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
_Wednesday, 23rd June._-- ... A sunshiny morning. I walked to the top
of the hill and sate under a wall near John's Grove, facing the sun. I
read a scene or two in _As You Like It_.... Coleridge and Leslie came
just as I had lain down after dinner. C. brought me William's letter. He
had got well to Eusemere. Coleridge and I accompanied Leslie to the
boat-house. It was a sullen, coldish evening, no sunshine; but after we
had parted from Leslie a light came out suddenly that repaid us for all.
It fell only upon one hill, and the island, but it arrayed the grass and
trees in gem-like brightness. I cooked Coleridge's supper. We sate up
till one o'clock.
_Thursday, 24th June._--I went with C. half way up the Raise. It was a
cool morning.... William came in just when M. had left me. It was a
mild, rainy evening.... We sate together talking till the first dawning
of day; a happy time.
_Friday, 25th June._-- ... I went, just before tea, into the garden. I
looked up at my swallow's nest, and it was gone. It had fallen down.
Poor little creatures, they could not themselves be more distressed than
I was. I went upstairs to look at the ruins. They lay in a large heap
upon the window ledge; these swallows had been ten days employed in
building this nest, and it seemed to be almost finished. I had watched
them early in the morning, in the day many and many a time, and in the
evenings when it was almost dark. I had seen them sitting together side
by side in their unfinished nest, both morning and night. When they
first came about the window they used to hang against the panes, with
their white bellies and their forked tails, looking like fish; but then
they fluttered and sang their own little twittering song. As soon as the
nest was broad enough, a sort of ledge for them, they sate both mornings
and evenings, but they did not pass the night there. I watched them one
morning, when William was at Eusemere, for more than an hour. Every now
and then there was a motion in their wings, a sort of tremulousness, and
they sang a low song to one another.
* * * * * *
... It is now eight o'clock; I will go and see if my swallows are on
their nest. Yes! there they are, side by side, both looking down into
the garden. I have been out on purpose to see their faces. I knew by
looking at the window that they were there.... Coleridge and William
came in at about half-past eleven. They talked till after twelve.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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