162 WILLIAM BARTRAM 



defoliated Cypress tree" (p. 49), was transplanted into The 

 Prelude: 



the pelican 

 Upon the cypress spire in lonely thought (III, 442-43). 



Surely Wordsworth read the next paragraph and noted the 

 " marvellous scenes of primitive nature . . . unmodified by the 

 hand of man " and the water that " depicted." In his mind, Bar- 

 tram himself amid these surroundings leading " an unshackled 

 life " could not have been separable from these images. The 

 tribute to the sun at the end of the passage may have come from 

 Bartram's very next sentence: " The glorious sovereign of day, 

 clothed in light refulgent, rolling in his gilded chariot . . ." 

 (p. 49). 



All this, however, does not exclude the possibility of echoes 

 from other sources. The next six lines afford an illustration: 



So, westward, tow'rd the unviolated woods 



I bent my way; and, roaming far and wide, 



Failed not to greet the merry Mocking-bird; 



And, while the melancholy Muccawiss 



(The sportive bird's companion in the grove) 



Repeated, O'er and o'er, his plaintive cry (III, 944-49) . 



Professor Knight prints convincing evidence to prove that the 

 " merry mocking-bird " may have come out of Ashe and that 

 the " Muccawiss " is another name for the whip-poor-will and 

 almost definitely came out of Carver.^^ 



Nevertheless, having in mind this possibility of other sources 

 complicating our study, one is struck by another passage in The 

 Excursion which invites a reperusal of Bartram. 



Here closed the Sage that eloquent harangue. 

 Poured forth with fervour in continuous stream. 

 Such as, remote, 'mid savage wilderness. 

 An Indian Chief discharges from his breast 

 Into the hearing of assembled tribes. 

 In open circle seated round . . . (IV, 1275-80). 



^^ Poems, V, 141-142; 393-396. The books referred to are Travels in America 

 by Thomas Ashe, London, 1808, and Travels in North America by Jonathan 

 Carver, London, 1778. 



