New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1903-07-03
WORDSWORTH.
Conversations scith Peasants Who
Knee Him.

LAKE COUNTRY SKETCHES. BY the Rev; H.
trated. l2mo. PIP X, PAL The Macmillan COM
pany.
Without protesting to add new facts to our
knowledge Of Wordsworth. Canon Rawnsley in
terests us by gathering together some decidedly
interesting testimony from Westmoreland peas
ants who still recall the poet The sense OF
words in the local dialect would make some OF
the opinions cited most uncomplimentary. were
they not accompanied with interpretations.
Asked about Wordsworth's appearance, an old
retainer who still lives near Rydal Mount char
acterized him as ugly faced" meaning that
he was a man of marked features. Canon
Rawnsley discovered also that the word un-
pleasant" applied generally by these West
moreland folk in describing Mrs. Wordsworth's
expression, betokened overseriousness rather
than a disagreeable look On the whole, the
poet seems to have impressed these people he
lived among as a studious. silent man, absorbed
in a hobby of writing verses that ordinary folk
took particular delight in reading, inatten-
tive to men and children. much given to walk
ing the roads and mumblng to himself, but no
great mountaineer; singularly devoted to hap
py capable wife "a stiff little lady" who quite
outshone him in intellectual powers; a keen OBJ
server of trees and stocks and stones. noting
with a Jealous eye every ditch dug or wall laid;
a spirit oddly aioof but sober and elevated.
The difficulty in persuading the Westmoreland
people to commit themselves to definite express
sion Of their memories adds to the value of this
record and insures the sincerity of the impress
sions. To direct questions the answer was fire.
quently discouraging: Nay, wadn't say that
nayther'; Might bea, but not to my knowledge
howivver," or It's good my saaing kna
that, when I doan't moo than" In two impress
sions there was a general unanimity. Mr..
,Scrr ~ hob of
the superior mental worth of his more approach
able guest Hartley Coleridge. He who had
been the gardeners lad at Rydal Mount had
this distinct recollection:
Eth! blessed barn 1 think can him at it
now. He was ter BILE thrang with Visitros and
folk you nun kna, at times but If he could git
fra them for a SPELL he was out upon ms
gres walk; and then he would set his head a
Bit forrad and put his hands behint his back.
And then he would start cumming, and II was
bum, bum bum stop; then bum, bum, bum.
rect down till tother end. and then he d set
down and git a bit O. paper out, and write q
bit; and then he'd git up and bum bum, bum,
and goa on cumming for long enough right
down and back AEGEAN. / suppose va kna the
cumming hepled him out bit. However, his
lips was always goan' whoale time he was upon
the gres walk.
Coleridge's landlord in the days when he
KEEP lille Hartley at L Nab bore similar tes-
timony:
He wasn't O. many words. wad walk
when he was studyin'. He was allus studyin'
and you med see his lips gaen as he went ABBOTT
4 roads. He did most Of his study upo' the
roads. I suppose he a cliverish man, but
he wasn't much by min on us He lent
Hartley a deal O. his beuks, it's sartain. but
Hartley helped him deal. l understand, did a
best part O. his poems for him, sac t sayin is
Though living too much to himself for the
country folk ever to take him to their hearts,
mot a vera conversable man, a mumblin' and
stoppin'. and seem nowt nor neabody," Words
worth made an impression of authority grad
ually.
Efter a time fwoaks began to take his advice.
We kna ABBOTT trees. and plantin', and cuttin.
and budin' chimleys, and that max O. things
He he'd his say at L maist o Z houses i these
parts. and was vera particular fond of round
chimleys. He was yam keppit his head doom
and eyes upo t ground. and mumbling to his
seI: but why. why, he 'ud never pass folks
draining ditching, walling a cottage, but
what he'd stop and say Eth dear. but it's
pity to move that stean and doan't va think va
might leave that tree?"
His poems are not esteemed in the neighbor-
hood. Between pilgrimages to the graves Of
Wordsworth and Coeridge 1t seemed odd to
choose TO go to Wordsworth's There's PONIES
\ and pomes." said the gardeners lad in words
which seem to sum up the general feeling, but
Wudsworth's was not for us. I never
did see his pomes-not as I can speak to in any
mans house in these parts. but We kna there's
bits l. L papers fra time TO time bearing his
name"
The remaining sketches in this volume COM
plement these recollections with pleasant pict-
ures Of the country. portraits of such of its
admired citizens James Chopper Of Eller-
green: William Pearson of Borderside the
grateful and welcome friend of the Rydal Mount
household. or the old Skiddaw shepherd Hawel
who on his deathbed, suffering with the rheu-
matism and asthma of a herding life, insisted
on seeing again. before he left, OF his prize
Herdwick rams And the sons had tough
job to get it to elm the stee' and stand in the
presence Of the dying man" Mr.. Leonard c.
Wyon's crayon drawing of Wordsworth at the
age of seveQty-seven is reproduced as frontis-
piece, and an occasional photograph is used in
illustration