I am grateful to the staff, officials and Trustees of the Wordsworth Trust, Grasmere, where were inordinately patient with my questions and requests, and who went on to provide endless information and advice. They cannot be held responsible for my interpreations, but they readily made their scholarship available. I was especially grateful to the late Jonathan Wordsworth of St Catherine’s College, Oxford (Chairman of the Wordsworth Trust) for his help, and his good humour throughout the project; to the late Dr Peter Laver, Resident Librarian at the Wordsworth Library, Grasmere, for compiling my original reading list; and perhaps most of all to the late Dr Robert Woof, Director of the Wordsworth Trust for reading and commenting upon my final manuscript, a task well beyond the call of his many duties. Thanks also for help on the present edition to Jeff Cowton, Curator of the Wordsworth Trust.
I would also like to thank the Earl of Lonsdale for his help with the Lowther family records; Beth Darlington of Vassar College, New York, for her guidance on the newly discovered Wordsworth letters; the Librarian of St John’s College, Cambridge; the late Mary Henderson of Rydal Mount, and the Curator; the staff at Wordsworth House, Cockermouth, and the National Trust.