In speaking of our walk on Sunday Evening the 22nd November I forgot to notice one most impressive sight — it was the moon & the moonlight seen through hurrying driving clouds immediately behind the Stone man upon the top of the hill on the Forest side. Every tooth & every edge of Rock was visible, & the Man stood like a Giant watching from the Roof of a lofty Castle. The hill seemed perpendicular from the darkness below it. It was a sight that I could call to mind at any time it was so distinct.
Wednesday 25th November. It was a showery morning & threatened to be a wettish day, but the sun shone once or twice. We were engaged to the Lloyds & Wm & Mary were determined to go that it might be over. I accompanied them to the Thorn beside Rydale Water. I parted from them first at the top of the hill & they called me back. — it rained a little & rained afterwards all the afternoon. I baked pies & bread, & wrote to Sara Hutchinson & Coleridge — I passed a pleasant evening but the wind roared so & it was such a storm that I was afraid for them. They came in at nine o’clock no worse for their walk & chearful blooming & happy.
Thursday 26th. Mr Olliff called before Wm was up to say that they would drink tea with us this afternoon. We walked into Easedale to gather mosses & to fetch cream. 1 went for the cream & they sate under a wall. It was piercing cold, & a hail Storm came on in the afternoon. The Olliffs arrived at 5 o clock — we played at Cards & passed a decent evening. It was a very still night but piercing cold when they went away at 11 o clock — a shower came on.
Friday 27th. Snow upon the ground thinly scattered. It snowed after we got up & then the sun shone & it was very warm though frosty — now the Sun shines sweetly. A woman came who was travelling with her husband he had been wounded & was going with her to live at Whitehaven. She had been at Ambleside the night before, offered 4d at the Cock for a bed — they sent her to one Harrison’s where she & her husband had slept upon the hearth & bought a pennyworth of Chips for a fire. Her husband was gone before very lame—’Aye’ says she ‘I was once an officers wife I, as you see me now. My first Husband married me at Appleby I had 18£ a year for teaching a school & because I had no fortune his father turned him out of doors. I have been in the West Indies — I lost the use of this Finger just before he died he came to me & said he must bid farewell to his dear children & me — I had a Muslin gown on like yours — I seized hold of his coat as he went from me & slipped the joint of my finger — He was shot directly. I came to London & married this man. He was clerk to Judge Chambray, that man that man thats going on the Road now. If he, Judge Chambray, had been at Kendal he would (have) given us a guinea or two & made nought of it, for he is very generous.’ Before dinner we set forward to walk intending to return to dinner. But as we had got as far as Rydale Wm thought he would go on to Mr Luffs we accompanied him under Loughrigg, & parted near the stepping stones — it was very cold. Mary & I walked quick home. There was a fine gleam of Sunshine upon the eastern side of Ambleside Vale, we came up the old road & turning round we were struck with the appearance. Mary wrote to her aunt. We expected the Simpsons. I was sleepy & weary & went to bed — before tea. It came on wet in the Evening & was very cold. We expected letters from C & Sara — Sara’s came by the Boy. But none from C — a sad disappointment. We did not go to meet Wm as we had intended — Mary was at work at Wms warm waistcoat.
Saturday 28th November. — A very fine sunny morning. Soldiers still going by — I should have mentioned that yesterday when we went with Wm to Mr Luff’s we met a soldier & his wife, he with a child in his arms, she carrying a bundle & his gun — we gave them some halfpence it was such a pretty sight. William having slept ill lay in bed till after one o’clock. Mary & I walked up to Mr Simpsons between 20 minutes before 2 & 20 minutes before 3 to desire them not to come — we drank tea & supped at Mr Olliffs — a keen frost with sparkling stars when we came home at ½ past 11.
Sunday 29th. Baking bread apple pies, & Giblet pie — a bad giblet pie — it was a most beautiful morning. George Olliff brought Wm’s stick. The sun shone all the day — but we never walked. In the evening we had intended going for letters but the Lad said he would go. We sate up till after one — no letters! — very cold — hard frost.
