Note 702 — 1831
Reading edition
This Sonnet ought to have followed No. vii. in the series of 1831, but was omitted by mistake.—W. W. 1835.
As the above note indicates Wordsworth's own wish as to where this sonnet should be placed, and approximately gives the date of composition, it is placed as No. VIII. in the sonnets of 1831. In later editions, Wordsworth placed it as the first in the series of "Sonnets dedicated to Liberty and Order." The original title was Sonnet, composed after reading a Newspaper of the Day.—Ed.