; its voluptuous Character; Old man and forest-cottage music--River Tusa--Via Mala and Grison Gipsy--Sckellenen-thal--Lake of Uri--Stormy sunset--Chapel of William Tell--Force of local emotion--Chamois-chaser--View of the higher Alps--Manner of life of a Swiss mountaineer, interspersed with views of the higher Alps--Golden age of the Alps--Life and views continued--Ranz des Vaches, famous Swiss Air--Abbey of Einsiedlen and its pilgrims--Valley of Chamouny--Mont Blanc--Slavery of Savoy--Influence of liberty on cottage-happiness--France--Wish for the Extirpation of slavery--Conclusion.