Journals of Dorothy Wordsworth, Vol. 1 (of 2)Wordsworth, Dorothy
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Journals of Dorothy Wordsworth, Vol. 1 (of 2)
Wordsworth, Dorothy
Authors, English -- 19th century -- Diaries; Wordsworth, Dorothy, 1771-1855 -- Diaries; Wordsworth, William, 1770-1850 -- Family
_Tuesday._--A very sweet day, but a sad want of rain. We went into the
orchard after I had written to M. H. Then on to Mr. Olliff's intake....
The columbine was growing upon the rocks; here and there a solitary
plant, sheltered and shaded by the tufts and bowers of trees. It is a
graceful slender creature, a female seeking retirement, and growing
freest and most graceful where it is most alone. I observed that the
more shaded plants were always the tallest. A short note and
gooseberries from Coleridge. We walked upon the turf near John's Grove.
It was a lovely night. The clouds of the western sky reflected a saffron
light upon the upper end of the lake. All was still. We went to look at
Rydale. There was an Alpine, fire-like red upon the tops of the
mountains. This was gone when we came in view of the lake. But we saw
the lake from a new and most beautiful point of view, between two little
rocks, and behind a small ridge that had concealed it from us. This
White Moss, a place made for all kinds of beautiful works of art and
nature, woods and valleys, fairy valleys and fairy tarns, miniature
mountains, alps above alps.
_Wednesday, 2nd June._--In the morning we observed that the scarlet
beans were drooping in the leaves in great numbers, owing, we guess, to
an insect.... Yesterday an old man called, a grey-headed man, above
seventy years of age. He said he had been a soldier, that his wife and
children had died in Jamaica. He had a beggar's wallet over his
shoulders; a coat of shreds and patches, altogether of a drab colour; he
was tall, and though his body was bent, he had the look of one used to
have been upright. I talked a while, and then gave him a piece of cold
bacon and some money. Said he, "You're a fine woman!" I could not help
smiling; I suppose he meant, "You're a kind woman." Afterwards a woman
called, travelling to Glasgow. After dinner we went into Frank's field,
crawled up the little glen, and planned a seat; ... found a beautiful
shell-like purple fungus in Frank's field. After tea we walked to
Butterlip How, and backwards and forwards there. All the young oak tree
leaves are dry as powder. A cold south wind, portending rain....
_Thursday, 3rd June 1802._--A very fine rain. I lay in my bed till ten
o'clock. William much better than yesterday. We walked into Easedale....
The cuckoo sang, and we watched the little birds as we sate at the door
of the cow-house. The oak copses are brown, as in autumn, with the late
frosts.... We have been reading the life and some of the writings of
poor Logan since dinner. There are many affecting lines and passages in
his poem, _e.g._
And everlasting longings for the lost.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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