_Thursday Morning._--Called at the Speddings. In the evening walked in the wood with W. Very very beautiful the moon. * * * * * * _Sunday, 17th August._-- ... William read us _The Seven Sisters_. * * * * * * _Saturday, 23rd._--A very fine morning. Wm. was composing all the morning. I shelled peas, gathered beans, and worked in the garden till 1/2 past 12. Then walked with Wm. in the wood.... The gleams of sunshine, and the stirring trees, and gleaming boughs, cheerful lake, most delightful.... Wm. read _Peter Bell_ and the poem of _Joanna_, beside the Rothay by the roadside. * * * * * * _Tuesday, 26th._-- ... A very fine solemn evening. The wind blew very fierce from the island, and at Rydale. We went on the other side of Rydale, and sate a long time looking at the mountains, which were all black at Grasmere, and very bright in Rydale; Grasmere exceedingly dark, and Rydale of a light yellow green. * * * * * * _Friday Evening_ [29th August].--We walked to Rydale to inquire for letters. We walked over the hill by the firgrove. I sate upon a rock, and observed a flight of swallows gathering together high above my head. They flew towards Rydale. We walked through the wood over the stepping-stones. The lake of Rydale very beautiful, partly still. John and I left Wm. to compose an inscription; that about the path. We had a very fine walk by the gloomy lake. There was a curious yellow reflection in the water, as of corn fields. There was no light in the clouds from which it appeared to come. _Saturday Morning, 30th August._-- ... William finished his Inscription of the Pathway,[28] then walked in the wood; and when John returned, he sought him, and they bathed together. I read a little of Boswell's _Life of Johnson_. I went to lie down in the orchard. I was roused by a shout that Anthony Harrison was come. We sate in the orchard till tea time. Drank tea early, and rowed down the lake which was stirred by breezes. We looked at Rydale, which was soft, cheerful, and beautiful. We then went to peep into Langdale. The Pikes were very grand. We walked back to the view of Rydale, which was now a dark mirror. We rowed home over a lake still as glass, and then went to George Mackareth's to hire a horse for John. A fine moonlight night. The beauty of the moon was startling, as it rose to us over Loughrigg Fell. We returned to supper at 10 o'clock. Thomas Ashburner brought us our 8th cart of coals since May 17th. [Footnote 28: Professor Dowden thinks that this refers to the poem on John's Grove. But a hitherto unpublished fragment will soon be issued by the Messrs. Longman, which may cast fresh light on this "Inscription of the Pathway."--ED.]