© 1998 by Oxford University Press
Wordsworth as literary critic
Shakespear Birthplace Trust, Stratford-upon-Avon, UK
In the early nineteenth century George Philips, a Manchester cotton owner and aspiring politician, influenced by his friendship with Richard Sharp and, through him the Lakeland poets, turned his hand to composition and produced, amongst other works a poem entitled 'Epistle from Windermere to Rich Sharp Esq': a Romantic contrast between the joys and virtues of rural life and the licence and degradation of city squalor. Never published, this effort was clearly submitted to the scrutiny of others, for its survives in manuscript, annotated by William Wordsworth, Philips was never one of the inner circle at Grasmere but his contacts, wealth, and influence seem to have made him at least acceptable to the Wordsworths, and their close friends, and William was clearly willing to encourage Philips in his labours. The comments he made are constructive and his final remark encouraging: 'I like the Poem'.