BIB_ID
119205
Accession number
MA 1581.232
Creator
Wordsworth, William, 1770-1850.
Display Date
Grasmere, England, 1805 July 5.
Credit line
Purchased from Benjamin Ifor Evans, 1954.
Description
1 item (4 pages, with address) ; 30.9 x 20.9 cm
Notes
A strip of approximately 1 1/2 inches has been torn away from the top of the first page of the manuscript.
The place and date of writing from published letter cited below.
This letter was formerly identified as MA 1581 (Wordsworth) 2.
This letter is from a large collection of letters written to Sir George Howland Beaumont (1753-1827) and Lady Margaret Willes Beaumont (1758-1829) of Coleorton Hall and to other members of the Beaumont family. See collection-level record for more information (MA 1581.1-297).
Address panel with postmark to "Sir George Beaumont Bart. / Coleorton near / Ashby de la Zouche / Leicestershire / Single Sheet."
The place and date of writing from published letter cited below.
This letter was formerly identified as MA 1581 (Wordsworth) 2.
This letter is from a large collection of letters written to Sir George Howland Beaumont (1753-1827) and Lady Margaret Willes Beaumont (1758-1829) of Coleorton Hall and to other members of the Beaumont family. See collection-level record for more information (MA 1581.1-297).
Address panel with postmark to "Sir George Beaumont Bart. / Coleorton near / Ashby de la Zouche / Leicestershire / Single Sheet."
Provenance
Purchased as a gift of the Fellows from Benjamin Ifor Evans, 1954.
Summary
Expressing his concern about Sir George's health; saying he is glad that he found pleasure in his verses, but cannot seem to find something new to send him, especially as the last two poems he wrote were in memory of his brother and are "too melancholy" to send; adding that his sister will transcribe "something or other though I have not a single line in my possession which quite satisfies me for such a purpose;" continuing with the first 59 lines from "The Prelude, Book Eighth", in Dorothy's hand; explaining that "The above is from the beginning of one of the Books upon my own earlier life it has been extracted not so much from any notion of its merit, as from its standing more independent of the rest of the Poem than perhaps any other part of it. The few lines which you will find on the next page require a long preface, which my Sister begs you will excuse. It is from her journal of our Tour in Scotland;" continuing in Dorothy's hand with an extract from her journal describing their six-mile walk along the banks of Loch-Ketterine; saying "We have never had a more delightful walk than this evening. Ben Lomond and the three pointed-topped Mountains of Loch Lomond which we had seen from the Garrison were very majestic under the clear sky; the Lake was perfectly still, the air sweet and mild. I felt how much more interesting it is to visit a place where we have been before than it can possibly be the first time, except under peculiar circumstances;" describing an encounter with "...two neatly-dressed Women without hats, who had probably been taking their Sunday evening's walk. One of them said to us in a friendly soft tone of voice, 'What you are stepping Westward?' I cannot describe how affecting this simple expression was in that remote place with the western sky in front, yet glowing with the departed sun. William wrote the following Poem long after in remembrance of his feelings and mine;" transcribing Wordsworth's poem "Stepping Westward."
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