Monday 30th. A fine sharp morning. The Lad brought us a Letter from Montague & a short one from Coleridge — C very well — promised to write tomorrow. We walked round the Lake Wm & Mary went first over the stepping stones. I remained after them & went into the prospect field above Benson’s to sit — Mary joined me there — clear & frosty without wind. William went before to look at Langdale — we saw the pikes & then came home. They have cropped the tree which overshadowed the gate beside that cottage at the turning of the hill which used to make a frame for Loughrigg Tarn & Windermere. We came home & read. Mary wrote to Joanna — I wrote to Richard, & Mrs Coleridge.
Tuesday 1st December 1801. A fine sunny & frosty morning. Mary & I walked to Rydale for letters, William was not well & staid at home reading after having lain long in bed. We found a Letter from Coleridge, a short one — he was pretty well. We were overtaken by two soldiers on our return — one of them being very drunk we wished them to pass us, but they had too much liquor in them to go very fast so we contrived to pass them — they were very merry & very civil. They fought with the mountains with their sticks. Aye says one, that will upon us — One might stride over that &c. They never saw such a wild country though one of them was a Scotchman — they were honest looking fellows — The Corporal said he was frightened to see the Road before them. We met Wm at Sara’s gate, he went back intending to go round the lake but having attempted to cross the water & not succeeding he came back. The Simpsons Mr & Miss drank tea with us — Wm was very poorly & out of spirits. They stayed supper.
Wednesday 2nd. A fine grey frosty morning. Wm rose late. I read the tale of Phœbus & the Crow which he afterwards attempted to translate & did translate a large part of it today. Mrs Olliff brought us some yeast & made us promise to go there the next day to meet the Luffs. We were sitting by the fire in the evening when Charles & Olivia Lloyd came in. I had not been very well so I did not venture out with them when they went away — Mary & William went as far as Rydale village, it snowed after it was dark, & there was a thin covering over the ground which made it light & soft. They looked fresh & well when they came in. I wrote part of a letter to Coleridge. After his return William went on a little with Chaucer.
Thursday 3rd December 1801. I was not well in the morning. We baked bread — after dinner I went to bed — William walked into Easedale. Rain, hail & snow. I rose at ½ past 7, got tea, then went to sup at Mr Olliffs — I had a glorious sleep & was quite well. A light night roads very slippery — we spent a pleasant evening — Mr & Mrs Luff there — Mrs L poorly. I wrote a little bit of my letter to Coleridge before I went to Mr O’s. We went to bed immediately after our return — Molly gone.
Friday 4th. My head bad & I lay long. Mrs Luff called — Mary went with her to the Slate quarry. Mr Simpson & Charles Lloyd called for the yeast Receipt. William translating the Prioress’s tale. William & Mary walked after tea to Rydale — it snowed & rained & they came in wet. I finished the Letter to Coleridge & we received a letter from him & Sara. S’s letter written in good spirits — C’s also. A letter of Lambs about George Dyer with it.
Saturday 5th. My head bad & I lay long. Mr Luff called before I rose — we put off walking in the morning: dull & misty & grey very rainy in the afternoon & we could not go out — William finished the Prioress’s tale, & after tea Mary & he wrote it out Wm not well. — No parcel from Mrs Coleridge.
Sunday 6th. A very fine beautiful sunshiny morning — William worked a while at Chaucer then we set forward to walk into Easedale. We met Mr & Mrs Olliff who were going to call upon us. They turned back with us & we parted at the White Bridge. We went up in to Easedale & walked backwards & forwards in that flat field which makes the second circle of Easedale with that beautiful Rock in the field beside us & all the rocks & the woods &c the mountains enclosing us round. The Sun w
as shining among them, the snow thinly scattered upon the tops of the mountains. In the afternoon we sate by the fire — I read Chaucer aloud, & Mary read the first Canto of the Fairy Queen. After tea Mary & I walked to Ambleside for letters — reached home by 11 o clock — we had a sweet walk, it was a sober starlight evening, the stars not shining as it were with all their brightness when they were visible & sometimes hiding themselves behind small greyish clouds that passed soberly along. We opened C’s letter at Wilcocks door we thought we saw that he wrote in good spirits so we came happily homewards where we arrived 2 hours after we left home. It was a sad melancholy letter & prevented us all from sleeping.
