The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1901-08-17
.HOSMER IN
SCOTLAND
He Visits the Home
OF the Lake
Poets.
HONOLULANS
ON A JAUNT
Former President of Oahu College
Continues His Series of
Travel Narratives.


~ English Lake District is the
4 u interest that gathers about these
picturesque mountains and sheets of
water-the haunts of those masters who
Poets. The rS;me is certainly a mis-
homer for however connected in their
lives there was little in common in
the works of Coleridge, Wordsworth
and Southey.
Keswick is an attractive little place
on the Greta near the beautiful lake
called Derwentwater. In the outskirts
of the village upon a small hill stands
Greta Hall, for forty years the home of
Robert Southey, Crossing the bridge at
the foot of this hill, we proceeded to
the Crossthwaite Church, an edifice
built in the reign of Stephen, though
remodelled in Queen Marys time.
Within the church are graves of the
Derwentwater family but not that Of
the last earl beheaded in London at
the command of the inexorable
George l. Not far from the pulpit is
a full-size recumbent marble statue of
Southey, said to be a faithful likeness.
1t is certainly fine piece of work. The
epitaph was composed by Wordsworth,
who succeeded him as Poet Laureate.
In the yard around the church tower at
the west is Southey's grave and that of
his wife Edith. Other former members
of his household are buried near. Shell
ley once lived in this village but
could not learn in which house.
From Keswick our party, consisting
of seven from Honolulu drove south,
up to the head of st. Johns vale, then
along the shore of Thirlmere, a lake
about three miles in length, situated at
the foot of Helvellyn. The whole wa
tershed around about has been bought
up now by the corporation of Manches-
ter. as the lake contains the water
supply of that town. Continuing south
to Grasmere, we stopped at an old
fashioned hosiery. the Red Lion. a few
steps from the parish church in whose
yard we found the graves of William
Wordsworth, his wife, his sister Doro-
thy and others of the family Near by
are buried Hartley Coleridge and Ar
thur Hugh Clough. A short walk down
the road brought US to Dove Cottage"
a periox of great literary activity in
the po65s life. 1t is a pretty two
story stone cottage surrounded by
trees and vines and near. the public
road, though separated from it by a
stone wall. Like many of the cottages
around. it is whitewashed each year
and with it's deep diamond-paned win
dows looks quite neat and comfortable,
= Il -
The "haIf-parlor and half-kitchen y
that Wordsworth wrote of in his Per
sonal Talks seems dark and cherries,
especially as the floor is made of stone
flags. However, this is still common
even in more pretentious houses. The
English country home impresses the
American with its plentiful lack of con-
venences. 1t is said, and doubtless tru-
ly, that aside from the necessary re-
pairs. the cottage is much the same as
when the Wordsworths left it in 1908.
Dorothy's room on the ground floor
contains some of her furniture and
needlework. The poets bedroom and
study. all in one, is in the second story
and adjoining is the guest chamber
, very humble quarters indeed, but here
have slept Coleridge, Scott, Southey,
Professor Wilson, and De Quincy The
small yard enclosing a part of the
steep slope of the hill Immediately back
of the house is still and was in Words
worth's time a bower of beauty. The
poets own description will be found in
| his Green Linnet'' and Dorothy Words
worth Journal contains many allu-
| sions to it. Here are the steps cut by
| Wordsworth and the trees. set out by
! his own hand. have grown apace In
| 1909 De Quincy leased Dove Cottage
so that it continued a literary beehive
/ for some years. In his Literary Rem
iniscences'' he has recorded much of the
every day life of this community of
poets. Southey and Coleridge married
sisters and began their welded life I'M
! der the same roof They became very
intimate with the Wordsworths and
/ Coleridge and Dorothy used to take
| long walks over the hills and around
the lakes. Often on returning to the
| Coleridge home Dorothy without a
thought of presuming would run up to
Mrs. Coleridge's bedroom, exchange her
wet skirts and muddy shoes for those
of her hostess and then invite herself
tc supper 1t is likely that the first oc-
casion would be met by good-natured
tolerance, likewise the second, third and
even the seventh, but it is probable
that seventy times seven repetitions
would require a great deal of patience.
| Coleridge himself had the erratic tenn
permanent of rare genius and already
| the opium habit was upon him. Inc
| Southeys were people of delicate ana
refined tastes in which Mrs. Coler1dge
shared. Wordsworth was exceedingly
careless of his person and often used
| a soled thumb in turning the leaves OF
books, crumpling and smearing the1n'
De Quincy relates that upon one oc-
casion when he had just purchased d
| handsomely bound set of Burke
| Works he received a morning cai
from Wordsworth, whose eye fell upon
the new volumes. De Quincy had just
finished his breakfast of tea and but'
tered toast and stepped out of the
room. On his return he discovers
that Wordsworth had cut the leaves o.