New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1880-12-12
FORDSWORIH 4ND EYDAL MOUNT


M D. ConVdy IN Hdrpfr.
Having an in TOuu,t!On 10 the family now 0ccu-
ming lVdal Mount, were III no dagger ui making
The mistake of Hawthorne, VINO passed some time
pccring about. admrnG, and perhaps p!terlng
wv leaves from fictitious RNdal Mount. liz
dls,overca next day that ais enthusiasm mad been
laylshcd on the ab0d' of a Respectable Quaker the
anence OF tiowers and 0lia@e, when maze IL seem
10 Hawthorne as II or isWOrths poetry hdd mani
tested itsc.f in flowers, shru Query aud IVY, sim
makes the better part of Rydal Mount. As we
pa,scd from room 10 room, they wer' lied with the
grounds where the poe; had chanted every llne OF
his works revcrenly as If at his breyarY III ma
| turr's cathedral ~ s Ill here We moved beneath
same archTay OF trees, ana SAT III thc mower at
IT'S end which reminded me of those which Dir. Al
colt used 10 build IN the Prou:ds oil his frends az
Concord Here the young Emerson sat, and listened
IA he poet reciing his poems. And here. indeed, or
on his beat between tins and the huSe Cour " tho
| raj sin ~ and library OF Wordsworth. hr leo yer
is made of the branches of trees and its only orna-
meut 10 sucn rs has climbed from the earth or been
deposited from tue ar. lie must have sat here 2az-
ing upon Rydai Wafer with It's i'ieis, and the Hiils
| with their shining raimcnt OF ciout ana cascade
until be was III state OF absorption, Ike Il hulY
IIpdOo vOgl in his sacred grove. Oh whose lap me
! serpent unuOied casts It's SKIN.
a lady who III her youth passed some tllne at
! Rydal Mount. the families beng intimate,
tod me that when she saw the, olh
| 1nau OuL in tins some other haunt o1 HIS,
silent InOiiOnless, gazing. he appeared like some
| natural object. The very LONELINESS of las lace
was ITS attraction, and In its burrows there were
| tanned patches that looked somewhat like lchens
But II was not only II external habit and look mat
Wordsworth "a true BrahInln; he mad strangely
| repea ed spiritual history the mystical develop
| u,rnt of his tar Aryln ances'oT5 There was mucn
discussion, soon after the " ode To immortality "
aupeaIed as 20 VIVA; the poet meant by his thanks
givings for "ialiiugs from us. Ndnlshihgs, blank
| iulsuyngs of q creature u"viug about IN worlds
not real z,d." professor at Oxford related to me
| that, beIug on a walk with WORDSWORTH. he asked
| INN what ne meant by those purasrs. Nhereupon
the poet graspcl the rail Of gate with both hands
and SAID :" have az lin and again III ny life been
driven 10 grasp the near st object Ike tins, ~ order
AfsplI fl.ttf
| Ii has seemed falling away, van siling, leaving me-
! as it were, III world not rcalIz-d."
! We went by tJe way OF Rimcal Reform to Gras-
| mere. DR.. Arnold gave the three reads between
| Ryda aud Grasmcre their names the highest
| form - the lowest and most level. Radical Re-
| formb Wordsworth and his sister Dorothy also
added TO these new "Pilgrm -ffosrcss names; nav
| ing called spot Point Rash judgment" Words
| worth never liked Radical Reform" whereby
fine carriagc-road mad been carried over country
he had known when 1t was wiz NO nlm an,
cape the picturesque. When first the
| eye rests upon Grasnere Water. and uoon
| the hills aud dales everywhere, 1t really SUITS
conversation one lapses INTO hushed feeiihg as IL
1t were drcanand. aud loud worh nllgnI Drea an
| the spell. The Grlsnere cottages too were so
| charming that could understand The aOsoutcncsa
| with which hawthorne said " lmS III tie town OF
Grasmere seems to me as pretty a place ~ ever
| met with in my fe' And among these none Is more
charming than Dove Cottage. Here at the closes nf
| the last centnry december II. 1199. wordsworth
and hIs sister came To dwell, III Wha' hau
| been a pubc-house-Ihe Dove ana ohVe
| Hnngb There in 1907. De Quincy
| visited him. Il was" he wrote. uslered
up little flight OF stairs. fourteen IN all to hfie
| drawluy-roOln or whatever the reader chooses
10 call It. IL was not fully feet inches high. aud
in other respects pretty nearly OF the same dmen-
sions as the rustic hall below. There was however
IN small recess, library OF perhaps 3OO volumes,
which seemed 10 cOnsocratc the room rs the poet 4
study and composing-roOm and such u OCCASIONALLY
was. But far Oitener he bOtii sluuleu' IN iouhu'
| and con posed, the nlgn road.
| DE Quincy had travelled with tho family OF
| Colcridce who himself could not then
| col 10 Crasmere and his picture OF
| the family at Dove Cottage is delightful.
| While tie Young man OF twenty-five stands trem-
bling the figure OF the !ailish man einerges to
| saluie him with cordallwelcome and after him came
| the ladies'. "Thc foremost, tall young woman
with the most winning expression upon her features
| that had ever behsld. mado slight courtesy and