Monday Morning 7th. We rose by candlelight, a showery unpleasant morning after a downright rainy night we determined however to go to Keswick if possible, & we set off at a little after 9 o’clock. When we were upon the Rays it snowed very much & the whole prospect closed in upon us like a moorland valley upon a moor — very wild — but when we were at the top of the Rays we saw the mountains before us the sun shone upon them here & there & Wytheburn vale though wild looked soft. The rain went on chearfully & pleasantly now & then a hail shower attacked us but we kept up a good heart for Mary is a famous Jockey — We met Miss Barcroft — she had been unwell in the ‘Liverpool complaint’ & was riding out for the benefit of her health. She had not seen Mrs C ‘The weather had been such as to preclude all intercourse between neighbours’ — . We reached Greta Hall at about one o clock. Met Mrs C in the field, Derwent in the cradle asleep, Hartley at his dinner — Derwent pale the image of his Father, Hartley well. We wrote to C. Mrs C left us at ½ past 2 — we drank tea by ourselves, the children playing about us. Mary said to Hartley, Shall I take Derwent with me? No says H I cannot spare my little Brother in the sweetest tone possible & he can’t Do without his Mama. Well says Mary, why cannot I be his Mama. Can’t he have more Mamas than one? No says H. What for? because they do not love as Mothers do. What is the difference between Mothers & Mamas, looking at his sleeves, Mothers wear sleeves like this pulling his own tight down & Mamas (pulling them up & making a bustle about his shoulders) so — . We parted from them at 4 o clock. It was a little of the Dusk when we set off. Cotton mills lighted up — the first star at Nadel fell, but it was never dark — we rode very briskly snow upon the Rays — reached home far sooner than we expected, at 7 o clock. William at work with Chaucer, The God of Love sate latish — I wrote a little to C.
Tuesday 8th November (December) 1801. A dullish rainyish morning. Wm at work with Chaucer. I read Bruce’s Lochleven & Life. Going to bake bread & pies, after dinner I felt myself unwell having not slept well in the night so, after we had put up the Book cases which Charles Lloyd sent us I lay down I did not sleep much but I rose refreshed. Mary & William walked to the Boat house at Rydale while he (I) was in bed. It rained very hard all night — no company Wm worked at the Cuckow & the Nightingale till he was tired, Mary very sleepy & not quite well — We both slept sound. Letter from Rd with news of John dated 7th August.
Wednesday Morning gth December. William slept well but his tongue fevrish. I read Palamon & Arcite — Mary read Bruce — W’illiam writing out his alteration of Chaucers Cuckow & Nightingale. After dinner it was agreed that we should walk, when I had finished a letter to C, part of which I had written in the morning by the kitchen-fire while the mutton was roasting. William did not go with us but Mary & I walked into Easedale & backwards & forwards in that Large field under George Rawnson’s white cottage. We had intended gathering mosses & for that purpose we turned into the green Lane behind the Tailors but it was too dark to see the mosses. The river came galloping past the Church as fast as it could come & when we got into Easedale we saw Churn Milk force like a broad stream of snow. At the little foot-Bridge we stopped to look at the company of rivers which came hurrying down the vale this way & that; it was a valley of streams & Islands, with that great waterfall at the head & lesser falls in different parts of the mountains coming down to these Rivers. We could hear the sound of those lesser falls but we could not see them — we walked backwards & forwards till all distant objects except the white shape of the waterfall, & the lines of the mountains were gone. We had the Crescent Moon when we went out, & at our return there were a few stars that shone dimly, but it was a grey cloudy night.
Thursday 10th December. A very fine sunny morning — not frosty we walked into Easedale to gather mosses, & then we went past to Aggy Fleming’s & up the gill, beyond that little waterfall — it was a wild scene of crag & mountain. One craggy point rose above the rest irregular & ragged & very impressive it was. We called at Aggy Fleming’s she told us about her miserable house she looked shockingly with her head tyed up. Her mother was there — the children looked healthy. We were very unsuccessful in our search after mosses. Just when the evening was closing in Mr Clarkson came to the door — it was a fine frosty Evening. We played at cards.
