rocks.7 A cloudy day.
$ $ #
3. A tavern halfway between Holford and Nether a hill. Stowey. 6. Cf. Coleridge's The Rime of the Ancient Mari4. Cf. Wordsworth's Tlte Ruined Cottage, lines ner, line 184 (p. 435). 330-36 (p. 287). 7. Cf. the description of the dell in Coleridge's 5. Hodder's Coombe in the Quantock Hills, near 'This Lime-Tree Bower My Prison,' lines 13?20 Alfoxden. A combe is a deep valley on the flank of (p. 428).
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392 / DOROTHY WORDSWORTH
Mar. 7. William and I drank tea at Coleridge's. A cloudy sky. Observed nothing particularly interesting?the distant prospect obscured. One only leaf upon the top of a tree?the sole remaining leaf?danced round and round like a rag blown by the wind.8
Mar. 8. Walked in the Park in the morning. I sate under the fir trees. Cole- ridge came after dinner, so we did not walk again. A foggy morning, but a clear sunny day.
Mar. 9. A clear sunny morning, went to meet Mr and Mrs Coleridge. The day very warm.
Mar. 10. Coleridge, Wm, and I walked in the evening to the top of the hill. We all passed the morning in sauntering about the park and gardens, the children playing about, the old man at the top of the hill gathering furze; interesting groups of human creatures, the young frisking and dancing in the sun, the elder quietly drinking in the life and soul of the sun and air.
Mar. 11. A cold day. The children went down towards the sea. William and I walked to the top of the hills above Holford. Met the blacksmith. Pleasant to see the labourer on Sunday jump with the friskiness of a cow upon a sunny day.
>* $ $
1798 1897
From The Grasmere Journals
1800
May 14 1800 [Wednesday]. Wm & John set off into Yorkshire1 after dinner at '/2 past 2 o'clock?cold pork in their pockets. I left them at the turning of the Low-wood bay under the trees. My heart was so full that I could hardly speak to W when I gave him a farewell kiss. I sate a long time upon a stone at the margin of the lake, & after a flood of tears my heart was easier. The lake looked to me I knew not why dull and melancholy, and the weltering on the shores seemed a heavy sound. [ walked as long as I could amongst the stones of the shore. The wood rich in flowers. A beautiful yellow, palish yellow flower, that looked thick round & double, & smelt very sweet?I supposed it was a ranunculus?Crowfoot, the grassy-leaved Rabbit-toothed white flower, strawberries, geranium?scentless violet, anemones two kinds, orchises, primroses. The heckberry very beautiful, the crab coming out as a low shrub. Met a blind man, driving a very large beautiful Bull & a cow?he walked with two sticks. Came home by Clappersgate. The valley very green, many sweet views up to Rydale head when I could juggle away the fine houses, but they disturbed me even more than when I have been happier?one beautiful view of the Bridge, without Sir Michael's.2 Sate down very often, tho' it was cold. I resolved to write a journal of the time till W & J return, & I set about keeping my resolve because I will not quarrel with myself, & because I shall give Wm Pleasure by it when he comes home again. At Rydale a woman of the village,
8. Cf. Christabel, lines 49ff. (p. 451). to marry two and a half years later. 1. William and his younger brother John, on the 2. Sir Michael le Fleming's estate, Rydal Hall. way to visit Mary Hutchinson, whom William was 'Without': outside or beyond.
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THE GRASMERE JOURNALS / 393
stout & well-dressed, begged a halfpenny?she had never she said done it before?but these hard times!?Arrived at home with a bad head-ache, set some slips of privett. The evening cold, had a fire?my face now flamecoloured. It is nine o'clock. I shall soon go to bed. A young woman begged at the door?she had come from Manchester on Sunday morn with two shillings & a slip of paper which she supposed a Bank note?it was a cheat. She had buried her husband & three children within a year & a half?all in one grave? burying very dear?paupers all put in one place?20 shillings paid for as much ground as will bury a man?a stone to be put over it or the right will be lost? 11/63 each time the ground is opened. Oh! that I had a letter from William!
$ $ *
Friday 3rd October. Very rainy all the morning?little Sally learning to mark. Wm walked to Ambleside after dinner. I went with him part of the way?he talked much about the object of his Essay for the 2nd volume of LB.4 I returned expecting the Simpsons?they did not come. I should have met Wm but my teeth ached & it was showery & late?he returned after 10. Amos Cottle's5 death in the Morning Post. Wrote to S. Lowthian.6
N.B. When Wm & I returned from accompanying Jones we met an old man almost double,7 he had on a coat thrown over his shoulders above his waistcoat & coat. Under this he carried a bundle & had an apron on & a night cap. His face was interesting. He had dark eyes & a long nose?John who afterwards met him at Wythburn took him for a Jew. He was of Scotch parents but had been born in the army. He had had a wife '& a good woman & it pleased God to bless us with ten children'?all these were dead but one of whom he had not heard for many years, a sailor?his trade was to gather leeches, but now leeches are scarce & he had not strength for it?he lived by begging & was making his way to Carlisle where he should buy a few godly books to sell. He said leeches were very scarce partly owing to this dry season, but many years they have been scarce-?he supposed it owing to their being much sought after, that they did not breed fast, & were of slow growth. Leeches were formerly 2/ 6 [per] 100; they are now 30/. He had been hurt in driving a cart his leg broke his body driven over his skull fractured?he felt no pain till he recovered from his first insensibility. It was then late in the evening?when the light was just going away. # * *
Saturday [Oct.] 11th. A fine October morning?sat in the house working all the morning. Wm composing?Sally Ashburner learning to mark. After Dinner we walked up Greenhead Gill in search of a sheepfold.8 We went by Mr Oliff's & through his woods. It was a delightful day & the views looked excessively chearful & beautiful chiefly that from Mr Oliffs field where our house is to be built. The colours of the mountains soft & rich, with orange fern?The Cattle pasturing upon the hill-tops Kites sailing as in the sky above our heads?
3. Eleven shillings, six pence. composed one and a half years later, incorporated 4. The Preface to the second
