"I should detest," wrote Dorothy Wordsworth, "the idea of setting myself up as an author." Protesting to Lady Beaumont she explained "I have not the powers which Coleridge thinks I have--I know it." Despite her self-deprecatory words, however, the reader of Dorothy Wordsworth's letters will discover a skill with language and a power of description that rivals even the poetry of her more famous brother.
In this selection, Alan G. Hill offers seventy complete letters that together provide a fascinating portrait of the writer and her surroundings. Spontaneous, intimate, and lively, they constitute a life of Dorothy Wordsworth in her own words, following her from youth to the onset of her last tragic illness. In between, we meet a remarkable group of people, for no other observer was so close to Wordsworth, Coleridge, and their circle, shared so completely their feelings and aims, and had such an eye for the landscape that inspired them. To have brought them so vividly before our eyes is surely one of Dorothy Wordsworth's greatest and most enduring achievements.

The letters of William Wordsworth provide a unique and vivid portrait of the personality and concerns of the poet, one which belies his reputation as a romantic dreamer obsessed with his own genius. This new selection presents 162 complete letters--eight of which have never before been published--drawn from the new and enlarged edition of The letters of William and Dorothy Wordsworth. The subject matter of the letters, and the correspondents themselves, are as varied as the poet's own interests and preoccupations: topics range from literature, art, religion, and politics, to the changing landscape of the Lakes, walks in the countryside, family affairs, and the troubles and triumphs of friends and neighbors--literary figures such as Coleridge and De Quincy as well as people from many different walks of life whose names would otherwise be unknown to us but whom the poet favored with an equally deep and loyal friendship.

This volume prints more than 150 letters, most of them previously unpublished, which appeared too late for inclusion in the second edition of The Letters of William and Dorothy Wordsworth (1967-88): they are indispensable for understanding the poet and the inner dynamics of the Wordsworth circle. Of outstanding interest are the unexpectedly tender and fervent letters which Wordsworth wrote to his wife Mary during brief periods of separation in 1810 and 1812: others provide fresh evidence about his contacts with Annette Vallon and his `French' daughter Caroline long after his withdrawal from revolutionary politics in France, and indeed up to the end of his life. Further letters illustrate the poet's literary and personal relations with Coleridge, Hazlitt, De Quincey, and Charles Lamb; his changing political and social views; his life in the Lake District and London; and, above all, his lifelong commitment to poetry and the principles that guided his imaginative life. These letters, varied in tone and subject-matter, will do much to dispel the ideal that he was invariably a reluctant or reserved correspondent. Dorothy Wordsworth, by contrast, fills out all the details of domestic life which her brother thought it unnecessary to dwell on, and her letters add their own characteristic touches to the picture of the Wordsworth circle - until the final breakdown of her health.

The developing countries are recelvmg generous Government Offices, and commercial organizations attention from experts, officials and academics drawn deserve our sincere thanks for their attention to our from a wide spectrum of specialist interests. Some of this many enquiries. In particular, we would like to thank effort is directed towards a solution of several of the the officials of the Planning Board and the Central world's most pressing problems, including ill-health, Statistical Office, Kuwait Municipality, University of under-nourishment, and rapid population growth, but Kuwait, and the Kuwait Oil Company. The following other workers are more concerned with the less immedi- individuals deserve our special thanks: Mr. Ahmad al- ate but nonetheless very significant theoretical aspects Duaij, Mr. Fouad al Hussaini, Mr. Hamid Shwaib, Mr. of the developing countries. This book is an attempt to Abdulaziz aI-Hamdan, Mr. Fouad Haddad, Mr. Ahmad bridge the gap between these two approaches. al-Haj, Mr. Marwan 'Adra', Mr. Muhammad Sukhon, At this present juncture in time we are faced with Professor Abdul Fattah Ismail, Professor Dawlat Sadiq, the realization that the experience of Europe or North Professor Muhammad Mutwalli, Dr. Muhammad Shar- nubi, His Excellency Ibrahim Shatti, Dr. Noel Brehony, America may be of limited assistance in the interpretation Professor W. B. Fisher, Dr. John Brebner, Dr. Alan of current trends in the developing world. Not only is Horan, Mrs.