Friday 11th. Baked pies & cakes. It was a stormy morning with Hail showers. The Luffs dined with us — Mrs L came with Mrs Olliff in the Gig. We sate lazily round the fire after dinner. Mr & Mrs Olliff drank tea & supped with us — a hard frost when they came.
Saturday 12th. A fine frosty morning — snow upon the ground — I made bread & pies. We walked with Mrs Luff to Rydale, & came home on the other side of the Lake. Met Townley with his dogs — all looked chearful & bright — Helm Crag rose very bold & craggy, a being by itself, & behind it was the large Ridge of mountain smooth as marble & snow white — all the mountains looked like solid stone on our left going from Grasmere i.e. White Moss & Nab scar. The snow hid all the grass & all signs of vegetation & the Rocks shewed themselves boldly everywhere & seemed more stony than Rock or stone. The Birches on the Crags beautiful, Red brown & glittering — the ashes glittering spears with their upright stems — the hips very beautiful, & so good!! & dear Coleridge — I ate twenty for thee when I was by myself. I came home first — they walked too slow for me. William went to look at Langdale Pikes. We had a sweet invigorating walk. Mr Clarkson came in before tea. We played at Cards — sate up late. The moon shone upon the water below Silver-how, & above it hung, combining with Silver how on one side, a Bowl-shaped moon the curve downwards — the white fields, glittering Roof of Thomas Ashburner’s house, the dark yew tree, the white fields — gay & beautiful. Wm lay with his curtains open that he might see it.
Sunday 13th. Mr Clarkson left us leading his horse. Went to Brathay & Luffs. We drank tea at Betty Dixons — very cold & frosty — a pleasant walk home. William had been very unwell but we found him better. The Boy brought letters from Coleridge & from Sara. Sara in bad spirits about C.
Monday 14th December. Wm & Mary walked to Ambleside in the morning to buy mouse-traps. Mary fell & hurt her wrist. I accompanied them to the top of the hill — clear & frosty. I wrote to Coleridge, a very long letter while they were absent. Sate by the fire in the evening reading.
Tuesday 15th. Wm & I walked to Rydale for letters — found one from Joanna. We had a pleasant walk but coldish — it thawed a little.
Wednesday 16th. A very keen frost, extremely slippery. After dinner Wm & I walked twice up to the Swan & back again — met Miss Simpson. She came with us to Olliffs & we went back with her — very cold.
Thursday 17th. Snow in the night & still snowing we went to Mr Luffs to dine — met Mrs King. Hard frost & as light as day we had a delightful walk & reached home a little after twelve. Mrs Luff ill. Ambleside looked excessively beautiful as we came out — like a village in another country. The light chearful mountains were seen in the long long distance as bright & as clear as at midday with the blue sky above them. We heard waterfowl calling out by the lake side. Jupiter was very glorious above the Ambleside hills & one large star hung over the Coombe of the hills on the opposite side of Rydale water.
Friday 18th December 1801. Mary & Wm walked round the two lakes. I stayed at home to make bread, cakes & pies. I went afterwards to meet them, & I met Wm near Bensons. Mary had gone to look at Langdale pi
kes. It was a chearful glorious day. The Birches & all trees beautiful — hips bright red — mosses green. I wrote to Coleridge for money.
Saturday 19th. I was not quite well & did not rise to Breakfast. We walked by Brathay to Ambleside, called at the Lloyds — they were at Kendal, dined with the Luffs — & came home in the evening — the evening cloudy & promising snow. The day very beautiful, Brathay vale scattered & very chearful & interesting.
Sunday 20th December. It snowed all day — in the evening we went to tea at Thomas Ashburners. It was a very deep snow. The Brooms were very beautiful — arched feathers with wiry stalks pointed to the End, smaller & smaller. They waved gently with the weight of the snow. We stayed at Thomas A’s till after 8 o clock. Peggy better — the Lasses neat & clean & rosy.
Delphi Complete Works of William Wordsworth Page 476
